La Perouse the Explorer Cruise Idea Suggested by Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

La Pérouse the Explorer Cruise Idea Suggested by Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

As a follow-up to the La Pérouse the Explorer Game I developed on this Savvy Mom Ruth Paget website, I would like to suggest a cruise for the American portions of La Perouse’s expeditions for the whaling and fur trades for the following ports-of-call:

-Alaska – Lituya Bay in Southeastern Alaska

-California – Monterey Bay with visits to the Presidio of Monterey Fortress - (modern-day Defense Language Institute Headquarters) and the Carmel Mission (San Carlos Borromeo).

I cleaned the bronze plaque at the Carmel Mission commemorating La Pérouse’s mission and stops around the Pacific along with my daughter Florence and husband Laurent on behalf of the Alliance Française of the Monterey Peninsula as community service.  It was completely black at the time and now it is blue, but legible.  It is nice for souvenir photo ops.

-Hawaii (Maui)

La Pérouse was the first European explorer on the island of Maui.

The best chocolate and macademia nut candies are from this island.

-Samoa

Samoa is a US territory like Puerto Rico and Washington, D.C.  It is not a state, but it is the US located in the Western Pacific area called Polynesia.  There is an American Polynesia and a French Polynesia.

Samoa has many places of natural beauty that could be viewed by glass bottom boat, helicopter, or SUV tours on paved paths through rainforest terrain.

Why tours in an air-conditioned SUV on paved paths?

Snakes, biting insects, spiders, and animal feces falling from treetop dwelling animals like birds and monkeys are not only disgusting, but hazardous to your health in most cases.

These are the sites of natural beauty to see in Samoa:

-coral reefs

-rainforests

-waterfalls

There are several cruise lines that might be interested in offering La Pérouse the Explorer Cruises, especially for fall and early winter cruises:

-Princess Cruises

-Alaska Cruises

-Holland America

-Cunard Cruise Lines

-Norwegian Cruise Lines

-Viking Cruise Lines

-Carnival Cruise Lines

These cruise lines already have service set up in places like San Diego, Los Angeles, and Santa Barbara in California to allow cruise passengers to eat, buy souvenirs, and sleep on the way to a first stop in Monterey Bay, California.

The cruise I have suggested here is a little different from cruises that people already take in the Pacific, but travel agents might be able to set this up for university alumni groups or other organizations along with tour guides and tour buses on shore.

By Ruth Paget, author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

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Honoring Chartier Restaurant - the French Bankers' Lunch Spot in Paris (France) by Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

Honoring Chartier Restaurant – the French Bankers’ Lunch Spot in Paris (France) by Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

(Note: In the US, a chain like Williams-Sonoma might be able to offer cooking classes to make the dishes listed below.  Or, use French and Italian cookbooks.)

In the 9^th arrondisement in Paris (France), there is a restaurant that caters to the banking and finance industry called Chartier. 

The “tablecloths” are white paper for easy clean-up.  The waiters write up your itemized bill on a corner of the tablecloth and tear it off for payment at the cash register.  Chartier always gives sales receipts.  They mention that they do catering on the receipt.

Most of Chartier’s banker clients come from the higher rent 8^th arrondisement next door.  Chartier can offer less expensive lunch meals, because they are in a less expensive city neighborhood.  Lower rent carries over to less expensive prices charged on meals.

The 9^th is also easy to access with food and drink due to its proximity to several of Hausmann’s “Grands Boulevards.”  These large boulevards lead into the 9^th from the Périphérique or ring road around Paris.  Logistics companies love its location for ease of delivery (no tickets for obstructing sidewalks) and not too much gas used thanks to fewer stoplights.

The rent is high in the 8^th because there are many bank headquarters there as well as apartments owned by aristocrats.

Chartier’s menus are simple, but excellently prepared.  I do not remember all of them, but the book entitled Champagne Uncorked about Krug champagne jarred my memory about meal rotation.

I learned how to make Chartier’s menu offerings at home when I began working part-time once my daughter Florence was born when my family lived in Paris.  I have added to them now that I am back in the US in California.  You can find recipes for most of these items in cookbooks or online.

