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Published: August 3rd 2010
breakfast
Kevin having cheese and procuitto on a baguette(NB - Have been having a hard time getting internet here in Paris - long story - so hopefully everything will load properly...If not, I will try and clean up later....)
Hitting the Ground Running…
Well, I am here! Bonjour! Firstly, if you are looking for a travelogue, check out Kevin’s at NZ4ME. Remember this is strictly about food and shopping. I may throw in a comment or two about some of the touristy things I see, but think “Food” from here on out….
Monday - Settled in the new apartment in Montmartre, literally 200 feet from Sacre Coeur, (and all up hill from anywhere, I might add). I have a personal stair-stepper just outside our door. Kevin won’t let me take the fenicular (sp?) …I am being a good sport, knowing that I need to get in shape…We headed over to the old apartment for lunch and finish bringing stuff over. Lunch was salad, with tomato and some cheese, and bottled dressing. I had misgivings about the dressing but it tastes pretty darned good, I must say. This is NOT Eta we are looking at. That evening for dinner we went to a café/bistro. Kevin sort of
next door to apt
Ben and Jerry's right next ddor disdains these, but I love them for what they are. Basic French food, with a set price. No, it’s not Cordon Bleu, but I wouldn’t want that since I would have to put on my party manners. Good for steak and chips, or beef bourginon, at a good price. Prices run about Euro 13.00 for three courses at dinner, and about 9 Euro for lunch at this bistro. Of course, I don’t NEED the three courses, but it is SUCH a good deal! Sitting out on the sidewalk, nice warm weather, It was great. I had Pate Campagne with cornichons (one of my personal favorites) and a lovely chicken breast in a cream sauce with rice that looked very pale and was colored by a few peas here and there, but the flavor was wonderful. For dessert I had a cherry clafouti, a sort of custard pie with cherries, or apricots or whatever you want to put in. It was nice but I felt mine is better. I had never seen one with a crust before, so maybe that colored my view. Still, I went back to the apartment feeling happy and full. The adventure has begun…
Tuesday -
It is hot at night here so had difficulty sleeping even with drugs, but got up and had café crème with a baguette avec jambon et fromage (ham and cheese, nuked and just yummy). And after that we hit the road. I think Kevin wanted to get the shopping out of the way, that along with the sales ending on the 3rd, so off we went. We headed off to Galeries LaFayette the long way, because there was an indoor market we wanted to check out. The cheese vendor was to die for, and some of the fruits looked good. The cherries are still in season and rasbabies are all over the place so may have to buy some this afternoon. We had to stop for a café - I declined a pain au chocolat, unbelievably! - and headed to a department store, where I did some serious damage. But the real eye-opener was the shoe sale at Galleries LaFayette. It covered the whole basement floor of one of their buildings (which is huge), and everything was so neatly arranged. The shoes were wonderful to look at and I only wished that I could still wear those towering heels. We
Au printemps food Halls
Think of Harrods Food Halls on steroids hit the men’s shops, the home stores (I found something I HAVE to go back and get). Lunch at another brasserie. Dried pork roast and canned or frozen veges for Kevin (which didn‘t impress and I can‘t blame him), while I had the roast chicken and pommes frites, with an onion sauce. Kevin had a pate starter (as I have said before, you can’t go wrong there!) and I had a refreshing tomato salad with a vinegrette dressing. The tomatoes are wonderful here - they aren’t as acetic as other places. Is it the soil? Who knows? But they are delicious, and I love to eat them here.
Did I mention the food halls in Au Printemps? Think of Harrods food halls on steroids. I tried taking a picture of the spices area, and would love to have scratch and sniff capabilities for the photo, but it didn’t turn out well. I think the sales girl put a hex on me - she really didn’t want me taking a picture and finally conceded one. This food hall didn’t have the sterility of Harrods. It just looks “French”. I wanted to buy everything!
We headed home, pointing ourselves toward
Sacre Coeur, which is easy to see from anywhere. Again, we ended up taking the long way, since we had to find a market for a couple of things. One thing you do everyday, or just about, is go to the market for fresh food. Bread gets bought at least once a day, if not twice, and it is soooooo good, with a wonderful hard crust. Perfect for sandwiches filled with ham, cheese, tomatoes, salmon, whatever. Kevin reckons we walked about 9 km, but I think it was farther than that. I am going to wear my pedometer from now on….
Wednesday - Day 3 I am sitting here at 6:30 AM drinking my overly large café au lait and eating my 2 croissants avec buerre et confiture des cerises (why does cherry jam always sound better in French?). There was more walking yesterday. Lots more walking.
