I had the funniest dining experience yesterday. I was at this new kind of gourmet food court and decided on a crepe. The girl behind the counter couldn't have been older than 20 and clearly had no idea how to really make a french crepe. This despite the fact that she had all of the right instruments at her disposal. The awesome cooking surface, long spatula and etc. Watching her make a crepe was painful. She didn't know how to do the swirl of the batter with the little wooden blade and when she went to take the crepe off of the cook surface she took it off whole and draped it over a plate that was smaller than the crepe itself. She then proceeded to fill it to the brim with berries and then folded it with her hand. P A I N F U L if you have ever seen a real French crepe made. The restaurant is new. She's young. But I found myself thinking about having crepes made on the street in Paris ... and thought, sheesh what a mess.

My travels have really made me a bit of a food snob. And that's quite funny, considering I am such a picky eater. Seriously ... the pickiest eater you might ever meet. That said, of the things I do eat ... the must be the best. No Hershey chocolate for me - it's got to be dark and rich and, in many cases, from some foreign land to be good. I am obsessed with French butter, there is simply nothing like it. Gelato is not the same anywhere outside of Italy. And there is certainly American fare that cannot be duplicated abroad...

It's funny where life takes us and how that journey transforms us. Food for thought. * wink *