thanks to all the great advice I found on this forum I had a fabulous time in paris. I returned home July 26th after eleven amazing days in paris. Eleven days were not enough!
PPD has really set in now so I will try to relieve my pain by sharing my experiences paris with all of you.
I will be posting my reports day by day as I complete them.
For the moment I have some general obsevations and comments on what I learned and loved in paris
Favorite things in paris
1. cheese-don%26#39;t miss the cheeses offered at the markets, be sure and take advantage of the offers to taste as many as possible. the fresh goat cheeses are incredible, the ones coated in ash were consistently my favorites. the maket on rue de saxe (which was 3 blocks from my apt. in the 15eme) had many cheese vendors, all were eager for me to try their cheeses. one vendor had what seemed like feta mixed with various flavorings such as wild garlic, anchovies, red pepper. he also had a wonderful mix of eggplant, tomatoes and the like in a spreadable form. they were all great on bread and we used the eggplant one to make some pasta one night. prices were so low!
2. olives - I have always loved olives and usually eat kalamatas and other imported olives. Was I in for treat with french olives! there were olives flavored or stuffed with garlic, mixed spices, hot peppers, almonds, lemon peel and more. My traveling companion who previously hated olives could not get enough olives on this trip. One of our favorite restaurants %26quot;the sept/quinze%26quot; (7/15) off rue de suffren in the 7eme served small green olives as an amuse-bouche, wonderful! every market we visited, even the one in vernon (on the way to giverny, another report) had fantastic olives. I liked the spicy ones best.
3.croissants- this one is a no-brainer. everyone knows french croissants are the best. knowing and tasting are far apart. I will never be able to eat another american made croissant. french croissants are light, buttery....ecstatic. of course pain au chocolat must be included in this section as they are a chocolate filled croissant. double ecstacy there was a bakery right below our apt. called Le Moulin de la Vierge.we awoke to smell of freshly baking bread and the smell of sourdough. we had convenient early morning access to freshly baked croissants, as well as, strawberry tarts, millefeuilles, brioches, pain de campagne and the like. don%26#39;t forget to put some french jam on those croissants. our bakery had many different types, we chose strawberry.
4. coffee- i loved the small cups of coffee I drank in paris so much that my first week home was consumed by my search for a quality home espresso machine. I have since had to learn to live without that wonderful coffee taste when my search taught me that an espresso machine is waaaaay out of my price range. (the lowest price quality machine is $1779--ouch!) anyway, the coffee is consistently smooth, tasty. I learned one thing about coffee drinking in france the hard way. french people do not have coffee before the meal. they do not have coffee with a meal. they only drink coffee AFTER the meal. we got strange looks of disbelief when we ordered coffee any time other than AFTER the meal. coffee became something to look forward to at the end of a wonderfully long meal.
5. french markets- do not visit paris without going to at least a couple of french markets. as I said earlier vendors encourage tasting (though not of the veggies). visiting a french market is an artistic inspiration. I regret not taking more pictures. I was so enthralled by the food, and I wanted to go back to the apt. to eat my finds and we never made it back because we had so much to do. take a lot of pictures. the vegetables and fruit are all arranged beautifully. french people would do no less than treat their food items with an eye to beauty. the butter lettuce was gorgeous, green with dark red edging, like a huge flower head. one head probably weighed in at 2 pounds for a mere 70 cents. one head lasted us a week for salad and the lunches we packed of crepes filled with cheese and lettuce. the lettuce and cheese crepe combination was one I discovered in a restaurant in versailles. I do not remember the restaurant%26#39;s name. the unusual combination was great. a new favorite!
hope you enjoy these ramblings
more will follow as I mourn for all things french
rj
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You just made my mouth water! I am salivating like crazy. It must be depressing going back to a generic American supermarket in the suburbs after being in a great food city like Paris.
I know some foriengers who miss the food of thier country as they are living now in the U.S. They miss the freshness and the open markets and the real tastes of thier regional foods. It%26#39;s kinda sad.
