Some Paris Treats

Paris Impressions 08-09 #3

Because of questions from the homeland I am starting with some comments about the weather in Paris this time of year. Most of the leaves have dropped since the start of the month and, although we have yet to have a frost, outdoor displays of flowers are not as plentiful. We still have some bright red geraniums surrounded by vibrant green leaves in our flowerboxes overlooking Villa Monceau. Since our last note about three weeks ago it has been mostly cloudy with an occasional patch of blue or a few drops of rain. Until Sunday the temps have hovered in the mid fifties during the day and low forties at night. But then they dropped 10-15 degrees and I shifted from a fall jacket to my winter coat. I maintained my cool appearance, though, since both are black. The up side is that there has been more sunshine.

A few weeks ago we got out a box of City Walks: Paris cards someone had left in our apartment. There are fifty cards in the box and each card describes a walk though a different neighborhood of Paris. One side of the card contains a description of the walk and the other a map of the route. And the card fits nicely in your pocket or handbag when you are out exploring. We picked the one that went around and through Luxembourg Gardens. These formal gardens cover several blocks and are attached to the Luxembourg Palace.

Luxembourg Palace

The palace was built long ago by Marie de Medici but now serves as the home of the French Senate and of the Luxembourg Museum.

The garden is edged on one side by a 12-foot metal pole fence painted black with gilded pointy tops. Temporarily attached to the fence were over a hundred large poster-sized photographs of the Artic and Antarctic. Compelling shots of scenery, polar bases, wild life, and, in the case of the Artic, small villages and towns accompanied by great photos of the people living there. One was of a boy playing with his dog outside of a hut in the snow. He lived with his parents alone at a remote weather station in the Russian Artic. He was always required to keep the dog with him when outside because polar bears are ranging farther a field to feed because of the melting ice.

One shot that was particularly moving to me was a photo of a group of Emperor penguins huddled together on a small ice floe surround by a vast expanse of ocean.


At the entrance to the gardens an older woman wearing an apron blackened with soot was roasting chestnuts over an open fire.

Fresh Roasted Chestnuts, ummm

She turned each of the roasting chestnuts with her coarse, blackened fingers with their heat resistant skin. We bought a bag and found them to be warm and soft inside and tasty.

The park was jammed with people of all ages;

families, dog walkers, couples, singles sitting on a bench reading a book or a paper, kids playing with their remote controlled boats on a large pond, joggers, tennis and petanque (bocce) players, and, just before closing time, a number of policemen. At 5:00 several dozen seemed to appear out of nowhere loudly tooting their shrill whistles and ushering us all out of the park. They were polite but efficient. Probably they didn’t get to go home until the park was cleared.

We have recently made several trips to the upscale area around L’Église de la Madeleine, the massive church built like a Grecian temple over 150 years ago, and the much older nearby Place Vendôme (with its six digit priced jewel encrusted necklaces).

Place Vendôme

Most of the higher price gourmet food, jewelry, fine art, and clothing stores (minus some devoted to high couture) have locations here.

Caviar at more than 200 euros for a small tin was on display in several windows along with small inlaid pearl caviar spoons. Sorry, but we weren’t Christmas shopping.

Caviar for your Sweetie

Lots of Choices of Caviar (for a price)

We stopped at Ladurée, a very nice patisserie and salon de thé.

It’s an old and almost over-the-top place with its mirrors and fancy molding and murals on both walls and ceiling.


It is famous for its macarons but we opted for a fancier sweet that was topped with gold leaf (!) and some out of this world hot chocolate.


And best of all the prices were reasonable. Speaking of macarons, Wendy and I have developed a liking for these delicious treats.


They should not be confused with the American macaroon, a confection of coconut, sugar and sweetened condensed milk. The original French macaron started out in the 17th century as a baked dome shaped mixture of sugar, egg whites, icing sugar, and ground up almonds. Over time they have morphed into a thick delicate cookie sandwich with various flavors and fillings between the two halves. For instance, today we purchased two from a nearby chocolate shop, one violet (color and flavor from the flower according to the clerk) and one chestnut. We passed on the licorice, the chocolate, and the lime. They vary in size from quarter to slightly larger than a silver dollar with the larger size being the most popular. And in price as well with the more expensive usually having a more tasty filling (like a good ganache for the chocolate ones) and the top and bottom crisp on the outside and soft on the inside.

And they can appear in shop windows in creative displays, like arranged on a cone sticking out from a frosted cake in Christmas tree fashion


or covering a ball that dangles from the ceiling or is balanced on a thin stem or,

more commonly, arranged in a colorful assortment of flavors in an attractive box.

