The Making of Foie Gras

Jim and I went to Laurence's house last night to make foie gras - otherwise known as over-sized duck liver with cirrhosis.

Basically, Laurance first took Patrick to a specialty shop to pick up the duck liver. Apparently, you can't kill a duck at any old time, duck liver is seasonal, so we should start seeing it in the local grocery stores shortly. Since there's really not much to the recipe, it's all about the quality of the duck liver. The stuff is not cheap - it runs about 30 euros for one 600g liver. Although the original liver was expensive, Patrick found about 1/10th the amount of finished foie gras in the same store for about 110 euros.

So the first step after purchase is to remove the veins from the liver - since that will give a bad taste and texture in the end. They can be hard to find, so this is probably the most labor intensive step. After that we take a bottle of white wine, a 1/4 teaspoon of salt (specifically made for foie gras), and a 1/4 teaspoon of nutmeg, and marinate the liver for 24 hours in the refrigerator (flipping once after 12 hours). The next step is to bake the mixture in a terrine with a bain-marie for 40 minutes in 150 C oven, let it stand to room temperature, and then cure in the refrigerator for 2 days. After that it keeps for a about a week.

We actually didn't wait that long to see how long it keeps. Knowing that Patrick would be unable to eat an entire terrine of foie gras by himself, we opted for a tasting at work to celebrate the end of Model Office. Thomas brought in some great bottles of wine, Patrick ran home at 4PM and picked up the finished foie gras and pre-ordered bread from the local bakery - and it was an instant party. Of course, being the veg I couldn't taste it, but the reviews were very favorable, and the old catering trick of knowing if something was good . . . there wasn't any left.

Baden-Baden Spa

Went to Baden-Baden – home of the Spa – for a Sunday afternoon. See the insider travel blog for all the details. We went with Joe (Grabczak) and Prabhu who were here for Model Office, and as Joe said, “Good thing we went on Sunday, instead of Saturday, because I would have wanted to go back on Sunday again.”

Since Baden-Baden is only about 45 minutes away, it’s an easy Sunday afternoon trip when we’re in Strasbourg and everything else is closed.

Halfway done with Model Office

Alas, we are halfway through model office. Actually, for us it’s more like 90% done, since almost all of our sessions were within the first week. Apparently there is a school holiday the second week in Strasbourg, and so they wanted to get the integrated sessions out of the way in the first week to get the best attendance.

I think the sessions have gone very well, but like most Model Office’s it’s a lot of information for the business to absorb in such a short period of time. We did have an advanced design session earlier in the summer, so many of the major issues had already been resolved. I think I’m up to 3 issues, which is really kind of unheard of.

Have to throw in something to Prabhu, who (as always) has rocked. Obviously a great technical and business resource, and we've had absolutely flawless demonstrations. Tuesday night he had to throw something together at the last minute that very few could have done as quickly or as easily.

Weekend to Colmar

Went down the Alsatian wine road again this Saturday for the benefit for everyone who was already over here for Model Office. A guy in the office gave several suggestions on where to go, and we followed those to find new wineries and a new castle. Here’s the rundown . . . .

Winery in Small Alsatian town

After the castle, we drove to a very small village that I don't even remember the name. We were looking for a specific winery that Thomas had recommended, but we found another one instead. Patrick thought I had stopped the car, because there was a stork sitting on top of a house next door, but I was basically on a mission to get Riesling. With it being almost 6PM, we were running out of time, so we walk down this driveway of a house, and in the back is a winery that the owners had converted from their basement.

The wine was of course very good – we tried Muscat, Pinot Gris, Riesling, Gewurtz, and a Cremant. He also took us around and talked about his fermentation operation (which had recently started a week ago).

Patrick found a Pinot Gris that he really liked (a rare occurrence for someone who doesn’t really like wine), and I picked up a Magnum (2X the normal size) of Cremant (think Champagne without being actually made in Champagne, which is another story). I also picked up a couple bottles of Riesling and Gewurtz, because we go through them pretty quickly at home for dinner.

Oh, and in case I didn’t mention this before – it’s cheap. The magnum was 15 euros, and the most expensive bottle of wine we bought was less than 9 euros.

After grabbing a place in Colmar to eat from the Pudlo (also very homey and nice), we headed home – in bed by midnight.

