Irons, Chocolate and Radishes

My biggest pet peeve at Paris at the moment is that my landlord stopped by and yelled at me because I wasn't ironing the sheets. So yesterday I spent a good 90 minutes ironing sheets and managed to give myself a nasty burn on my arm as a result. I am crossing my fingers to avoid infection as my arm gradually turns red. Who irons their sheets??? Apparently Parisians.

Ironing sheets aside, Paris continues to be a whirlwind of fun and pleasure. Whirlwind is also what I would call the March weather. One minute it is beautiful blue skys and sunny and the next ,a wicked rain shower is coughing down on the crowded streets suprising even the usually somber Parisians. Apparently there is a phrase in French for this weather but I didn't manage to grasp on to it when I was taught it last night. Regardless of what it is called, it is uniquely pleasant to sit under the the outside canopy of a cafe, having a glass of wine, while watching people scurry through the rain, attempting to protect their baguettes (often the top already bitten off - even the Parisians can't resist!).

In between cafe sitting, I ventured out ever further in Paris with two houseguests to accompany me this weekend. We checked out the newer Musee Quai Branley focused on tribal cultures from around the world (interesting topic and amazing building but horrible audio guide) and the Cite de l'Architecture et du Patrimonie, the architecture meseum of Paris (great audio guide and interesting topic!).

And, of course, we ate. We went to a couple of small French bistros, Le Mesturet in the 2nd and L'Homme Tranquille in Montmartre. I love picking a starter, entree and dessert as part of the typical "formule" in these small restaurants, both of which even had vegetarian choices. After so much bread, cheese and macarons, it is nice to see a vegetable or two.

I feel like I am not supposed to like Lenotre because it is a big chain patisserie/boulangerie/chocolatier but I have to tell you that they make an amazing croissant and their vanilla macarons are out of this world. Everything I have tried has been delicious. Not to mention that even over here in the non-touristy 16th, they are always so very nice to me and throwing in extra treats for me to taste.

In the area of not big chains, I about fell off the sidewalk when I bit into a praline chocolate from Patrick Roger. He might create some seriously odd Easter chocolates but who cares when the chocolate itself is so good? I also like his bright turquoise packaging.

But the food exploration does not end yet!! Amidst the sudden downpour, we headed to the Bastille Market on Sunday morning checking out the plethora of stands and avoiding umbrellas. I was intrigued by the black radishes. Do we have those in the US??

Ecole Ritz Escoffier

Bow down down to the macaron, my friends! The little colorful gem-like cookies are practically the price of gems here in Paris. And thanks to a four hour class at the Ecole Ritz Escoffier at the Ritz in Paris, I now know why.

First, let's chat about the Ritz. In order to go to cooking school, they don't let you in the front door of the storied hotel, instead you scurry in the back employee entrance and down to the lengthy basement halls. This is where you find the cooking school. Despite its fame, from what I could see, it is just two classrooms (one for savory and one for patisserie). The patisserie kitchen was well equipped with professional equipment, a French pastry chef named Pierre Provost, and a lovely English translator. Oh and seven total students. A perfect small size class that gave us each the opportunity to get our hands a bit dirty (or make that sticky).

The main flavor in a macaron comes from whatever you choose to put in the middle, typically a ganache or a jam but it could be just about anything. In this class, we learned the basics - chocolate, vanilla and lemon macarons. As you want the filling to absorb loads of flavor and have the time do so, we started with making the ganaches - splitting vanilla beans, zesting lemons and boiling high fat cream. It was no simple task to create these fillings and all of them involved stirring, stirring, stirring. That is about as much work as I have ever done on one dessert alone.

But, that was just the filling of the cookie! As the ganaches rested, we turned to the shells. These are done in two parts that are then mixed together. There is the almond dough and then the Italian meringue. The almond dough requires upper body strength to work, the chef here constantly handing the bowl to the men in the class. The Italian meringue, on the other hand, involves a candy thermometer and stand mixer. When the two components finish, you combine them together and then, get this, you "macaron" them. It is actually a verb! Basically you do this hard pulling of the dough towards you in a great big bowl until it becomes shiny and the perfect consistency.

When that is all looking perfect then and only then do you put the dough in a pastry bag and make PERFECT circles of dough on your cookie sheets. They have to match up when you pair them! Unfortunately this is a lot harder than it looks but it was certainly fun to do. By this point, this dough has been worked pretty hard and so you let it rest for a bit. After 1/2 hour, then into the oven. Watch it closely!

