September 2 -- late morning and lunch in Tours

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Spotted in an enclosed (but apparently public; there was a sign telling us when it was open) garden.

Back to "our" square.  This is actually when I took the next pic (which I showed you in the previous post as well).

Love these umbrellas, with the leafy fabric.

Details on the buildings shown above.

These buckets are full of dirt and rocks.  Someone's basement is getting dug out, I bet.....

Lots more bicycles in Europe than most of the USA.

Love the curtainy carving.

This used to be a church, but now it is empty (and missing most of its windows).

I was struck by the contrast between the old building and the spiffy new streetlights.

We consoled ourselves after our disappointing dinner with a lunch that was Very Good Indeed.

The salt is supposed to be wine-flavored (which is why it is red).  All I could taste was salt.

Terroir means "the environment in which something was grown/produced."

This says "Great reds of the Loire -- the wines which have a river as their terroir."

A journalistic shot of the foodie recording her impressions.

It's interesting how many false cognates we have, surrounding "ordering in a restaurant."

In France, la carte is what we would call "the menu."

In France, a menu is a fixed-price set of choices, often a main course with an appetizer or a dessert, or maybe all three. Or perhaps more than three courses (in Bayonne, we had a four-course menu).

In France, an entrée means "the dish you begin with" (as you might think it should be, from its name!). The main course is the plat.

Dessert is a true cognate.  We also agree that an hors d'oevre comes first.

In the interest of not being tempted to eat way too much, we settled on an hors d'oevre each, knowing we could order something else if we wished.

On the lookout for cooked vegetables, I considered deux asperges ("two asparaguses"), but wondered if crème brulée was always sweet? And, please, what is "lard powder"?

Our server said it was not sweet, so I decided to go for it. (I didn't ask about the lard powder.....)

It was delicious. There was only a hint of asparagus, so as to not overwhelm the delicacy of the custard, perhaps. It was a little sweet, and I think "lard powder" means "essence of bacon." YUM.

This is the tarte Tourandelle. Rillons are chunks of pork which have been sautéed, and which are a local/regional specialty.

It, too was delicious.

We shared those two dishes, and then thought about dessert.

We were so glad to have chosen this exquisite pain perdue. (French toast -- literally "lost bread," as it is a way yesterday's bread is used rather than thrown out.)

It was made with a slice of brioche, which is a rich eggy bread, and it was topped with mirabelle plums (the greeny yellow, barely visible left and above the currants in the pic), and red currants.

As you can see, it was custardy. The tartness of the fruits was a perfect foil to the creamy sweetness.

Delicious, and gorgeous. Yum, yum, yum.

Happy sigh.


This restaurant (as you could see from the menu) was named d'Ici et d'Ailleurs, which means "From Here and From Elsewhere." (the du Midi means it is the lunch menu)

They do cuisine from other places around the globe (some East Indian items on the menu the day we visited), as well as local specialties. Our particular interest was in the local, so we didn't try the more exotic fare, but I bet it was good, too.

My daughter's take on this lovely day can be seen here.



In order to facilitate chronological traverse of these posts, here is a link to the post that comes after this one.

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