Winery in Heiligenstein

After taking the obligatory stop at Mont St. Odile, we went through Obernai for lunch and looked around just a little bit (we’ll have to go back). Eventually we made it to Heiligenstein, whose specialty is a wine called Klevener. It’s a white wine that falls between a Tokay or Pinot Gris, but it was very good and probably not readily available in the US.

Like most wine tastings in Alsace, you have to basically just knock on the door of someone’s house to ask where there is a tasting – I have yet to find one that charges.

Cellphone !!!

Yea !!! We have cellphones now. We basically weren’t in a huge hurry, and we had to work out all the banking crap (checkbook, bankcard, etc.). It was also kind of challenging to find a time that we could go and there wasn’t 10 people already in line. Good news is that we did it all in French. And now, it’s nice to be able to find each other quickly, when we’re both running around town.

And although you can't see it from this picture. The phone is pretty flibbin' tiny - just over 2 inches long - with a camera.

Model Office Begins

With the start of Model Office, there are some old co-workers in town. I think in total there are 8 people from the US over here, who arrived last Sunday. Their hotel is about 5 minutes drive from the plant, so they have been taking taxis, but it has been manageable.

We all went out the dinner when they arrived Sunday, and we’ve been breaking off into smaller groups throughout the week. Big dinner for the entire team is scheduled for this Wednesday, and most of them should be leaving on Friday or Saturday.

Eau de Vie

A colleague at work (Marc Lauwick) suggested an interesting distillery close to Strasbourg - so we went down this past Sunday and tried some of their products.

Basically the French take every single kind of fruit known to man (and some you haven't heard of) and ferment it. When they're done, they're left with a 45% alcohol content liquor and call it a digestif. They'll also take the same liquor and add some additional fruit and turn it into an aperitif (more for before dinner). The lesson here is that with 50+ different kinds of liquor, you are bound to find something that you like. I picked up a very old Mirabelle, a strawberry aperitif, and a weird mixture of something called Madoudou - kind of can't describe that one.

The whole aperitif and digestif sounds all a bit over the top, but once you get into it - it's a nice way to start and end a meal.

Market Report

OK, the non-stock market kind, since Lilly stock is so far in the toilet, it's not a happy conversation.

Patrick and I split resources this morning. He went to the Cathedral market to pick up fish, and I did the Marne market for cheese. We also picked up some fruits along the way. Hopefully, we'll be able finish it off this week (we're expecting a couple nights out due to visitors from Model Office). There was also a good selection of pre-made foods, so I picked up a veggie tart (had that for lunch today) and some kind of Alsatian roll. Laurence says I have to put it in the oven for a bit and serve with some jam and butter (I just do what I'm told).

Of course I did the cheese thing, but that deserves it's own post.

The only other important piece of news was the purchase of the requisite french market bag (another reason I went to the Marne market).

Outside Apartment Pictures

OK, sorry for the delay with the courtyard pictures. I was going to get a shot of the big door that everyone sees from the street, but that would have required bringing keys outside to get back in (which, of course, I had forgotten).

The first picture is just inside the door. Although you can't see it from the picture, there's a big sign (kind of) on the left side that explains the history of this particular address. I haven't taken the time to translate all of it, but I think it basically starts with the owners from the 1500's..

The second picture is from the end of the overhang - probably 10 feet from the statue. It appears from the reading on the wall that this area was at one point three houses, and the second picture is showing the second house that's in the middle of the area.

The third picture is showing basically the front door to our apartment. It's way in the back with the red door. The place to the right of the red door is a book repair shop. Obviously they don't really get too much walk-in business - I suppose repairing a book really isn't an impulse buy. You can also start to see on the left of the red door a building, which has the architecture firm.

The last and final picture shows the office on the left and a closer look at our front door. It does kind of look like we're slammed in there (which we probably are), and it also helps to explain why we really don't have any windows on the first floor. If you remember from the previous post about the roof access to the outside, that's going to be on top of the book binding business. Luckily I don't think that we'll be using the roof during business hours.



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Cheeses for the Week

I think I've been doing a pretty good job in controlling the cheese purchases - in order to make sure that none go to waste. This week I picked up the roquefort, mozzarella, brie, and goat cheese with fresh figs. Not quite as crazy as some other weeks, but you can't do Munster every week.

OK, so maybe I won't kill some plants

OK, so maybe I won't be killing all the plants in our care. Turns out one of the plants is starting to grow a flower (look for the little red thing in the center). Granted I'll still probably kill the ficus and the Boston fern, but not doing too badly with the others.

