The Votive Basilica of Saint Joan of Arc

September 1st, 2013
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The Basilica of Saint Joan of Arc

The Basilica of Saint Joan of Arc
Photograph by www.DiscoverParis.net

In this month’s Paris Insights newsletter, read about the Basilica of Saint Joan of Arc, a church that was constructed in honor of the saint who intervened to save Paris from German forces that were massing outside the gates of the city.

To view a preview of the newsletter, click here.

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Bonne lecture!

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A Burger Cruise with the Seine-Saint-Denis Office of Tourism

August 28th, 2013
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The Burger Boat

The Burger Boat
Photograph by www.DiscoverParis.net

On the evening of August 17 I joined a group of burgerphiles for a boat cruise on the Ourcq Canal. The event was organized by the Seine-Saint-Denis Tourism Office. They put on some great events! (See my blog of August 21, 2013).

Raphaëlle Gras and Bertrand Allombert

Raphaëlle Gras and Bertrand Allombert
Photograph by www.DiscoverParis.net

On board were Raphaëlle Gras and Bertrand Allombert, both chefs at a collective of associations called Plaine de Saveurs. Raphaëlle’s association is called Chardi Kala. They organize events to promote the culture and traditions of Northern India. That night Raphaëlle would prepare an Indian vegetarian burger. Bertrand’s association is called Chef on Line, a catering service that specializes in “nonconformist receptions.” He would prepare an Italian burger, which he called vitello tonnato (veal with tuna sauce).

Raphaëlle Shows How to Prepare an Indian Vegetarian Burger

Raphaëlle Shows How to Prepare an Indian Vegetarian Burger
Photograph by www.DiscoverParis.net

Bertrand Gives A Cooking Demonstration

Bertrand Gives A Cooking Demonstration
Photograph by www.DiscoverParis.net

And so they began! Each chef demonstrated the fine points of burger making, while hungry burgerphiles looked on.

Assembling an Italian Vitello Tonnato Burger

Assembling an Italian “Vitello Tonnato” Burger
Photograph by www.DiscoverParis.net

At last, the assembly! Bertrand finished his demonstration and began assembling the burgers.

Italian "Vitello Tonnato" Burger

The Italian “Vitello Tonnato” Burger
Photograph by www.DiscoverParis.net

Alas, we were entitled to only one burger. I quickly weighed the pros and cons of an Indian Vegetarian Burger versus an Italian “Vitello Tonnato” burger and decided to try the latter.

I enjoyed the flavor, but there was one small hitch. The burger contained a large piece of veal that had not been ground. As I tried to chew it, the portion slid out from between the buns and briefly dangled from my teeth. Although I was by myself, I imagined what I would have looked like if I had been sitting across the table from a woman whom I was wooing. This is not the kind of thing that one wants to happen on a first date!

Ready to Eat!

Ready to Eat!
Photograph by www.DiscoverParis.net

A good time was had by all!

(A French burger blogger gave an account of this cruise at the following link: www.paris-burger.com/croisiere-degustation-les-burgers-du-monde. In the first picture, I’m the guy in the rose-colored shirt. I’m talking with Bertrand and enjoying the view of the canal. See the photos that I took of the scenes along the canal on Facebook!)

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Monique’s Wine Adventure

August 21st, 2013
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Nice bouquet

A Nice Bouquet
Photograph by www.DiscoverParis.net

On Saturday, August 10, the Seine-Saint-Denis Tourism Office organized a wine adventure on the Ourcq Canal. Monique was there!

Monique Preparing to Embark

Monique Preparing to Embark on Her Adventure
Photograph by www.DiscoverParis.net

At 7:30 p.m., she showed up at the Bassin de la Vilette (in northern Paris) and waited for her boat to come in.

Wine Vats

Wine Vats
Photograph by www.DiscoverParis.net

When she got on board, she saw the wine vats. The one on the left held Gamay, the one in the middle held Syrah, and the one on the right held Grenache. It was a lot of wine!

Fabrice Explains the Fine Points of Wine Production

Fabrice Explains the Fine Points of Wine Production
Photograph by www.DiscoverParis.net

Fabrice of En Vrac, a wine shop in the 18th arrondissement, explained how the participants would blend their own wine from the three vats and have a private bottle to take home. What fun!

Monique Takes a Sip

Monique Takes a Sip
Photograph by www.DiscoverParis.net

Before the blending began, everyone had a chance to taste each wine.

Drawing Gamay from the Vat

Drawing Gamay from the Vat
Photograph by www.DiscoverParis.net

Then each person went from vat to vat with a beaker, drawing the proportions that would suit that person’s taste when the wine was blended.

One Part Syrah

One Part Syrah
Photograph by www.DiscoverParis.net

Monique checked her proportions carefully. She took chemistry in college, so she knew what she was doing!

Monique Corks Her Wine

Monique Corks Her Wine
Photograph by www.DiscoverParis.net

After pouring two wines (Syrah and Grenache) in their proper proportions into a bottle (a funnel was used), Monique corked it. Fabrice told her to wait two weeks for the wine to “settle” before she opened it to drink.

