Kitchen Culinaire

Wildflowers at Les Jardin des Plantes

It was a sunny, summery Sunday in Paris. We managed to leave the apartment at the crack of noon and take the subway down for our first stop of the day, the organic market on the rue Raspail.

My Mom had never been to this fruit, cheese, vegetable, bread, flower, textile, fish and meat market so we made sure to walk it from one end to the other.

From the Raspail market we made our way to the Luxembourg Gardens which is pretty spectacular anytime but never more so on such a beautiful Sunday afternoon. We checked out the kids sailing their boats in the central pond, the Medici fountain, lovers entwined on benches, families having picnics and all of the beautiful allées the I am so enamoured with.

Luxembourg Gardens

From the gardens we made our way to the Pantheon, and then we were off to rue Mouffetard to check out some great food shops and restaurants. Some of the food shops were closed as we arrived right at lunch time, but there were plenty of lively places for us to explore.

Rue Mouffetard restaurant

Since we were already in the 5th we decided we would just carry on and check out Les Jardin des Plantes which neither my Mom nor I had ever been to. I must say that we were both quite enamoured by the scene here. On this lovely day the botanical gardens were crammed with families but it was still easy to navigate and explore.  We had a list of highlights that we hoped to see and do, and while we didn’t manage to see everything, such as the menagerie, we did spend a good deal of time in the rose gardens and the herb gardens and the iris gardens . We sat on benches along the tree lines allées, people watching and enjoying the cool breezes and the scent from the roses nearby.

Tea roses in the rose garden at Les Jardin des Plantes

After we trekked all around the Jardin des Plantes my Mom decided it was time for her to head home to rest up for our early dinner reservation. I headed with her to the subway station and then continued to walk around the city until it was also time to wend my way home. I headed over to the St. Eustache Church before taking a left onto rue Montmartre, then a right on rue de Martyrs and then a left onto rue de Abbesses.

What luck to find the flea market that had sprung up right in from of the Abbesses metro station. I poked about in the mishmash of treasures and came across a sign of the good things to come:

Flea market treasures

I made it home by 7 pm and soon after Mom and I headed out to have dinner just down the street. We talked about our day and whether we might come back to Paris again next year. Mom is voting yes. I am taking it as another good sign…

Saturday morning view from a Parisian kitchen window

This morning, waking up after a very good night’s sleep, I headed into our rather tiny Parisian kitchen to make coffee for my Mom and me. As I stood over the sink, measuring coffee into the espresso pot, I could not pry my eyes off of the beautiful Parisian morning that was unfolding right outside the kitchen window.

These kitchen windows happen to look right out onto the street. And so through them I see our particular Parisian street of rue Caulaincourt teeming with life. I can see fabulous outfits on both the young and the old, people with their bouquets of flowers or their shopping bags filled with groceries and/or their crazy dogs in tow. I can see the teenagers on their scooters and kids with their Grandmas, and tourists in their shorts clutching their maps, and croissants and giant coffees .

Also through this window I can look directly into the bakery (our bakery) that is located just across the courtyard from the flat. I can see the bakers start their shifts at 3 am (when I am up getting a glass of water) and then see them working throughout the day bringing out trays of their terrific baguettes that people line up outside to purchase. From this kitchen window I can almost make out the extraordinary tarte citrons, tarte aux Normandes, croissants, pain au chocolats, Paris Brests (no, not a typo) macarons, or even the crème brûlees in tiny glass ramekins.

Being that it was such a beautiful, sunny morning I decided I should open the window and take in the fresh air. As soon as I unlatched the window to swing it open wide I was hit by the most amazing aroma of fresh bread. It actually may have been the croissants or the pain au levain or any one of the pastries but the scent was so overwhelming and delicious all I could do was to stand there, somewhat dumbfounded at the windows, sniffing wildly, making a mental list of a bakery shopping list.

