Tarte flambée in French or Flammkuchen in German = flame or fire cake which it is not a cake in the sense of sweetness, so we would call it "The Pie of Fire":
It is a baking thin pizza, called "French Pizza" because thinness is considered as a fine food (French style), consisting of bread dough, fromage frais or crème fraîche, onions, lardons (a cube or strip of pork fat). As it is usually baked in the flame or fire oven like pizza, so it is called "Fire cake or baking dough". Tarte flambée is an Alsatian speciality that it is always in the list of recommended menu items in most restaurants or hotels in Alsace region, including "Choucroute garnie" in French, consists of sauer cabbage (Choucroute=Sauerkraut in German) with sausages, salted meat and potatos. A traditional recipe is sauer cabbage with three types of sausage: Morteau sausage or Montbéliard sausage, Strasbourg sausages and Frankfurt sausages. Some restaurants in Obernai where both menus are recommended as Alsatian specialities:
"Alsace" means "foreign domain" or "seated on the Ill river". It is situated at France's eastern border and adjacent to Germany and Switzerland. A town "Breisach am Rhein", Germany has the Rhine river as a natural boarder of Germany and France, there is a bridge across the Rhine to Neuf-Brisach, Alsace:
The capital and largest city of Alsace is Strasbourg. A famous touristic place is Petite France, Strasbourg. The Alsace wine is one of French vineyards that produce mainly white wine. Of course, you can try them in many restaurants in Alsace region.
A nice place to have dinner for two is "Le Gruber cafe" in Strasbourg:
It has a touch of Art Nouveau interior with staircase. Alsace consists of many touristic cities, the most known city for the americans is Colmar where the liberty statue stands in the circle to welcome you to the town:
A charming local cafe with timber framing or post and beam house construction in Colmar, image taken in June 2009:
This style of house is called half-timbered house because the framing construction (load-bearing construction) is timber and filling material of walls (space between the frame=panels which is non load-bearing construction) is wattle (a woven lattice of wooden strips)and daub (soil, sand, straw).
There are plenty of local cafes and restaurants in the city center of Colmar with framing construction wall on the right:
If you prefer dining in the quiet and calm local restaurants, go to Kaisersberg:
Taking pictures in Alsace is the famous thing that tourists do. There are many colorful and unique houses, sculptures in this region. In summer, the flower decoration at the window sills makes the old town more charming, especially in Colmar and tanner's quarter:
A tourist guide train can be found in Colmar:
La Petite Venise or Little venice in Colmar where you can take a boat trip on the III river:
If you travel by car, you will see this statue before entering to the city.
Statue of Librity in Colmar, 2009:
Some of you may be thinking now: What? Did the French make a copy of Lady Liberty? The answer to this is yes and no. The original Lady Liberty was designed by Frédéric-Auguste Bartholdi born 1834 in Colmar.
Sometimes, you would see some nice objects in the town, Caroussell in Obernai, 2014:
The white stork is a symbol of fertility in Alsace:
The pie of fire is easily to make it at home too, but let's not start the fire in your own kitchen!
