10 June 2010

00:54 Toulouse

(Photos)

And a relaxing evening it has been.  Listening to this radio station here, the Toulouse University station, has been an interesting ride.  All over the place but true to college radio form very eclectic and clearly driven by individual passions.

For instance, a ska version of the Hazelwood/Sinatra classic Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down).  But I digress…

Toulouse night like a Seattle August after a light rain.  Yes, the gods are smiling down on me.  I reward them with my fatigue.  Apparently it’s hipper than ambrosia.

We ordered a pizza-like deliciousness.  Came in cardboard boxes.  It’s called La flammekueche (à la maison) and the delivery joint is called Flam-Flam.

A flammekueche (literally flame cake) or tarte flambée (recipe) is a kind of baked flat bread with sauce, cheese, and other toppings.  Where pizza would use a tomato based sauce, the flammekueche uses a crème fraîche based sauce.  We ordered a Gratinée (oignons, lardons (basically cubed bacon), fromage râpé emmental) and (Eric’s choice) a Tex-Mex (oignons, pommes de terre (potatoes), viande hachée (could be anything), épices tex-mex (hard to imagine), fromage râpé, maîs (maize), poivrons (bell peppers)).

…or this Portuguese (?) version of Sixteen Tons.  Digression is my middle name.  Seriously.  You can look at my birth certificate.

What I appreciate the most about la flammekueche is that they call it la flammekueche and not a Look-at-our-fancy-dead-rat pizza.  Things can use that construct and not be pizza and somehow still be delicious.  The problem is there are no pizza laws and so you can make anything you want and call it a pizza.  Cowards!  At least rent a pair.

Well, true to form Eric has passed out on the newly installed couch (shoes on) mumbling his last sentence: “We’re gonna show those fuckers tomorrow what Seattle is made of”.  Where does he get all this energy?

Oh, I almost forgot to mention the wine.  We drank a two Euro twenty bottle of Corbières Rouge.  Table wine (vin du table) but excellent and easily drinkable.  Where are my $3 bottles of red in Seattle?