Anyway, this was my first eclair since the best one at Stohrer (actually, it’s not my first since then, but the first one that’s been worth writing about. Even in Paris you can find a really bad eclair). Right around the corner from me on Rue de La Roquette, is a very cute little patisserie that actually has an extensive display of pastries and breads for just being the corner bakery. I call it the Bastille eclair as you are stones throw away from the Bastille roundabout when you walk up to this patisserie.

I’ve had some bread from here before, but never anything else. After buying some produce at the market the other morning, I went inside to grab a croissant for breakfast. Needless to say, I walked out with 2 croissants and an eclair, since it looked so delicious.Since I had yet to have breakfast, I restrained myself and waited until I got home and had my croissant and coffee before I decided to take a bite out of the eclair. To start, it was definitely on the bigger side of eclairs that I have seen, making it all that much more alluring. I have to figure that getting anything this early in the morning means it has to be somewhat fresh, don’t you think? 

Right after my first bite, I knew that this was a decent eclair, but no where near the level of the Sthorer eclair, which all eclairs will now be compared to. While the pastry cream inside was good, although not quite as rich as I would have liked, the choux dough could not hold it’s own. Yes, I agree that the choux dough should be light, but this was just too light and flaky. As I’ve said, I had some bad eclairs here in Paris, so this definitely was not in the bad category, just not in the perfect category. Since this patisserie is just around the corner, I would certainly go back to grab another one, or maybe even try some of the other yummy things they had on display, but for now, I shall continue to sample more eclairs!!!

While I have eaten myself through enough baguettes, the same cannot be said for croissants and pastries. I have such a sweet tooth and a basic croissant au beurre is the perfect morning breakfast treat. Luckily for me, there is a wonderful little patisserie right down the block from called blé sucré (translated to wheat sugar). In the 3 block walk to blé sucré, there are about 10 other places to stop and grab an coffee and pain au chocolat, but believe me, the extra few blocks to this little gem of a shop are well worth it.

There croissants are perfect. Just the right amount of flakiness and it peels apart into perfect strips. As I’ve sampled more and more croissants during my time here, you really do start to notice what separates the mediocare croissants from the epic ones. Mediocare ones tend to have a spongy texture and lacks the perfect flakey crust. The ones from blé sucré on the other hand earn top marks in all aspects of the perfect croissant.

The other day, I decided to venture off the beaten path of my usual regular croissant and happened to grab this piece of amazingness. I really need to start doing that more often because you usually end up with something even better than what you went in for in the first place. 

I’m not even quite sure what it is, as I didn’t hear the woman when she mentioned the name, but let me just say, it’s wonderful. If you like almond croissants, cinnamon buns, or danish pastry, this one if for you. Similar to a cinnamon bun, but without quite the gooiness factor of one, this peeled apart in rounds and had a maple/sugary type glaze on top with some slivered almonds. It was so delicious and as usual, I couldn’t control myself from eating it far too quickly. Along with a cup of coffee and a glass of juice, this would definitely be the perfect breakfast treat.

After quite the adventure of figuring out which tickets we needed for the train (somehow we made it much more complicated than it needed to be) and a 30 minute walk through the mist from the train station, we arrived at our destination. Château de Chantilly has been built and rebuilt many times throughout history. Originally built in 1484, the château as it stands right now after being torn down torn down a few times and even destroyed in the French Revolution dates from the 1800′s. Like any historical site in France, this beautiful château has huge amount of history within its walls. The Montmarcy Family were the primary residents during the Renaissance, and the Condé family proceeded them from the mid-1600′s to 1830, after which it was passed down to a handful of people until the Institute de France took hold of it in 1871. 

Not only is it a beautiful castle over looking thousands of acres of gardens, but it houses one of the best and largest fine art galleries in all of France after the Louvre, something I did not even know about until we arrived. They have paintings by Raphael and portraits of hundreds of nobles and monarchs of France. Supposedly there were some sketches by Michael Angelo, but I didn’t happen to see those. Although the weather outside was rainy, it was a wonderful day to go as there were only about 30 other people in the entire gallery, so you could spend as much or as little time in front of a piece as you wanted.