I do know of a local store near me that sells real French feta cheese and I love it. I too love French food and sometimes find it difficult to comprehend why some tourists go to France and try to eat Americanized food! They%26#39;re kinda like babies in first grade who need thier bottled milk.
The good news about America is that the food is getting better and more globalized. You can mail order imported food from various websites and they can arrive fresh the next day. When I was a little kid, none of that was around and we were stuck eating canned spaghetti and canned beans and my mother scolded and beat me all the time-just kidding about that part. However, you do have to pay more unfortunatly for mail order products. Plus, it%26#39;s not just about food, you really can%26#39;t replace the atmosphere of another great city in your home town.
But in the mean time, be glad of what you have. Millions of people are starving in this world and would actually KILL each other for a can of beans. Many people in India, Africa, etc... don%26#39;t have access to clean drinking water and have to drink muddy water from the polluted rivers. There are millions of people don%26#39;t have access to a clean toilet and they are faced with a horrible sewage system and have never seen a computer like the ones we have ever in their life. We really are blessed though.
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You%26#39;re making me hungry and I just ate dinner! Not only is there post Paris depression, but also pre Paris depression. I have to wait through the next 7 1/2 months before my visit to Paris. Your trip reports and those that others have posted are the best antidote to my painful, impatient wait. Thank you for the mouth watering report.
I%26#39;m exercising like crazy and eating very moderately so I can %26quot;spend%26quot; calories on yummy food in Paris.
Nosara
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I have the Le Bec Fin cookbook. Le Bec Fin is one of the most famous French restaurants in America which has 5 stars. Anyway, I was reading in the book that the chef/owner Georges Perrier had a hard time when he opened his restaurant 30 years ago because back then, America was worse than now when it came to finding good quality ingredients. There really were not many speciality food stores and wholesalers like today that provided high quality foods fit for a 5 star restaurant. So Georges Perrier had to do a lot of investigating. He went out to the local farms to get his organic farm raised chickens, produce and other things. He still gets his game birds and chickens from the farms for his restaurant.
My point is that it is possible to get high quality ingredients in America. You may have to drive an hour or so to the farms to find the best chickens, eggs, produce, etc... Many of the fine upscale restaurants get their produce, vegetables and chickens from the local farms. If you investigate your state that you live in, you may be able to find a great farmers market open to the public that specializes in the freshest lettuce, string beans etc...America does have very good soil and it%26#39;s on the same planet as France. My big obsession is farm raised organic chicken. I know of some places near me that sells high quality farm raised chicken which tastes better than the chicken you get at the standard supermarkets. It%26#39;s also the same with the local fresh farm eggs. I also grow my tomatos and they are suberb! My herb garden with chives, parlsey and mint is excellent and fresher than the herbs in the supermarket. Herbs are easy to grow. It doesn%26#39;t take much effort.
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I too was hooked on coffee- but mine was when I returned home from Italy. France has great coffee too though. I have a suggestion that just might work for you. When I came home- I too was on a quest for an espresso maker- but not a huge expensive one like you speak of. It is a stovetop esspresso maker- called a BIALETTI. Our Italian B%26amp;B in Venice used this to make our heavenly cafe every morning. They have them all over the US. I bought a small one for about $22- and I use Illy coffee- which was what I got addicted too in Italy. I have used it every day for over a year since returning from Italy. Its not the same- but a close 2nd. I can make esspresso, cappuccino, cafe au lait- or whatever you want. Another tip for an after dinner drink- put a small shot of BLACK SAMBUCA in your espresso for an after dinner treat! Mmmmmmm...
Enjoy!!!
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RPL67
thanks for the stove top espresso maker tip.
i have actually been using my old one since I got home. it makes good espresso, as you mentioned, but not as good as the big machines. it gives me my coffe fix though without leaving the house
rj
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The Bialetti esspresso maker is available at Amazon.com. Just look for it in the kitchen section in the search box.
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