Le Centenaire

Spontaneity - I've become such a big fan.  

I usually travel throughout the city of Paris with three essentials:

1.  My Pass Navigo, which lets me ride around in the Paris métro and buses all day long, if that's what I desire or need to do, which seems like constantly.

2.  An umbrella.

3.  My Paris "plan pratique" (the detailed Paris map in booklet form, which is a must for even a weekend here - they're sold at news kiosques, tabacs and bookstores). 

Recently one afternoon, I forgot #2.  I stepped out of the métro looking for a store that turned out to be closed for lunch (so the handwritten note taped to the inside of the door read) and then felt the rain start pelting me.  Of course - when you forget the umbrella, it rains.  Universal truth.

It was lunchtime, so the note said.  I turned in a quick circle to find someplace to find a little lunch of my own so that I could stop again at the shop after whatever turned out to be the shop owner's unspecified lunch hour(s).

Right next door, I found a spot.  Using my radar for food quality, I saw that it was completely packed.  In fact, when I walked inside, even the bar was full.  That's usually this solo diner's quick refuge from waiting for an open table.  However, after a 3-minute wait, I got the perfect spot, at a tiny table nestled in the corner alongside a window.  

I reviewed the blackboard menu and decided it was the perfect day to try the coq-au-vin, a dish I can't recall ever ordering.

If it had been evening and I didn't have work to do that afternoon, that wine glass would been full of a nice red.

The coq au vin was as good as it looks in the photo, very "vin-y" (In fact, I really didn't need more vin in the wine glass).

This is a nice and very local option if you're in the 11th, around the trendy Oberkampf neighborhood.  The link below has more photos of the bistrot and a nice description of its long history, if you want to practice your French reading skills!

Le Centenaire

104 rue Amelot

75011 Paris

08 99 96 56 47

Métro: Filles du Calvaire or Oberkampf

After my belly was full and it had stopped raining, I went back to the shop, which was still closed!  Ah, Paris...

Universal Comfort Food

Only one week in, and already I'm craving something I rarely consume in the U.S.  Peanut butter!  Sometimes not that easy to find in Paris, hiding as it does among the Nutella and Speculoos, I grabbed it right away to throw into my first full basket of groceries at the neighborhood Franprix.

And voilà, my mid-afternoon snack on leftover baguette.  

Like my life here, it's not entirely French, nor do I ever expect or wish for it to be.  American in my soul, apparently American still in much of my palate, too. 

No Debate

I just fell asleep during watched the French Presidential debate; it is the only one between the two final candidates before election day next Sunday.  Hey, I'm entitled.  I'm coming down with a cold, it's raining and chilly, and, besides, trying to understand all that political rhetoric in French is épuisant (exhausting).

So, to wake me up, I just had to look at these beautiful creatures I photographed the other (sunny) day at Pain de Sucre.

I was in such a rush as I walked by, I only had time to take the pictures.  What an odd priority, I know.  And, then again, I have to admit, I hadn't yet been tempted to try a Parisian guimauve (marshmallow) until I saw those.  

There's no debate that I have to go back and try them.  At least I don't have to choose between them (or, in fact, between the Presidential candidates here).

This flaky life

Today's bit of sunshine has been brought to me by a transatlantic flight from New York to Paris yesterday, as well as some cooperative weather on the Paris side.

Flaky not only describes the pastry in the picture, but sometimes reflects my bewildered jet-lagged state after doing one of these back-and-forths between France and the U.S.  The "Why am I doing this?" question comes to the surface and I'm then too tired to fight it or respond intelligently to it.  So I shrug it off until I get a full night's sleep.

And then I step outside, take a run in the Luxembourg Gardens, buy one of these babies...

... and know.

Bagels and Brownies

Am I missing something here?  Every day, it's like this!  The line out the door of this bakery in the 6th arrondissement.  I'm not knocking it; I assume everything in there must be wonderful, but when I've peeked in from time to time, all I see are bagels, brownies, donuts and muffins.

I guess I just don't get too many American bakery cravings when, about two steps away, I can buy a crêpe made-to-order, or a croissant or baguette the likes of which I've not yet found in the U.S.  

Maybe those good folks making the brownies and muffins can come over to New York and bake us some good baguettes!

Du Pain

This has a been a small but repeated news item recently.  95% of the French eat bread at least once a day, according to the reported study.  Even such a seemingly high percentage still reflects a huge reduction in quantity consumed per person (130 grams versus 600 grams) from the beginning of the 20th century.  

This is, of course, part of one of life's great mysteries - why Parisians are not fat. 

I, on the other hand, feel like simply gawking at the marvels on display in the boulangerie and patisserie windows adds pounds, but perhaps that is just a national plot against foreigners. 

Yes, I indulge once in a while.  And I will admit to consuming my share of daily bread, too.   Life's short, after all!  But that still doesn't answer the question of the fat versus not-fat populations on either side of the Atlantic.

