Archive for December, 2012

Bûche de Noël – Unboxing!

Wednesday, December 26th, 2012
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Today I purchased a bûche de Noël at Le Founil de Mouffetard.

Bûche de Noël

I took it home and started to unwrap it.

Bûche de Noël

I removed the beautiful ribbon.

Bûche de Noël

I carefully opened the box…and WOW! A bûche de Noël!

Bûche de Noël

Looking more closely, I could see Frosty the Snowman on top. And the message, written in chocolate, Joyeuses Fêtes!

Bûche de Noël

After carefully removing the bûche from the box, I took a photograph.

Bûche de Noël

And then a close-up of Frosty.

Bûche de Noël

And then, I sliced the cake and ate a piece. Scrumptious! Happy Holidays!

Slice of bûche

Le Fournil de Mouffetard
123, rue Mouffetard
75005 Paris
Tel.: 01.47.35.07.96

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Unless Your Francophile Friends Get on the Plane Soon…

Thursday, December 20th, 2012
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Paris Insights - An Anthology

…they won’t arrive in Paris in time for Christmas!

The next best thing to being in Paris is reading about it and it’s not too late to give your friends my inspirational book Paris Insights – An Anthology for Christmas. Thanks to Amazon’s Whispernet technology, the Kindle edition can be delivered instantly.

One reviewer called Paris Insights – An Anthology “…at once witty, original, absorbing and a swift read. It offers precisely the kind of insider’s view of the French capital—and the people who live there—that first or even second time visitors pine for…” [Gary Lee, former travel writer for the Washington Post]

Better than a fruitcake for Christmas, Paris Insights – An Anthology is a gift that offers an insider’s view of the things to love about the City of Light.

Just in time for Christmas—the Kindle edition can be purchased and downloaded immediately! Click here to learn more or to purchase now!

Discover the beauty and passion of the world’s most fascinating city in Paris Insights – An Anthology.

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Bière de Noël

Wednesday, December 19th, 2012
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Bière de Noël - Brasserie Thiriez

Bière de Noël – Brasserie Thiriez
Photograph by www.DiscoverParis.net

In celebration of the holiday season, I purchased a bottle of Bière de Noël, brewed by Brasserie Thiriez in the town of Esquelbecq in northern France.

Poured into a glass, this amber beer develops a frothy head that quickly dissipates. Clear on the first pour, it became progressively cloudy as I got down to the bottom of the bottle. (Brasserie Thiriez does not filter its beers.) It has a strong malty flavor that is followed by a bitter aftertaste. The beer was fairly sweet by the last pour, at the point where the beer was the cloudiest.

In Paris, the Bière de Noël by Brasserie Thiriez can be purchased at La Cave à Bulles, a shop that specializes in French artisanal beers.

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A Day in the Cemetery
By Robin Glasser

Saturday, December 15th, 2012
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New York writer Robin Glasser moved to Paris for three years to live with her French lover. Later, she wrote about the experience in her book My Life as a Concubine, available at Smashwords. During her time there, her lover’s loathsome brother Pierre and his dog Racine came to stay with them. The following account of her encounter with Pierre and her walk through the Père Lachaise cemetery is adapted from the chapter entitled “Pierre Moves Out.”

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Escaping the hellish house guests—my lover’s smelly brother Pierre and Racine, his ancient, incontinent mutt—I decided a trip to Père Lachaise would calm me down. After all, what could be more relaxing than a walk in a cemetery and Père Lachaise happened to be among my favorites. It was roughly an hour’s walk from our apartment house to the dead zone. The July day was hot but not unbearable—like some fungus-footed canine lover I knew. The exercise would do me good and clear my head.

Père Lachaise

Père Lachaise Cemetery
Photograph by Peter Poradisch
Source: Wikimedia Commons

The vast plot of land was originally owned by Père Lachaise, Louis XIV’s confessor. In 1804, the estate became a burial ground. Urban planner Nicolas Frochot, who developed the cemetery, persuaded authorities to replant Molière, La Fontaine, and Abélard and Héloïse there and the bone yard quickly became a symbol of the rich and famous.

