ispahan

So I've always been curious about Pierre Hermé's Ispahan's macaron but the big ones are annoying not available in most of his boutiques except the one across town in the 15th arrondissement and even then you're not sure they're available.  The only way to be sure to get one is to order it online the day before and then pick it up (of course only at the boutique in the 15th).

Seems like a lot of work for a 4 inch macaron but that's exactly what I did.  Afterwards I headed to Jardin de Luxembourg and stumbled across a Sadaharu Aoki boutique and decided to check it out. I was struck by the Symphonie macaron's strikingly similarity to the Ispahan so I picked it up for a taste test.

 Ispahan

Rose biscuit macaron, rose petal creme interior with raspberries and letchis

Symphonie

Violette biscuit macaron, crème brulée infusioned with Earl Grey tea and voilette mousseline cream interior with raspberries.  

The Ispahan is simply delicious (when I say simply I mean it's delicious in a simple way - the rose macaron biscuit just the right texture and the rose petal creme light enough to enhance the freshness of the lichi and rasberries).

The Symphonie on the other hand is more complex, the macaron biscuit heavier, all the flavors mixing together in a, well, symphony.  

It's hard not to think that the Symphonie wasn't inspired by the Ispahan and for 2 euros cheaper I would say it could give it's inspiration a run for it's money.  

autumn

boco

So I woke up this morning with a craving for takoyaki so I headed over to Happa Tei for lunch but unforch it was closed for renovations.  I settled instead for a Taiwanese bento box and taro bubble tea from the place next door.

On my way back to the apartment I decided to drop by Boco to pick up dinner.  Boco is a take out restaurant with a "french touch" (the recipes come from well known French chefs made with organic products).

For an appetizer I choose a pink hibiscus tabbouleh with shrimp and orange and grapefruit jelly by Emmanuel Renaut:

For a main dish a cod in a parsley sauce with mashed potatoes with olives by Vincent Ferniot:

And for dessert a dark and milk chocolate two layered moose by Frédéric Bau.

Quite good but still on the pricey side for take out (about 20 euros).  

he's back

So famous people can be spotted in Paris even if you're simply just walking around.  Like when we saw Dominique Pinon at a Montmartre café.  Sandrine Quétie at the couscous restaurant downstairs from our apartment.  Charlotte Gainsbourg at the Montparnasse cemetery on All Saints' Day.  Cristina Córdula dining at Chez André.  Tomer Sisley brunching with his family at Joe Allen's.

I once even saw Laetitia Casta  and Stefano Accorsi having a romantic stroll in Parc Monceau.  And then today at Parc Monceau:  Nicolas Sarkozy jogging.

The ex and perhaps future president of France.  

velib

So I rarely get Chinese food in Paris as most "Chinese" restaurants in my area are Chinese/Vietnamese/Thai all rolled into one super unappetizing Asian catch all.  Then I heard about Le Tavern de Zhao in the 10th that serves authentic cuisine from the Shaanxi province.  The fact that it was across town gave me the idea to do something I've always wanted to try but never dared.  The velib mostly because it mixes two things I'm not good at: knowing where I'm going and multi-tasking preferring to leave the chances of getting to my destination to the metro.  

But it was a beautiful day and I had time so I did some research on line and realized it was basically a straight shot to the canal and then I just had to follow it down to the restaurant so I decided even I could probably manage that (I drew a map anyways just in case).

The idea of the velib is that you can pick up and drop off at stations conveniently located all over the city and there's one just across the street from my apartment and also one right next to the restaurant (like I said - very convenient). 

Paris is actually very biking friendly with biking lanes connecting major streets.  

30 minutes of dodging pedestrians, badly parked cars, flying pigeons and one wrong turn later I was at the restaurant to enjoy Biangbiang noodles and pork-filled flatbread.

Afterwards I met up husband at Holybelly for coffee and dessert.

Together we biked back to the apartment. Tired (the way back was more uphill then the way there) I I rewarded myself with the two escargots (pistachio chocolate chip and red fruit creme cheese) from Du Pain et Des Idées downed with a glass of cold milk.

All in all, a perfect Friday afternoon.  

butte aux cailles

So have you ever had that strange feeling when you walk into a place that you're not where you're suppose to be, that time stands still and the people around you stare at you expecting you to disappear?  That's what happened to me today when I went to check out the butte aux cailles neighborhood.  The minute I got there I noticed the strange garbage truck.  Stranger still was that there appeared to be a man in the back of the garbage truck hiding among the trash.  My eyes panned out and noticed the numerous cameras pointed right in my direction.  That's when I realized I had walked right in the middle of some kind of filming. 

Curious I installed myself in the brasserie across the street and ordered a café creme hoping to check out the action.  

Most of the crew was Japanese and 50CIMA is a apparently a Japanese car brand so I figured this film/commercial/show is Japanese.

The story line involves that briefcase getting accidentally tossed in the garbage truck and a Annie-like little boy.

It also somehow includes a pretty girl holding a carton of Orangina.

Unfortunately at this point they moved the giant truck blocking a fifth of my view to completely blocking any view from the brasserie (perhaps the girl furiously taking pictures of the action was bothering people).

So I continued on my way to check out the village-esque neighborhood and it's surprising architecture.

Before heading back to the rive droite, I decided to try again for the best Paris baguette 2014.

To make things interesting I decided to pick up two other baguettes and subject husband to a taste test.  The one up top is the baguette I normally get from our local bakery.  The one in the middle is a baguette is from another local bakery that won the best baguette in 2007.  And finally the one at the bottom is the one that beat 152 other qualifying baguettes this year to become THE best worthy of being eaten daily by the French president.

The best baguette is judged based on aspect (appearance), cuisson (cooking), mie-alveolage (texture), odeur (smell) and gout (taste).

Husband choose the middle one.  Tant mieux, the best baguette 2014 is hella far.

soufflé

So even after all this time in France there's still the American in me that thinks stores are open all the time.  This has lead to a lot of disappointment as it did today when I shelped all the way across town to pick up the best Paris baguette 2014 only to find the bakery closed on Wednesday.  

To console myself I decided to check out a restaurant called Le Soufflé.  I love dessert soufflés but for some reason you don't find them often on Parisian menus.  Le Soufflé specializes in them so I thought I'd give it a try even if the place had some signs of being a tourist trap. 

Sure enough when I got there were no French customers, only tourists.  I passed on the menu (soufflé for appetizer, main dish, and dessert seemed a bit much) and opted instead for their signature savory soufflé inspired by Henri IV (perhaps because it is he that is known to say "a chicken in every pot"? - the soufflé was served with a creamy chicken and mushroom sauce). 

I of course had to end with a dessert soufflé:  Soufflé crème brulé with a white chocolate interior.

Both were not bad but not great either, giving me further excuse to eat my way through Paris some more.