Archive for December, 2011

Tasting Bûches de Noël at Le Fournil de Mouffetard

Wednesday, December 28th, 2011
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Le Spéculoos - left - La Nuance - right

Le Spéculoos (left) - La Nuance (right)
Photo by www.DiscoverParis.net

During the holiday season, business has been brisk at Le Fournil de Mouffetard, a bakery located on rue Mouffetard in the 5th arrondissement of Paris. Customers have been lining up to purchase a seasonal dessert called bûche de Noël, a cake dressed up to look like a Yule log. The foot-long logs are sold in their entirety or by the slice.

We stopped by Tuesday and purchased a slice of a log called Le Spéculoos, and another called La Nuance.

Le Spéculoos is made out of Spéculoos, a crunchy shortcrust cookie. This log consists of three elements: a mousse chocolat au lait frosting that envelops a dense crème de Spéculoos center, all resting on a crunchy base of crushed Spéculoos cookies. Just as Spéculoos cookies are a delight to eat, so was this Yule log. It was sweet with a spicy flavor of nutmeg. I was disappointed, though, that the mousse chocolat au lait frosting did not express a distinctive milk-chocolate flavor.

La Nuance is a log consisting of four elements: a layer of crémeux chocolat on top of two layers of biscuit chocolat; a layer of parfait au chocolat; and a bottom crust of pâte sablée. The crémeux chocolat was rich, dense, smooth, and sweet. The two layers of biscuit chocolat were, in reality, soft, moist chocolate cake, not crunchy cookie as the name biscuit would imply. The parfait au chocolat had the rich, sweet consistency of chocolate mousse.

Bûches de Noël are generally sold through the beginning of the New Year. We look forward to tasting galette des Rois on Epiphany, which falls on January 8 this year, and ending the Christmas season with crêpes on Candlemas, which falls on February 2.

Le Fournil de Mouffetard
123, rue Mouffetard
75005 Paris
Telephone: 01.47.07.35.96

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A Last-minute Stocking-stuffer for Your Francophile Friends

Thursday, December 22nd, 2011
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Looking for an inexpensive way to share holiday cheer? Our book, Paris Insights – An Anthology was created with the Francophile reader in mind. Written in a lively, personal style that is both revealing and inspiring, this collection of informative newsletters explores various aspects of history, culture, and contemporary life in the City of Light. Published by Discover Paris!, it contains 33 articles that are grouped into chapters by theme: La Vie Parisienne (Life in Paris), Americans in Paris, Tasty Treats, and Paris, Past and Present. Our article entitled “A Very Merry Paris Christmas” is the perfect way to learn about how this holiday is celebrated in the City of Light.

The Kindle edition of Paris Insights – An Anthology is now available to give as a gift with free wireless delivery via Amazon Whispernet! At $9.95, this version of the book is a fraction of the cost of our Premium edition, and you can receive it instantly thanks to Amazon’s Whispernet technology. It is “Read-to-Me” enabled for those who like to listen to books while driving, or those who are visually impaired.

To purchase, click on this link: Paris Insights – An Anthology

Tasting Single-origin Chocolate Ganaches at Servant

Wednesday, December 21st, 2011
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Servant Ganache Chocolates

Chocolate ganache from top row to bottom:
Papua New Guinea, Venezuela, Tansania

Servant was originally founded in 1913 as a grocery store in Auteuil, a district in the 16th arrondissement of Paris. The enterprise did not acquire the name Servant until sometime later, when a certain Madame Servant purchased the business and transformed it into a candy and chocolate shop. The boutique has been owned and operated by the Autret family for the last forty years, passed down from father to daughter to grandchildren. The company now sells its chocolates—produced in a laboratory in the basement of the original store—at three locations: two in Paris and one in nearby Neuilly-sur-Seine.

