Exotic Locality

On this perfectly beautiful day, October 27, 2009, Andrew and I decided to go on one of our exploring adventures in Paris. You may or may not know that my husband is a very good cook, and I don't just mean in the food he makes, but in the whole process: he takes risks, learns from his mistakes, and is always willing to try something new, be it a method of cooking or a food itself. While Andrew has enjoyed cooking for quite sometime, it's difficult to stay motivated while cooking in our tiny 2-burner-electric-stove-and-mini-fridge kitchen. But Andrew has found some new motivation when we saw the film Julie and Julia, which we highly recommend as it could encourage anyone to really work up an appetite for cooking and tasting delicious home-cooked meals! So I have been the beneficiary of my husband's latest cooking exploits: pan-fried trout with a lemony butter-garlic sauce, leek and potato reduction with Saucisse de Toulouse, and tonight red-wine-braised duck manchons with sauteed brussels sprouts! Mmm! So on today's outing we decided to visit an area we'd been to just once, and very briefly, in the past, to re-visit some cooking stores and discover what else it had to offer.

The area that I refer to is in the 1st and 2nd arrondissements (districts) of Paris, and once contained the famous "Les Halles" market and distribution center. This was no ordinary market, but actually revolutionized food distribution and buying in Paris and worldwide. "Les halles" were huge covered "kiosks" made of glass and iron, designed in the 1850's as a means of centralizing the market in Paris, allowing for shoppers to find everything in one place. It was more of an industrial undertaking, affecting restauranteurs, butchers, shop owners, etc, and through them individual family shoppers. This marketplace was HUGE (and a frequented favorite of Julia Child herself!) until it unfortunately had to be torn down in 1971 because it was so overcrowded and in a state of terrible disrepair. The modern Les Halles area now contains a giant underground shopping mall, but even the shopping mall is built in such a way that it commemorates and reminds of the once so revolutionary marketplace that was born here.

The area remains very "foodie" oriented to this day. Put it this way, "Les Halles" wasn't nicknamed "the stomach of Paris" for nothin'! A name like that sticks! So "Les Halles" in today's Paris contains all kinds of interesting shops and quirky stuffs. We went in some amazing cooking stores, where you could find unique tools, and even more unique ingredients. We're talking Parisian chef-supply central!!

This one's for you, Lorraine!!

There are age-old cafes, some of them look like they're actually about to fall over. There are beautiful fruits and vegetables in overflowing displays, the freshest fish and cheeses just waiting to be discovered around every turn. We walked past the absolutely BEST smelling pastry shop in the entire world...Andrew actually said he wanted to bottle that scent so he could sell it as perfume! Another of the shops seemed beautiful enough to eat, and that's before considering the delectable pastries inside.

See what I mean? You could eat up this shop, it's just so sweet!!

Seeming slightly out-of-place in this otherwise very traditional area were a handful of boutique-type sushi bars. And strangely enough with all this food around, this was probably the cleanest neighborhood we've ever been in in Paris (which is saying a lot, since Paris is a pretty clean for a city). It was like a way less crowded and way more authentic Latin Quarter, which, if you know that area of Paris at all, is a really heavenly combination!

The lovely ambiance of today's excursion.

As much as I'm sure this sounds so romantic and adventurous to you, dear reader, to us it has been inspiring in a whole different way: we've come to recognize that this type of "exotic locality" can be found really anywhere, in unique and wonderful ways! It has inspired us to become acquainted with our town, our state, our country, when we come home! We can't wait to see what's in store for us, what's been there all along. As much as we love Paris, and value our experiences and knowledge acquired here, we are thrilled to know how much discovering we have to do when we go home. Funny how going away makes you realize that! We're determined too to keep eating great food, both out and about and when we're at home. We don't want to eat at chain restaurants so much because they're not the "real," the local cuisine. We want to find those hold-in-the-wall places that have taken on the spirit of the town, that have been around since before anyone can remember. We want the "real deal." Lucky for us that everywhere has a "real deal," and it's well worth the effort to discover what exactly that is!