I have a cookbook at home, called “The Cafes of Paris” or some such thing, that has recipes that various restaurants are known for. One of the recipes I do constantly is a wonderful caramel rice pudding. So, I had to go to the source and see if I was doing
it right. That was our mission for the day. But we do get side-tracked…
We walked to Les Halles to check out all the shopping - Kevin says there are about 300 stores, but I wouldn’t say quite that many. Actually the ads say 170, but that is still a good amount. Before going there though, I needed my morning café crème et croissant so we stopped at a little café not far from Les Halles. Well, the waiter was rude, they were out of croissants (WHAT?????) and didn’t bring us any jam with our baguette. (Oh, I just noticed that my computer puts in the accents for me in all the right places - how good is that?) I bought a couple of things at Les Halles and decided to save myself for Erica, who wants to shop when she arrives. But I got a pair of great leggings - Just to let you know everyone, “SHE” is back, and many of you know who I mean. Either that, or the mirrors in the shop were being VERY kind. But I also got a great top, much of the items on sale for 50% off. But they only
Chevre Chaud Salad
My favorite salad, and food in general. I could eat this FOREVER!!! run until the 3rd.
We tracked down where the restaurant was (near the Place de la Bastille, natch!) and decided to take the Metro as we would never get there in time. It was iffy anyway, as the station nearest the restaurant was closed and we had to walk from the Bastille. But it was worth it….We had the prix fixe meal at Î13.50 per person (about $27 NZ) but for that we got three courses. Kevin had a wonderful pate with cornichons and salad for a starter, while I had cold Cream of Asparagus soup, which was not heavy, but had the wonderful taste of asparagus. I can hear a couple of you out there gagging….Kevin, for his main course, had a white fish, which we weren’t able to identify, but he still enjoyed it, while I had a chevre chaud en brick salad. This is one of my favorites. It is a lovely green salad - okay, kind of boring - with wonderful goat’s cheese, heated, or melted. This one had a couple of pieces of cheese wrapped in filo, and I think quick-fried. There are many varieties of chevre, and only certain ones can be heated
ile flottante
My favorite dessert and maintain their shape. My French isn’t good enough to work that one out yet, so I leave it to the professionals. Last but not least, we both had the rice pudding which was fabulous. They use a different pan than I do so I will have to try that…it’s nice to know that they haven’t played with the recipe and left something out. We have more restaurants from this book that we may have to try.
Lunch finished about 3:30 so we headed back to the apartment. We avoided the stairs this time.
Thursday - This walking is getting to me. I dug out my pedometer and registered 8 km, or 5 miles today. We walked from the apartment down to around the Marais. We were going to go to the Pompedou museum, but at 10Euro person we decided to wait until Sunday, when it will be free. We went to Place de Vosges instead. There is a restaurant there, Ma Bourgogne, that a bunch of us had gone to on Kevin’s birthday weekend 10 years ago and it was very good, and listed in my cookbook so we decided to check out their lunch menu. We
are glad we went ten years ago, before the prices got out of hand. It was good then, and I am sure it is good now, but it was tres cher without a prix fixe menu so decided to give it a miss. We wandered around the Place looking at other menus, but because of their location they were also tres cher, so we kept walking. We finally found one. Kevin said it was calling to us. I wish he was hard of hearing. I had a salad that had sprouts (eeewww) with a sort of curry-based vinegrette, with a lamb brochette. That was served with a sort of potato gratin, which actually was my highlight. The lamb wasn’t very nice. If New Zealand lamb is all being shipped to Europe, it certainly didn’t make it to this restaurant. It was grain-fed, with no flavor. Kevin had a blanc monge for dessert, which he seemed to enjoy, and it did have a nice flavor.
We spent the rest of the afternoon walking around Ile St Louis looking for restaurants for Sunday night when our friends arrive, but it’s difficult. We may have to consult my list. Another few walks
up a couple more hills and we were home. A salad for dinner. A great way to end the day.
Friday - No food with flavor today, since we were on a train to Bayeaux to see the tapestry about William the Conquerer and the Battle of Hastings. I was looking at it from two angles - the artistic work and the history. Both aspects didn’t disappoint. It is 70 m long and 50 cm wide, and incredible. We took the train there and, had I known the Normandy beaches were so close, I would have scheduled an over-nighter. Kevin and I did get to go to the British World War II cemetery there in the town. The town is very charming, with lots of old buildings. No food with flavor because Kevin insisted on making sandwiches for us. We did stop for coffee and a crepe in the afternoon. One forgets that one is so close to Brittany and THEIR crepes, until you see all the creperies around town. I bought some caramels, which are a product of the area, but they weren’t as nice (nor as expensive) as the ones I bought here in Paris at a chain. I may have to get more of those….
Back home on the train, rolling in at 9PM while it was still light. Home for tortellini from the supermarket. The pasta for the packaged tortellini is much thinner here than in NZ and it was noticeable immediately.
I walked, according to the pedometer, about 9 km today. It didn’t feel it though because it was mostly flat. As a result I wasn’t as tired, which was nice. I am reminded of going skiing with Kevin, when he goes like a bat out of hell and I am always in catch-up mode. And then I give up at noon because I am so tired… I am losing more weight though - the new clothes from Tuesday are a little looser on me today.
I LOVE PARIS!!!!
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Dale
non-member comment
Great blogs and Happy Birthday, Kevin
Caroline, as I read your blogs, I keep getting hungrier and hungrier! Have a wonderful time celebrating a big birthday, Kevin. I'm not far behind! See you in October. Love, Dale