In anticipation of the annual chocolate tasting that we plan to hold in January, we stopped by the shop on rue de Sèvres and purchased samples of three single-origin, dark-chocolate (bittersweet) ganaches, from Venezuela, Papua New Guinea, and Tanzania. Returning to our home, we tasted them the following day to see how they compared in flavor and texture from one origin to the next.

All three ganaches were square shaped with a thin top and bottom shell. As there was no shell around the edges, the confections were slightly irregular in shape. All were dark brown in color, and had a smooth, firm texture. As for aroma and flavor, the differences between the three were subtle and difficult to describe. None of the chocolates could be described as sweet. While bittersweet chocolate may not appeal to everyone’s taste, we prefer it to sweet chocolate because we find that unsweetened chocolate has a truer, more natural flavor than sweetened chocolate.

Of the three ganaches that we tasted, we found that the Papua New Guinea had the bitterest chocolate taste. The Venezuelan had a subtle aroma, a dense texture that produced a sticky mouth feel, and a light honey finish. The Tanzanian had an aroma of cocoa butter and I found that it expressed a hint of coconut.

Servant
5, rue de Sèvres
75006 Paris
Telephone: 01.45.48.83.60

30 Rue d’Auteuil
75016 Paris
Telephone: 01.42.88.49.82

22 bis, rue de Chartres
92200 Neuilly-sur-Seine
Telephone: 01.47.22.54.45

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GEORGE WHITMAN IS GONE
Guest Blog by Michele Kurlander

Tuesday, December 20th, 2011
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George Whitman

George Whitman
Photo by Michele Kurlander

George Whitman is dead at the age of 98 and my Paris friends are all planning to join a cortege to his Père Lachaise funeral next week. I cannot join them, sadly, since I am imprisoned in Chicago by client obligations and financial circumstances and can’t return to visit Paris until January.

There are many of us for whom George has always been an integral part of Paris – and for whom his death is a tragedy of indescribable proportions, notwithstanding his age and recent stroke and the obvious inevitability.

George arrived in Paris in 1948. In 1951 he opened the now iconic Shakespeare and Company English language bookstore at 37, rue de la Bucherie – at first named Le Mistral, but later renamed after the famous bookstore that his friend Sylvia Beach had once run on rue de l’Odeon.

Sylvia mentored and supported the likes of Ernest Hemingway and James Joyce and even published Ulysses when no one else would touch what the world then considered a scandalous book. Like Sylvia, George has always given succor and literary encouragement to writers. He even offered young and impoverished authors a home in the store. He let them sleep on benches and behind bookshelves in exchange for duties such as book shelving, cash-register manning, and dish washing – and in exchange for following his rules, which included writing their biographies on a small portable typewriter for his archives, and reading one book a day.

He called them “tumbleweeds” and liked to quote Yeats, who wrote: “Be not inhospitable to strangers, lest they be angels in disguise.”

I, too, was once a momentary “tumbleweed,” though I am a middle-age lawyer, only a sometime writer, and not impoverished. Nevertheless, writing is my passion, and I like to dream that I live in Paris and write full time.

As part of that dream, I walked into Shakespeare & Company one day and, on a whim, asked George if even people my age could stay there. He asked if I was a writer and I demurred and admitted that I was not published. He again asked: “Do you write?” Of course I said I did – and spent a night with the current contingent of young and penniless writers in residence there. George actually found a small bed for me (because of my age, I guess) and I was not put to work in the store – but I did have to tap out my biography on that little typewriter and provide a picture for his archives.

My fellow residents taught me how to pitch a small stone at a window to be let into the door after George’s midnight curfew, and I woke the next morning to the hope of a writer’s life and the view of a beautiful new day lighting the turrets of Notre Dame just across a sliver of the River Seine.

I have returned numerous times – not to sleep there, but to see George, to get to know his daughter Sylvia – who returned to him in recent years after growing up in England with her mother (and whose full name is Sylvia Beach Whitman, after guess who?), to attend the Sunday afternoon “tea parties” where locals, tourists, and even the famous gather to eat cookies, share stories, and sip tea served by “tumbleweeds.” One Sunday, I found myself sitting next to George’s good friend, famous San Francisco beat poet Laurence Ferlinghetti.

