Day 4 in Paris

Raspail Market is an open market that is only open on Tuesday, Friday, and Sunday mornings. The gariguette French strawberry is famed for its flavor, so we had to pick up a pint at the market. On the way to the market, we stopped by Secco Patisserie, known for its sucre vergeoise (sticky brown sugar) madeleines. The texture is dense and cakey, with a hint of lemon. I forced Angel to eat another bite because she doesn't like it and I didn't want to be stuck eating the whole thing. I think we'll be making these as well, but beurre noisette (brown butter) instead, with lemon zest.


The Raspail Market was a lot smaller than I had imagined. I guess I'm too used to Taiwan morning markets :) But we did score the strawberries, for 3.5 euros, which is surprisingly cheaper than the supermarket gariguette strawberries (4.99 euro). You would think because it's fresher, it would be more expensive.

LOOK at the fat white aspargus! It's HUGE!

There were 3 patisseries and chocolate shops that were on our hit-list for the day. First that came up was La Maison du Chocolat, recommended by Angel's former co-worker, Chris. We bought a passionfruit dark chocolate, a Russian tea Douschka dark chocolate, and a praline dark chocolate, along with a coffee sponge, dark chocolate praline entremet cake. The passionfruit flavor was pretty strong, considering that dark chocolate was used as the base for the ganache. The Douschka was floral and my favorite of the three. They let us try an chocolate-enrobed apricot pate de fruit, dusted with cocoa powder. The chocolate cake is gorgeous, but the ganache needed more flavor, although Angel did like the texture of the coffee cake (reminded her of Marina Food's coffee mousse jellyroll).

Poilane is known for their sourdough bread. I'm not sure why Americans would come to France for sourdough, as San Francisco's climate is what makes sourdough bread have that distinctive flavor. It's expensive as well! 23 euros for a kg! We bought it pre-sliced, for 1.75 euros for half a loaf.

There is a shopping mall with a supermarket that we heard about, but when we went yesterday, we walked through every single floor and could not find the supermarket and went home discouraged. A little online sleuthing turned up slightly different names "Au Bon Marche" vs. "Le Bon Marche" so we were able to find it today no problem. Au Bon Marche seriously stocks every single famous French brand there is... Fauchon, Maxim's, etc. We bought a glass jar of cannelles soaked in rum sauce, parmesan cheese with truffle spread, and Cote D'or nougats. AFTER we checked out, we saw the bakery... stocked with chocolate pistachio croissants, beignets stuffed with caramel and chocolate praline. We decided to walk to Jardin du Luxembourg to eat our picnic stash ;) The croissant and beignets were AWESOME! The croissant was flaky and moist, with intense chocolate and pistachio flavor. The beignets were somehow dusted with sugar on the outside although invisible which gave it an amazing texture, the batter was light, cakey, and vanilla-y, and paired well with caramel and nutella. The caramel was better though than the nutella.



As we were walking to the Jardin du Luxembourg, Angel saw a pastry shop with mille-feuille in the window. Of course we had to stop in to buy one for her (of course we had to run back to the hotel for her to go to the bathroom, of course we had to stop to buy water because she doesn't like French tap water... even when it is reboiled! :P). It was better than I thought a mille-feuille would be (as I'm not a big fan), but Angel thought Sogo's is better.

Jardin du Luxembourg was commissioned by Marie de Medici, but now houses the French Senate (boo, we wanted to go into the Palace, but it's gated off because the Senators work in there). The weather was very sunny (it was supposed to rain today) so I'm happy to have gotten a lot of pictures of this gorgeous place. The gardens are very well planned out, and lined with statues of past French queens ("reine") and duchesses. There is a sculpture of Mary Queen of Scots as well, although she was only Queen of France for a very short time before her French husband died and she returned to Scotland.



Pierre Herme was our last sugar stop of the day (we were pretty sugared-out by then), but I'm so glad we went! There was a line outside the door, and many Americans and Japanese tourists.

We bought the Plasir Sucre entremet cake, Ispahan macaron,

and small jasmine,

rose,

pistachio macarons.

This is hands-down, by far the best macarons we've had! Herme puts so much filling inside the macaron that you can distinctly taste each flavor, and the cookie itself is crisp yet chewy. And Angel actually liked the jasmine and rose! She usually hates floral flavors, but the flavor of the fillings and textures just worked so well together. I LOVE how he puts luster dust on the macarons! From appearance standpoint alone, Herme would have won anyway... without having the taste the flavors! Angel wants me to make them for her when we get home... yet another thing I have to make! We walked across the street to Saint Sulpice to eat our cakes. The church is free entrance and very different from Notre Dame in that it was let to fall apart for the past two hundred years. They are doing major construction to return it to its former glory right now, and you should see what an amazing church it is! My two cents~ I think it's a lot prettier than the Notre Dame, and a whole lot more labor intensive to build. I was just so in awe of the church. It looks straight out of Pantheon Greece.