Thierry Sealing the Cork with Wax

Thierry Sealing the Cork with Wax
Photograph by www.DiscoverParis.net

Thierry (manager of En Vrac) sealed the cork with wax and applied a label.

Syrah-Grenache Blend

Monique’s Syrah-Grenache Blend
Photograph by www.DiscoverParis.net

Et voila! Monique’s personalized blend of wine was ready!

Rosaura Martinez from Los Cabos BCS

Rosaura Martinez from Los Cabos Mexico BCS
Photograph by www.DiscoverParis.net

Rosaura Martinez from Los Cabos Mexico BCS selected a blend of 15% Gamay, 75% Syrah, and 10% Grenache. She was there with her sister, who was celebrating her quinceañera.

Bagged and Ready to go

Bagged and Ready to Go
Photograph by www.DiscoverParis.net

As the boat pulled into dock, Monique shows off her prize!

A good time was had by all!

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Meet Chef Edith Gnapié

August 14th, 2013
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Edith Gnapié

Edith Gnapié, Chef and Co-prorietor of Ohinéné Restaurant
Photograph by www.DiscoverParis.net

Last month we dined at Ohinéné, an Ivorian restaurant located in the 20th arrondissement. After a splendid meal there, we returned to interview the chef, Edith Gnapié, and her partner, Jean-Benoit Chauveau. Read our review of this establishment in this month’s Le Bon Goût, a monthly feature of our newsletter Paris Insights.

To view a preview of the newsletter, click here.

Paris Insights 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.

Bonne lecture!

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Meet Michael D. Poole – Chocolate and Pastry Maker

August 7th, 2013
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Chef Michael D. Poole

Chef Michael D. Poole
Photograph by www.DiscoverParis.net

Last week, I had the pleasure of meeting Michael D. Poole, firehouse chef from Seattle. He’s in Paris honing his skills on macarons, one of the products that he sells alongside his French chocolates back on the West coast.

Michael has been coming to Paris for a few weeks every year since 2000. He first came to study basic cooking at the Cordon Bleu and continued at that school year after year until he received the Grand Diplôme in 2003. He returns every summer to work with chocolate and pastry makers, learning new techniques and reviewing old ones. He has applied his skills to chocolate making and now sells French chocolates at six different retail outlets in Seattle, as well as on his Web site.

He recently began offering macarons at a couple of the retail outlets, hence his current interest in perfecting his macaron-making skills. This summer he is working at Pâtisserie Chocolaterie Pascal Pinaud on rue Monge, where he has learned to get the consistency he was seeking in his macaron batter (which consists of egg white, almond powder, and powdered sugar). He wanted his macaron shell to be a little bit firmer than what he’s been producing until now. Michael is a perfectionist in his craft and doesn’t stop until he gets it just right. Not that any of his customers back in Seattle were complaining, mind you!

Macarons

Michael’s Macarons
Photograph by www.DiscoverParis.net

Back in Seattle, Michael offers four different flavors of macaron to his customers: lemon, pistachio, coffee, and chocolate. He will soon add a fifth, orange. Hence, I purchased these five flavors, all of which he had made at Pâtisserie Chocolaterie Pascal Pinaud using Mr. Pinaud’s recipe. I took them home to try. Here are our tasting notes:

  • Lemon – mild, sweet lemon flavor
  • Pistachio – the almond in the macaron is more pronounced than the mild flavor of the pistachio.
  • Coffee – thick, creamy filling; relatively thin lower macaron shell.
  • Chocolate – this macaron felt heavy in the hand due to the density of the flavorful chocolate cream.
  • Orange – this was our favorite. A strong orange taste that reminded me of the Dreamsicle of my youth. My partner declared that it tasted like candied orange.

    All of the macarons had light but firm shells, which allowed us to pick them up without crushing the delicate crust. When bitten into, they were chewy. They all had a creamy filling.

    We think that Michael’s customers in Seattle will be pleased with the new orange flavor that he plans to introduce!

    Check out Michael’s Web site!

    And if you are in Paris, stop by Pâtisserie Chocolaterie Pascal Pinaud to try any of their nineteen different macaron flavors:
    70, rue Monge
    Tel.: 01.43.31.40.66

    Metro: Place Monge (Line 7)

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    The Eternal Quest for Beautiful Fesses – Our Fesses of the Month

    August 6th, 2013
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    20 rue de Longchamp

    Tom Photographing Mermaids at 20, rue de Longchamp
    Photograph by www.DiscoverParis.net

    August 2013 – Fesses of the Month

    Beautiful fesses are displayed in the most surprising places in Paris! This month’s featured fanny can be found on the lintel above the entrance way to an apartment building at 20, rue de Longchamp in the 16th arrondissement. The alluring mermaids that flaunt their beauty there were sculpted by Jean-Désiré Ringel d’Illzach (1849 – 1916).