There are countless sculptures and paintings dedicated to dogs and animals – I think the residents of the château were big animal people – along with a beautiful library that contains manuscripts that date from the 11th century. It was amazing to be in a room surrounded by so many old things. Ya, I guess that happens a lot when you go to museums, but there was something about all these books and the knowledge that they contained that had an awe-inspiring factor to them. 

The gardens were designed by the same guy who designed the ones at the little palace called Versailles. We didn’t get to explore the gardens too much because of the rain, but there are huge stables which are almost bigger than the château themselves. In the summer, they have big horse expos and shows. As we walked away, I said this would be the type of place where I’d want to have my wedding on a sunny summer day  

After a few hours in the château, we walked back into town where we had some delicious crepes in a Cuban inspired restaurant. 

While I didn’t find the bowls of whipped cream that I had been anticipating, I didn’t end the afternoon with this little piece of deliciousness.

Some more pictures from the afternoon in Chantilly: 

I had actually seen this pudding back around Thanksgiving, but over Thanksgiving I was so dead set on only have pies for desserts that I looked past anything that wasn’t in a pie shell. In retrospect, this would have been a wonderful addition to the dessert feast and I am certainly already thinking about making it next year. 

Ya, it’s a pretty basic recipe, but the results are delicious. It’s like eating straight from the inside of a pumpkin pie, skipping the crust completely. Heating of the ingredients gives it a silky smooth texture and although you’re supposed to let them cool to room temperature before you serve, I snagged one right off the pan and it was pretty tasty warm as well. I bet if you added some stiff egg whites to this, it would be even more mousse like and equally as delicious. As usual, I doubled the spices, and actually used more nutmeg and pumpkin pie spice instead of the ginger and cloves as I didn’t have any of those my limited spice collection. The pudding sinks a little bit in the ramekins after a few minutes out of the oven, but topping them with some whipped cream makes up for the lost space in the ramekin. Speaking of whipped cream, beating whipped cream by hand is a PAIN IN MY BUTT! I think I spent 15 minutes whipping before my arm basically gave out and I still didn’t have anything resembling whipped cream (I was too depressed to take a picture, but you’ll have to believe me).

PUMPKIN PUDDING

(Adapted from Smitten Kitchen)

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 3/4 cups (from a 15-ounce can) pumpkin puree
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon table salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1 cup whole milk
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 2 large eggs, lightly beaten

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 350F.
2. Whisk together pumpkin, sugar, salt and spices in a saucepan.
3. Heat over medium-high. Once glurping and simmering in the pot, cook for another 5 minutes, stirring frequently.
4. The mixture will thicken and get a bit darker. Reduce heat slightly and whisk in milk and cream. Off the heat, slowly whisk in eggs.
5. Divide between 7 to 8 ovenproof 6-ounce pudding cups or ramekins on a baking sheet (I used 4 ramekins and 3 mini espresso cups)
6.  Bake for 35 to 40 minutes, until puddings barely jiggle when shimmied and/or a knife tip inserted into the center of puddings comes out clean. Try not to overbake.
7. Top with whipped cream!

This realization stems from a recent visit I took to La Maison Stohrer, perhaps the oldest patisserie in all of Pars. Not only are they the oldest, but they also claim to have the best eclair in all of France too. I was a little hesitant at first, given, as I said before, I don’t eat eclairs all that often, but after having one for myself, I think they deserve the title. 

Bitting into these sweet creations was heavenly. The chocolate pastry cream inside was perfectly chilled and light as mouse. This is seriously a delicious piece of pastry. It took all the effort I had not to eat it up in just a few bites. I was about to buy a second, but remembered that I really didn’t need to eat two in a row and I was out of money! 

In addition to the eclairs, they have beautiful display of other pastries, chocolate and breads. Out front they had a special table selling extra galletes des roi, which are being sold at every bakery these days. 

I would definitely recommend La Maison Stohrer to anyone in Paris. It’s on the wonderful Rue Montogrueil, which is worth a walk down anytime. Now that I have discovered the pleasures of eating eclairs, I think I shall now try to sample eclairs for all different patisseries, to see if the one from Stohrer, is indeed the best eclair ever.

