Macarons in the News

Today: a wonderful slide show from the New York Times on French macarons, including history and a tiny bit about technique -- see sample photo above. The complete article is here. There's even a recipe, though not for the amazing filled macarons at Laduree.

A Dinner in Paris

Two weeks ago: dinner at Le Baratin, a wine-bar and restaurant near the home of our
friends Jean and Natalie, and a favorite of theirs.
Left to right: Laurent, Jean, me, Len.

Unusual combination: tiny raw clams with radishes, bits of chopped cherry, and herbs.
It would be impossible to try to replicate this, as I have never seen little clams like this in Ann Arbor or California.

White anchovies with an eggplant dish, my delicious second course
(though it was offered as a small plate).

Laurent about to eat...

Laurent and Natalie

Capturing the taste of Paris?

Goose with peaches at La Cerisaie Restaurant, Paris, Monday July 1

Duck with peaches and cherries, an attempt to reproduce some of the tastes from Paris this evening.

I definitely didn't accomplish the presentation, but the taste was close!

How I made the duck:

• I cut some strips of fat from the duck breasts and made little cracklings in the frying pan.
• I sprinkled some lemon juice on the duck breast.
• When the cracklings were brown and rendered a bit, I turned up the heat and seared both sides of the duck breasts. While they were still raw in the middle, I cut them in thick slices and briefly finished cooking them to medium rare, and put the meat on the serving platter.
• I added three peaches cut in quarters and around 20 sweet cherries to the pan, and just tossed them. I added a couple spoonfuls of blackberry jelly (any flavor would do) to make a glaze, and quickly coated the duck with it.
• I garnished the platter with parsley and a few toasted bread cubes.
• The original restaurant version had a few sesame seeds as well, but I didn't do that. Also, I substituted parsley for basil that was on the original.

What's for Dessert?

Dessert in France is often a simple but perfect choice of fruit and cheese, which many people purchase at the stunning outdoor markets that happen in most Paris neighborhoods around twice a week.

Our friend Michelle varied this with fruit and ice cream:

Restaurants also offer cheese and fruit, but also a selection of many other desserts such as this creme brulee that I had at Les Bugnes, a Basque restaurant that our friends took us to:

A fruit tarte at another restaurant, Le Baratin, in the Belleville quarter where other friends live:

All week I tried to get a tarte au citron -- I finally managed on Friday:

Very elegant patisserie in the airport:

Paris: A cup of coffee is a wonderful thing

A set of hand-made coffee cups displayed at an outdoor ceramics fair near Saint Sulpice.
In French homes where we have been, after-dinner coffee is always served in demi-tasse cups the size of these.

Breakfast coffe on our first morning in Paris

A cup of coffee in a cup marked with the brand "Cafes Richard" --
another breakfast at one of the many cafes near our  hotel

Long before coffee: medieval cups, flask, and pitchers at Musee de Cluny

Coffee and breakfast pastry on signature china at the very famous restaurant Le Dome, also near our hotel.
(Hemmingway ate here)

Outdoor lunch dessert: my indulgent sorbet dwarfs Len's little cup of coffee 

Another cup of coffee for breakfast near our hotel

Coffee with a crepe at the famous Josselin Creperie.

After a fabulous lunch: demi-tasse cups of coffee at Michelle's house with
friends Anne-Marie and Dominique

Different drink: a cup of tea at a table on the sidewalk at another creperie.

Breakfast at the airport yesterday: one choice of coffee -- Starbucks. No photo, as it's exactly like a Starbucks in the US, including glazed donuts, bagels, muffins and characteristic names for drink sizes. Who would want to see a photo of that?

Paris Airport

We left our hotel at 7 AM, had a comfortable taxi ride, boarded our plane on time, and we are now back home for a while.

Ladurée pastry at the airport: their famous macarons made a delicious last-minute snack.
The rose-colored ones are rose-water flavor, and surprisingly taste like roses.
The salted caramel and chocolate ones are also exceptionally delicious.

DeGaulle Airport: waiting area with duty-free shops

I'll be posting more about Paris.

Saturday Market Near Montparnasse

Lots of fruit and vegetables, beautifully displayed

A man playing and singing old-style cabaret songs: think Edith Piaf

Amazing fish stalls

Divine melons -- if only I had a kitchen!

And the sun was shining

Lots of artisanal food products, cheeses, ham, sausages....

Passage Vivienne

Last night we had dinner at Bistrot Vivienne in the Passage Vivienne with our friends Françoise and Laurent. It's one of the remaining 19th century shopping centers (or at least the predecessors of shopping centers) in Paris. It's a beautifully decorated restaurant with a delicious menu. You can see photos of the velvet couch where we sat, and the appetizers -- gazpacho and beets with goat cheese. The chicken was cooked with preserved lemon and served with cous-cous. Other dishes included asparagus ravioli, and the wonderful melon that's available at the markets and shops. Dessert: ice cream, mousse au chocolate. Needless to say there were many other choices on the menu.

Addendum: Passage Vivienne in Zazie dans le Metro:

More Crepes

Inside Creperie Josselin: there's always been a line,
but today we walked right in and ordered because it was 3 PM.

A crepe with caramel and vanilla ice cream for me
and a lemon-honey crepe for Lenny.

The kitchen.

The outside on the street with all the crepe places (address is 67 Rue du Montparnasse).
Needless to say, we've been eating lots of other things as well, but that will be a future post.

What we did first thing today: we went to the gardens of Versailles where we walked around for about 4 hours.
The lines for entry to the chateau itself looked around 2 hours long -- even if you had bought a ticket online!
So we just enjoyed the gardens.

One fountain was turned on. Every 10 minutes the fountain danced to appropriate
18th century French music. The rest of the gardens were beautiful also: music played,
but the water was not turned on except in this one.

A few good meals

Cold Salmon at Balzar where we met Michelle on Saturday
Dessert: molten chocolate cake

Fish at Balzar

Saturday dinner: a salad near our hotel

Breakfast

Mussels at Brasserie Suffren

Fish with aioli at Brasserie Suffren,
which was near our apartment in 1989 -- still good!

Sunday lunch at Michelle's apartment in Cachan, just outside Paris

A statue by Zadkine on Boulevard Edgar Quinet
Background: Tour de Montparnasse
Besides eating Paris is full of fabulous outdoor art

Also, Paris is full of beautiful old traditional things,
like the fountains of this design that once were really the water supply.