Samantha

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Merci!

Samantha Here: David, Amy and I have arrived back to familiar soil after a long day of travel from Strasbourg to Paris to Washington DC to Denver and finally to Colorado Springs (and Amy to Montrose). Though I was looking forward to reacquainting with my family, friends, and routine, I’m slightly jealous of both Amanda and Margeaux who choose to forgo the plane ride home for a week in Paris (Amanda will also be in London for yet another week after that!). Who wouldn’t want to be in Paris in the springtime?! I am sure they will have an amazing time exploring this historic and lovely city that is certainly much different than the Alsatian countryside we just came from!

In my final post, I would like to first thank Rotary for enabling us to embark on this life-changing excursion abroad. I would also like to thank our corresponding District Governors – Steve Berg from Colorado Rotary District 5470 and Anita Grimm from France Rotary District 1680 – for their incredible support, leadership, and vision. Also, a big thanks to Philip Sargent, our hardworking, witty, and entertaining Coordinator who ensured us a very successful experience while in country.

There were dozens of Rotarians involved in providing us with warm food, transportation, comfortable beds, sightseeing experiences, comic relief, etc., etc., and to those I would also like to extend a very heartfelt “merci beaucoup!” We will keep countless fond memories of your kindness and hospitality with us for years to come.

Finally, thank you to our family, friends, and Rotarian community back in CO – we appreciate you so much, and we are excited to see many of you again soon!

Thank you again to everyone involved in this trip – I am very grateful! I look forward to reporting back to a few of the Rotary clubs here in the Springs!

Merci, encore! Au revoir!

2011: 04/23
CATEGORY: Uncategorized
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Alsatian Cuisine

Samantha Here: Three times a day for a total of six hours (or more), we engage in one of the most important aspects of French living: eating. Having spent time in other parts of France, I can tell you that traditional Alsatian food is quite different than traditional French food and has its own flare and delicacies. We’ve eaten plates of white asparagus (in season now), boards of tarte flambée (thin pizza with créme fraiche, cured ham, and onions), bowls of choucroute (sauerkraut often served with sausage, ham, or fish), and much more. Here are a few photos to whet your appetite.

Medallions of camembert battered and fried

Chicken with morel mushrooms in a cream sauce

Pastry filled with raspberries and chantilly, topped with a honey dome and garnished with an exotic fruit much like a cherry

Salad with goat cheese toast "buttons"

Griottine cherries marinated in liqueur

Chocolate and banana profiteroles

Haddock baked with a pistacio crust, herbed tomato filling, and surrounded by a sea of pea sauce

Veal in brown sauce with carrots, hashed potatoe point, and green beans

Layered lemon and cassis cake topped with gelatin, fresh fruit, and wafer

Seared scallops with risotto

Chocolate cake with raspberry sorbet

Asparagus soup

Tarte Flambée with asparagus

Asparagus with cured ham

Parfait with layers of chantilly, strawberries, rhubarb, and chocolate shavings

2011: 04/21
CATEGORY: Uncategorized
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Food and Marketing Vocational Training 101

Samantha Here: As a food tour guide and marketing professional, it’s fairly easy for me to find something vocationally relevant here in France! Per Rotary’s guidelines, we each are required to complete a minimum number of vocational “training” days pertinent to our careers back in CO. So far, I’ve completed a total of five vocational excursions – some very structured and others a bit more impromptu. Each excursion was entirely unique from the rest, yet combined, they help me have a more well-rounded view of the food and tourism industries.

Here are my trainings this far:

(1) Maison Du Tourisme in Saverne
I was fortunate enough to spend time with Virginia, Director of the Office of Tourism in Saverne regarding their tourist profile, yearly goals, marketing strategies, and efforts to support the local hospitality and restaurant businesses. This was truly an exchange of information as I was able to tell her about Colorado Springs and what I do to cater to tourists – she loved the idea of a food tour and now wants one for her own city!

Outdoor Signage

(2) Marketing/Graphic Design Firm in Besançon
A local Rotarian named Muhammed was kind enough to give me a tour of his marketing, website construction, and graphic design company he started called Publicity. He and his staff turn out incredible work and are pioneering new creative television advertisement marketing. They install flatscreen TVs in bakeries, pharmacies, and other business throughout town that rotate short, silent commercials for products relevant to that specific target base. For instance, the pharmacy commercials are of baby formula, medication, lotions, etc.

Logo

Flatscreen with scrolling commercials

(3) Euroserum (condensed milk factory) in Vesoul
Euroserum is the leading condensed milk factory supplying huge world-renown companies such as Yoplait, Danon, and Nestle with powered milk. I got a private tour of their facilities with the current director. The amount of product they turn out is simply incredible, and it was interesting getting a behind-the-scenes look into a nearly completely automated factory. And no, unfortunately I did not get to keep my wonderful white outfit!

