Authentic Mexican Food to Die For !!!

Day of the Dead 

Special Mexican Menu

at

Don Taco

13 rue Mercière

69002, Lyon

04 78 05 11 90

If you love authentic Mexican Food, you don't want to miss out on this one day special!  You can also order Day of the Dead sweetbread if you order by weds, the 30th, 2013.

Day of the Dead Calaveras Menu
Nov 1, 2013
25€
Space Limited, Reservations Required

Entrees
Poblano Soup
made with zucchini flowers, strips of poblano chiles, and corn
or
Chard wrapped Yucatec Tamale made with pork and pumpkin seeds in a tomato and annatto sauce

Main Dish 
Banana leaf wrapped Tamaltipeco Tamale 
made with whitefish in a green tomatillo sauce and seafood
or
Corn husk wrapped Venison Mixiote
in a chocolate adobo sauce with oaxacan corn masa dumplings

Dessert 
Pan de Muerto Mexican sweetbread made for the Day of the Dead,
served with "Mayordomo de Oaxaca" hot chocolate
or
Pumpkin candy in a concha sweetbread crust and dulce de leche ice cream

Chicken Katsu Curry

Few things could distract me from something halloween related this time of year, then I happened upon a "japanese" ramen restaurant with chicken katsu curry on the menu.  My favorite place for lunch in college was this japanese/korean restaurant called Young's Kitchen just across the street from Oregon State University.  At the time, you could get a bowl of rice with teriyaki sauce for $1, and a chicken kabob for $2.50.  (Hold on folks, this was only in the mid 90's so it wasn't THAT long ago.)  When I was really hungry and had more cash, I'd get the chicken katsu curry.  Now I know that this is probably not real japanese food.  At Young's the owners are korean.  The lady who served us tonight was chinese, and talking to the cooks in Chinese.  None the less,  I love chicken katsu curry, and what I got tonight was just like what I remembered.  I came away having totally satisfied a four year katsu curry craving, but right after dinner I had a food flashback of green tea ice cream that went completely unsatisfied!  This must be what happens to smokers right after coffee...  If you are feeling the need you can go to:    

Hakata Ramen

8 rue Garet

69001m Lyon  

by: Dori

Oct. 25, 2013

Carving Pumpkins

Carving Pumpkins Found

at

Cerise et Potiron 

47 avenue Jean Jaures, 69007

They were only 5,99 a pumpkin too!

They probably have them at other Cerise et Potiron stores as well.

I picked up two and will be carving them with my nephews tomorrow.

by: Dori

Here's how they turned out:

Pumpkin Spice Latte

I love autumn for the falling leaves and all the yummy fall flavors.  On the sweet side, hot gingerbread and whipped cream, pumpkin tarts, zucchini bread, carrot cake, cranberry walnut scones, all with a big cup of coffee on a Sunday morning are the food dreams that remind me of home.  For now, the Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Latte is just enough to keep me out of the kitchen.  Otherwise I'd be whipping up a batch of gingerbread or carrot cake, and then I'd have to invite you guys over to keep from eating it all!

Post by: Dori

Best Sandwich in Lyon - New York Street Deli

Unfortunately this little american style deli is out of business.


In 1995 when I came to Lyon for the first time, the sandwich world was completely different.  Most of them were one ingredient sandwiches: ham on buttered bread, brie, salami on buttered bread, period.  Then there was a fancy sandwich, ham and cheese, and that was called a "Mixed" sandwich.  Eventually we started to see a leaf of lettuce, a tomatoe slice, or a pickle here and there.  The only bread for them was baguette, which cut the roof of my mouth until I learned to eat it.  There was no panini, no bagels, no wraps, no curry sauce, no mayo, no chicken or pork roast.  A lot has changed, but a few things are still the same.  For one, a meat sandwich only has a slice or two of meat, and that's it.  You're  lucky if you can taste it.  My french husband drives me nuts when we make sandwiches because he eats all the bread.  I'll get out the ham and cheese, and he starts out by cutting a few slices of cheese and putting it between two slices of bread.  He'll eat that, then he'll get out two more slices of bread, put a slice of ham between them, eat it, and so on and so on.  By the time he's full, my loaf of bread it just about gone!  We've been together three years, and he still makes his sandwiches that way.   