I took my time as I washed the dishes and drank my coffee. I smelled the amazing smells and gazed out at the view from this tiny Parisian kitchen window. I thought about how it was very unlikely that I would be staying in this lovely flat on rue Caulaincourt ever again, that it would only be during these few fleeting weeks that I would get to smell these smells and enjoy this beautiful view. And so all I can do is to enjoy every single minute of it…

Another very good day.

Our 11th day in France. Here is it in pictures…

I love a three hour lunch...

Good lighting and books, two of my favourite things.

The perfect way to end the day...

Day trip to the Loire Valley

For the last nine days we have been enjoying the hustle and bustle of big city life in Paris. Today it was time to spread our wings a little bit and head out beyond the city limits to explore a part of France that we have never seen before.

My friend Jeannot is in the process of selling his summer place in a tiny town a short drive from the city of Tours located in the Loire Valley. It was the perfect opportunity to invite ourselves for lunch and spend a few hours taking in the fantastic scenery, picturesque towns and maybe even pass by a Chateau or two.

Jeannot went out of his way to plan a special day for us. He was there to meet us at the station, drove us to the nearby town of Descartes for coffee and a walk along the narrow cobblestone streets to see the sights. It was nearing 1 pm so we continued on to La Perruche (the name of his house) where he prepared a lunch that featured some local cheeses and charcuterie, a remoulade salad and lots of good bread. For dessert there were tarts from a local bakery, one cherry and the other mirabelle plum.

Our quick trip to the Loire provided a great opportunity to catch up with my dear friend Jeannot whom I hadn’t seen in a few months and also provided a welcome break from the intensity of city life. As much as I love Paris with its throngs of people and traffic and noise and fast pace it can sometimes feel a bit overwhelming especially when you throw in a lack of fluent French. To spend a day in a far more tranquil environment with green fields as far as they eye can see and only the sounds of birds in the trees, enjoying good food and conversation felt pretty perfect.

Here are a few more images from our day in the Loire…
 

 

See you tomorrow. xo J

A day to remember - my Mom and Denise Acabo

Today was a good day. A very, very good day. In fact, I would go so far as to say it was one of the very best days I have ever had in Paris.

It was filled with some long anticipated sunshine and meeting new people, doing new things, a surprise or two and perhaps most importantly it was a day where I tried the very best chocolate that I have ever tasted…in my life.

It started out in a rather ordinary fashion, getting up, having coffee, doing a load or two of laundry and getting organized for the day ahead. I did dash out to the bakery across the courtyard to pick up some croissants and a few pain au chocolats which were really wonderful (although that is not where I experienced the best chocolate ever…).

When we were talking about where we would be going today my Mom mentioned that she had been investigating Parisian chocolate and candy shops (the woman has a serious sweet tooth) and had one special place in particular that she wanted to take me. I had never heard of A L’Etoile d’Or, a tiny chocolate and candy shop located just a short walk from the flat on rue Pierre Fontaine, nor had I heard of its legendary owner Denise Acabo.

My Mom had done her research and told me that A L’Etoile d’Or is the only place outside Lyon that you can pick up the famed Bernachon chocolate tablettes (bars). This chocolate maker is one of the very few that roast their own cacao beans and grind them up to produce some of the best, pure bittersweet chocolate in the world. A L’Etoile d’Or is the only place they are sold outside Bernachon’s own factory/store in Lyon. A L’Etoile d’Or also carries the famed Henri Le Roux salted caramels and a selection of chocolates from such French artisan chocolatiers as Bonnat and Weiss. Mom also told me that the owner was a woman who was considered to be almost the patron saint of French chocolate. She has been running her store for 40 years and has some very strong ideas about what constitutes the best chocolate from the different regions of France.

As much as my Mom prepared me for this mecca of chocolate nothing can really prepare you for your first encounter with A l’Etoile d’Or’s owner Denise Acabo. You enter the store and are met by a woman of a certain age (she later confessed to us that she was 78 although you would never guess) wearing an outfit that is reminiscent of a Catholic school girl’s uniform with a blue tartan skirt, V neck sweater and tie, her blond hair in braids and a pair of bifocals perched on her nose. She greeted us with a friendly bonjour when we entered the store and then turned her attention back to arranging chocolates in a large glass case in the middle of her rather small but well stocked candy store.