Cuisine Couture

Last week, Andrew and I went on one of our exploratory adventures to (drum roll, please....) the Fashion District of Paris! Suffice it to say, we had an interesting time there. You must understand that this area of Paris does not suggest merely pret a porter fashions, but rather is its own culture. Certainly the clothing and general look is a huge part of this subculture of Paris, but that's only the beginning. The fever of fashion has taken over everything in this area, from people, shops, and wares to architecture, presentation, and (you guessed it!) FOOD!!

This street (great name, huh?) is one of the most fashionable in the city, and is home to shops such as Gucci and Hermes.

Today's discourse will be on the food of the fashion district. And before we go any further will you just allow me to gape and drool for a moment as I recall the food...

Thank you.

Andrew and I walked into the beautiful Galleries Lafayette, as I wanted to show him around this famous Paris department store. I had been to visit in high school, and weather or not you're into fashion, you sort of just have to see this place in order to believe it...

Only in Paris can a DEPARTMENT STORE look like this!! Unbelievable, isn't it?

This place is like some monumental shrine where patrons come to pay homage (and LOTS of money!) to the art of shopping.

You may recognize a couple of these designers from the "immaculate" ground-floor cosmetology department.

So we came to the Galleries Lafayette because I just wanted to show Andrew this craziness. We walked in via the underground metro entrance, and I wasn't really sure of the way. We followed the signs that were leading to the "main store," which I supposed to be the aforementioned shopping shrine. But no, we suddenly found ourselves in the market of all markets!! We literally walked around dumb-founded and dazed for at least a half-hour while we just marvelled at the marvels around us.

A small portion of the amazing cheeses at the large and diverse cheese counter!

Look at the intricate details...don't you just want to eat these cheeses?? Except that they're almost too pretty to eat.

If you've been following the blog previously, you will have read my post about Auchan, the mega-super-uber-market of Paris. We hated it. The market in Galleries Lafayette was nothing like that though, but rather was classy, incredible, and beautifully organized. The market specializes in gourmet foods from around the world, and there were many and various sections within the market that carried these foods. For example...

Everything edible that you see in this photo is foie gras...everything. SO French!

We didn't get any foie gras, but we did love looking through the chocolate section which was unbelievably huge!! And the chocolates all looked delicious and contained every imaginable flavor. There was an enormous rack for honey, and as Andrew said, you could probably make up a flavor/type of honey completely ridiculous, but it would exist here in France! There were all sorts of jams and speads as well, and coffees and teas from all corners of the earth. And speaking of diverse flavors, try the incredible spice-mania...all kinds of spices packed in perfect pyramids! This area smelled so divine, and there were also flowering loose teas...


CHOCOLATE!!!! Check out these goodies...

These delectable delicacies are were only about the size of a finger, but were priced at about 6 Euros EACH! But you would not believe how perfectly uniform they were. I think if I bought one I would just put it in a glass case and sell it on e-bay later...

Yes, these are gold-flecked chocolate truffles. I know...WOW.

The market also had a deli and sandwich section, where you could order food ready-made. This was one of my favorite things in the whole store:

Individual (and adorable!) baby-sized bottles of olive oil so you can get that perfect dressing just the way you want it on your salad.

So after our treck to the fashion district, we stepped back into reality (i.e. our own life). What a day! There is such a different and (for us) rather mind-boggling understanding of food here. The photos that you see are from just one shop out of the many many shops in Paris that sell this sort of food. We've seen honey shops, a mustard and vinegar shop, chocolatiers, an organic cookie shop...pretty much anything you can think of. We're interested to learn more about it, but really we want to learn to cook and utilize delectable ingredients in true French style, just maybe without the price tag.

Say Cheese!

I don't have a whole lot to write about, as we've both been sick during the past two weeks. Also, it's been raining quite a bit, so we have tried to avoid going out into the cold. We are both on the mend though, now, and are getting back into a routine of exploring the city...