Sometimes, I attend the Monday-night book readings, and sometimes just wander the narrow aisles, pick up a book or two, or sit upstairs in the public “library” to read or write.

Sometimes George didn’t recognize me, and sometimes he said, “Oh, there’s the Chicago lawyer.” Sometimes George was cordial, and sometimes…not so much.

I once tried to purchase a book about Gertrude Stein that George apparently thought should have remained upstairs in the “library” – where books are for customers to read, but are not for sale. It had somehow made its way onto the main floor shelves, and there I was trying to pay for it at the register. “You can’t buy that” he shouted at me as he tossed the book across the counter. He calmed down when I begged him to let me keep it for just a few days with a promise to return it. We made the deal.

I was standing late one night at the reception area of Hotel Marignan on rue de Sommerard when George walked in to ask if they had a cheap room available. He carried an old torn gym bag, and his hair was flying (probably from his latest “haircut” – with the flame of a candle), and for a moment (until he was recognized) the receptionist recoiled and tried to turn him away. George had, that night, given up his own bed above the store to a writer who had arrived unexpectedly.

It was at Shakespeare and Company, in the second floor “library,” where I first met my now great friend, author, and Paris historian Thirza Vallois – whose Paris books are not just walking tours but a wealth of historic information.

It was at Shakespeare and Company where I met my friend Jonathon, a young man from Ireland who writes pithy and quirky prose and who worked there for years. Many an evening, I sat near the cash register on a small bench against the shelves and talked literature, Paris, and just stuff with Jonathon. He left Shakespeare a few years ago to get a college education in London, and is now a rare bookseller in Paris.

The day after George’s death, Jonathan e-mailed me that he and 30 others had stood in the cold outside the store to watch as George was carried out, and that as he wrote his e-mail to me he was listening to My Way and tears were running down his face.

I understood the emotion.

I will miss George. We all will.

Shakespeare & Company

Shakespeare & Company
Photo by Michele Kurlander

Editor’s note: In 2006 George Whitman was awarded the Officier des Arts et Lettres by the French Minister of Culture for his lifelong contribution to the arts.

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The Salle de Mariages of Bobigny

Saturday, December 17th, 2011
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Head of Mayor's Chair

Head of Mayor's Chair
Photo by www.DiscoverParis.net

Last Tuesday evening I attended a presentation of the Salle de Mariages, located in the town hall of the nearby city of Bobigny. Designed by artist Hervé Di Rosa in 2006, the zany room contains a collection of colorful heart-shaped chairs; a great, red, heart-shaped table; a throne-like chair surmounted by a giant, elongated face; a bronze sculpture of an African figure with four eyes; wall panels displaying multicolored graffiti and framed portraits; and curio cases displaying knick-knacks and figurines.

Heart-shaped Table

Heart-shaped Table
Photo by www.DiscoverParis.net

The room, undoubtedly unique in its kind, is used to perform civil marriages. Designed to express the spirit of inclusiveness that pervades the Bobigny city government and its citizens—a town with a diverse population of over 100 ethnicities—the symbolism of the décor of the room requires some explanation!

The hearts that lovers carve into trees inspired Di Rosa to design the heart-shaped seats for the room. Di Rosa created larger chairs for the bride and groom, complete with men’s and women’s shoes for the legs and backs decorated with smiling faces. The top of the bride’s chair is crowned with a wire heart, representing the French expression coup de coeur; the groom’s chair is topped by lightning bolts, representing the French expression coup de foudre. Both expressions translate into English as “lovestruck.”

Marianne de Foumban

Marianne de Foumban
Photo by www.DiscoverParis.net

The most remarkable work in the room is Di Rosa’s sculpture of La Marianne. The image of a woman’s face has been used to represent the spirit of the French Republic since the late 18th century. Although she has traditionally been depicted as a white woman, Di Rosa chose to represent Marianne as an African woman, engaging masters of the lost wax-casting technique in the town of Foumban, Cameroon to create the sculpture.