As Mom and I moved around the room pointing out chocolates and caramels and candies that we had on our list to buy, Ms. Acabo turned to us and sensing our enthusiasm and asked “Do you speak French?”. When we sadly said that our language skills were limited she barely missed a beat. She grabbed us a couple of silver trays to help hold our goodies and lead us around the room smiling, laughing and talking (mostly in French but sometimes in English), explaining, in detail, all of the many amazing treasures in her shop. Her deep knowledge and obvious love for very, very good chocolate and candies is so inspiring and infectious we were soon zipping around the room with her sampling a chocolate here and there and loading up our trays with Bernachon tablettes, pistachio caramels, 66% caramel and fleur de sel chocolate bars, Bergamottes de Nancy (hard candies that are flavoured with Bergamot) and chocolate bonbons with flavours like raspberry praline and balsamic vinegar truffle from some of the top chocolate producers in France.

After 40 minutes or so we finally left A L’Etoile d’Or with our bags filled with sweets and feeling more than a bit giddy. There was certainly some excitement over trying these highly anticipated chocolates and caramels that we had just purchased but more than that there was really a sense of gratitude over experiencing something in this small Parisian candy store that was so unexpected and genuine and well, sweet, that made both me and my Mom very happy.

The rest of the day was as magical as our morning. We picked up a few gifts for friends at home.  We enjoyed a relaxing lunch at home, which actually featured some vegetables in an attempt to offset our growing diet of chocolate and candy. After lunch I headed out for a two hour walk around the city in the sunshine while my Mom stayed home to eat her chocolates.

We headed out for an early dinner at our favourite bistro nearby and after a lovely meal we strolled home a in the warm early evening air. As we walked and talked about our day my Mom said, “It was really a beautiful day in Paris…” It was one of the very best.

Parisian Peonies

Today was a day where I almost felt like I was living in Paris. Not just visiting or being a tourist, but really living here.

Part of this stems from the comfort of staying in an apartment during our time here. Renting a flat, especially in a city like Paris, makes so much sense. Hotel rooms in this city tend to be very, very small (think postage stamp size) and very, very expensive. For the past two years my Mom has done some online research and found us some spacious, comfortable, real Parisian homes to rent. The other major bonus is that these places cost quite a bit less than a teeny tiny hotel room.

Renting a flat is about more than saving money however. Renting a flat allows us to have a “normal” daily routine which is important to me and even more so to my Mom. We are able to start our day with our lemon water, followed by coffee and yogurt and croissants from the bakery while still in our pyjamas. We have a dining room table where we can place a vase of peonies (although as we couldn’t find a vase in the flat we had to improvise and use a sawed off plastic Volvic water bottle as seen above), work side by side on our computers, eat an evening meal and talk. There is a comfortable couch in the living room where we can read books, a full kitchen to prepare meals, a washer and dryer, and a bedroom for each of us.

In addition to our lovely space I think I was feeling more settled and at home today as I spent some time with friends that I know from Vancouver who happen to be living/visiting in Paris.

This morning I had coffee with an old friend who followed his heart and moved to Paris three years ago and tonight I went out for dinner with a co-worker of Glen’s who happens to be spending a month in Paris as well.

Mom and I also did some shopping, picking up some fruit and other groceries and spent an hour or so walking around “our” neighbourhood. It almost felt like life at home. Well, without all of the working and cooking and cleaning and stuff…

Mom walking along boulevard de Vaugirard in the rain.

Well, we might have dodged the bullet yesterday but today was filled with rain, rain and more rain. It started in the night and kept up well through the morning and just when we thought it might be letting up a new torrential downpour (along with some fierce gusts of wind) would start.