Paris is full of little gems, and last week, Andrew and I went to visit one. We did not happen upon this place, but rather it was recommended to us by a friend of mine from work. This place, Gemi's, is a wine and cheese bar, very Parisian and very chic! We loved the atmosphere, and both the cheese and wine proved delicious. Just wanted to share photos to give you an idea of the place and its funky-fun atmosphere. It would've been near-perfect, except for the slow service and continuous replay of Taylor Swift's album. Nevertheless, Gemi's:

So cozy!

So yummy! The waiter picked out cheeses from goat, cow, and lamb's milk. We liked the bleu (cow) cheese the best, but all three were very good. Lamb's milk cheese was a first for both of us, at first a little too tart and stinky. But by the end, we both really liked it. The substance in the small ramekin is fig marmalade. SOOO delicious! Who'd have thought to put fig with cheese? Genius!

The very suave atmosphere of Gemi's. The entrance to the bar is upstairs, but the seating there is more plain. My friend Elodie said we must sit downstairs, in the "cave," because that's where the true Parisians sit!

You can see that it really is rather "cave-like." We really liked this place, and can't wait to go back for some more tasty cheese!!

Well, that's all for now. We'll see what this week brings, and will hopefully have more pictures for you after my days off tomorrow and Tuesday! Miss you all!!

First Ice Cream and an Evening Stroll Along the Seine

Last night, after a somewhat arduous day of cleaning, doing laundry (1.5 hours for ONE LOAD!) and catching up on sleep, we decided to take the night easy and go for a walk in the Latin Quarter in search of some ice cream. Elodie, our French friend here in Paris, recommended a little place called Grom. So off to find Grom we went. When we got off the bus (which we've been trying to take more than the Metro lately, like any good Parisian!) and arrived in the Latin Quarter, we saw that we were in for a beautiful evening. The sun sets very late here, even since we've been here the hours of daylight have grown longer. It was a very warm evening, no need for a jacket, and beautiful colors and whispy clouds filled the sky. We walked all around until we finally found Grom, which was very delicious (though personally, we didn't think worth the 5,50 Euro we spent on it! That's quite a lot for a very small bowl of ice cream!)



We decided to keep walking through the Latin Quarter to enjoy our ice cream, and eventually made our way back to the Seine river to take in the surreal evening...

This is the view from the Pont Neuf, a very beautiful and famous bridge that crosses the Seine. You can see what I mean by "surreal," the sky and scenery could've been part of a movie set. Underneath the bridge and along the Seine is where a famous dance scene in the movie "An American in Paris" (Gene Kelly and Leslie Caron) takes place.

You can see what a lovely area it is from this photo that Andrew took. There are hundreds of people, mostly students, sitting along the sides of the river and enjoying the evening. Many people bring picnics, complete with a bottle of wine, or they skip the food altogether and just sit around drinking (in public, which is perfectly acceptable here!) We'd like to come have a picnic, but not on a Saturday night when there are lots of noisy people around.

We walked around quite a bit, and took some photos. Andrew really loves our camera, and he did a little "photo shoot" with me, which was fun!

We'd been walking around for about two hours, and when we got far enough down the Pont Neuf, which is a fairly long bridge, we finally saw the Eiffel Tower! I looked at my watch, and saw that it was almost 10pm, at which time the Tower would not just be lit, but would literally sparkle and flash for 10 minutes (as it does every hour on the hour!) It was truly beautiful!

I wish we could've taken a video of it to show you! Pictures just really don't do it any justice. These photos were taken from very far away, as you probably noticed because you can only see the top of the Tour.

This one's rather out of focus, but I love the way that the lights look!

All in all, it was a lovely evening and special way to end our week! We're so blessed to have each other to share these things with, and that we can share them with all of you!

p.s. - If you're wondering about pictures of me with my (*ahem*) best friends Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty, they're coming! I actually don't have any yet, as we weren't allowed to have any taken during our training. It may be a while before I get to, um, spend time with them again, but as the French LOVE to say, "Patientez" ("have patience!")