About to enter the super sanitary factory!

(4) L’Institut Griottines (cherries and Kirsch factory) + Guided Historical Walking Tour in Luxeuil
Though vocationally relevant to me, everyone got to participate in today’s festivities (much to their delight, I can assure you!). At L’Institut Griottines, I learned that the cherry industry in France is extremely important, and the need for cherries has surpassed the production, thus requiring France to transport cherries from Serbia’s abundant groves. These aren’t just any cherries though; they go through a laborious process of being picked, pitted, then marinated in alcohol. The result is a delicious treat perfect as an ice cream or cake topping, a meat garnish, or just plain straight out of the jar. They also specialize in producing Kirsch, a wonderful cherry liqueur.

The walking tour was particularly fascinating, as our guide named Corinne from the local Tourism Office shared information about their famous mineral springs that sojourners come from miles away to taste. The water is enclosed in a spa building which for centuries has welcomed many seeking medical or relaxation treatment.

As irony would have it, I give historical information on Manitou Springs, one of my three food tour sites, which is also famous for it’s mineral spring water and spa building! Her stories and information was near identical to mine!

Me at the Griottine Institute

Small Jars of Cherries with Liqueur

Guignolet - YUM!

Historical Spa Building in Luxeuil

Cherry Blossoms with Spa Building in the Background

(5) Super U Grocery Store and Maetva Marketing Firm in Melhouse
I started out the day touring two different Super U grocery stories owned by a Rotarian in Mulhouse, a mid-sized city bustling with commerce and culture. To my delight, I was paired with a delightful woman named Florence who is the Assistant to the Director for one of the stores. During my visit, I learned about their receiving and stocking system, employee policies, organizational structure, and more, and I also had a great lunch with the CEO, Madame Marquis.

The next stop was a marketing firm in the center of the city called Maetva. The Director along with an Account Executive were generous enough to spend a portion of the afternoon with me discussing new marketing trends, demographic research, client acquisition, and the differences between marketing in the States versus marketing in France. It was a informational time, and I was very excited to “talk shop” with people who “speak” my language!

Madame Marquis et moi at the Super U

Maetva Logo

I’m looking forward to deciding how I will impliment these new experiences into my professional life at home!

2011: 04/15
CATEGORY: Besaçon
Franche-Compté
Mulhouse
Saverne
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La Maison de Louis Pasteur

Samantha Here: Arbois may be a small ville (city) in the region of Franche-Comté, but there are beaucoup (a lot of) things to do in and around it! One of their many claims to fame is being the home of Monsieur Louis Pasteur, French chemist who revolutionized modern medicine through vaccination research and other scientific strides. He is most known for his rabies and anthrax vaccines along with his invention of “pasteurization,” or a process of removing harmful and disease-carrying germs from milk and wine.

He lived a full life from 1822 to 1895. While reaching the height of world fame, Pasteur was a small man at less than 5′ tall. His home in Arbois was donated to a foundation and is now a museum displaying his life and work. Here are a few photos from our tour!

Louis Pasteur's House

Umbrellas

Desk in his Laboratory/Office

Original Apothacary Jars

Office/Laboratory

Office/Laboratory 2

Original Glass Bulbs for Conducting Tests

Original Cotton Swabs Containing Blood from Rabid Rabbits

View from the Back

Our Group with our Guide

And as a bonus, I wanted to include a few photos from our time in Arbois – what an incredibly beautiful place!

Sunset 1

Sunset 2

Church in the Country

Tulips

Daisies

2011: 04/09
CATEGORY: Franche-Compté
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Mephisto Shoe Factory Tour

Samantha Here: We have so many things packed into one day that it’s difficult to choose what to blog about while not leaving out anything important! We’re now in Besaçon, but I want to bring you back to Saverne where we took a day trip to Sarreboug to take a private tour of the Mephisto shoe factory with Rolf Konrad, Secretary General and current President of one of the local Rotary clubs.

If you are unfamiliar, Mephisto is a higher-end shoe manufacturer specializing in handmade, comfort shoes. Founded in 1965 by Frenchman Martin Michaeli, this company’s first target market was actually the United States. Since then, they’ve grown tremendously, now selling shoes in 70 countries with a total of 800+ stores. They are now one of the very few shoe manufacturers in the world not using plastic materials and still constructing the shoes by hand.

They take extreme pride in the fact that each shoe is individually designed and crafted using the highest grade materials. Walking through the factory, this was very evident! We all thoroughly enjoyed seeing each of the stages of production from conception to creation. Here are a few photos from our tour!