Di Rosa gave the African figure two sets of eyes—one set that gazes down upon the happy couple at the moment of their marriage, the other that looks off into the distance, symbolizing eternity—the ideal length of the couple’s union.

Seriegraphie pour les Mariés

Seriegraphie pour les Mariés
By William Wilson
Photo by www.DiscoverParis.net

Newlyweds will never forget their marriage in this room. After the ceremony, the bride and groom are presented a colorful signed and numbered serigraph to take home as a memento of their union.

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Tasting Christmas Beers at Café Six

Wednesday, December 14th, 2011
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Café Six

Café Six
Photo by www.DiscoverParis.net

Last Wednesday night found me at a bistrot called Café Six, where I participated in a tasting of four Christmas beers. The event was organized by Saveur Bière, a company that sells beer and beer-dispensing equipment on the Internet. The tasting took place under the vaulted ceiling of the bistrot’s 16th century cellar.

Fischer de Noël

While waiting for other participants to arrive and the event to begin, I was served a glass of Fisher de Noël, a French beer from Alsace. (The Fisher brewery, founded in 1821 in Strasbourg, is now produced by Heineken in a suburb of Strasbourg called Schiltigheim.) The beer was served from the tap. Dark in color with a frothy head, it had a slightly spicy flavor with no bitterness. One of the assistants at the tasting ventured that the beer expressed a hint of the aroma of orange peel. This was a brew that I could have kept drinking for the rest of the evening.

Once the tasting started, everyone was served a second glass of Fisher de Noël.

François Devos, Bièrologue

François Devos, Bièrologue
Photo by www.DiscoverParis.net

During the tasting, François Devos—a bièrologue from Lille—gave a presentation on the finer points of beer making and beer tasting. His talk was comprehensive and I was impressed by the depth and range of his knowledge.

One of the subjects that Mr. Devos expounded upon was the tradition of Christmas beer. He explained that there are several legends around the origins of this custom and told us the one about brewers who, at the end of the year, would take the last grains that were in the storage bin, brew them, and offer the beer to their clients as étrennes (New Year gifts). Since the cereal was a mixture of light and dark grains from different harvests, the resulting beer was darker and more robust than regular beer. Sometimes spices were added to the brew.

Affligem de Noël

The second beer served was Affligem de Noël, another Heineken beer, this one from Belgium. Served from the tap in a wide-mouth glass, it had a frothy head and the clear, rich color of pomegranate. While I find the regular Affligem that I purchase at restaurants to have the subtle taste of anise, this one had a spicy and fruity flavor.

Mr. Devos continued his presentation by discussing the proper way to taste beer. It is similar to wine tasting, including the finish, where it is swirled in the mouth with a vigorous movement of cheeks and jaw to capture all the subtle flavors and aromas that are present in the brew. One might not want to make these bizarre grimaces on a first date!

Ch'ti de Noël Beer

Ch'ti de Noël Beer
Photo courtesy of Saveur Bière

The next beer was an artisanal top-fermented brew produced in French Flanders by Brasserie Castelain. Called Ch’ti Blonde de Noël, it was served from a 25cl bottle. The beer displayed a pale rose color; expressed a full, robust flavor; and measured 7.5% in alcohol content.

Mr. Devos asked participants if they knew the maximum amount of alcohol a beer could contain. Someone guessed 15%, whereupon he talked about a German “ice beer” that he had tasted that had 55% alcohol content. This is achieved by a process called “fractional freezing” that uses progressively colder temperatures to distill the alcohol. The German beer Eisbock (15%) is an example of beer created by freeze distillation.

Bracine de Noël Beer

Bracine de Noël Beer
Photo courtesy of Saveur Bière

The last beer that we tasted was Bracine de Noël, another French Flemish artisanal beer measuring 7.5% in alcohol. This was the strongest-tasting beer of the four that we tasted. Served from a bottle, it had a sweet, cherry-like aroma, but a surprising chocolate-like flavor. Cloudy and dark-brown in color, it tasted mildly bitter.