So I did finally manage to snag a pack of these chocolatey pieces the other day and decided, what better thing to make with them than chocolate chip cookies! Instead of the basic cookie, I decided to brown my butter. Something you should know about me is that I LOVE brown butter. Honestly, I think brown butter makes everything better. By heating up butter in a sauce pan, the liquids and the fats separate. As the fats start to toast at the bottom of the pan, it gives off the most amazing nutty smell, which corresponds to the nutty flavor it adds to baked goods. 

I also realized that since I don’t have a a mixer or my beloved KitchenAid with me, brown butter is much easier to blend with the sugars in the recipe if you don’t let it solidify again. Most recipes say the butter should be cooled completely before using, but I just let it cool to room temperature before I put it in with my other ingredients. I also was too impatient to let these cool for an hour in the fridge and was worried they might spread too much. I think the extra egg yolk acts as a glue though, so they stayed perfectly round, even when the dough was at a room temp. 

I popped these into the oven for just a few minutes and barely let them cool for a second before I grabbed for one. Quite honestly, I don’t think the brown butter made a huge difference, but they were still some very yummy chocolate chip cookies. They were puffy and cakey, just how I like them. I would definitely like to play around with the brown butter some more – maybe letting it solidify would have actually been a good idea – but either way, these certainly satiated my cookie craving. BROWN BUTTER CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES

(Just your pretty basic chocolate chip cookie recipe with some brown butter)

INGREDIENTS: 

Before I jumped back into the world of French classes, meeting new people and trying to write my resume in French in order to apply to some internships while I’m here, I took a walk down Rue Montorgueil, towards the center of town near Les Halles. (More on Les Halles later, but honestly, it’s just a big mall now – nothing of its former glory). Now Rue Montorgueil, in my opinion, is certainly one of the more exciting streets in Paris. While cars are allowed to drive down, I don’t know why they ever would want to, as pedestrians take over this small cobblestone street in pursuit of delicious pastries or some famous escargot!

This is the ideal place to go if you wanted to try a baguette, eat an eclair, buy some fish and cheese and grab a café while doing some serious people watching all at the same time. If you only had a quick layover in Paris, I think walking down this street would be a great way to get a little bit of all things French in one go-around. It gives a picture of how Paris manages to be resolutely modern while preserving a rich heritage. Some of the shops on this street have been around for over 200 years and there are countless signs outlining the significance of some of the historical sites. But of course, as I have come to find on many streets in Paris, a Starbucks sit right on the corner, for anyone who was thought they might be too far from home.

An escargot feast: 

Some old fashioned street art: One of many boulangeries on the street: MORA – a pastry chefs heaven: In addition to the great patisseries and food shops, there are some of the most amazing kitchen supply shops around the corner from Rue Montorgueil. I am already planning my kitchen for when I have my own house someday, decked out with all professional grade stuff If you’ve ever been to the Zabars kitchen store in New York, it pails in comparison to these stores. There are chocolate molds for everything occasion, industrial size ladles and spatulas and more knick knacks and gadgets then I could ever dream what to do with.

Imagine these all filled with chocolate: 

While walking through the kitchen supply stores, wishing I could own everything, I was reminded of the scene in Julie & Julia when Julia Childs walks through a kitchen store in Paris throwing everything she lays her hand onto into her basket. I cannot wait for the day when I can do the same!

Classic copper dish-wear: 

The label said that somehow this is used for deboning fish, but it looks like it would be the perfect tool for taking out someone’s heart: Because one always needs a cake mold of France: 

When Audrey and I walked out of the metro, I was a little hesitant about what we would find, as this is definitely not the nicest part of Paris and the first place we saw were stalls dealing quite glamourous antique tables and chandeliers, ancient statues and grand armoires. I was worried that this was what the entire flea market would be like, but little did I realize the larger flea market is made of smaller little markets each specializing in just about anything you could ever imagine. 

The Marché de Vernaison is the original flea market, established in 1920, and where I think the true treasures are to be found. I spent ages sorting through a box of 80 year old postcards, reading love letter and poems. I tried in vain to pick out a tea cup, but realized buying a tea cup in Paris did not seem all that practical. I even found an Oregon memorabilia plate, but unfortunately the owner of that stall wouldn’t let me take a picture. 