Out come the shells to cool and finally you fill the shells and make perfect little macarons!

Wow! Although this class was based on teaching us to do this at home, I arguably would have to make quite the invest to do that. First, I would need a larger kitchen since I have very little counter space. Then I would probably have to install central air conditioning since meringues are temperamental to humidity. And then finally there is a mess of cooking equipment that I would need to purchase - great big bowls, a candy thermometer, pastry tips, and a new immersion blender just to start.

Hmmm.... perhaps I will instead just be happy to pay the high prices for the colorful gems of Paris.

Life is so Sweet

Today is officially my last day of work for two months (although I just got talked in to 1/2 day of meetings next week... grrr). To celebrate that I am taking a sabbatical, yesterday I decided to just go no holds bar on the Paris food. Thank goodness, I thought to bring the stretchy jeans.

I had a quick yogurt in my apartment, but then I had dessert for breakfast. A lovely Chocolate and Passion Fruit Macaron from Jean Paul Hevin.

I then went to yoga and Namaste-ed with the best of them, as always wondering when we were going to start working hard enough to actually sweat in the class. But considering we don't sweat, it does mean I don't have to go home to shower and can simply go straight from there to the Rue de Montorgueil market street where I proceed to immediately run from the rain in to the long historied Stohrer pastry shop. There I revert to my favorite pastry from my very first high school trip the Europe, the Palmier. It is basically puff pastry and sugar, ie butter and crunchy sugar. Simple, elegant and perfect for wandering the shops in the rain.

I meet up for lunch at Le Marie Stuart on the market street Rue de Montorgueil with a woman who I will work with starting this summer (she is finishing up her MBA and starting at my company). Knowing that the day's theme is dessert, I think to keep it a bit light and order a salad. It comes with a great big huge slab of hot camembert cheese. Mmmm.... basically more dessert. I slather it all over the lettuce, potatoes and tomatoes. What a lovely salad.

Then I eat a Chocolat Macaron from my stash at home.

But wait. The day isn't over. I have been looking forward to this day for today I am going to a wine and chocolate tasting with David Lebovitz and the owner of O Chateau. David Lebovitz is a former Chez Panisse pastry chef and moved to Paris, where he writes cookbooks and has a wonderful blog. In addition, he has written the book A Sweet Life in Paris, which upon re-reading since coming to Paris, is about ten times better than when I read it sitting on my couch in Minneapolis. He is spot on on the idiosyncracies of Parisian life. In person, both David and Olivier, from O Chateau, are delightful and extremely fun to hang out while learning about wine, chocolate making and eating (take big bits and big sips) and watching their obviously wonderful friendship with one another.

We moved through wines from Burgundy to the Jura to the Languedoc region, all accompanied by intense dark chocolates from Charles Chocolates. What I loved about this tasting was that I learned a lot! I realize that sounds silly but over the years I have been to a lot of wine tastings, but here some really simple and easy things to remember about the incredibly dense and confusing world of French wines. For example, a white burgundy will 97% of the time be Chardonnay. Wow, that was pretty easy! So, no raising my nose at a company that does wine tastings mostly for Americans vacationing in Paris; O Chateau was really great and I recommend dropping by for a class when you are in Paris. By the way, did I mention how cute the young male owner and his business partner both are? Another great reason to drop by.

Now, how do I become someone who writes cookbooks from Paris or teaches wine tastings from a wine cave that used to be part of the Louvre palace? What did I do wrong to the gods of yesterday to make me a dull American who tends to spend her time staring a spreadsheets rather then living the life chocolate and wine?

Spring Thoughts in Paris

When you spend a lot of time by yourself when you travel, you start to 'almost' have conversations with yourself. Well, maybe they aren't as much conversations as random thoughts and then reflecting on the thought you just had in a bit of disbelief. An example:

"Looks like spring has finally arrived in Paris!" as I wandered the gardens of the Rodin Museum.

Response: "Oh no, why did you say that? Now the rest of the week will be miserable." Note, it isn't like I said it outloud. Can you internally jinx yourself?

Near the Rodin Museum, I wandered into a park. I stopped short upon the sign at the entrance.

"Wow! I personally hate sit-ups but I never thought that they could be banned," I thought.

