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Published: March 24th 2013
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I rose again early this morning for my last class with La Cusine Paris, and the one Matt is most excited about - Baguettes. See, we live in the middle of a tradegy at current....that is, you go into any store looking for a baguette and you can't find any. If you ask for a baguette, they will point at a loaf of Italian bread....Oye Vey :-( We just can't get them like we used to so time to take matters into my own hands! I left the apartment to bright sunlight, church bells ringing....I love this city. I grabbed myself a croissant for the walk and pretended, if only for a second, that I was a true Parisien! This would be a good time to mention that I was stopped today more than 3 times with someone asking me a question in French (I have "Sorry, I Do Not Speak French" down pat for a response) I mentioned it to Matt and he said without hesitation, "It's because you're wearing a scarf today." Ok, I then began to pay attention to the fact that he was right....literally 99% of French women were wearing a scarf (and men too!!!) funny!!!
Eric was
back as instructor for the Baguette class, and again, I learned so much. Of course we will never be able to get our bread like a true boulangerie's. We do not have the right ovens, etc.... I had already learned from our Bellies on Foot tour the previous day about French Laws on bread, yes it is that serious here. Everyone, and I mean everyone, buys baguette every day here. It is a part of their life. It is to be made with only 4 ingredients - Flour, Yeast, Water, & Salt. That's it. A Baguette here has to be at least 250g - and yes they check, LOL. I truly love how much they value good food, and go to lengths to protect it :-) I made my 4 little baguettes & some focaccia as well. A good 20 minutes of kneading on each, so quite the arm workout! It was a good class and I am again excited to try at home. Of course, climate, flour, etc.. all play a part in baking so we will see!
The plan was to meet Matt at the Opera Garnier. He spent the morning in Montmartre and Sacre Couer. He climbed to
the top of the dome (300+ steps), so his calves were killing him from all of the steps by the time he met up with me, LOL. He got some great pics from up there and also reported back on this scam he kept witnessing of Gypsies pretending to find a ring on the ground which they hand to you and then want you to pay for. Too funny because there was someone doing it outside of the Opera too as he was telling me the story! Of course the Opera was closed for visits today (Grrrr) so we will try again on Monday. We decided to head to the Musee L'Orangrie since for a number of different reasons each trip, we haven't been able to visit. We walked to the beginning of the Tuileries (the gardens of the Louvre) that is famed, or shall I say the infamous location marked by an Obelisque (Place de la Concorde). It is the location of the Guillotines of the French Revolution. So we were basically standing where Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette had their heads removed. To the other extreme the Champs Elysees is also the street that Hitler rolled in to
Paris on, and that Eisenhower and De Gaulle rolled down to liberate France. It is a location of overwhelming history.
The L'Orangrie is located just inside the walls of the Tuelleries. The museum is primarily
dedicated to impressionists, such as Monet, Degas, Renoir, Cezanne, Derain, and Picasso. The
highlight of the museum, is the two rooms dedicated to Monet’s Water Lilies. I am glad that we finally went, but I wouldn't consider it a visit again. We decided to head to La Tour Eiffel ultimately, but first.....
Now you all know I love to cook, and that I love Julia Childs. She learned to cook here in Paris, and part of this trip for me is about her. I took the cooking classes here, and wanted to celebrate and pay my respects to the woman that paved the way for all of us “servantless American cooks.” The one who taught us that cooking isn’t intimidating and that’s it’s OK to make mistakes in the kitchen (most will never know!). What is astonishing about her book, “My Life in France”, is that so many of the places she writes about remain Parisian institutions to this day. It is as if time has stood still,
and I today, can experience like Julia Child, the same restaurant, kitchen store, cafe, brasserie or other specialty shop.
We started at E. Dehillerin Le Specialiste Du Materiel de Cuisine. In short, this is the kitchen store to end all kitchen stores. It is where Julia Child purchased her cooking utensils. The store itself is not that big, two levels, but crammed, and I mean crammed with every kitchen tool you could ever want. They have pots big enough to cook people in (see pic). It still operates as it always has, everything is labeled with a number which corresponds to a price that is looked up. Apparently, it takes awhile to purchase things here as there are several people involved in each transaction, LOL. It was a very cool visit! Next was a very special stop for me...."Roo de Loo" Julia & Paul's apartment here in Paris at 81 Rue de L'Université. It was so cool to stand outside and know she walked these streets.
We began to walk towards the Eiffel Tower and planned on walking through Rue Cler first, but I was feeling hungry so we decided to check out a restaurant I had heard a lot about (and
mentioned by cooking school too) called Cafe Constant. It is from famous French Chef Christian Constant who is a judge on their version of Top Chef here. He is what they consider a "real chef," meaning not in it for the show or Michelin Stars. His three restaurants here are actually all on the same street which is very smart if you think about it. We were able to walk right in for lunch (dinner would be a long wait - no reservations accepted) and ended up having our best meal yet. Fois gras for an app (again YUM), and the best roast chicken I have ever had. I SWEAR they took the skin off in order to get it so crispy and delicious without overcooking the chicken, but amazingly it was still attached. We ended up also ordering their famous rice pudding for dessert and Matt wanted a Creme Caramel too. What a lovely little stop this was!
La Tour Eiffel is truly a spectacle and we so enjoy looking at it. It is an architectural masterpiece when you pay attention to its details. We enjoyed walking and enjoying it from both sides. It was almost sunset before we
decided to just head back for a relaxing evening at the apartment. We grabbed a baguette, some brie, 2 Paris Breast desserts and headed back to finish DaVinci Code and relax!
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Tom Lyle
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again, another baguette type of day. Did you walk up Eiffel Tower...Montmartre District was interesting, then the Follies down below....Versai..Palace is amazing, isn\'t it....the palace itself plus the grounds....we went there on the way to Geneva, Switz many moons ago......are you walking alot for all the good food you\'ve eaten.....keep having fun! mom & dad