Its been two years since I've been to Paris, But because of my acute sensitivity to food--I haven't forgotten a thing! As usual-Paris does not disappoint.
My sister joined me on this trip for her first visit to Paris in 47 years.. Since we both have the same childhood memories of food it was easy to spend most of the trip eating and reminiscing.
In one little pastry shop in Montparnasse (which we traveled to by metro specifically) we bought 5 pastries and ate them for breakfast/lunch. YUMMY!!!! One was this delectable puff type pastry that had been caramelized with a slightly perhaps lemony flavor-but nothing that would override the incredible butter taste that had permeated the entire roll. Another was an almond egg/cream type mixture that delighted with texture differences between the crackly pastry layers, the nutty soft but not gushy filling, and the sliced almonds on top. Spectacular. We looked everywhere for the caramelized butter pastry but never found it again. This is why I travel to that little shop.
We went to Angelina's, frequently. It is one of Paris's premier pastry shops. We were fortunate enough that it was two blocks from our hotel and our hotel room faced the entrance. I say fortunate because the lines start early and stay for most of the day. We could look out the window and see if there was no line and quickly scoot down to buy some delectable little morsel to munch on. After all-wouldn't want to get faint from lack of pastry for a couple of hours!
I had not been to the Paris markets in quite some time. Usually when I am in Paris the person with me is more interested in Notre dame and the Eiffel Tower than in pain au chocolat and beignet's. So I was delighted to spend time pursuing the markets and looking at food with someone who also remembered it as I did--delicious beyond compare, real and beautiful.
It is difficult to describe the french connection to food and their respect for everything that they put in their mouth. But a trip to the market or a walk along the street where there are food markets will tell the story.
Their vegetables are huge and beautiful and REAL. I bought 1/2 lb of strawberries and was amazed and delighted at their flavor and texture. Not even straight from the farmers market at home do they taste like this. Their produce and street food is never cheap or manufactured.
The white asparagus is a common fixture at all the markets. It is about an inch in diameter and absolutely gorgeous. The fennel heads are the size of grapefruits and the cauliflower is the size of a basketball.. everything is in perfect condition and beautifully ripe.
The French buy their food almost every day so they would not tolerate under ripe produce sitting in the store for a week or more just ripening or rotting. Because the food delivery system in the US must accommodate 300 million people it will be vastly different than if we were the size of Texas.
Nonetheless, the difference is astonishing and one could only hope to have the same quality at home. But I doubt we will ever see that. Even at the farmers markets in the US the food quality is not as good as in France. Our farming methods, soil and climate do not produce the same quality produce. And our standards, due to years of indifference and lack of quality, are much lower.
Our one disappointment was that as little girls we regaled on what we called Beignet's. They looked like dunkin donuts munchkins-but the taste, texture and smell are vastly different. We walked the market but could only find beignet's that looked like American donuts that were filled with apple and creme and other things. Not what we were looking for-- so we didn't taste them. Sadly, we never found our memory of a beignet. Although we are told by the locals they do still exist. But not to despair-we were able to buy several pastries and eat all of them as we strolled the food orgy before us.
I have taken some pictures of the produce and as you can see I am not lying (however since all the produce is out sized it is difficult to see in the pictures the magnitude of their beauty and size--take my word for it-HUGE!).
Be prepared for the next blog entry which will have some graphic pictures of real meat that you may feel "grossed out" by. However once again-their respect for the food and the animal is paramount. If you are going to eat chicken, or pork or rabbit-or whatever it is--you should know where it comes from, what it looks like outside the little cellophane wrapper at the grocery store, and you should have respect for its life and use all possible parts--enjoy the vegetable shots and prepare yourself for the others....
Oh, and sorry about no pastry shots from the little pastry shop in Montparnasse. We were so busy stuffing them in our little mouths like Little piggies that we didn't take the time to snap pictures. Ce la Vie! On a bien Manger!
