Speaking of beer, in Paris I solved a riddle that has been plaguing me for three years. What does biscuit taste like? Now I know you old timer five and dimers who still take a tea break, probably know. But I didn't know. Have you ever read a beer connoiseur's review of Belgium's legendary Trappist West -vleteren? or Samuel Smith's redoubtable Oatmeal Stout? or Surly's newly crowned Furious? Yes you have. Remember that amidst the palaver of hints of raisins, chocolate, anise, apricots and toffee comes, there it is, biscuits. The residual biscuity whiff. What? It's always there. Why? The biscuits I know have Southern gravy plopped on it.
Parisian gelato, of all things, solved the phenolated riddle. This year we lucked out with our Paris hotel which was situated by the Seine in the Bercy district, arrondissment, if you will. A series of old wine cellars were gutted to make way for an upscale hip du jour walkway of restaurants and boutique shops called The Village Bercy. If you go to Paris I recommend the Pullman Bercy which is just-posh-enough, on the Metro line, and nestled against one of the best unsung parks in Paris--Bercy Park. Kids discovered the gelato stand first, I went second and while standing in line noticed others all getting the same flavor, Biscotti. Why get biscotti--they pronounced it BIS-cotti, not Bis-COT-ti--over pistache or mango, I thought? Do what locals do. I got biscotti, a fait accompli ! Delicious, but how to describe? Then I remembered that I had bought a small package of English biscuits in London but hadn't tried them. On the ingredients list I found the answer--wheat flour, sugar, palm fat and barley malt extract. Ahh. biscuit is barley. And barley, hops, water and yeast is beer. Now I know what you surely already knew. Now it's on to the next quest--what the heck is palm fat? Let's hope the Italians have palm fat gelati.
Heidelberg's ice cream is simply called Eis. The girlsin top photo--left to right in picture, Chelsea B., Kelsey G., Missie S., Stephanie S., Olivia D., Nora D-H., and Brianne S.-- seemed to be enjoying it when I ran into them. They were on their way to Germany's oldest college started in 1386, Universitat Heidelberg. See Sweatshirts--Jordan S.'s pic 4. We all found the student union and started practicing for our hearts tournament later on the Cruise. Pic #2 Chelsea B. and Skyler S., Pic #3 Nora, Kyle B., Jillian K. (thanks for reading Kelly K.)
If you haven't seen a good picture of your kid, yet, just wait.
Truly but Ryely,
LV
Heidelberg and Paris seemed like quite the dessert adventure. ranging from bisCOTti gelato and biscuits made of ingredients for alcoholic beverages. With incredibly beautiful photos of amazing architecture, its no wonder everyone is have fun. A nother interesting thing is how perfectly symmetrical and laid out the street is on the top photo. The Europe trip seems like such an amazing experience.
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