One could easily furnish their entire house from the marche. It was clear that anything you wanted to buy required some serious haggling skills. For anyone who is a watcher of Pawn Stars on the history channel (seriously, check it out) this is the place to be! Rick would be in heaven. While we didn’t spend hours sorting through piles of junk, I’m sure if you did, there are treasures to be found.

Johnnie Walker: Stereotypical American couple? The French did give us Ms. Lady Liberty: Hilarious name plates:
We all know those hippies smell bad  

I was super excited to use my oven for the first time, which turned out to be a great success. I did realize though that I have no cookie sheet. Oh dear! It’s a good thing I didn’t end up making cookies last night, otherwise I probably would have ended up eating the cookie dough all by myself after discovering I had nothing to cook them on

Now this recipe calls for a meat mallet, but in my sparsely supplied kitchen, a book seemed to do the trick just fine. 

A good helping of cheese never hurt anyone!

This is such a simple dish, but so yummy!! The original recipe called for copious amounts of bacon and pancetta, but given that I eat neither of those, I just left them out and added some cut up vegetables and dill instead. It turned out just as good, although I’m sure the flavors of the bacon would have been delicious too.

We had a little baked cauliflower and a some Israeli salad that I had made the other day, and voila, the perfect little meal. Of course, we had our fair share of wine and bread too

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 large boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• 1 pckg. Boursin cheese (I used the generic type they had in the super market)
• 1/2 lemon, juiced
• Salt and pepper
• 10-12 cherry tomatoes
• 1 cut up carrot
• 1 cut up medium onion
• dill for garnish

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Lightly oil the bottom of a deep oven pan, in my case a pizza pan.

3. Place one piece of the chicken breast on top of a piece of Saran wrap. Cover with another piece and gently beat it with the rounded end of a metal ladle or  a meat tenderizer – I used a book. Repeat with second piece until both are fairly thin.

4. Generously spread cheese over both chicken pieces – you could add additional spices here too if you wanted.

5. Roll both pieces up like a burrotio, keeping the seam down. Place onto pan and season with lemon, salt and pepper.

6. Add chopped up carrot and onion to pan.

7. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes, or until chicken is tender.

Enjoy

Obviously I’ve only been here a few days, so everything is new, but there is just something about these streets that leaves the streets of NYC trailing far behind. I love it! It’s so easy to get lost and just wander the main roads and back alleys for hours without ever setting foot in the same place twice. I would definitely consider myself a Baudelairian flaneur. From a paper I wrote sophomore year on what Walter Benjamin had to say about the flaneur, “Benjamin invites the reader to wander the streets of nineteenth century Paris, similar to the way a flâneur might, by discovering the historical, psychological and literary elements that gave the flâneurs so much pleasure during their strolls.”

On one afternoon of wandering the other day, I found myself in front of Rue du Panthéon, right next to, you guessed it, Le Panthéon. On my previous trip to Paris in high school I thought we had hit up practically every single major tourist attraction in the city, but apparently a stop at the Panthéon did not make it onto the itinerary.

At first I was hesitant to pay the entrance fee, as everything in Paris seems expensive to me, but decided I had nothing better to do, so went on in. I serisouly had no idea what this place even was, although it looked mighty grand, like a former palace from the outside. It was well worth the 5 euros, as the inside was pretty magnificent. On another note, it always pays to carry some form of ID around that proves you are under 25, as there are tons of discounts if you know where to look!

What I learned from my visit was that Le Panthéon was originally a church dedicated to St. Genevive that was constructed in the 18th century, right around the time of the French Revolution, but it has since turned into a secular mausoleum where the remains of many famous Frenchmen and women can now be found. The inside is really quite stunning. The huge vaulted domes show off beautiful frescos showcased throughout the cathedral.

Down below in the crypts is the most exciting. I saw the crypts of Voltaire and Rousseau, as well as Victor Hugo and Pierre and Marie Curie. It feels like you are in the underworld of Paris. You’re in a completely stone room that is full of the remains of dead people. A little scary in retrospect, but equally amazing when you realize who the people are who are entombed around you. I’m really glad I went and can now tick off one more historical landmark that I can say I have visited in Paris.

I decided I’d try this nifty little gallery feature to fit more pictures into one post. What do you think?