Response, "Maybe sit-ups make people fat and that is why the French are so thin. I shall start to follow that philosophy."

I stop the by the Jacquemart-Andre Museum, a former huge mansion of art collectors turned into a museum. Thought: "Wow, the house is a heck of a lot better than the artwork. I wish the audioguide would talk more about the house and less about the art".

Response: "Stop that! You are supposed to adore 18th century portraits of people you never heard of... I think it is time for a snack."

I venture over to Boulangepicier, the bakery/sandwich shop that is part of the Alain Ducasse empire.

"Oh my goodness, so much pressure while the saleswoman stares me down. What to get, what to get?"

Response "Lentil salad and multigrain bread". Guess I am making up for giving up the sit-ups... until I go and buy more macaroons at Jean Paul Hevin (Do you think it is a coincidence that it sounds like heaven?).

Just a Chunnel Away....

It takes approximately 2 hours and 15 minutes on the high speed train from Paris to London. For all that the French and British think they are completely different, proximity certainly plays a role as I got a kick out of all of the trends that were shared in these two capitals - both in food and in clothing. On the fashion side, the hideous rolled tight jean shorts is as lovingly embrased by the young London bar-goers as the hipster Parisian students. Less distractingly, right now it seems to be all of the rage in both cities to dessert upon carrot cake, brownies and cupcakes. Wait a sec..... aren't those American desserts??? Perhaps American patisserie has come into its own, especially since the carrot cakes I have tried at La Ferme in Paris and Manna in London just weren't quite up to snuff, particularly that prized element, cream cheese frosting.

The requisite curry eating checked off the box my first night in London (always so good!), under the Friday morning drizzle (it is London...), I ventured out the the mecca of foodie London, Borough Market. While there are still some traditional vegetable and meat vendors, by and large the market is a foodie "food court" heaven, with booths selling delicious snacks and meals to eat. I saw falafel, fresh juices, veggie burgers, soups (asparagus and stilton!), sausages, tarts, pies, pastries, cheeses and other specialties from all over the world. My only regret was having gone alone to the market which meant that I couldn't sample as many different items as I might have liked limited only by the size of my stomach and the amount I could carry. Instead of sampling around as much as I would have preferred, having missed the delicacy in Switzerland a couple of months ago, I opted for a lunch of melted Raclette over potatoes and gherkins. Smoldering hot cheese is a winner! I rounded it out with fresh carrot juice and a British brownie. While the carrot cake was not comparable, the brownie was fantastic. Watch out, American Bakers!

I also bought these amazing English Muffins. I had never had a real English Muffin until I put these amazing, robust clouds of bread in my mouth. If I lived in England, these would become my go-to, each individually baked up in a tall metal ring.

In April, my path changes course and I head south to explore Egypt. While in Britain, it was my touring priority to visit the British Museum, knowing that they had one of the very best Egyptian Antiquities collections in the world. I wandered the space filled with treasures, now wondering if anything was actually left to see in Egypt proper as sign after sign indicated that items were taken from the sites I plan to visit. All quite suspicious. Later that night I also wandered the quirky Victoria & Albert Museum, shaking my head at the amazing amount of items that the British Empire has acquired over the years. It was like a flea market on crack.

After a long day, I dined with friends at Manna, the oldest vegetarian restaurant in the UK. It tickled me to be able to actually try "Bangers and Mash" in Britain! All vegetarian of course. The meal was great fun, the food quite yummy and I loved the intimate space in Primrose Hill filled with celebrating friends. The service wasn't perfect, but my company more than made up for it.

Saturday dawned to gray and rain but weather not holding us back, I ventured out with my host and his snood to the Saatchi Gallery in Chelsea. About halfway through attempting to interpret the modern art, I turned to him and said, "I do believe that we are in an exhibition on Indian artists". I suppose I could have picked up a pamphlet or noticed that all of the employees shirts read "The Empire Strikes Back" and held huge India flags. The thrill of discovery waned but the exhibit was really quite good, featuring Indian artists living all over the world, conflicted by today's India and the diaspora.

Then off that evening to an amazing dinner party in Belsize Park with my favorite British people and their assorted American spouses. It was quite entertaining to hear about the attempts to find the right ingredients for a Mexican Fiesta in London. I do think the Muenster cheese was quite a good substitution for Chihuahua...

