Bread quest - ongoing - Dom's Grand Bakery in Hoboken & Fiore's

We did venture into Hoboken the other day on a not good for bread day - lots of rain and humidity. The bread was still above average for France or US. The place is not much to look at but worth the visit. What was most interesting was learning that they still fire the ovens with coal, not environmentally friendly but definitely bread-friendly.

Since we were in Hoboken, and so close by, it was required visit to Fiore's for a mozzarella and pepper sandwich, across from my old apartment on Adams street between 4th and 5th. Back in the day before Carlos' bakery moved to Washington Street and became famous via "Cake Boss" the bakery was on Adams next to Fiore's. Made a mean cannoli. Now, I probably can't afford to buy a cannoli there and definitely not a cake.

So, it's not France, but almost Italy.

France v. United States infant mortality and life expectancy

France out performs us again on both, even with all the smoking and drinking:


http://www.infoplease.com/world/statistics/infant-mortality-life-expectancy.html

Cost of living in France

Some interesting numbers from this website including city data:

http://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/country_result.jsp?country=France

As I find some additional data, I will be adding this as it is the basis for good questions. We talk about our tax rate and costs of living in the US, but what does it all translate to when we in the US can't afford health care and our schools our failure. Why are France and Germany in better financial shape than we are when they provide so much more to their citizens and have a much higher tax rate. Perhaps we do need a national sales tax, eliminating local taxes and it can get distributed back to the states on a per capita basis according to census figures?

Bread quest - ongoing - Dom's Grand Bakery in Hoboken

One of our favorite restaurants in Jersey City, Laico's, has wonderful bread, so a few weeks ago we decided that the next time we returned we would ask where they get the bread from. We learned that some is baked internally, but our favorite bread comes from Dom's Grand Baker in Hoboken:

http://maps.google.com/maps/place?client=safari&rls=en&oe=UTF-8&um=1&ie=UTF-8&q=doms+bakery+hoboken&fb=1&gl=us&hq=doms+bakery&hnear=0x89c257608d1533d1:0x44b6ca6a1137bf87,Hoboken,+NJ&cid=6501913606679398303

We'll be heading there soon and report.

new jets for air france

Check it out:

http://news.yahoo.com/air-france-klm-order-airbus-boeing-jets-worth-071146098.html

Looking forward to flying.

Auto inspections in France

My 1999 Volvo passed its auto inspection today and it got us discussing about the French process and requirements:

Here is link to an excellent article explaining it all, very helpful:

http://geneva.angloinfo.com/countries/france/ct.asp

and they are quite strict.

Cheese quest continued - Buffalo Mozzarella via Costco

For our Labor Day barbecue we hit Costco for supplies and I noticed a container of Italian imported Mozzarella. The taste wasn't quite as good as what we get in Europe but very nice consistency. Worth a try. Very surprising find.