From what I have read on the Internet they are labor intensive to make and aren’t the easiest thing to make properly. The best place in the world to get them is Paris. Although you can buy them in the U.S. they are not common and, in many cases, are only average in taste. This is likely to change, as they are fast becoming an “in” thing. Once you taste a few well-made ones, you will understand why.

Starting two weeks ago Christmas decorations began to make their appearance. Each day a few more seem to go up. Compared to when we were here in December four years ago there are many more of them.


Usually understated with small lights and not with the traditional deep red and green you see in the U.S. Various shades of pink with white are the most popular colors.


No Christmas music heard so far. Good!

The center of the mass-shopping universe in Paris is the two long blocks along Blvd Haussmann occupied by the side-by-side storefronts of the large department stores Printemps and Galeries Lafayette.


The weeknight we were there the entire two block length of sidewalk in front was mobbed with shoppers and the curious.


Crowds were huddled around each window looking at the animated displays. There were platforms in front of each window where small kids could step up and get a better look.


The outside of both buildings and some across the street as well were brightly lit with changing patterns of colored lights.


We spent some time looking at the window displays but decided not to go in. Instead, about 15 minutes later we were eating dinner in a small and plain Vietnamese restaurant called Pâtes Vivants located on a nearby narrow side street, rue du Montmartre. At this place, the window display was a cook making noodles for the various dishes served in the restaurant.


The food was quite good and very reasonably priced and we would go back again if in the area.

There are several special exhibitions we have seen since the last note:

• The major special show in Paris right now is “Picasso and the Masters” at the Grand Palais with minor offshoots on the same theme at the Louvre and the Musée D’Orsay. We braved the lines at the Grand Palais just off the Champs Elysée late one morning and were well rewarded. Picasso is famous for lifting segments or themes or techniques from the masters (like a face or a lighting situation or the draping of a dress) and incorporating these elements into his own paintings. But no way can these paintings be thought of as copies. It was very special to see the original of a Rembrandt self-portrait or a Goya nude or Degas’ painting of a woman drinking absinthe adjacent to one of Picasso’s showing his borrowing. Even if you weren’t excited by Picasso’s work, most people would find this exhibition informative and illuminating.

• This is Photography month in Paris and there are a number of special photo exhibitions throughout the city. We went to the Jeu de Paume exhibition space in the Tuileries Gardens to see one of the more heavily promoted ones. Lee Miller, an American originally from Poughkeepsie, NY, started as a model and was on the cover of Vogue magazine by the time she was 20 (1927). Later she went to Paris, interned with Man Ray, and later opened her own studio in New York City. She lived in Cairo for several years while married to an Egyptian businessman, and then moved to London. Her photography is categorized as surreal, carefully composed photos where the real is contrasted with the absurd. By far the most moving part of the exhibition to me was the section devoted to her experiences as a photojournalist for Vogue magazine in France and Germany during WWII. Seeing her well-written text and excellent shots side-by-side was very moving. Her description of her early arrival at a concentration camp, her anger expressed in her writings from Germany, and her description of Hitler’s Alpine retreat, Bergestgarten, and one of the photos showing her bathing in Hitler’s bath tub were especially powerful. An interesting woman.
  

• At the Musée Moderne de la ville de Paris we struggled through two rather large exhibitions, the first being of the Dusseldorf school of photography. Interesting, but because of the massive number of photos the exhibition registers of my brain soon became overloaded. After a well-needed lunch break we entered the Rauol Dufy section. Dufy painted in the first half of the 20th century and is know today mostly for his simple watercolors with colorful shapes partially outlined with black lines. The paintings are generally light and happy and easily accessible. Very commercial but enjoyable to see.

One of the more interesting restaurants we visited recently was one off rue Poncelet specializing in dishes from the Savoy region of France called Le Relais du Cha. Our intent was to go there for fondue. It took us only a few seconds of looking at the menu to realize that our stomachs weren’t large enough for both the cheese fondue and a chocolate fondue for desert. We opted instead to reserved the desert fondue for later and ordered a cheese raclette with salad. Our past experience led us to believe we would be served a dish of sliced potatoes covered with a thick, tasty raclette cheese sauce. To our surprise we were served a bowl of bubbling cheese on a warm stone and a bowl containing four ample sized, whole boiled potatoes. We each put a potato on our plate, cut it up, and scooped some of the melted cheese over it. More scooping followed. When our reservoir of cheese began to lower the waiter came over with a bubbling pot and refilled it. And when the potatoes vanished, four more appeared. Needless to say, we did not make it to the chocolate fondue.

Maybe the next time.

Dan and Wendy 11/25/08