I finished off my long London weekend with a venture through the crazy busy Camden Market and a Sunday Lunch with my hosts at the Lansdowne Pub in Primrose Hill where, Americans some of us were, we way over-ordered for lunch, ending up with enough food for 5 at the table of 3 and no sign of a good old American doggy-bag anywhere in sight. That is one thing I wish was more normalized in Europe as I have always depended on my leftovers in the US giving me at least one more meal. Here, they sit on a plate to be tossed out. You are more likely to be allowed to take your unfinished bottle of wine with you (and increasingly encrouaged in Paris to do so...).

Les Musees

I need to remember my time in Paris so here I capture a few thoughts on the museums I visited this week:

A walk early this week took me over to the Cluny/Middle Ages Museum sitting quietly next to the Sorbonne and near the yoga studio I have been frequenting. The museum was even better than I expected, actually housed in a medieval property that sits atop ancient Roman Baths. I was absolutely blown away by the gorgeous Lady and the Unicorn tapestries! It is a bit of a relief to look at artwork that isn't church-related after hours at the Louvre and other churches this weekend. Then again, the museum has a lot of artifacts that are the original pieces of different churches in Paris (St Chapelle, Notre Dame) that were recovered from their restorations, including windows and statues. Here,though, I found the stories of their recovery and discovery quite entertaining thanks to the audioguide. And best of all, this museum was nice and quiet, no hordes of tourists with guides yelling for them to keep up!

This week I also stopped over at the L'Orangerie to check in on Monet's waterlilies. Still looking good but this time around I definitely enjoyed the rest of the museum even more than the waterliles as the small space was filled with works by Picasso, Matisse and one of my very favorites Renoir. I also discovered the works of Chaim Soutine. Really interesting artistic style!

Finally, I took a guided tour of the immense and gorgeous Opera Garnier. The Chagall ceiling is magical but even moreso are the stories that the imagination bubbles up, filled with intrigue and society gossip that the halls of this grand old dame of opera houses have surely seen. The place was a buzz thanks to the opening of Faust that very evening.

A Food Show in Paris

It might be the fancy new under eye cream I bought right before leaving the states, but I think that those dark circles have truly started to look better because of all of the fresh air. Here is Paris, I am walking miles, not just because the streets are beautiful and made for walking but because everything on the map I have is further away than it actually appears. Regardless, it's good for me.

The walking and exploring continues as I grow ever more confident that the everyday Parisian is a heck of a lot more obsessed with food than his or her American counterpart. Proof in point is the food show Mer & Vigne that I went to on Sunday up the 17th. I suppose you could compare it to the Food & Wine show in Minneapolis but there were no corporate stands here, it was all local producers from around France with booths actually selling their products (gasp, on a Sunday!) and not just promoting them. As this isn't the season for fresh produce, the show was dominated by cured meats, cheeses of all colors and scents, foie gras and various meats and fish in jars, jams and plenty of wines. And plenty of samples to try. It was great fun to be able to learn about the different regional products of France and also confirm that the French love Champagne just like the rest of the world (the two booths were madhouses!). One interesting thing that I noted was that there seems to be a bit of a backlash against the perfect, bright colored macarons that adorn the windows of the famous patisseries. Marketed here were "ancient macarons", or basically homemade variations marketed as more authentic. Unfortunately, those I sampled weren't all that fabulous. Finally, I didn't try the pig below but I did try marons glaces, candied chestnuts. I love the hot roasted ones found on city street corners during Europe winters but the candied version was not at all to my liking, overly sweet and sticky. It didn't taste like a "maron" at all, just sugar... Good thing there were plenty of cheese booths to make up for it.

Observations on a Paris Weekend

There are some odd things in Paris. Here are a few that I note in the context of my weekend:

- You can buy a week-long pass for the Metro and even though the cards are very high tech, regardless of this, the week starts on Monday and ends on Sunday. So it isn't really a week unless you buy it on Monday morning!

- The current fashion trend in Paris is for young women to wear very shirt jean shorts rolled up over black tights and with ankle booties. Women do not look good in this outfit. Where did it come from?

- There are a LOT of tourists in Paris. It wasn't until my friend and I went out to the Musee D'Orsay, the Louvre and St Chapelle that I realized that I had been doing a very good job of avoiding the tourists by choosing obscure museums and food shops to explore.