Drinks:

-gazpacho from Spain, if made traditionally with bread it may qualify as a full protein - grain from flour plus seeds in the vegetables and in the olive oil.  Factcheck needed from Purdue University.

-Thai iced tea

-apple cider

-pear cider

-Vouvray – fruity white from the Loire Valley (located close to Paris via highway and train, including TGV)

-Montlouis – fruity white from the Loire Valley

-Saumur Champigny – light red from the Loire Valley

-Bourgueil – light red from the Loire Valley

-Moretti amber beer from Udine, Italy

-Taittinger Champagne for deals signed and “name days” instead of birthdays for everyone.  (Taittinger is also the brand of the LA Rapper Notorious B.I.G., who was killed in New York I believe – factcheck needed.)

-Champagne Deutz – Not as well known, but very good.  My family served this at my daughter Florence’s baptism party held at the Chateau de la Jonchere at Bougival next to the Seine River outside Paris.

-Lillet - Sweet cordial from Bordeaux in both white and red

-Cointreau - Sweet orange cordial from Angers

-Tyrconnel Irish whiskey

-Dalmore Single Malt Scottish Whisky

-Johnnie Walker Blended Scotch Whisky

-Bombay Gin

-Tanqueray Gin

-Courvoisier Cognac

-Marc de Champagne or Burgundy to add to espresso, if desired.  This is called a café coretto in Italy.

-Mariage Frères Teas

-Lavazza Coffee for café crème

-Carte Noire for espresso

-Black currant liqueur to make kids with sweet white wine or Kir Royal with champagne

Hors d’oeuvre:

Offer a selection of 3 of the following items while guests wait on the rest of the meal:

-Roquefort with cream spread on toast squares

You can substitute the following cheese selections for Roquefort to make the dish above.  Sometimes your main supplier might be short of supply for any number of reasons, so it is good to have two or more other suppliers that you order from:

-Maytag blue – from US

-Cabrales – from Spain

-Gorgonzola – from Italy

-Carrot Purée made with butter and olive oil to spread on toast squares

-Sliced radishes served on top of buttered toast squares

-Braised red cabbage made with brown sugar with crumbled bacon sprinkled on top

-garlic-butter toast squares

-apple slices with cheddar cubes

-lentil salad made with lemon juice, olive oil, cumin, and chopped Italian parsley.  (Claudia Roden recipe)

-chopped iceberg lettuce, cashews, tangerine slices, and orange-blossom water with lemon juice dressing (Riff on a Paula Wolfert recipe using walnuts instead of cashews)

-cheddar-butter-paprika cheese balls

-smoked salmon, hard-boiled egg slices, and horseradish sauce on toasted pumpernickel squares

(This is great with Moretti beer and maybe Tyrconnel whiskey.)

  

Entrées

A choice of one of the following:

-Seasonal vegetable soup – puréed with cream offered on the side.  Cabbage, by the way, is a little easier to digest, if it is puréed in a soup.

-Greek Village salad with oil and vinegar dressing and two slices of feta cheese

-Plain salad with a choice of blue cheese dressing, Ranch dressing, or balsamic and vinegar dressing

Main Dishes

-Monday

Coq au Vin (Chicken Stewed in red wine with buttered tagliatelle on the side), or

Gratin Dauphinois (from the Jura Mountain area of France – potato casserole made with sliced potatoes, crème fraîche, butter, liquid cream, and grated gruyère on top)

-Tuesday

Seafood Pasta – use an Italian recipe for whatever is freshly caught that day.  If the catch is bad, make gambas al ajillo (Spanish garlic shrimp) with frozen, raw shrimp, or

Gratin Dauphinois

-Wednesday

Roast Chicken with potatoes and puréed spinach on the side made with cream and butter.  You can vary this by making Greek lemon-garlic chicken sometimes, or

Gratin Dauphinois

-Thursday

Boeuf Bourguignon – (Beef stew made with red wine and served with buttered tagliatelle), or

Gratin Dauphinois

-Friday

-Baked Fish (Cod) with sheet-pan, baked potatoes with Italian herbs, chopped garlic, and olive oil, or

-Gratin Dauphinois

Cheese Platter

Offer a selection of 8 different cheeses with a choice of 1 or 2 with two baguette slices.