Finally there is a place in Lyon where you can get a sandwich that actually has meat you can see on it!  And they have pastrami too!  It's pretty new.  It's called

New York Street

60ter quai Saint Vincent,

69001, Lyon

It's not far from Place Terreaux.  It's open tues and weds 11:30am-6pm, thurs and fri from 11:30am-9:30 pm, and sat from 11:30-8pm.
I'm going to have to take my husband there on a regular basis for good sandwich indoctrination. 

Just check out this pastrami sandwich!

Post by Dori

Splenda... or Something just Like It

I was a splenda user before I came to France. After doing a little research I found out that the company had ceased selling retail in France. If you wanted it, you'd have to have to be registered as a business, get a Metro wholesaler card, and drive out way past Vaux-en-Velin to get some. I was planning on it, but never got around to it. So when I was walking through the Simply Market in Gerland the other day and saw yellow when I glanced over at the sweetener section, I couldn't believe my eyes. Canderel has now started selling a sucralose sweetner, which is the same thing as Splenda just under a different brand name. I can't tell you how happy I am, especially since I'm going to need it to make up for the maple doughnuts :)

Dori

Maple Doughnuts!

There is a new doughnut shop in the Croix Rousse, called "Hello Brooklyn". They are fresh, decent, reasonbly priced, and best of all the have maple doughnuts!!! The fact that they have maple doughnuts makes any other possible sin forgivable :) I would still like to see a variety of real american doughnuts, spelled with the "gh" and all. I would love to find a maple persian, a glazed old fashioned, or an apple fritter. Until then, this is my new favorite doughnut shop!

Dori

Fresh Cranberries

From Rung,

I also found fresh cranberries at Cérises & Potiron, imported from Canada , the same package I used to buy in Canada.

Turkey Time

Yes it's turkey time but not in France. I received a tip from my neighbor Daniel Flores, the pastor of Calvary Chapel in Lyon and Chambery. Last year they were able to get turkeys from Auchan for their church thanksgiving dinners. I went to check it out. Auchan at Port des Alpes near Ikea had no turkeys, so I picked up the poultry help line in the meat section and was received by a nice gentleman named Alain. He said they had had turkeys but no one bought them they went bad, and they stopped ordering them. However, he said if someone really wanted one before december they might be able to get one for them. It was disappointing. I walked around for a while looking for my mother in law who'd wandered off. I must of have looked unhappy because he came back over to me and says, hold on, I'm going to call my supervisor and check. He picks up the phone and calls Philip. The final word is that there will be turkeys the week of Thanksgiving! Alain was very happy and very proud to have put the smile back on my face :) A word of caution though, this year Daniel got the Auchan in St Genis Laval to commit to ordering them a turkey but then they got word back that their provider refuses to kill their turkeys before the 1st of December. So whatever you do, if you plan on getting a whole turkey, keep a plan B in mind.

Some other places to check... over a decade ago I was able to order a whole turkey from a nice man at the daily market off the square at the Croix Rousse. I have heard from others that they have also been able to get whole turkeys there over the years. That market is closed on mondays. I've heard you can also get them at Les Halles. You can check your local butcher, or the poultry stands at the markets, particularly the local producers markets, but you need to start looking right away since it takes time once the order is placed for the turkey to be ready for consumption.

And if you find a whole turkey, make sure it fits in your little french oven before you buy it!!!

Pie Plates- Best Deal in Town

I was doing some window shopping at Babou Venissieux when all of the sudden I came upon a real fluted pie plate! As if that weren't great enough already, it was only 2,99€ They came in all different sizes for a medium 1.4 quart to individual sized plates. You should be able to see from the pic that the largest size is slightly smaller than my grandmother's tin pie plate on the bottom. They were a little hard to find. Look in the aisle with all the frying pans, then look on the bottom shelf by the pillar. There were at least five or six when I left.

You can get a lot of good deals at Babou, it's kind of like the walmart of Lyon. They all kinds of birthday candles, like the ones we are use to seeing in the US for really cheap. It's a good store to check out if you need something, don't need something of super high quality and don't want to pay an arm and a leg. If you don't have a car the twelve goes by there.

You can also usually get some nice ceramic pie plates from stores like Alice Delice, which now has a shop downtown, and from stores like BHV in the Part Dieu.