Goucher Eats: Cafe Culture

Kathryn Walker
Staff Writer

The first day I arrived in Paris, a hot sticky scorcher in August six-and-a-half months ago, one of the first words of advice given to me was, “Find your cafe.  Go there, drink coffee, read “Le Monde”, savor everything around you.”  And of course, I went off and decided that cheese was more important and found my fromagerie instead, thinking at the time that coffee was disgusting and cheese was more life sustaining.

Goucher Eats: Tarte Tatin

Kathryn Walker
Staff Writer

I’ve embarked on several hunts in Paris for the “best-ofs.”  For example: best cheese, best falaffel, best hot chocolate, best restaurant. And throughout, I’ve been fairly successful in finding places that force me to elicit with a goofy grin, “THIS IS THE BEST FOOD I’VE EVER EATEN!”  But for these past few months, I’ve been suffering from taster’s nostalgia: the taste memory of the first Tarte Tatin of my life.

For those of you who haven’t had the pleasure of having Proustian philosophy stuffed down your ears in French for two hours in a small, boiling-hot room, the basics are rather simple: taste can faire vivre/renaitre les plus belles souvenirs de ta vie.  So for the past several months, I have been searching in vain for a Tarte Tatin that would match the first Tarte Tatin that I ate back in October.  After several mediocre versions, I turned to my French cookie guru and fairy grandmother, Slyvie, who gladly welcomed me and several friends into her kitchen to learn how to make Tarte Tatin ourselves.

Restaurant Review: A Good Gateway Restaurant, Thai Yum

A dish from Thai Yum. (Photo: Michelle Tirto).

By Michelle Tirto
Staff Writer

My friend and I only ate at Thai Yum, a restaurant in Federal Hill, because of an unfortunate accident. We had trekked far for a supposedly amazing Middle Eastern restaurant, only to discover that on the eve of Thanksgiving it was closed. Starving, we doubled back until we found Thai Yum, the lone open restaurant that cold, gusty night.

Goucher Eats Abroad: Raclette

Kathryn Walker
Staff Writer

I have now reached the point in the semester where I’m finding English just as or more difficult to comprehend than French.

For example, before starting to write this article, I spent a good ten minutes trying to remember the word “spatula”—all I could think of was that it started with an “s” and that it’s used to flip pancakes.  So, instead, I went on to describing something else entirely, only to hit a wall once more.  Ah, the agonies of language immersion! If anything, I have become an extremely good real-life Charades player and can now enact and interpret almost anything with hand or body gestures.  Which happens to be a huge asset when sitting down to family meals, regardless of the language or country.

Goucher Eats Abroad: Potiron Pumpkins

Kathryn Walker
Staff Writer

My experience with pumpkins has never really been an easy one.  For example, last year a friend and I had the brilliant idea of trying to roast our own pumpkin when Trader Joe’s ran out of canned pumpkin.  According to all of the food magazines and blogs that we leafed through, DIY pumpkin pie filling is super easy and super chic.  All I can say is that those people must have had chain saws, while we sadly had a contraption that more closely resembled a butter knife.  But regardless, I still love pumpkin-flavored anything and have been especially enticed by all of the pumpkins, or potirons, that have sprouted up all over the markets recently.

It’s autumn, and that means it’s time for some potiron treats. (Photo: Wikipedia.)