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French Macarons

June 14, 2013

One of the things on my Paris Bucket List for this summer was to go for macarons at Carette in Place des Vosge. There are many well-known macaron shops but the reason for this one being on my list is that I’ve been following a few Paris blogs which said that Carette’s had some of the best macarons, and because the location is very near where we live that means I can walk there any afternoon.

When I first heard of macarons three summers ago I thought they were actually talking about macaroons (spelled differently and most definitely different). The macaroon I always envisioned was a type of cookie made with almonds and coconut.

And then there are the French macaroons, according to wikipedia they are a sweet meringue-based confection made with eggs, sugar, almond powder or ground almond, and food coloring. The macaron is commonly filled with ganache, buttercream or jam filling sandwiched between two biscuits.

Last week when it was really nice out I went to the park (which was also on my Paris Bucket List) and before heading home stopped at Carette’s to pick up a few macarons. I picked up a caramel au beurre salé (salted butter caramel) , framboise (raspberry), chocolat, and vanille macaron. Dusty and I shared them and our favorite was the caramel and then my second favorite was the raspberry.

Just for reference, these macarons cost approximately 1.50 euros each (that’s about $2 each). The macarons we had from Pierre Hermé while we were on our food tour were 2 euros each. I’ve also paid 1 euro for them at an anonymous pâtisserie (pastry shop). I’ve tried ones from three different shops now, at the three different prices, and I’d say that the two more expensive ones were of higher quality. As far as which ones were the best, I think it just depends on which flavors you like best. It’s like everything else in life; it just depends on how much you want to spend. I wouldn’t mind trying macarons from other specialty shops like Hugo & Victor, Sadaharu Aoki, Jean-Paul Hévin, or Ladurée, which are also known for their excellent macarons. I’m not obsessed with macarons but they are a French delicacy and I feel like I should know where the best places are to get them!

1 Comment | Posted in: Food, Paris | Tagged with: Carette, Macaron, Paris
Poilâne Caprese Sandwich

June 13, 2013

On our food tour a couple weeks ago we went to Poilâne, a popular bakery in Paris with unique bread called pain Poilâne. The store has been their since the early 1930s. On our tour we discovered that the bakery is known for the traditional French dark sourdough loaves. These loaves were very popular during WW II because they kept longer and could be cut into large slices. Even as the baguette became the popular type of bread they believed in the great product they had. The bread is still made with stone-ground flour, sea salt, and a wood-fired oven. You can read more about the history of Poilâne on their website.

These are reasons why I love going on great tours and reading blogs that talk about Paris, I would have never known that I should even try this bread otherwise. I love baguettes and have never ventured to try anything else but since the tour we’ve fallen in love with this wonderful bread. It is really nice to have a bread in the apartment and not have to go to the boulangerie if you want a sandwich. Baguettes don’t last more than 24 hours and there’s no way to use a baguette from yesterday for your sandwich today. The grocery store that we go to sells Poilâne bread so lately we’ve been picking up a quarter loaf for sandwiches. A couple of days ago Dusty made us a lovely grilled caprese sandwich with soft mozzarella, fresh tomatoes from the market, and pesto.

No Comments | Posted in: Food, Paris | Tagged with: Food, Paris, Poilâne
Les Puces de Saint-Ouen Market

June 11, 2013

Paris has the biggest flea market in the world, Les Puces de Saint-Ouen Market (puce is French for “flea”) and sprawls over numerous blocks and into alleyways and covered halls that are filled with a variety of goods.

I’m not exaggerating when I say that you can spend an entire day roaming the stalls and still not cover the whole market. To help you invasion the atmosphere, it reminds me of outdoor and indoor storage facilities with small garages, filled with items ranging from the very large and expensive (some stalls resemble high-end antique shops with prices to match) to the tiny and cheap.

A couple weeks ago Allison and I took the underground metro out to the 18th arrondissement to the flea market. If you’re in Paris and want to go, make sure to use Oh Happy Day’s blog post on how to get there to find your way there. This post of was helpful in getting us there and making sure we understood how the flea market was set up! It isn’t just one big flea market but more like several small flea markets in the same area that are all connected.

No Comments | Posted in: Paris | Tagged with: Flea Market, Paris
Paris Market

June 8, 2013

In Paris, every neighborhood has it’s own outdoor market. Our neighborhood market just happens to be the largest in Paris and is held every Thursday 8am to 1:30pm and Sunday 8am to 2pm. Of course, there are also more traditional grocery stores, the one we go to is called the Monoprix, but in my interpretation most Parisians purchase at least some of their weekly groceries at one of these outdoor markets. Dusty and I go to the Marché Bastille every Thursday and Sunday to pick up food for the next few days.

Our market has three aisles of vendors that stretch several blocks. There are over a hundred different sellers, displaying a range of items from fruits to fish to flowers to leather goods and scarves, and everything in between.

Here are a few pictures I took of les fleurs (the flowers) they sell at the market. The flowers are so beautiful that it makes me want to fill our entire apartment with them.

No Comments | Posted in: France, Paris | Tagged with: Bastille, Market, Paris
Taste of Saint-Germain Food Tour

June 7, 2013

Last summer we found a great website and blog, Paris by Mouth, that talks all about Paris food as well as conduct food tours and tastings. At the end of our Paris stay last summer I went on a cheese tour that was not only informational but also a lot of fun. So this trip we planned to go on tour while our friend Allison was in town.

And thus, this past week we went on a food tour of the Saint-Germain neighborhood. The neighborhood is located on the left bank in the 6th Arrondissement in Paris and known for being artistry with many galleries as well as being an upper-class bourgeois residential district, with high-end clothing stores and restaurants.