However, we are from Vancouver, a place where unrelenting rain showers can literally last for weeks so we simply grabbed our umbrellas and raincoats and walking boots and headed out into the storm.

We really only had one pressing errand on the agenda today which was trekking down to the Gare de Montparnasse to pick up our train tickets for the trip we have planned on Thursday. We will be leaving Paris on the 9:20am TGV high-speed train to visit our friend Jeannot at his summer home in the Loire Valley just outside the town of Saint Pierre de Corps. Jeannot is one of my very favourite people in the world. I met him through my husband Glen when they first worked together over seven years ago. Jeannot was born in Paris but now splits his time between LA/Vancouver for work and London where his beloved family resides. We see each other regularly when he is in Vancouver but this is the first time we will be visiting him in the Loire. Jeannot asked me to “do a little dance for good weather” on Thursday but whether it’s rain or shine I am sure we will have a wonderful time. Did I mention Jeannot loves food as much as I do?! Full update on Thursday.

After we picked up our tickets it was time to again brave the rain and the umbrella wielding Parisians and walk for an hour or so until we ended up in St. Germain and did a bit of shopping. We picked up a few necessities and then decided it was time to head home to our warm and cozy apartment for tea drinking and some reading before ducking out for dinner just down the street.

It is now time for bed and the raindrops are still hitting the pavement in a rhythmic, pitter patter outside, which is reminding me of home. The perfect sound to lull me to sleep.

Just one of the many treasures at the marché aux puces de Saint-Ouen

Yesterday the forecast was for rain, rain and more rain but luckily today there was not a drop in sight. Good weather was just one of today’s highlights.

I started off the day with a trek to the Raspail Bio Market where there were throngs of people and mountains of vegetables/fruits/meats/fish/cheese/roasted chickens/flowers/dried fruits and nuts. There was also a beautiful blue-grey linen scarf that had my name on it. It truly is a thing of beauty…

After my scarf purchase, just as I was leaving the market, I spotted a vendor that I had read about in a couple of guide books. He has a small stall where he sells the most addictive potato and onion galettes hot off the griddle. I joined the long snaking line and bought two that he carefully wrapped in paper for me. One of them I nibbled on the walk home and the second one I presented to my Mom who wolfed it down almost as quickly as I had just moments before.

After lunch we headed out to the Saint-Ouen flea market that my friend Simon had recommended. Just a quick trip on the metro and we were there, pushing through the throngs of street hawkers with their fake Rolex watches and Louis Vuitton bags, then moving through the outdoor stalls with shirts and hats and leather jackets and bags.

Once we finally made it to the antiques section of the market things really started to get interesting. The place is literally filled with unique treasures although my Mom would beg to differ. She just kept referring to the paintings and linens and jewelry and furniture as “junk”. One man’s trash is another man’s treasure or as Mom would say “We buy junk, we sell antiques”. We agreed to disagree on this one and she was very patient as I ran around looking and photographing.

Here are a few things that caught my eye:

Antique spoons tied with purpled ribbon, brightly coloured linens, old typewriters and vintage wine glasses

Brownie camera, champagne coupes on a silver tray, crazy couches and pillows and vintage wine openers

While the flea market was not my Mom’s cup of tea there was still a very bright spot in her day. After dinner out at a local bistro we walked by her beloved bakery that is located right next to our flat. She decided to stop in to buy a slice of Tarte Normande. We had actually been in this bakery earlier in the day to buy a baguette, two madeleine cookies, a lemon tart, and a slice of strawberry mille feuille but my Mom was still pining for an apple custard tart that she had passed over during our first visit. So here we were, back for the second time that day, to buy more delectable french pastries. The man that runs the shop seemed surprised yet pleased to see us again so soon.

When we asked about the apple tart he explained it was called a Normandy tart because it has the addition of a cream custard along with the apples. When we requested a slice he replied, “I am offering you two but will only charge you for one…” And so while the markets were the highlight of my day, an extra slice of a lovely apple and custard tart was definitely the highlight of my sweet Mom’s.