Ferris Wheel

To celebrate Christmas, the Parisians decided to put up a huge Ferris Wheel right on Place de la Concorde.  For 10 euros you can entrust your life to the French Ferris Wheel operators and see all the sights of Paris from a huge spinning wheel.  Believe me, it's worth it. 

A cool addition to the skyline of Paris.

Throngs of people were lining up to ride it.

When you get this close, you pray that the French operators don't go on strike, which is a serious possibility.

L'Assemble Nationale.

Notre Dame in the distance.

The Champs Elysees leading up to the Arc de Triomphe.

Sacre Coeur in the distance.

And it is really worth it when you happen to be in the Ferris Wheel during the five minutes that the Eiffel Tower sparkles.  It's quite a sight to see.

A Parisian Thanksgiving Feast

No American will be surprised to know that I was not happy on Thanksgiving Day when class ran late and thus we had to work through lunch.  I mean, no lunch on Thanksgiving!  That's just wrong.  By the afternoon I usually have eaten two full plates of fattening food with friends and family and am fast asleep in my annual Thanksgiving nap.  Yet this year, I found myself in charcuterie class watching a chef make blood sausage.  Not quite the same thing, but interesting enough to be sure.  The good news is that my lack of lunch and long day only made me hungrier for the delicious dinner to come that night. 

Here we are preparing the turkey at school while on a short break.  Well, really while discreetly disappearing from charcuterie:

So excited that we found a turkey in Paris.  It wasn't easy or cheap!

Carleta rubbing it down with some herb butter.  Yum!

Later that night, we headed to Carleta's apartment to enjoy turkey, corn casserole, sweet potatoes, stuffing, gravy, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce and pumpkin pie!  Not to shabby of a menu for being in another country.  We introduced these traditional dishes to several non-Americans (yes, we decided to be diplomatic and invite other nationalities to our American celebration).  Needless to say, they now LOVE some Thanksgiving and who can blame them?  It's the best holiday ever. 

Here are some pics from our multinational Thanksgiving dinner:

With Estee from Holland.

B and Pahaba from Ivory Coast by way of Detroit.

Getting everything ready for the feast.

Heating the mashed and sweet potatoes.

Turkey is sliced and ready to go.

The spread.

Pumpking pie made by Estee.  Her first attempt at the American favorite was a slamdunk.  Look, she even made it American sized - huge!

So proud to serve her pie.

Cheers to a great evening.  Happy Thanksgiving to all.  Now, bring on Christmas!

Happy Thanksgiving from Paris!

It's weird how the French don't seem to understand my dismay at the fact that I have school on THANKSGIVING from 8 am to 6 pm.  They just don't understand the cruelty in that.  So, I guess I have to fall in line and show up for the entire day despite my desire to be surrounded by family in the kitchen cooking all sorts of delicious and fattening foods.  The good news is that some of us from the class are going to get together tonight (after we finish dissecting a pig this afternoon and making sausage out of it) at Carleta's to try our best to throw together a Thanksgiving meal to share with friends. 

Good thing Paris has a store called....wait for it...Thanksgiving!  Yes, it is God send in Paris when you are looking for American groceries that are nowhere else to be found such as Jif peanut butter and other similar American delicacies.  The store also carries all kinds of Thanksgiving must haves around the holidays like stuffed turkeys, cranberries, graham cracker crusts, pecans and even StoveTop!  The bad news is that you will pay a premium for all of it.  However, something comes over you when you enter the store that makes you not care so much that you are paying tenfold what you would pay in the states.  Maybe it's holiday cheer or maybe they pump some sort of feel good gas through the air vents.  Who knows?  Either way, you walk out of  there smiling ear to ear despite the fact you just spent 60 euros ($90) on some cranberries, stuffing and pecans.

Thanksgiving

4th Arrondissement

20, rue Saint Paul

http://www.thanksgivingparis.com

B proudly displaying his newly acquired jar of peanut butter.

Champagne Wishes

Remember when I told you about the school's first field trip?  Well, this time around we weren't taken at 3:30 in the morning to a place that reeks of fish, cow organs and stinky cheese.  Instead, at 7:30 am (a little more reasonable of a time) we were driven to the Champagne region of France where we visited the cellars of Taittinger, a private family-owned Champagne house that has cellars dating from the 4th-13th century.  Now, that is more like it as far as a field trip goes!  Below are some photos from the Champagne extravaganza.

Arriving in Champagne.  Please note how everyone is wearing big coats because it was freezing in Reims.

Too bad I only had this sweater to wear!  Apparently, the weather forecasters in France are just as bad as those in the U.S.

Taittinger's champagne cellars which house millions of bottles of Champagne.

The white paint mark denotes which way the bottle should be turned.  All the bottles at this Taittinger location are turned by hand still.  Pretty impressive.

I can't help but smile when surrounded by 3 million bottles of Champagne.

Here are the sizes of Champagne Taittinger has.  The one on the far right is a half-bottle (next to it is the regular size bottle) and the one on thefar left is what they call Nebakanezer.

It holds 20 regular bottles of champagne and is special order only.  Hmm.  I wonder why.  It's not like it isn't practical or anything.

Up close, you can see how dusty the bottles get.  They can stay in the cellars for up to 10 years.

Ruins from the 13th century church/monastery on which the current Taittinger building stands.

These handwritten tags denote how many bottles are found in a particular alcove.  Yes, there are 95,687 bottles of wine in the space you see below...

They are placed there by hand.  Pretty amazing.