Upon giving it great thought at an outdoor café table as the early spring sunlight dissipates into evening, I'm going to stick with my belief that the answer is red wine.

French-Mex

Sometimes a Texan (even if we're talking ages ago, or as they say here, jadis) just HAS to have a taste of Tex-Mex, even in Paris.

This guac with some nondescript salsa wasn't half-bad.  I could close my eyes and pretend it was a true Tex-Mex place back in my hometown, especially since the music playing in the background was what you'd expect in a Mexican restaurant in Paris.  

And if that didn't pass the "high" standards of a Texan, well, when I opened my eyes, I was in Paris!  As consolation prizes go, that's pas mal.

Breakfast in America in Paris

If you didn't have to read that title more than one time to understand it, then you've been to Breakfast in America...in Paris.

It's a funny geographic warp (like a time warp, but with geography).  The wait staff all speak English, mostly American English, the menu is entirely in English (perhaps there's a French language version, too?) and the dishes are authentically right out of the American diner.

Burgers, wraps, chili, club sandwiches, shakes and sundaes abound, but I'm coveting the blueberry pancakes with real maple syrup.  It's just that it was 1pm on a Monday, and it didn't seem like the right time of day for such indulgence (though after my order arrived, I saw quite a few of them nearby).  Next time for sure.

Breakfast in America
17, rue des Ecoles
75005 Paris, France
Métro: Cardinal LeMoine or Jussieu
Tel: 01 43 54 50 28

Saint-Valentin

A day late but the memories linger, of chocolates and heart displays and roses in buckets in front of every flower store and couples walking hand in hand on the rain-slicked streets in the evening.  (How those girls walk on the Paris streets in stiletto heels I'll never know.)

But, back to Valentine's Day in Paris, just a few snaps of all the caloric joy being spread - 

 

I admire the displays and am happy there is glass between me and the works of edible art behind it.  There's just far too much of this gorgeous stuff floating around here.  However, I did have a slice from pictures 3 and 4, as that amazing-looking (and amazing-tasting) pistachio/raspberry macaron heart cake was serving double-duty as a birthday cake, topping a dinner that lasted till midnight and featured a cheese course and tarte tatin as well, not to mention the bottles of white and red wine, and the champagne that began and ended the evening.

And that's another mystery besides the stiletto heels.  Just how does someone dine until midnight and then go to work or school the next morning?  Apparently, this American is now conducting an empirical study to find out.  So far, I'm discovering that it works far better for the locals than for me.

Perhaps, like exercise, it's simply a matter of practice.

0%

0% fromage blanc!  Oh happy day!

Yes, I ate that entire container - it was amazing, guilt-free indulgence (so, so hard to find in cream/butter/fat-laden France).  

If you want to find it, too, Aux Vieux Colombier, 65, rue de Rennes (6th arrondissement, métro Saint Sulpice), is the place, a beautiful little café right in the heart of some of the best shopping in Paris.

65, Rue de Rennes , 75006 Pari

65, Rue de Rennes , 75006 Paris  

65, Rue de Rennes , 75006 Paris   was the place.

Galettes des Rois

Now that I noticed them, I notice them everywhere.  Not that I've tasted one yet.  But the pistachio version has caught my eye, so it's only a matter of time, though I understand I better act fast - Epiphany was January 6, and today (Sunday) is the day it is celebrated in France. 

Poilâne

Back in Paris after the start of the New Year, I got a serious craving for my favorite chaussons aux pommes from Poilâne (which I mentioned recently in an earlier post).  I was dreaming about them while away and it took me only two days to get back there.  While there, I saw these beautiful new year's cakes, called Galettes des Rois.  The Poilâne website describes them this way - 

The "Galette des Rois” is a French tradition. A cake you eat in January only, that hides a charm. The person who finds the charm is Queen or King of the day and bears the golden paper crown that comes with the cake.  This Galette season, Poilâne asked Le Petit Atelier de Paris to create a charm that would symbolize luck and happiness. They crafted two hands; one bearing a heart, and the other a four-leaf clover.

Of course, what brought this bakery fame are its large round sourdough country bread loaves.  If you visit one of their three little shops in Paris (and now also in London), be sure to take a punition (shortbread cookie) which you'll find in the basket that sits on the table where you pay for your purchase.  "Punition" means punishment, but of course a visit to Poilâne is anything but.

New York Favorites - Union Square

Union Square Greenmarket

It's not exactly "raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens," but these are a few of my favorite things in and around Union Square in New York City.

the fabulous produce at the Greenmarket

Beads of Paradise

Journelle

Union Square Café

...not to mention agnès b., Blue Water Grill, the enormous Barnes & Noble, Republic, Paragon Sports, and Casa Mono.

So many places, so little time!

Happy Chanukah!

Chanukah starts today.  And one could find freshly made-to-order latkes (potato pancakes) in the Union Square Greenmarket today, just for the occasion.

HAPPY CHANUKAH!