For dinner, we went to the Monoprix and G20 marche next to our hotel to buy a cheese sampler, Sauternes wine (4.99 euro baby!), and I picked up a rose jelly to pair with brie cheese... or maybe chevre. We stopped by Nicolas wine shop (their window displays imply cheap wine, but when you go in... not really!), where we learned from another American tourist's conversation with the clerk that tomorrow is May 1st. French Labor Day. EVERYTHING is closed!!!! Museums, shops, PATISSERIES!!!! Grrrr!!! US Labor Day everything is OPEN! Dude! We had a whole schedule planned out for tomorrow... but now it looks like we'll be going to the Roland Garros instead (French Open tennis court) and Bois de Boulogne. I'm so BUMMED! Angel plans to exercise the whole day there. I'm glad we finally get a day to sleep in! She's been hitting me awake every single day and it is painful!

Day 3 in Paris

Rue Cler, recommended by Rick Steves, was a must-do on our list. It is an open market, with individual businesses selling specialized "foodie" type-things. There is a chocolate shop, a fromagerie (cheese shop), boulangerie, wine shop, fruit and vege stands. We bought a jar of foie gras pate at the supermarket, and paired it with a sandwich from the boulangerie, plus a croissant au chocolat.

We walked by the Musee de l'Armee on the way to our next destination

I didn't take a very good picture, but there's a moat out front where the two stone walls are at. We thought that was pretty cool... reminded me of Ever After :)
We walked by Saint Clotilde Church, which is still a functioning church.

We were walking by a residential neighborhood where a lot of embassies are also located, so I'm guessing they're pretty affluent. My future home, with my future front gate ~__^ If I can't have the Louvre, this will do just fine!


Angel wanted to go to Jean Charles chocolate shop, where she read they had the best chocolate-coated almonds (almonds covered in caramel, then dipped in Turinese Gianduja and tossed in cocoa powder). I never knew she liked that stuff... hunh... I made it a lot in school and I thought the concept was disgusting. Who knew. So now apparently I owe her chocolate-covered almonds when we get home. And by Her Majesty's orders, I'm to make these as well when we go home:




Notre Dame on Ile de la Cite was our next stop (again, unplanned detour... I think I wanted Berthillon ice cream, which was why we went to Ile de la Cite in the first place, but then I didn't feel like it anymore~ I must've been awed-out by the church... it is absolutely astounding... and to think that it was built in the medieval ages! I cannot believe how they even got it to be that tall and structurally sound to survive 900 years, especially since the stone ceiling is a series of arcs. How do you even get stone to curve into an arc? The detail of each sculpture is so finely tuned, and there are HUNDREDS of sculptures all around the church.


Although I will say that I expected the gargoyles to be much more sinister. They look like panthers!

It costs 8 euros to walk to the top of the tower, but free to go into the church. We went inside to see the stained glass windows. Those were amazing too, as the medieval artisans pieced together different color glass to make mosaic paintings depicting Jesus and other prominent church figures.

We walked by Saint Chappelle as well, known for stained glass windows, but did not go in. We wanted to catch the St. Germain market while it was still open, although it turned out to be a disappointment. The produce did not look fresh, and there wasn't much else in there besides a fromagerie. We did stumble across Gerard Mulot's patisserie (which now I am also supposed to make... the list just keeps on growing and growing :T)




Our purchases of the day (carrying around 4 liters of water, lots and lots of candy bars, one baguette, one cake, 4 jars of foie gras pate.... walking from St. Germain to our hotel which is just about 5 miles):




And yet again, SOMEONE was complaining that her arm muscles were twitching because we were carrying too many things. Le petit magot... muahaha She'll have arm muscles in no time!
David Lebovitz, a pastry chef living in Paris, recommended this Bordier butter, which we paired with a Gerard Mulot baguette and foie gras pate (also with Asiago Parmesan cheese we got from the Delta VIP sky lounge ^.^ hehe)

Day 2 in Paris

We started out the day hunting down kitchen supply stores, which took us waaaay to the other side of Paris. On our promenade there, we bought a croissant amandes au chocolat (croissant with almond paste and chocolate). I actually liked it! I thought that French croissants would be dry and flaky, but this one had so much almond filling that it made the dough soft and mushy. Yum! We ambled through the Jardin de Tuileries, a gorgeous garden commissioned by Catherine de Medici. The gravelly road is so light in color that it really gives a glowing hue to the whole garden.


