Archive for July, 2013

Ohinéné Piment à l’Ivoirienne

Wednesday, July 31st, 2013
Facebook Twitter Linkedin
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.

* * * * * * *

* * * * * * *

We participate in Wanderfood Wednesdays. Head over there to explore food from around the world!

Like our blog? Join us on Facebook!

Caramel Popcorn from Bü

Wednesday, July 24th, 2013
Facebook Twitter Linkedin
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 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!


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.

* * * * * * *

* * * * * * *

We participate in Wanderfood Wednesdays. Head over there to explore food from around the world!

Like our blog? Join us on Facebook!

Guimauve from Piccadis
A Sticky-sweet Marshmallow Treat

Wednesday, July 17th, 2013
Facebook Twitter Linkedin
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.

* * * * * * *

* * * * * * *

We participate in Wanderfood Wednesdays. Head over there to explore food from around the world!

Like our blog? Join us on Facebook!

Not Everyone Is Interested

Tuesday, July 16th, 2013
Facebook Twitter Linkedin

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/

* * * * * * *

Like our blog? Join us on Facebook!

The Statue of Liberty – Hidden in Plain Sight

Friday, July 12th, 2013
Facebook Twitter Linkedin
Statue of Liberty

Statue of Liberty
Photograph by www.DiscoverParis.net

Paris has numerous copies of the Statue of Liberty: two at the Musée des Arts et Métiers, one on Allée des Cygnes, one in the Luxembourg Garden, and one in the Musée d’Orsay. There is also a tiny one, hidden in plain sight on the chest of Le Centaure, an enormous bronze statue by César that stands at Place Michel-Debré in the 6th arrondissement.

Le Centaure by César

Le Centaure by César
Photograph by www.DiscoverParis.net

* * * * * * *

Like our blog? Join us on Facebook!

Cider by Cyril Zangs

Wednesday, July 10th, 2013
Facebook Twitter Linkedin
Cider 2011 by Cyril Zangs

Cider 2011 by Cyril Zangs
Photograph by www.DiscoverParis.net

About two weeks ago I received an invitation to a cider tasting from Bruno Quenioux (whom I’ve written about before). I hurried over to his wine shop and met Cyril Zangs, a producer of hard cider in Normandy. I say “hard” cider, because it has an alcoholic content of 5.5%. In the United States, the beverage called cider is usually no more than apple juice. Cyril’s cider undergoes primary fermentation in vats, and then secondary fermentation in bottles.

I tasted his Cider 2011, but couldn’t immediately identify the principal flavor. Cyril called it “smoky,” and said that the flavor is due to bitter apple that he includes in the batch. (The flavors of the apples that he harvests can be classified as sweet, bitter-sweet, bitter, tart, and sour.)

I purchased a bottle and took it home for a more focused taste test. After chilling the bottle in the refrigerator, Monique and I sat down to taste the cider and to determine what that “smoky” flavor actually was. We finally decided that the flavor is more accurately described as “leathery.” (Monique used the term “horse-y.”) The cider has a strong “welcome to the farm” flavor that is far different from the flavor of the sweet, industrially-produced apple juice that most people buy at the supermarket.

I would purchase this cider again because it has unmistakable character. I think that it might go well with certain strong cheeses.

Cyril Zangs’ cider is sold in Bruno Quenioux’s wine shop:
Boutique Philovino
33, rue Claude Bernard 75005 PARIS
Open from Tuesday to Saturday
10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. and 3:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.

* * * * * * *

* * * * * * *

We participate in Wanderfood Wednesdays. Head over there to explore food from around the world!

Like our blog? Join us on Facebook!

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

Tuesday, July 9th, 2013
Facebook Twitter Linkedin
Cassandre Seeking the Protection of Athena

Tom Photographing Cassandre Seeking the Protection of Athena
Marble Sculpture by Aimé Millet – 1877

Photograph by www.DiscoverParis.net

July 2013 – Fesses of the Month

Beautiful fesses abound in Paris! This month our photographer found a lovely pair in the Tuileries Garden.

In 1877, French sculptor Aimé Millet created this marble representation of Cassandre seeking the protection of the goddess Athena. Considered one of the most beautiful women in the world, Cassandra possessed the gift of prophesy, an attribute that had been bestowed on her by Apollo.

