Berthillon, Pusoy Dos, Le Timbre

We finally made it to Berthillon on a day that it was actually open! We snacked on a brownie and a tarte tatin with ice cream. The brownie was gooey, rich, and delicious. The tarte tatin was sweet and satisfying. Being a well-known tourist destination, we found ourselves surrounded by English speakers and lots of (loud) people. Although their desserts were good, I'm writing Berthillon off as a tourist trap that I won't return to.

On the walk home, we stopped by BHV, the department store next to Hotel de Ville. It was like a mix between a Macy's and a WalMart. There, we picked up some playing cards for some pusoy dos entertainment back home. Pusoy dos is a card game that is a variation of Big Two. I couldn't find the complete set of rules online for a 2-player version of the game (although I didn't look too hard) so Quinn and I came up with our own version from what we could rack from our fuzzy memories.

To play, the cards are dealt into 4 piles of 13 cards for 2 players. Each player is
given 2 of the piles. One of the piles is the player's hand; the other pile is kept face down and is used to refresh a player's hand so that a player always has 13 cards in his/her hand. The winner of the game is the one who is able to get rid of all of his/her cards first. The first play is done by the player with the 3 of clubs or the person with the lowest card and subsequently, the players go back and forth trying to beat the other player's last play. If a player cannot beat the last play, then he/she can pass, which then allows the other player to play again. The following plays can be made: single card, pair, 5 card poker hand. We played pusoy dos through the night while snacking on some wine and cheese. It's a fun, quick game that has us addicted!

Le Timbre is a restaurant that is owned and run by an English man. He is the cook, answers the phone, and pretty much runs the whole place. There was one waitress who was at the restaurant who helped him out. It's crazy how small the staff sizes are here! We went to Le Timbre for dinner, and we were surrounded by all English-speakers. We even helped some of our neighbors decipher the menu, which was only written in French. The cuisine was traditional French fare, and I recognized many of the items on the menu as dishes I had learned at school. We had white asparagus in a citrus vinaigrette, the lamb with pureed potatoes, quail with granny apple puree, the millefeullie, and chocolate mousse quenelles with a jasmine tea flavored creme anglaise.