Leather 1

Leather 2

Leather 3

Leather 4

Leather Cutting by Hand

Leather Cutting by Intense Water Pressure

One of the Sole Stations

Halfway Finished

Thread

Stitching Station

Rolf and the Gang

The Finished Product (I want a pair so bad!!)

2011: 04/03
CATEGORY: Saverne
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French Chocolate Tasting

Samantha Here: There’s no doubt about it; I am a chocolate fiend. Infrequent are the days when I do not indulge in this sweet delight. Yesterday, our team had the opportunity to meet with Christoph Meyer, chocolatier extraordinaire at Christian in downtown Strasbourg.

Our lesson in chocolate included learning about the three components that determine the quality of chocolate: (1) the richness and contents of the soil from which the cocoa beans are grown, (2) the length and intensity of the fermentation period, and (3) the bean roasting. Christoph informed us that one batch of cocoa beans can be made into up to 30 different types of chocolate depending on how they go about achieving these three stages.

Christoph purchases cocoa beans from around the world: Venezuela, Bolivia, Guatemala, Madagascar, Peru, Cameroon, and even Haiti, their newest edition. When deciding how best to prepare the chocolate, he takes into consideration how the chocolate, given its unique flavor depending on the plantation in the world it came from, will go best with other ingredients.

For instance, he chose to pair a Venezuelan chocolate with ginger, cardamom, and coriander. With a Guatemalan chocolate, he selected raspberry, rose, and lavender.

Like wine making, chocolate making is part science and chemistry. But it’s the creativity of the chocolatier that truly makes this an art form.

Christoph taught us how to sample chocolate much like we were sampling wine, allowing the chocolate to melt on our tongues while inhaling quickly, letting the air open up the complex flavors. (For a most enjoyed experience, he recommended we swish it around our palettes with a glass of Alsatian, dry white wine, of course.)

We sampled nearly a dozen various bon bons and chocolate bars today from Christoph’s pâtisserie. A few of the more uniquely flavored bon bons included:

Fresh orange, grapefruit, and lime,
Brown sugar,
Quetche (prune-like fruit only found in this region), and
Hazelnut praline with a crispy center and sugar coated exterior.

Aside from my personal affinity for chocolate, I’m strongly considering adding a chocolate and wine tasting tour to my repertoire of walking food tours at Colorado Springs Food Tours. If and when I do, I plan on using the information I received today on this fascinating culinary art form. Please enjoy the photos from our tour below!

Christian - Exterior Facade

Chocoate Bon Bons

Chocolate Display Case

Easter Bunnies - Partially complete

Christoph's Assistant Making Easter Bunnies

Close to being complete

Chocolate bars from Venezuela, Haiti, and Bolivia

Amazing array of chocolates we sampled (see above flavors)

Cocoa Beans

Christoph and Amy

Our group with Christoph!

2011: 03/30
CATEGORY: Strasbourg
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Cherry Blossoms in Strasbourg

Samantha Here: It’s finally here. The moment we’ve long awaited and for which we’ve diligently prepared. Today, our Group Study Exchange team from Colorado Rotary District 5470 arrived in Strasbourg, France after schlepping luggage, enduring hoards of Spring break travelers, resisting heavy eyelids, and chasing the sun halfway around the world.

Our team in Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris

With no delays, hiccups, or problems, we were cheerily greeted into this beautiful European capital of government and history by a company of Rotarians as accomplished as they are hospitable. France District Governor Anita Grimm and her husband and former District Governor, Jacques Grimm, along with former GSE team leader Christine and current GSE Coordinator, Philip Sargent, planned an informal orientation in our Hotel following our airport pickup. Laughter and toasts were shared, and we were overwhelmed with the generosity, kindness, and thoughtfulness of our French hosts. They have diligently assembled a schedule for us for the next 28 days that will include everything from a chocolate factory tour to a visit to the European parliament building to an afternoon at a Holocaust concentration camp. We can’t wait to get started (after catching up on some sleep!) and are very excited to meet Rotarians along the way!

First meeting with our Rotarian hosts

In an attempt to curb our jet lag, our team took a stroll through the picturesque neighborhood that would have me believing I was in Germany long before I’d guess France. The cherry blossoms are in full bloom – my personal favorite! The air was fresh and warm, and the setting sun bathed the streets in a lovely shade of jaune (yellow).

Fuschia Magnolias

Cherry Blossoms

Cherry Blossoms II

Strasbourg House I

Strasbourg House II

Strasbourg House III

We finished up the day with a buffet dinner at the hotel where the entrées included gazpacho drinking cups, salmon and pumpkin (the vegetable our server described as going “with Halloween”) cones, and an assortment of chacucherie (meat). Desserts included orange pana cotta cups, fruit-filled danishes, and oh-so-tasty French cheese.