Horoscopically speaking, if your planets are aligned you might luck out, find a ghostly guardian, and get a free plan of this monumental resting place. Even with a map, it’s difficult to find your way around the immense necropolis. The first time I visited this city of the dead sans lover, I was fortunate to attract the attention of a groundskeeper who gave me a guided tour. Being French, he wanted to give me more, but that’s another story. The map shows all the stellar grave sites. It’s a virtual Who’s Who of the dead, featuring such luminaries as Victor Hugo, Maria Callas, Colette, Gertrude Stein, Chopin, Proust, and Jim Morrison.

Morrison Grave by SuzanneGW

Jim Morrison’s Grave
Photograph by SuzanneGW
Source: Wikimedia Commons

For those of you not in the know, the infamous American rock star’s shrine is a major tourist attraction—on par with le Tour Eiffel. The French being, well French, aren’t too pleased. Pilgrims to Morrison’s tombstone are not exactly religious types. Rather, they’re the pot-smoking, flower-stealing, let’s-get-down-and-dirty sort of worshipers who know how to party. In fact, the guardians of Père Lachaise have concealed a camera inside an old gas lamppost to keep tabs on the rock-and-unholy-rollers. A chain-smoking policeman has also been posted to keep the uproar under control. Personally, I doubt that there’s any film in said camera and the bodyguard, euphemistically speaking, is usually elsewhere, doing something better with his time.

Like any cemetery lover, I had priorities—the older the final resting place, the better. An impressive number of the departed reside in mausoleums big enough to house an army! Many of these deluxe dwellings for the dead are constructed of imported Italian marble. They contain stained glass windows, museum-quality statuary, obelisks, cherubs, angels, and other such funerary folderol. Wrought-iron fences, serving as deterrents for trespassers, surround the lavish domains.

As I stumbled along the cobbled streets of the cemetery, gazing at the incredible array of corpse chalets, an idea struck me. Pierre could live here. Several of the tombs made our apartment seem about the size of a pup tent. It was quiet. There were plenty of trees for Racine. To me, this plot of paradise had to be a thousand times better than squatting in an abandoned building. I decided that a visit to Oscar Wilde’s grave would be the perfect place for me to mull things over.

As usual, the rapier-witted writer’s tombstone was littered with mementos. Most of the offerings were from gays. However, lipstick stains, which I surmised had been left by women, smeared the smooth stone. Notes—some clever, some not—candles, flowers, even articles of clothing added color and fragrance to the Irishman’s burial plot. I later discovered that the prominent penis of an angel guarding Oscar’s tomb had literally been hacked off, never to be seen again.

Victor Noir

Tomb of Victor Noir
Photograph by MRW
Source: Wikimedia Commons

Another tomb that I found interesting was the burial plot of obscure journalist Victor Noir. His monument featured the sculpture of a man lying as if shot—which he was—in a duel. There appears to be a healthy erection inside the trousers of the bronzed body. Legend has it that by rubbing the crotch and placing a flower in the sculpted hat next to Noir’s effigy, a woman is guaranteed to get married within the year. The shiny spot definitely stands out, signaling that legions of women have fondled this area in hopes of waltzing down the petal-strewn aisle.

Although I wasn’t happy about facing my house guests from Hades, I took le Métro home. Luck was on my side. The place was deserted—quiet as any tomb, with the exception of Jim Morrison’s.

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Alexandra Makes Chocolates

Friday, December 14th, 2012
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Alexandra Whisnant

Alexandra Whisnant
Photograph by www.DiscoverParis.net

Alexandra Whisnant presented her chocolates last night at Mococha, our favorite chocolate shop on rue Mouffetard.

She tells us that she fell in love with chocolate while studying for her physics finals at university. Her chocolates were sublime! I’m all for science when it can produce results like this.

Alexandra Whisnat and Marie Gantois, Proprietor of Mochoca

Alexandra Whisnat, Chocolate Maker and
Marie Gantois, Proprietor of Mochoca

Photograph by www.DiscoverParis.net

Alexandra’s chocolates will be on sale at Mococha through Valentine’s Day 2013. More information about her adventures with chocolate can be found on her Web site Gâté Comme des Filles.

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A Last-minute Stocking-stuffer for Your Francophile Friends

Thursday, December 13th, 2012
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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!, Paris Insights – An Anthology 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.

Just in time for Christmas—the Kindle edition can be purchased and downloaded immediately!

The Kindle edition of Paris Insights – An Anthology is 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.

When you give your friends the Kindle edition, be sure to tell them that a Kindle device is not required to enjoy Paris Insights – An Anthology. Amazon.com provides free Kindle reader apps that allow anyone to read Paris Insights – An Anthology and other Kindle books on any major computer, smartphone, or tablet.