Winston - a cry for help

Hi, it's me, Winston. You know, the beloved and faithful animal that you left behind as you went tromping through France.

I just wanted to hack your blog to get in a little update of my life, so you keep me in mind as your playing with all the other dogs in the city of Strasbourg. Yes, I know, they're better behaved than me - I heard about the white labrador that you saw sitting peacefully at a cafe one Saturday, and didn't even flinch as other dogs went walking by. Maybe if you had higher expectations for me as a puppy, maybe I too would be able to go inside a restaurant someday.

Just to let you know how I am keeping myself busy . . . in addition to keeping the yard free of chipmunks (squirrels are OK), I now have these two animals in the house that don't seem to be going away. Not only are they getting into my toys and personal space, but they're also threatening me with bodily harm. Sam is blinded by the cuteness of one of them, but I now have hard evidence that they're up to no good. With the help of motion detection software and a webcam, I was able to take this picture remotely as I left the house to take my daily walk. In the event of my early demise, I hope this proof will lead you to my killers.

Charity Run

This week we had a 24 hour marathon charity event at the plant. For every kilometer that someone walked or ran, the company would donate 5 euros to charity. Andrea, Joe, and I started at 7PM on Wednesday night, and did 10 km in an hour. Not too bad.

The last lap, they had to get all "We have to run fast" and I had flashbacks to when I was a 7 year old child and being ditched by my brothers - but I will eventually recover from the emotional damage. Granted the picture looks like Joe and I are running hard, and Andrea is merely power walking - but we all survived and made it to work the next day.

The Team for the next 12 months

Here's the group photo of the GBIP team in Fegersheim. I think that's not everyone, but it gives you a pretty good idea of how big the team is. See how the Americans just blend in?

Hiking in the Vosges

Patty will probably do a longer post in his blog about the Vosges, but in case you missed it we did the hiking thing on Sunday. It's a great activity considering most things are closed on Sunday. Also wanted to post this picture of some ruins that we came across on our trail.

New market on Saturday

In an ever increasing attempt to see as many french markets as possible, Patrick, Jim, Theresa, Laurence, and I went to the Cathedral market on Saturday. This was a producer's market, which means that in order to sell goods you had to have made them. The Marne market probably had better selection and was a little cheaper, but there was some pretty amazing stuff.

Even for this late time of year, we picked up some raspberries and grapes. We also found some potatoes, a duck breast, and fish patty thing (that was apparently pretty good), a nice cow's cheese, and lettuce. I think we need to go to the market about twice a week, so that means Gaby's Mom may have to go for us on Tuesday or Wednesday (they live around the corner from us, but more on that later.)

The duck breast was probably one of the more interesting finds of the day. In the states the only duck that's really available is the Long Island duck which is pretty fatty. But here you can buy a nice piece of duck that fries in the skillet well (Gaby's landlord told us how, which is a totally different story).

Apartment Details

OK, I'm a little late on this one. Here some pics from the apartment. I'd have to put shoes on to get pictures for the courtyard, so those will have to wait.

Here's a picture of the front door from inside the apartment (not too exciting, I know). On the right is the coat close, and in the upper left is the wine stash (more on that later). There's also a small bathroom to the left of the coat closet that you can't see, and a small closet to put a couple of pairs of shoes.

I thought storage was pretty limited when I was got here, but there's a couple big cupboard above in the hallway that can hold a lot of crap.

Downstairs great room

Basically these pictures were taken by turning around from the picture I took in the front hallway. Not that exciting again - the space is bigger than it probably shows in the picture. Sorry for the mess in the first picture - our key to the garbage cans is not working, and it's kind of pilling up from the shipped container. You should be able to see how the kitchen opens up into the big room downstairs. The infamous sky lights are just above the couch and to the right of the washing machine. That reminds me, I need to show pictures of the plants I'm going to kill.

Kitchen

The kitchen's good and efficient. Has all the stuff you need to cook, etc. Looking at it you would think that there's not enough storage space for much of anything - but so far there's no problem. (I think I'm just used to having a lot of crap in my kitchen that I seldom use).

One thing we really like is that the sink and fridge are hidden behind a wall, so we can have a big mess in the kitchen, but hard for someone to really see. Even from this picture you don't see the fridge which is behind the wall on the left.

Believe it or not most of the stuff in the kitchen is complements of IKEA (I'd say 95%). This is also where the washer/dryer is in the house, which took some getting used to. Because the machine doesn't have a vent, it takes awhile for the clothes to dry - but I suppose this is one of the benefits of not having to pay utilities.