Here is what the bottles look like when ready to be sold and consumed.  Fancy schmancy.

Time for a tasting.

And a Group B photo op.

Then on to lunch.  You've got to feed a hungry bunch especially after giving everyone two glasses of champagne to taste.

And especially after plunking down another bottle of Taittinger on each table for lunch.

After our visit to Champagne, we drove out of the way to see the vineyards where the grapes are grown.  However, after a huge lunch, a ridiculous amount of champagne and still no coat, I must admit that I snapped this photo through the window of the warm bus where I had settled into my cozy seat.  Can you blame me?

Breakfast In America

So, usually while in France I am anti any food that tries to be American because well, I'm in France and I want to immerse myself in the French lifestyle. That being said, there is always time and place for some home-style comfort (usually after getting your fill of baguettes, cheese, and all kinds of livers/pates nonstop for weeks on end). The place to do just that in Paris is definitely Breakfast in America. This place is a haven for anyone missing classic diner food while in Paris. It literally has the best blueberry pancakes I have ever eaten. The staff is English speaking and friendly, but they must have been trained by French waiters along the way or have lived in Paris too long and have caught the French waiter disease that equals slow and not overly concerned about anything. However, I repeat that they are friendly; so at least they haven't picked up that French waiter trait.

The decor is classic American Diner and will undoubtedly transport you back home to your local breakfast/burger joint. There are two locations: one on the right bank and one on the left bank. Since I am a left bank resident, I frequent that location. Know this: it is small and they pack people in tight. Also, be prepared for a wait, especially on the weekends.

So, if you are in Paris and you just can't stomach the thought of another baguette or pastry for breakfast, get over to BIA fast. It will cure your craving for American breakfast. If you get there after noon, you can indulge in a huge burger and crispy French fries all washed down with a milkshake. You just might want to ask them to cook the burger well done if that's how you like it because they definitely have taken a page out of the French book when it comes to cooking burgers, which means fairly rare in the center. I have no doubt, though, that they will accommodate your request and you will be pleasantly surprised at the quality of the burger at BIA compared to other places in Paris (or Europe in general, in my personal American burger eating opinion).

Inside BIA's left bank restaurant.

B's breakfast - pancakes, eggs and bacon with a "bottomless cup o' joe."

The home fries were AWESOME. 

But as I said earlier, the blueberry pancakes were divine.

Just look at the amount of blueberries they pack in there.  Heaven.

On our most recent trip to BIA, I went all out and ordered the burger and fries. It was huge!

And very tasty.

Chocolate milkshake.

The word is out.  Both Frenchies and Ex-Pats stand in the cold to get a taste of BIA.  So get there before noon if you don't want to wait.

Breakfast in America

www.breakfast-in-america.com

5th Arrondisment

17, rue des Ecoles

4th Arrondisement

4, rue Malher

Macarons!

I heart macaroons (in French they are called macarons), but I have a confession to make about them. Never in my life had I tried a macaroon before October 3, 2009 when I went to the institution of La Durée and discovered their delicious goodness. Considering this is the third time I have spent a considerable amount of time living in France, the fact that I just recently tried macaroons is a bit sacrilegious. I mean, I had seen them in all the patisseries from the South of France, to Grenoble, to Paris, but to be absolutely honest I never thought they looked all that interesting or tasty. Now, however, I know how naive I was regarding macaroons. The only problem is that I went from being a complete macaroon amateur to an all-out macaroon snob. I'm very particular about my macaroons.

In Paris, I think there are three places to buy exceptional macaroons: La Durée, Le Notre, and Pierre Hermé. My absolute favorite is the fleur-de-sel caramel macaroons from La Durée. I could die eating those. However, when you are in Paris, drop by all three places for a macaroon taste test. I promise that you won't be disappointed.

In Patisserie this past week, we finally got the chance to make macaroons. I bet you can't guess what flavor I chose to make. Yep - caramel. And while we didn't have any fleur de sel to add to them, they actually turned out tasting really good. Can't wait to see if I can recreate them back in the states!

Here's a detailed look at our macaroon adventure...

Starting ingredients.

Make a simple syrup.

Sift the flour and add egg whites.

Use all your stength to mix the flour and egg whites together to make a paste.

Meanwhile, whip some more egg whites (in an actualy blender this time. woo hoo!).

Add the simple syrup to the whipped whites.

Chef Thierry showing us how firm the whites and syrup should be.  He made pistachio macaroons, so his batter is green.

Mine is a slightly brown or caramel color since I made caramel macaroons.

Egg white batter gets incorporated into the paste.

And then put into a pastry bag to make the classic macaroon shape which Chef Theirry shows us here.

My turn to make the macaroons.

Then put them in the oven.

And out they come - all puffed up and beautiful.

For the filling, we took chocolate shavings.

Made a creme anglaise.

Added caramel to the creme anglaise.

And poured it over the chocolate.

Next, it needed to cool down so into the blast freezer it went.

And when it was cold, I mixed it again with a spatula.

Then popped it into a pastry bag and put the filling on the macaroons.

And voila!  Yummy, caramel macaroons with hints of chocolate.

Here are some photos of the other colors and flavors of macaroons that were made that day:

Neon yellow!

A beautiful orange.

Bright pink.

A mixture that looks like 7-UP to me.

Everyone is giddy over macaroons.

The final product of everyone's hard work - several different types of macaroons including: caramel, raspberry, lemon, chocolate, orange/rose, and pistachio.

B was one lucky husband last week.  This is the box of macaroons I brought home to him!