To purchase, click on the image below.

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Tasting deNeuville Mini-bûches de Noël

Wednesday, December 12th, 2012
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From left to right: chestnut - vanilla - truffle

Mini-bûches de Noël by deNeuville
Feuilleté Châtaigne, Délice Vanille, Truffe Meringuée

Photograph by www.DiscoverParis.net

The French chocolate company deNeuville has launched a special line of chocolates for Christmas—Mini-bûches de Noël. These are bite sized ganaches, truffles, and pralines, all with a soft interior that is enrobed in a firm chocolate shell. Colored sugar crystals sprinkled on the shell add a festive touch.

We tasted three:

The Feuilleté Châtaigne is a chestnut praline enrobed in milk chocolate. We found the chestnut flavor to be so mild that we could barely distinguish it from the flavor of the milk-chocolate shell.

The Délice Vanille is a ganache that has a creamy vanilla-flavored center encased in a crunchy dark-chocolate shell. I found the center to have the flavor of strong eggnog, which triggered memories of the days when I could drink the beverage without gaining too much weight. Those days are over, so this eggnog-laced nibble is all that I will get for this season.

The Truffe Meringuée is a dark-chocolate truffle containing tiny bits of meringue covered in a firm, dark-chocolate shell.

While industrially-produced chocolates (which these are) are always satisfactory, we nonetheless prefer the more robust flavors of chocolates produced by small, artisanal chocolate makers. We’ll have something to say about the chocolates of an American artisanal chocolate maker in the coming days.

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Sunday Morning on Rue Mouffetard – Christmas Is in the Air

Sunday, December 9th, 2012
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Children Carrying Christmas Tree

Children Carrying Christmas Tree
Photograph by www.DiscoverParis.net

Two children carry their Christmas tree home while Mom calls Santa.

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Seasons Greetings from Brûlerie des Gobelins!

Friday, December 7th, 2012
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Maxime Marcon-Roze, Manager, and Constanza Bouyat - Brûlerie des Gobelins

Maxime Marcon-Roze, Manager, and Constanza Bouyat
Brûlerie des Gobelins

Photograph by www.DiscoverParis.net

I stopped by the Brûlerie des Gobelins this week and found Maxime and Constanza in a cheery mood in spite of the cold weather that Paris is experiencing. They furnish much of the fresh-roasted coffee that I buy throughout the year. For the month of December they are selling Hawaiian coffee from Maui, the only time during the year that they sell it.

In addition to coffee, the shop offers a good selection of tea, cakes, cookies, candies, honey, chocolates, and jams and jellies.

I first wrote about this coffee-roasting store in 2007, when I interviewed the owner, Mr. Logereau. Mr. Logereau has since retired from the business, but before leaving he taught Maxime his techniques of roasting, permitting Maxime to continue offering the same kinds of coffees, roasted in the same way.

My article about Mr. Logereau and the brûlerie can be found in my book Paris Insights – An Anthology. The book will make a nice gift for Christmas this year. The Kindle edition can be downloaded immediately!

Brûlerie des Gobelins
2, avenue des Gobelins
75005 Paris
Telephone: 01.43.31.90.13
Metro: Censier-Daubenton or Gobelins (Line 7)

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Does Papa Pine for Paris?

Thursday, December 6th, 2012
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Paris Insights - An Anthology

Does your papa pine for Paris? Give him Paris for Christmas!

Travel writer Jim Calio has called our book Paris Insights – An Anthology “…a witty, incisive and always informative compilation of sights, sounds and good advice about enjoying the City of Light…” Better than a power drill or a necktie, it is a gift that offers an insider’s view of the things to love about Paris.

Our book is available in three editions: Premium (full color), Travelers’ (black and white), and Kindle (electronic). Click here to learn more or to purchase now!

Just in time for Christmas—the Kindle edition can be purchased and downloaded immediately!

If you give Papa the Kindle edition, be sure to tell him that a Kindle device is not required to enjoy Paris Insights – An Anthology. Amazon.com provides free Kindle reader apps that allow anyone to read Paris Insights – An Anthology and other Kindle books on any major computer, smartphone, or tablet.

Discover the beauty and passion of the world’s most fascinating city in Paris Insights – An Anthology.

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