Mr. Devos asked participants if they knew what one ingredient beer was lacking to make it a perfect food. I guessed calcium; someone else guessed another element. Then I remembered that I had been told that beer lacked fat, matière grasse. This was the correct response. A fellow taster told me that his grandmother advocated adding the yolk of an egg to a glass of dark beer and drinking it for breakfast. A perfect way to start the day!

Inside the Cellar

Inside the Cellar
Photo by www.DiscoverParis.net

About 20 to 25 persons attended the tasting. As far as I could tell, I was the only Anglophone in the group. After the first two rounds of beer, sandwiches were served and some people went outside for a smoke break. Striking up conversations with strangers became easier, and I had the opportunity to meet and speak with a number of the beer-tasting participants.

Ladies with Hats

Beer-tasting Can Be Fun!
Photo by www.DiscoverParis.net

A good time was had by all!

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Bazar et Bémols – A Joyous Group of Musicians

Tuesday, December 13th, 2011
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Bazar et Bémols

Bazar et Bémols
Photo courtesy of Bazar et Bémols

Last week while riding the metro, I was delighted to see a joyous trio of musicians get on the car and begin singing in…French. Their performance was particularly entertaining because I do not usually hear singers perform French songs in the subway. Called Bazar et Bémols, they maintained exhilarating enthusiasm throughout their merry music-making. They will be performing in Paris at Stand’Art café on December 20, Caminito on January 13, and Hideout La Station on January 19.

Listen to their music on Facebook!

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Ioo Flair at the Bar Academy

Saturday, December 10th, 2011
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Ioo Flair

Ioo Flair
Photo by www.DiscoverParis.net

Last month we visited the Bar Academy, a bartender training school in the Parisian suburb of Le Pré-Saint-Gervais, where we saw Ioo Flair practicing the art of flair bartending. Flair was vice-champion of France in 2010 and placed 8th in the Paris Flair Open in 2011.

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Our Monthly Restaurant Review – L’Académie de la Bière

Wednesday, December 7th, 2011
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Mathias Courtiade

Mathias Courtiade, Proprietor
Photo by www.DiscoverParis.net

Each month, our Paris Insights newsletter features an in-depth review of a Parisian restaurant. For the December edition, we visited L’Académie de la Bière and spoke with the proprietor, Mathias Courtiade. Lying off the tourist circuit, the restaurant serves pub food as well a selection of Belgium, French, German, Czech, and Scottish beers.

The Paris Insights newsletter is published as a downloadable PDF file. It is available only to paid subscribers for an annual subscription fee of $30.

If you are not a paid subscriber and would like to download the newsletter, please click here. Enter promotional code 11473309154 to receive a $5 discount off the price of an annual subscription.

Bonne Lecture!

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Our Monthly Restaurant Review – L’Académie de la Bière

In This Month’s Paris Insights Newsletter:
The State of Artisanal Beer in France – Part 2

Thursday, December 1st, 2011
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To prepare this month’s Paris Insights, we interviewed two women who work in the beer industry in France&#8212Elisabeth Pierre and Cécile Thomas. Both of them have a keen interest in the resurgence of French artisanal beers and are working to make them better known among the beer-drinking public. Click here to read the newsletter abstract.

Elisabeth Pierre, Bièrologue

Elisabeth Pierre - Bièrologue
Photo by www.DiscoverParis.net

Cécile Delorme

Cécile Delorme - Proprietor of Brewberry
Photo by www.DiscoverParis.net

Our newsletter is published monthly as a downloadable PDF file. It is available only to paid subscribers for an annual subscription fee of $30.

If you are not a paid subscriber and would like to download the newsletter, please click here. Enter promotional code 11473309154 to receive a $5 discount off the price of an annual subscription.

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