Paris

Last time I came back from Paris, I vowed to make my next trip all about the food. Well, Bryan and I just returned from our trip overseas yesterday and I have to say, I kept my promise! Below are some pictures I snapped along our culinary adventure. They are a bit heavy handed on the sweets but that's just my taste buds interfering with good "journalism". Enjoy!

Two baguettes: On the left, a "Traditional" baguette, on the right a "Rustic" baguette. The rustic baguette uses a darker flour and has a deeper and more rich flavor than the Traditional but I think they're both delicious.

The cheese is cheap and comes in a ton of varieties in France. America does not have anything that compares. Most of our imported cheese has already been sitting too long and you don't get the same taste as in a French market but you pay twice the price.

This cheese is called Morbier. There is a thin layer of ash in the middle of the cheese which harks back to a fun story of how the cheese was first made. A French woman would milk her cow first thing in the morning and then use the milk to make the cheese. She would cover the top of the cheese with ash so it wouldn't spoil from the air. In the afternoon, the French milk maid would milk her cow again and place that layer on top of her first layer. It's a cute little story and I was happy they still carried on the tradition. The cheese is a more mellow French cheese and absolutely delicious.

More cheese! This was only 1/5th of the varieties at one local market.



Here a French man lays out his seafood products on a busy sidewalk for people to buy. This is a typical scene in Paris. Fresh food daily.


Okay, so I admit it. I became OBSESSED with pastries. We were staying close to a two famous bakeries in Paris: Pierre Hermes (known for their French Macarons) and Gerard Mulot (a chocolatier but also my favorite pastry and bread-maker).

Cakes from Gerard Mulot

A cake from Gerard Mulot that I actually got to eat!

Gerard Mulot also had some amazing main courses. Take a look at that Coulibiac...the artistry involved in creating that pattern out of pastry...incredible!

This dessert cost me 4 Euro (roughly 5 bucks) but it was worth every cent. Raspberries laid on top of a column of cassis (A Eurasian currant (Ribes nigrum) bearing black berries) mousse that sat on top of a layer of dark chocolate which sat on top a layer of crunchy puffs with a drop of honey. French macaroon halves speckled the outside and a slice of apple was hidden inside on top of the dark chocolate layer. Simply heaven.

Pastry from a random bakery

More random pastry

A window display at Pierre Herme (the Louis Vitton of French Macarons) . These display macarons are much larger than their bite-size counterparts. The traditional bite-size macarons at Pierre Herme cost roughly $2.10 a piece.

The Plenitude: Chocolate & Caramel: Biscuit macaron chocolat, ganache au chocolat-caramel, eclats de chocolat a la fleur de sel

Mogador: Fruit de la Passion & Chocola au Lait: biscuit macaron, ganache au fruit de la passion et chocolat au lait

My personal Favorite. Rose: Biscuit macaron rose, creme aux petales de rose

One last Pierre Herme macaron. The name escapes me but it tasted even better than it looked!

An olive oil chandelier!

The french sell a huge variety of bottled water. The most popular is Vittel. This one was my favorite though. Bling H2O selling for around 36 US dollars a bottle. The "Bling" is written out in Swarovski crystals.

And last, but certainly, not least, I leave you with French CHOCOLATE!