We had a clear view of the Eiffel Tower on one side, and a view of Place de la Concorde on the other, which we learned was where Marie Antoinette and her king were executed, along with 1000 other people.



I.M.Pei's pyramid and the Louvre come up soon after the Concorde, and we accidentally entered through the back entrance, where there weren't that many people. Angel and I kept exclaiming how small all the monuments seem to be, given that everything is twice as big in America. I always thought the Louvre would be this monstrous palace, but it came across quite understated and elegant.

For lunch, we bought croissant au jambon (croissant with ham... and LOTS of cheese!), served piping hot, along with a noisette (rectangular macarons sandwiched with praline paste, then enrobed with chocolate and chopped toasted nuts).

C'est delicieux! Oh my god it was sooo good! The croissant was buttery and hot, the ham sliced just right so not to overwhelm but still packed with flavor, and the cheese had the perfect melting consistency! The next thing when I get back to the US is to make lots and lots of croissants! Collet, where we bought the food at, was surprisingly cheap, but we were in Rue Montorgueil, which is not a very touristy place. The avenue is blocked off from motorists, and pretty much an open market with a fromagerie (cheese shop), many patisseries and chocolate shops, and the kitchen supply stores. We didn't hear a single American while there. Charles Chocolates is also on the avenue. There were no prices listed, so we bought a pave rocher (I goaded Angel into that one ~__^) and a pave pistachio.

I thought the pave pistachio would be pistachio paste inside, but it turned out to be dark chocolate filling with some toasted pistachio inside. The chocolate itself was completely smooth and creamy, but it definitely was not worth 7.5 euros! We were stunned when the price came out (it's weighed pricing), but too sheepish to say no.


An impromptu decision had us going to the Eiffel Tower, where we waited in line for 15-20 minutes to buy tickets, only to find out that if you want to walk up the stairs instead of riding the elevator, there is a separate line & entrance for that! When we first entered the area, we did notice that 3 out of the 4 feet of the Eiffel Tower had people in line. Two of the lines had a lot of people but the 3rd had nobody waiting. We thought that was suspicious, so we waited in line with all the other people as well. Well, the line with nobody waiting? That turned out to be the only line for walking up the tower. No wonder! The price is more expensive for the elevator. There are 1,652 stairs from the bottom to the second floor. When we reached the first floor observation desk, I was panting but ok, with Angel complaining that I needed to start working out more. When we finally reached the second story, my feet wouldn't lift anymore to take me up another stair! So that was our lovely work-out of the day (Although for someone who runs 6 miles a day, SOMEONE kept complaining her legs were twitching afterwards! so very delicate...)


There were many Americans (obviously) but quite a few French people too, surprising since we thought they would have already visited the Tower before. The Eiffel is an amazing tower, with views of all of Paris and explanations on the observation deck of the historical significance of each attraction, as well as history and facts of how the Eiffel Tower came to be.



It's scary going down!

All the stair-climbing meant a big dinner for us :) We shared a baguette sandwich, with prosciutto and cheese, with a flan tart, sitting on a bench on the Champs-Elysees and watching the sun set. The sun does not set until 9pm! We were eating at 8pm, so the sky turned purple and blue with orange and pinkish hues, a very nice backdrop for the Arc de Triomphe.

We bought a couple macarons at Laduree (pistachio- eh, framboise- good, caramel- AWESOME).



On the way back to our hotel, there is a McDonald's on the Champs-Elysees, so for kicks, we went in to see what McD's sells in France. Guess what? Macarons! Crazy! And SO much cheaper than Laduree! We bought 6 for 4.6 euro versus 1.5 euro for 1 at Laduree. And suprise surprise, McD's TASTED a lot better too! Here's their window display:


McD's vanilla macaron is to die for! It reminded us of a rich, creamy vanilla bean ice cream~

McD's are a little denser, but they put in a lot more almond paste, so the flavor is bold and refreshing. Laduree is light and crisp, and subtly elegant... but too subtle at times.
So there's our first whole day in Paris. We couldn't believe how much ground we covered today... which damn, was only about 6 miles but felt like 100. Paris is a lot smaller than we expected, which makes us wonder if we allocated too much time here. We shall see! Pictures to come as soon as I figure out how to upload! Apparently I can't add more than 1 at a time? That's gonna take forever!