Vegetarian Options:

There are vegetarian options for a main dish from several world cuisines.  I have listed several below that I like that can be served with bread made with California black olives and olive oil:

-Turkish-Lebanese-Egyptian – Spinach and or Cheese Phyllo Pies

-Thailand – Panang Curry with Vegetables (The curry is made with stewed peppers that can mild or spicy.)

-Greece – Salad buffet Greek Village Salad, Tomato and Onion Salad, and Tzatziki dip for toasted bread

-India – Vegetable curries, saags, and vindaloos

Dessert:

-Fruit Salads with cream on the side

-Fruit or vegetable breads or muffins such as banana bread, zucchini bread, or carrot cake served as a bread or muffin.

-Valrhona chocolate muffins

-Vanilla custard made with cream, eggs, sugar, and vanilla beans from Madagascar

Coffee and Digestif Alcohols as Desired

I loved eating at Chartier and have always believed that real food should not be limited to the bankers of France.  

This little spiel is a manifesto in support of the real food movement from Italy.

By Ruth Paget, author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

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Visiting Antwerp, Belgium's Home of Flemish and Dutch Masterpiece Paintings with Juilliard Graduate Florence Paget and Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

Visiting Antwerp, Belgium’s Home of Flemish and Dutch Masterpiece Paintings with Juilliard Graduate Florence Paget and Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

My husband Laurent and I bundled up Florence, put her in her car seat, and set out for a weekend in Belgium on a cold, winter day in Paris, France.

The destination I had in mind was Antwerp, Belgium to visit the Koninklijk Museum.  The famous Rubens paintings of wealthy, corpulent women were being restored, but there were still galleries full of paintings by Frans Hals, Rembrandt, Brueghel, and Memling to admire.

My favorite painting by Abel Grimmers (1570 – 1619) was entitled Springtime.  Springtime showed men planting gardens and making their vegetable gardens tidy and lovely.

That desire to beautify one’s surroundings was something I loved about the French, Belgians, and Dutch.  I liked making a little vacation home for myself like the French still do in this way, too.

We walked from the Museum to Antwerp’s Grande Place where we ate mussels with French fries the way the Belgians do; you dunk the fries in mayonnaise. 

That combination sounds awful, but tastes great with canary-yellow, homemade mayonnaise.

We drank Trappist wheat beers made by monks with our meal.

After dinner, we walked around the cold port and returned to Brussels for a good night’s sleep before returning home to Paris the next day.

You can take a TGV (French Speed Train) from Paris to Brussels (Belgium) as well.

I love how you can go all over France and to Italy and Spain on those TGV trains.

By Ruth Paget, Author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

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Visiting Orleans, France: Where Juilliard Graduate Florence Paget Rode Ponies with Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

Visiting Orleans, France:  Where Juilliard Graduate Florence Paget Rode Ponies with Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

A town my husband Laurent and I passed by often on the way to other towns in the Loire Valley was Orléans.

We finally visited Orléans one weekend when Laurent’s uncle and aunt invited us for lunch, so we could meet their little son.

When we arrived, Florence played with her cousin on the piano while we ate lunch.  The children had a table next to the adults’ table with appetizers and smaller portions of the adults’ meal.

Laurent’s aunt was fluent in German (Hochdeutsch not dialect) and had all kinds of German books in the library along with German-language magazines like Der Spiegel.  I busied myself looking at tomes of Goethe, Heine, and Grasse.

I wanted to read German one day like I was able to in French and Spanish, but Italian was the next language in line for me to learn.

After lunch, we took the children out for pony rides.  The children were adorable.  I loved riding ponies as a child on Belle Isle in Detroit (Michigan).

On the way home, we stopped in the city of Orléans to see where Joan of Arc made her way into Orléans on April 29, 1429.

She told the English forces gathered in town that she was sent by God to run the English out of France.  On May 8, 1429, the English left.

The Cathedral in Orléans was badly damaged during the French Revolution and never repaired, so people go there just for mass not art appreciation.

Our outing with the family in Orléans was fun, especially for the pony riding.

By Ruth Paget, Author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

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