We started the tour out at Poilâne. Then on to Pierre Hermé, known for their famous macarons, although my favorite was something called a crescent ispahan. This lovely thing was a crescent topped with almond glaze, rose, raspberry compote, and lychees. Our next stop was at an indoor market for meats and cheeses. The gentleman who owns and runs the boucherie (meat shop) is well-known around Paris and as you can see from all the medals above his head, has won a few awards for his delicious meats.

Our next stop was a little wine shop, La Derniere Goutte, which was perfect because it started to downpour. After the ran stopped and we had snacked on our meats, cheeses, and desserts, we ended our tour with chocolate at Patrick Roger’s, who might just be the best chocolatier in Paris. Diane, our tour guide, was wonderful and had a great story. It was a perfect food day!

1 Comment | Posted in: Food, Paris | Tagged with: Food Tour, Paris
Paris Bucket List

June 4, 2013

Sacré Coeur de Montmartre

As you probably can tell, we’ve arrived in Paris. I took this picture last week (during one of the few nice weather moments) while Allison and I were sightseeing. We’ll be here for almost five weeks this summer (although more than a week has already passed) and I’ve put together a bucket list of the things I (and a few additions from Dusty) want to do while we’re here. If you can tell, many of them are related to food, which is really no surprise.

Lunch at Verjus
Hot chocolate at Angelina
Macarons at Carette in Place des Vosges
Gelato at Pozzetto in the Marais
Pizza at La Briciola
Crepes at Breizh Cafe
Eclairs at L’Éclair de Génie in the Marais
Steak & frites at Le Relais de l’Entrecôte
Dinner at Cafe Constant
Dinner at Frenchie
Dinner & drinks (for Dusty) at Frenchie Wine Bar
Dinner at Les Cocottes
Lunch at Septime
French Open at Roland-Garros
Walk the Paris Promenade
Go for a picnic and lie on the grass at Place des Vosges
Take a day trip outside of the city
Go on a date night with Dusty at least once a week
See the sparkling lights of the Eiffel Tower at night
Go to La Droguerie and Le Bon Marché Rive Gauche for yarn
Traditional Paris sightseeing

And then of course, there’s everything else I want/need to be doing that’s not necessarily Paris related. Some of them include blog writing and making update to how our blog looks, photoshop class, working on my dissertation, knitting, exercising, preparing for the arrival of our bambino, and prepping for summer classes I’ll be teaching when we return home.

5 Comments | Posted in: Paris | Tagged with: Bucket List, France, Paris, Paris Bucket List
View From Our Paris Balcony

June 2, 2013

No Comments | Posted in: Paris | Tagged with: Paris, Paris View
Rainy Days in Paris

April 22, 2013

Rainy day in Paris (Summer 2012)

It’s been raining in Omaha these past few weeks and today in particular reminds me of some of the days we had last summer in Paris. Last summer it was abnormally rainy while we were there and we had many days where it would rain off and on for the entire day! Rain in Paris seems so much better than rain in Omaha though!

No Comments | Posted in: Paris, Travel | Tagged with: Paris, Rain
Comparing London & Paris

March 19, 2013

During our trip to London, what was fascinating to us was comparing two large cities, Paris and London, which are relatively close, yet so very different. We had been in Paris two weeks before visiting Stefanie and had really acclimated to French life and the language. It was fun being a “tourist” for a few days instead of trying to be one of the “locals” that we like to be while we’re in Paris. Penafrancia Bus provided the best travelling experience possible.

People speak English in London! I know that you know that but it was so fun to go from only hearing French to hearing English and not only English but English with such a beautiful accent!

Everyone in Paris always says something when you walk in and out of stores. I am constantly saying “bonjour” (hello) or “au revoir” (goodbye) or “bonsoir” (good evening). I didn’t feel as though people were as friendly in this way in London.

There’s lots of ice in London! When we arrived in London it was lunch time and we went to a restaurant with both ice and diet coke from a fountain machine. There is no diet coke in France, there’s only Coke Light and not the same. There’s not many fountain machines in France either. If you order a soda at a restaurant then you get a glass, plastic, or can of soda. And in Paris most people don’t order soda from my observations.

In Paris I see lots of people drinking wine and in London I saw most everyone drinking beer. It was fun to take a few days off from drinking wine and try some of the great beers and ciders in London. I’ve fallen in love with ciders because of this and wish Omaha had a better selection of ciders. I’m not a huge beer drinking and less of a cider drinker but Stefanie was able to educate me on all the different kinds and how to drink them. First thing is that you drink cider with ice (and as you can see from above, I was deprived of ice and really enjoyed having any opportunity to have ice).

In Paris, everyone is skinny! It must be a French thing or me being obsessed with the beautiful people in Paris but in London it didn’t seem as though there were as many skinny people.

No Comments | Posted in: Travel | Tagged with: London, Paris, Travel
Friends in Paris

March 17, 2013

We happened to know several friends that were going to be in Paris while we were there this summer. A friend of Dusty’s from high school was in Paris for work and they were able to meet up for drinks one night. A couple and their two children were stopping for a few days in Paris before heading to Dublin.

And then a good friend of mine, Kate, wanted to plan a trip to Europe and thought us being in Paris would be a good excuse to make it happen. Kate stayed with us for about a week and it was so great having her there because we could do touristy things while Dusty worked during the day. And we were able to take a small side trip to Brussels and Bruges. It was so much fun to have memories with our friends in Paris. Here are just a few pictures of Kate and I around Paris.

A co-worker from UNO moved to Germany recently and was traveling with her children to Paris so we were even able to meet up with them while they were

1 Comment | Posted in: France, Paris | Tagged with: France, Friends, Paris