- The food in Paris really is so good, just like everyone says (okay, this isn't odd but I needed to say it!). We had a fabulous meal at La Vieil Ami on the Ile St. Louis where I had amazingly rich lentils and a warm vegetable salad that I will forget no time soon. Yes, every table around us was filled with Americans, but, who cares? The food was interesting, fresh and tasted great.

- While the food in Paris an be great, the service tends to be tres spotty. At Laduree, it took ages to attempt to pay the bill, half the restaurant trying to wave down the one server after the other just simply disappeared. While their croissants were heavenly, take out is definitely the way to go here... we didn't even manage to get a famous macaroon thanks to the service issue and long lines (Don't worry, we picked some up from Lenotre later).

- The markets are gorgeous but remember not to touch!! Check out these morels from the Saturday morning market next to my apartment. Wow!

The Bobo Palette: New Trends in Parisian Gastronomy

My friend AM dropped in to Paris for two days (literally just two days from the US East Coast!) and so we signed up for a tour, but not your typical highlights of Paris tour or even the now normal Chocolate Tour of Paris. This tour, The Bobo Palette, wandered the recently gentrified Haute Marais district in the 3rd Arrondissement with a food writer and expert, all arranged through the boutique tour site Context Travel. Check out the tour here.

We met up with our guide Camille Labro, who is a French-American food writer living in Paris with her family, writing wide ranging pieces for varying publications. The other woman on our small tour owned a cookbook store in Vancouver and had even been a James Beard judge, so here we were a great group of food lovers exploring together. With Camille we wandered the shops of the small streets of the Haute Marais, many of the streets named for the various regions of France. We looked at pastries, meats, breads and cheeses and received restaurant recommendations for the area. At 85 euro per person, you ask was this really worth it? And I give a resounding yes, for two reasons.

First, we had an amazing experience at Jacques Genin. In Clotilde's Edible Adventures in France (the foodie guidebook by a fellow blogger that has yet to let me down in France), she describes the self-made chocolatier Jacques Genin as "gifted" and "undercover". He is undercover no longer with his gorgeous shop and laboratory of chocolate here in the 3rd. And thanks to Camille, we were able to meet the man himself and even venture into the lab (pas de photos! no pictures!). Here, a team of young chocolatiers were just starting to prepare stunning Easter candies next to his more classic chocolates and tarts. Genin has an obvious affinity to women (and quite a dirty mouth) as he started feeding me lemon cream with a tiny spoon. Perhaps he has learned that sweets are the way to a woman's heart? At Jacques Genin, we tasted his fruit pastes, mendiant and chocolates. I was especially enamored with the chocolate flavored with "epices doux", or soft spices, which had an amazing bouquet hinting of cinnamon and coriander. If only every shop visit in Paris could be this amazing and personal!

From Jacques Genin we continued to meander through the streets, picking up baguettes and cheese and then stopping for a glass of wine at the Marche des Enfants Rouges, the oldest food market in Paris, which has many prepared food stalls much like a food court. And here is the second reason that this pricey tour was worth the price, the personal time that we were able to spend with such a Paris food-experienced epicurean and guide. By the end of the conversation and cheese tasting, I had a new list of places to visit to eat in Paris and felt like I had met a friend rather than simply a tour guide, especially as she handed me her personal contact information and reassured me not to hesitate to use it!

There was no better way to spend a Friday afternoon in Paris.

Oooh.... fancy

I have spent time in Paris in the past so in time on my own, I am doing the rather more random Paris tourist activities. Today I decided to go to the Musee Baccarat, the self-promoting museum of Baccarat crystal.

I know some people find crystal unexciting, but I think it is gorgeous and interesting, especially when it has the history of Baccarat and their association with royalty (and those that want to act royal). The museum is located in a historic mansion so I was also pretty excited to see the Philippe Starck makeover of the mansion into museum, boutique and restaurant. Apparently, I was the only person to find the idea of crystal fascinating as I had the museum all to myself as I perused the sparkling collection.

The museum itself is only a couple of rooms but for someone with my income level, the boutique was like a museum as well, which extended the viewing. While the security guards closely watched I pondered over each piece picturing the amazing parties at palaces and in the homes of the Onassis', Josephine Baker and the Sheiks of the Middle East. I was starting to suspect by the end of the presentation that the Middle East is probably where a lot of the Baccarat business is focused nowadays, the shop/museum even sitting next to Middle East embassies.

A few blocks away I stopped for a picture of the Arc de Triomphe before heading back to the home office for my day/evening of work...