Follow the link below for a close-up view of her admirable fesses!

pinterest.com/pin/411586853415749238/

* * * * * * *

Like our blog? Join us on Facebook!

Meet Isabelle Bejidian, Owner and Chef of Le Resto

Wednesday, July 3rd, 2013
Facebook Twitter Linkedin
Isabelle Bedjidian, Owner and Chef of Le Resto

Isabelle Bedjidian, Owner and Chef of Le Resto
Photograph by www.DiscoverParis.net

Isabelle Bejidian, owner and chef of Le Resto, opened her restaurant on rue Tournefort four years ago. We dined there when it opened and have dined there several times since. Read our review of this little bistrot 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!

* * * * * * *

* * * * * * *

We participate in Wanderfood Wednesdays. Head over there to explore food from around the world!

Like our blog? Join us on Facebook!

A Roll in the Hay with Lily Heise

Tuesday, July 2nd, 2013
Facebook Twitter Linkedin
The Irrepressible Lily Heise

The Irrepressible Lily Heise
Photograph by www.DiscoverParis.net

I first met Lily about five years ago at a bloggers’ meet-up in Paris. At that time and at subsequent social events, she impressed me as a cheerful person with a bubbly personality. Little did I suspect that within the body of that effervescent persona beat the heart of a woman with the passion of an exploding volcano! I found that out just two weeks ago when I accepted her invitation to attend the launch of her first book, Je t’aime…me neither. There, at the Abbey Bookshop in Paris, she announced that her new book was about the saga of her search for love in the City of Light. It turns out that she found it…and then lost it…and then found it and lost it…again and again!

What makes her book more than a kiss-and-tell story is that she readily admits that her adventures have all ended in failure of some sort. (At least, that is what she told the audience at the book launch.) But she analyzes each failure in a humoristic way before she moves on to the next adventure. And she does move on! At the disappointing end of every adventure she manages to step back and find humor, even if it is dark humor, in her distress.

Lily Heise

Lily Heise with Her New Book
Photograph by www.DiscoverParis.net

The night of the launch, the audience enjoyed her wit as she read several accounts of her adventures from her book.

Here is an excerpt:

Je ne t’aime plus (Stephane)

“Je ne t’aime plus.”

What do you mean . . . you don’t love me anymore? I sat there, dumbfounded, staring at my boyfriend—or rather, my exboyfriend—his words slowly sinking in. Once they had, the emotional floodgate opened, unleashing hot tears streaming down my cheeks.

What did he just say? He had never said that he did love me, so how could he not love me anymore? While I was trying to grapple with this unpleasant detail, another one hit me. Hey! I was being broken up with! This made me cry even harder. Here I was, in my tiny Parisian apartment, overlooking the eternal City of Amour, which had just transformed into the City of Désamour, as I was now unloved, dumped, ditched, or, in French: larguée.

This wasn’t how things were supposed to happen.

This experience must have been a sad moment for Lily, but when she read the passage in her sing-song voice the audience roared with laughter. (Not laughing at her, mind you, but with her.)

She saved the best passage for last:

A Roll in the Hay (Julian)

Where am I? Who am I with? More importantly . . . who am I kissing? These are not good questions to wake up asking yourself, especially when you don’t know the answers! Well, from what I could immediately gather, the answer to the first question seemed to be “a wheat field,” which could have been pretty much anywhere. The answers to the other two questions would remain—for the time being—something of a mystery . . .

How had I ended up in a wheat field at the crack of dawn being ferociously kissed by a young, sun-streaked blond stud?

No, I wasn’t on the set of the kind of racy TV show screened after midnight on French public channels. And no, I hadn’t gotten lost on a hike in the country and been rescued by a shepherd boy . . . or had I?

Intrigued? Lily leaves it to us to buy the book to learn the answer to this mystery.

Lily has given Je t’aime…me neither her heart and soul. Five years in the writing—and thirteen years of extensive research—have gone into its creation. Put this one at the top of your list of must-read books for the summer!

To learn more about the book, click here.

To purchase the Kindle edition, click here.

* * * * * * *

Like our blog? Join us on Facebook!