    Follow the link below for a close-up view of the leftmost mermaid’s lovely fesses!

    http://pinterest.com/pin/411586853416059049/

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    Ohinéné Piment à l’Ivoirienne

    July 31st, 2013
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    Ohinéné Piment à l'Ivoirienne

    Ohinéné Piment à l’Ivoirienne
    Photograph by www.DiscoverParis.net

    Last Wednesday I interviewed Edith Gnapié and Jean-Benoit Chauveau, co-proprietors of an Ivorian restaurant called Ohinéné in the 20th arrondissement. After the interview, Madame Gnapié, who is also chef of the establishment, gave me a small jar of Ohinévé piment à l’ivoirienne, a hot sauce that, she promised, is “stronger than Tabasco.” I took it home to try.

    Monique prepared our favorite dish, Miss Grace’s Chicken, the recipe for which can be found in Monique’s cookbook Food for the Soul. At the table, we dabbed a little bit of Madame Gnapié’s piment on it and clang!, clang!, clang!, the fire bells started ringing. This is a super-hot sauce that is guaranteed to make a grown man weep!

    Never fear though&#8212it is also quite flavorful. We enjoyed it with the chicken and the tangy chicken sauce.

    Madame Gnapié’s hot sauce can be purchased at her restaurant take-out counter.

    Ohinéné
    14, rue de la Chine
    75020 Paris

    Tel.: 01.71.20.67.62

    Our review of Ohinéné restaurant appears tomorrow, in the August edition of Paris Insights.

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    Caramel Popcorn from Bü

    July 24th, 2013
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    Caramel Popcorn

    Caramel Popcorn
    Photograph by www.DiscoverParis.net

    I don’t know who permitted the construction of the spanking-new high-tech office building that now stands at the corner of rue du Cardinal Lemoine and rue Jussieu. It’s an example of the creeping modernism that has destroyed the old-fashioned charm for which Paris was once admired. (I wrote about this blight in the November 2012 issue of our newsletter Paris Insights.)

    In any event, there is a new store on the ground floor called Bü that sells all sorts of useful products, including stationery, luggage, tableware, kitchenware, linen, toys lamps, vases, scented candles, and more! I stopped by to take a look and was impressed to find that it is a pleasant store to shop in. But what impressed me most of all was the caramel corn that they were selling for only 1.60€ for a 200 gram bag. I purchased a bag and took it home to try.

    This is industrially-produced caramel corn, but nevertheless I enjoyed it. The popped corn are large, about 3/4″ in diameter. The caramel coating has the aroma of vanilla and tastes like caramel, but doesn’t quite have the intensity of deeply-caramelized sugar that I had hoped for. The coating isn’t too sticky, so the popped corn doesn’t stick together. It can be eaten on a day on which the temperature rises to 91°F without any overly sticky syrup transferring to the fingers. I know, because I tried it. I was able to pop the delicious treat in my mouth and then type out my impressions on a computer keyboard without fear of leaving caramel syrup on the keys. This is living at its best!

    Bü
    45, rue Jussieu
    75005 Paris
    Tel.: 01.40.56.33.22
    Open from Monday to Saturday from 10:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m.

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    Guimauve from Piccadis
    A Sticky-sweet Marshmallow Treat

    July 17th, 2013
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    Piccadis - La Fameuse Guimauve de Paris

    Piccadis – La Fameuse Guimauve de Paris
    Photograph by www.DiscoverParis.net

    A few weeks ago I ventured by a bakery located on rue Gay Lussac near the Luxembourg Garden. Through their shop window, I saw their brand of guimauve, a marshmallow confection. (They proudly call their product “La Fameuse Guimauve de Paris” and they make it on the premises.) It comes in several flavors and can be purchased in rectangular prisms or, as I did, in die-shaped blocks skewered on a stick. They come in vivid colors that correspond to their flavors.

    I stopped by today and purchased a skewer of five flavors and took it home to try.

    The white guimauve was coconut, and it had an intense flavor. As I bit into it I could taste shredded coconut, making this the most textured sweet of the five that I tasted.

    The green-colored guimauve was pistachio. Its flavor was not as intense as the first, but it was nonetheless convincing.

    The red-colored guimauve was coquelicot, or poppy. Although I enjoyed this flavor, I couldn’t associate it with the taste of the poppy-seed strudels (called pavé aux graines de pavot) that I buy from time to time from the East European bakery shops on rue des Rosiers in the Marais.

    The café-colored guimauve was a fairly strong espresso-flavored treat.

    Finally, the dark brown guimauve had a hearty chocolate flavor, like fudge.

    All five of these confections were fun to eat. They were moist, sticky, slightly gooey, stretchy, and spongy. This is a great treat for those who want to recall the childhood joy of opening a bag of Kraft marshmallows and eating them all at once!

    Piccadis
    8, rue Gay Lussac
    75005 Paris
    Tel.: 01.43.54.31.69
    Open Mon to Fri 7:15 a.m. – 8:00 p.m. Sat 8:00 a.m. – 7:45 p.m.

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    A Sticky-sweet Marshmallow Treat

    Not Everyone Is Interested

    July 16th, 2013
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    no interest

    Some people have no interest in looking at beautiful fesses, but we think that many do. That’s why each month we post a new photograph of sculpted fesses to our Guess the Fesses Mystery Board.

    Don’t know what fesses are? Follow the link below for a close-up view of our fesses of the month!

    pinterest.com/pin/411586853415749238/

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