Montparnasse

Montparnasse is known for its theaters, cafes and historic literary influences. Given the touristy nature of the area I wandered, it is questionable whether today that literary nature extends further than the walls of the extremely interesting Montparnasse Cemetery. My motivation for stopping in to the cemetary was a lunch appointment around the corner but the visit to the cemetary was incredibly rewarding, as it was filled with famous souls and beautiful graves. The graves reminded me of both New Orleans and Buenos Aires in their aboveground showiness.

I was also intrigued by such an intermingling of faiths, as I saw many Jewish graves interspersed and others with Arabic headstones. In the US, I tend to think of cemeteries always attached to a place of worship and here it must not the case. While being enveloped in the silence and the beauty, my morbid mind was definitely spinning since so many of the graves were rather new. What happened to the people that were buried there before? And what makes some people important enough for their graves to remain and others get replaced? Macabre, yes, but fascinating.

Outside the gates of the cemetery was the Edgar Quinet Market with stands lining the avenue selling everything from crepes to bargain basement tee-shirts. The tomatoes I bought ended up being a bit mushy, which can happen when you aren't supposed to touch the produce! (a faux pas here in France when at a market).

Wandering further into the heart of Montparnasse, at the corner of Montparnasse and Raspail, I came across Rodin's freaky sculpture of the caped Balzac. I kind of love it - so different from the "The Thinker" that we all associate with Rodin so immediately.

From there, up the Tour Montparnasse , a hideous skyscraper which was the signal to Paris that they had no desire to become Manhattan, and thus banned skyscrapers. But from the top there is a great view of the city, especially on this clear sunny day - the Eiffel Tower and the Cemetery in pictures here. It was definitely not worth my 10 euros, especially with the pushy souvenir sellers at the top, but now I know and will never go back.

I ended my personal tour of Montparnasse by meeting a new acquaintance for lunch who will be moving to Minneapolis this summer. Ti Jos is one of many crepe restaurants that line the Montparnasse side streets but I had selected this one thanks to the book that hasn't led me food astray yet (more to come on that!). We were the last diners of the lunch service and felt a bit rushed but other than that I really enjoyed by "special of the day" galette filled with tomatoes, onions, spinach and an egg highlighted by a pat of butter right on top. This isn't a place to visit based on their warm welcome or friendly service but I did enjoy my crepe and felt like the interior was very Breton with its wood booths and low ceilings.

Bread and Chocolate (not in St. Paul...)

I am not exactly sure why my second full day in Paris I was back in St. Germain des Pres but I think it has to do with bread. In my Rustica post, I talked about my problems with bread addiction and thus Day 2 in Paris you didn't find me at the Louvre, you found me at Poilâne.

Poilâne is the most famous bakery in Paris, serving up huge loaves of sourdough bread since 1932. This is how it is described from their website, "The signature loaf is made of 4 ingredients: sourdough, flour, water and sea salt from Guérande. It is a round loaf with a thick, golden crust as it is cooked in a wood-burning oven. It carries the signature mark P for Poilâne." I was also intrigued by the story of a young Harvard student taking over the Poilâne business as CEO upon the tragic death of her parents. Consequently, the hype surrounding this bakery is massive so I anticipated a huge glitzy shop ... and then I walked right by it. It is, in fact a tiny store that looks just like the front of their website and when I visited it was filled with Japanese tourists. I very proudly used my French and ordered a quart (1/4 loaf) and was actually understood by the salesperson (unlike many I have been speaking to).

I was way too hungry to head home before eating the famous bread so I instead headed next door to Poilâne's Cuisine de Bar, a cute little restaurant that serves tartines, open-faced sandwiches on the famous bread. I very happily conquered a fresh vegetable tartine covered with cool cheese, tomotoes and cucumbers and a glass of rose while eavesdropping on the Americans sitting next to me at the large shared table. Little did they know until the end that I spoke English...

As long as I was in the neighborhood... I figured I should try a chocolate or two and stopped in at Patrice Chapon, another adorable tiny shop. And this one was filled with chocolates!!! Here is a picture of the outside but I failed to ask permission to take any inside. Next time. And there will probably be a next time because their Smoked Salt Praline Dome was maybe the best chocolate I have put in my mouth in a long time, if not ever. Crunchy yet smooth, sweet yet a touch of salt. It was amazing. The other three I have tried now were very sophisticated in a "not-so-sweet chocolate" type of way, but they didn't make my mind whirl like that Dome.

