First of all, for those of you who are following the daily blogs, I apologize for being a little tardy on the post for yesterday's blog. I had a bit of trouble getting the pictures posted. But as I said at the beginning, no promises.
This morning was a leisurely start to the day. Lloyd had arranged for a new kind of tour for us--a walk around bakeries, chocolate shops, specialty food shops including all kinds of pastries, as well as the a couple of fresh markets that exist around the city. The tour guide, who clearly had an American accent, introduced herself as hailing from Charleston, SC. We wondered what we had gotten ourselves into. As it turns out, she is a trained pastry chef who has lived in France for 19 years. She is very knowledgeable and she talks about pastry and food with the same passion and adjectives that an enthusiastic vintner talks about his profession. Passionate she is, and she gave us a whole new way of looking at (and appreciating) a baguette and a pastry and a small French chocolate.
We visited a relatively new bakery that has become very popular where she contrasted his style with the traditional style employed by many of the old artisans. Then we moved on to a shop that we've passed by many times where she gave us a complete history of the famous patisserie Monsieur Laduree whose grandson accidentally "invented" the macaron (macaroon) by putting some ganache on a single cookie and plopping a second one on top. Voila! A whole new business was launched.
We also were shocked by the nuances that we discovered in caramels with sea salt that are hand crafted by Henri La Roux and also the "grand cru" chocolate that is employed in the tiny chocolate produced by Pierre Bartolini. I've never tasted dark chocolate sprinkled with pink pepper. It is truly a taste sensation. These people are masters of their craft.
The tour ended in the St. Germain marche (an indoor market that houses multiple vendors). We stopped at a prominent fromagerie (cheese stand) that sells over 150 kinds of cheeses. We got quite a tutorial on cow's, goat, and sheep's milk and how it is turned into these lovely products. (Within France, over 400 kinds of cheeses are recognized.) Last stop was the boucherie (butcher shop). Another interesting lesson about the how French people buy their meats and fowl. The guide chose some special pates for our little "picnic" to end our day.
Actually the final stop was at the wine merchant where Laurel, our guide, selected a lovely Pinot Noir to accompany the cheeses, breads, pates, and desserts to enjoy while the lessons continued. All in all, it was three very enjoyable hours. We would certainly recommend taking this walking tour if someone is looking for a different way to experience Paris and the French food scene.
We ended the afternoon by touring the Parthenon with friend Nancy Gooding (see yesterday's post) and her daughter Anna who had arrived from Strasbourg where she's an au pair. We had never visited the Parthenon before. The building, built by Louis XV to honor St. Genevieve, is quite impressive. Today it houses the crypts of very famous French people such as Emile Zola, Louis Pasteur, Madame Curie, and Louis Braille.
We caught the #87 bus back to our apartment, stopped at the grocery store for some salad and fixings, and then across the street to the boucherie for a rotisserie chicken and we are all set for a quiet evening. That is one of the delights of living in a Paris apartment for the week. By the way, the weather today was gorgeous--a perfect day for strolling through the city-finally.
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