Plants that we're going to kill

It's not like that I'm bad with plants, it's more like I don't do well under stress. Seems the last tenant killed a couple plants, so the pressure is on. Not to mention the fact that three of the plants are ones that I always kill - two ficus and one Boston Fern.

They assured me when I moved in that the Boston Fern is a surviver, and it really likes its location, but I still remain unconvinced. Don't get me wrong, I'll water the freaking things, but I want the expectations lowered from the beginning.

Upstairs Hallway

Again, another undescript picture. The upstairs hallway (taken from the top of the stairs) shows the door to the office/guest bedroom on the left, the normal bathroom on the right, and the 'big' bedroom straight ahead. Trying the train Patrick to keep the doors shut, but it's an uphill battle.

Big Bedroom

It's small, and it looks even smaller with the picture. The bed size (albeit half the size of the bed back in Indy) seems to be OK. Window shown here can be used to access the top of the roof next door, which is pretty big.

The other picture is a 180 turn from the previous picture. Shows the closet storage space, which isn't too bad (once it was rearranged).

The "Other's" perspective

It feels kind of weird to be posting on something titled 'Wades Journal', so I may end up doing one of these on my own, but this will do for now.

As W indicated earlier, my flight here was pretty uneventful. I was able to fly Business class on the overseas leg, and it was very nice. The added leg room and ability to recline are invaluable. I even slept for an hour or so, impossible for me to do in coach.

So far, everything is great. I love the apartment. It is small, but it is such a great use of space. Lots of ideas for us to use back in the states. I have just started to get out into the city, and it is great. All of the small shops and stores are going to be fun to explore. And the Shoes! Guys wear cool shoes here. Not the boring brown and black things back home. I've already got my eye on a couple of different shops near the apartment that offer some interesting choices. Wade was right, it's a good thing I will be working over here.

We ate at 'La Casserole' my first night here, and it was very good. The coolest thing was that the restaurant was about 30 feet from the entrance to our apartment. The words 'location, location, location' were never more true.

Spent yesterday learning how to get around. Since W was at work, we called Chris Hagan, and he came over and showed me around. I learned how to get tickets for the metro, and he showed me some of the city outside the city center. It was cool to get another persons impressions of the city to compare to W's.

As far as language goes, at first I thought it was bad. I couldn't understand anything anyone said. They speak so fast, and I don't yet have an ear for it. But it is already getting better. As W mentioned earlier, I had to go to France Telecom to help resolve our Internet problems, and nobody there spoke much English. My French was better than I thought. I didn't get very fancy, and pretty much stuck to present tense, but I got my point across. They were very accommodating, and very helpful.

More to come later.....

Last weekend

Short reader's digest of last weekend:
1. Coffee
2. Market
3. Four hour drive to Stuttgart (should have been less than half that)
4. Hugo Boss outlet
5. German State Fair

Lesson's learned from last weekend:
1. Coffee at plant is way cheaper
2. Market's spank grocery stores
3. Wade should never navigate in Germany
4. Joe Moeddel's development plan is to be able to wear a scarf and not look gay
5. Drunk people pretty much act the same regardless of what country they're from

And one more thing . . . new clothes

The arrival of the container was just about perfect. Patrick flew in at 11:00, and the container came in about 2:00 in the afternoon. With the exception of a couple pieces of huge luggage that we're not sure what to do with (evidence on the left) - everything seems to fit in the 700 sqft apartment. Talk to me in about three months to see if I still fit in the apartment.

The Internet's Here Too

Yeah, now we have the Internet at home. Should make things a bit easier at work, and it also makes updating the blog easier (kind of had 0 time at work to do it). DSL is about the same price as the US, but you can get a router that is also wireless, gives you your TV channels, and does some sort of other crap. Don't really know the details.

The important point was that in order to get the thing to work, Patrick had to go to the telecom store and pick up the correct modem. Not sure how grammatically correct the conversation was, but at least he got the right thing.

Patrick's Here

Apparently having better luck than I in arriving in Strasbourg, Patrick arrived safely Wednesday morning. I was even prepared to take the day off to show him around Strasbourg, but he told me to go to work anyway. Probably a good thing too, since it sounds like he went to sleep, took a walk around town, and then slept again until I got home. Took him out to a proper french meal at La Casserole, but I hope he doesn't think we'll be eating like this all the time.