Au revoir for now...

Paris Stretching and Eating

What did I do on my first full day in Paris? Very simply, there were two goals. First was to recover from a red-eye where I didn't sleep a wink and second was to get some coffee into my apartment so that I could stay awake to work in the evenings! Although it seemed quite simple, between walking and back-tracking, it took me 6 hours to accomplish:

As to the first goal, I went to a yoga class in French at Rasa Yoga. I officially now know how to say inhale and exhale in French. We did some very interesting poses such as putting our fingers next to our ears and buzzing like bees. Initially, I was a bit concerned that the class was 90 minutes and that I might not be able to make it, but this wasn't Corepower heavy-sweating work yoga like we have in Minnesota. No one even glistened by the end of this class. I thought about starting to sweat at one point but no one else was doing it so I tried to self-control...

I might not have been sweating but I was starving so I popped into a Soupe and Quenelles by Giraudet shop for, you guessed it, soup. I crossed my fingers and ordered the only word I recognized that seemed vegetarian "Tomate" and ended up with a lovely tomato soup filled with barley. Yes, barley. Odd but definitely filling. La soupe appears to be a trend in Paris at the moment as this hasn't been the only soup shop I have passed already.

Next up, the Nespresso shop in St. Germain des Pres. At home I have a Keurig single cup brewer so I was pretty stoked to see a fancy Nespresso machine to play with here in my apartment in Paris. But it was useless without capsules. Thus, lots of Google Maps later, I was staring at coffee pods and randomly purchasing by color - bleu, noir etc (excellent French practice). The Nespresso stores are really gorgeous - you would think you are in a fancy chocolate shop or a jewelry store, not simply buying coffee pods. It must all be incredibly profitable as the store was filled with employees and all the shops are on the very best streets.

Next up, I happened into an amazing grocery store, La Grande Epicerie, down the block from the Nespresso shop. Wow!! This was like heaven for a foodie - gorgeous products abound from bread to pastry to fruits. It was like stumbling upon a Whole Foods in France but filled with French food. Thanks to my day job, I have been into a lot of grocery stores in France and they tend to be awful - dirty, smelly and simply unpleasant. What a difference... although I think there is only one of these stores in all of France. I duly stocked up on some (pricey) basics and then went in seach of bread...

A few blocks away, I stopped in to the recommended Bread & Roses to pick up a baguette and some brioche. This adorable corner boulangerie has a few tables so I will be tempted to return to sit for lunch. The bread choices were really vast including some I haven't seen in other bakeries, such as rye breads. My baguette was chewy and delicious. Ahhh, great bread is so rewarding. They very proudly displayed their 6 euro brioche ancienne and I am sure it is lovely brioche but I think my learning is that I really don't like brioche even at that price... I like my breads to taste like grains, not sugar or eggs.

I think I like this Parisian way of life... it took me all day to stretch (and not work out) and buy food (and eat it). No complaints here.

Paris... for a bit

Last I let you all know, I was no longer MOVING to Paris. It's true. BUT, I am now starting a month's stay in Europe, mostly in Paris. So it is kind of like I am moving to Paris except I can stop studying French and just be a tourist and attempt to absorb the French. During the day I play and come late afternoon I work Minneapolis hours. Not a bad gig. In fact, I can definitely see and do more by playing during the day and being online at night working rather than vice versa.

I arrived yesterday to Paris and settled back in to my apartment that I still have (until March 31) in tehe 16th. And then I ate pizza. I know, I know, pizza? But it was a Sunday and nothing was open!! AND the pizza downstairs and around the corner is really really good. It is called Pizzeria d'Auteuil and even though I can't pronounce the name (and thus my neighborhood) it is worth remembering. The entire neighborhood seems to love this place as it has been solidly full every time I have walked past. The pizza is your thin crust type and last night I had the Bufala, an equivalent to the Margarita Extra at Punch layered with cherry tomatoes and buffalo mozzarella. Before I left Minneapolis I stocked my stomach with a few Punch pizzas and sorry to say, it wasn't needed. While the pizzas are a bit different, this one is just as good... it even has a Zagat rating.

In terms of random, the locks on my suitcases were stolen on my trip over. The thing is, they were just hanging from my zippers. I never locked my bags! I was planning to use one of them on gym lockers here in Paris and keep my bags locked on my Africa and Asia adventures after Paris but now I bet some airport TSA agent has them for sale on Ebay. Oh, yes, here they are.

Rustica

Everyone has their craveable food type. Maybe we are genetically predisposed to whether that type is salty, sweet, meaty or carby. My absolute lack of science knowledge in this area is now quite clear thanks to my choice of nomenclature so all I can tell you is that I clearly fall into the carby camp. Bread products are my personal heaven. I reach for the bread basket and will perhaps even pass judgement on a restaurant given what is (or is not) in that basket. Unfortunately, in the world of professional women being professional non-eaters and Dr. Atkins telling us that bread is the devil, I have a huge amount of guilt spurred by my love of bread. Perhaps I should see someone about this but instead I personally rationalize that the solve is to only eat the very best bread and not waste my intake on the mediocre.

Rustica has ruined my ability to limit said intake however because now good bread products are on my daily commute to and from the real job. I even put off writing this review of Rustica, knowing that I would have to stop going there so often to save my waistline after I finally wrote this piece but I am so drawn to the glorious loaves and sweet pastries under glass that it is only today, the day that I am leaving town for 2 months, that I sit down to write about Rustica.

My frazzled sense of self worth aside, Rustica makes the best bread products I have ever had in Minnesota. While Rustica has been around for a while, originally located deep in the 40s off of Bryant Ave South, every time I stopped in at that location, they seemed to be out of bread. Now in their new larger location in Calhoun Village, the bread is free-flowing all day long and you can even peek in the windows and watch it being baked up fresh.

I basically worked my way down the bread menu then up the pastry menu and have nothing bad to say. The baguettes are on par with France, the Pugliese bread is delightfully filled with small potato chunks and the Multigrain has a great chew with real grains you can see. The crusts are crisp and beautiful with the natural variations between loaves the sign of true craftsmanship. Over on the sweet side, the ginger cookies have bite and I fell to my knees for a real current scone (not raisins or an attempted rendition at blueberry muffin in scone). If you are having a fancy brunch or a dinner party and you put bakery products from the grocery store on the table when you now know that Rustica has better, serious shame on you.

My only complaint about Rustica was that now that it shares space with Bull Run Roasters, it has quite a big seating area and I want to sit down and eat some yummy lunch, drink lattes and stare at the bread. The only lunch choice are sandwiches that are made in collaboration with Corner Table and kept wrapped in the pastry counter. I found the vegetarian option, filled with beets and cheese, to be a mediocre showcase of the bread since the sandwich had been sitting there for who knows how long making the bread unpalatably moist. All I really wanted was a bowl of warm soup to dip my bread in. Turtle Bread apparently knows something.

Sandwiches aside (make your own at home with your fresh loaf), Rustica brings to Minneapolis my downfall: good bread. Those last ten pounds will never be shed.

Thumbs Up: Great bread, real currant scones, pastries galore

Thumbs Down: Soggy sandwiches

Rustica 3220 West Lake St, Minneapolis www.rusticabakery.com

Our Kitchen

There is basically one reason to go to Our Kitchen, a tiny storefront breakfast/lunch spot in South Minneapolis. That reason is the pancakes. They are huge, fluffy and taste like breakfast carb-load heaven. I have no idea what is in those pancakes but I guarantee it isn't good for me. But, man, they are delicious. I love the sweet hint that makes the "maple syrup" absolutely unnecessary under the 1/4 cup of butter dolloped on top.

This is not fancy brunch food. Think orange juice from a jug, just okay coffee, and I am pretty sure the mushrooms in my omelet were straight from a can. But I learned my lesson and now only ever order the very basics - eggs straight up, hash browns and those magic cakes.

Don't even try to come to Our Kitchen with more than one other person. Even better just come by yourself since the seating is all bar style and there are maybe 15 seats at most. Just sidle up to the bar, look around for a discarded section of the Strib and entertain yourself pretending to read but instead watching the cook at the grill manage the complexities of a small stovetop and pancakes the size of my face. It is excellent foodie entertainment.

Just remember: this is a basic storefront breakfast spot so just order the basics... and always the pancakes.

Thumbs Up: Great Pancakes, be watchful as you might drink a gallon of coffee as they are always refilling and it isn't overly hot, grill entertainment
Thumbs Down: Mediocre omelet

Our Kitchen 813 W 36th Street Minneapolis