another day spent eating...

brunch is the best meal. breakfast is too early and just essential. lunch is on the go. and dinner is heavy. brunch c'est parfait. it is also the best time to meet up with friends and enjoy the company. it is especially enjoyable at quaint places like "le loir dans la theiere"

the door mouse in the teapot

eggs and bace-y wakey wakey

second best "meal time" is in fact "tea time" especially at la grande mosquée de Paris. after an interesting tour with my "arab spring" professor discussing the debate between politics and religion in france, we sat down for a steaming cup of mint tea aka "nana" for us middle easterners. a side of turkish delight never hurt nobody either.

 

some birds were chirping and flying in and out of the tea room, making it feel like an oasis in the middle of the city. 

then hidden on a side street in the 7eme arrondissement i found mecca a bagel place. it ain't new york or montreal bagels (even though they claim to have them)...

but they will have to do. (since when do new yorkers put pastrami on bagels?)

i decided to not go for the classic bagel: cream cheese, lox, tomato (a real NY bagel), and went for the deli sandwich instead.

and it was gooood. plus, i could eat it on the run...a rare opportunity in this city of loungers. 

i am proud to say je n'ai pas faim.

being an american in paris

requires you to be a little inventive in your excursions. today was the most english i've heard since i've been here. even though i woke up at 2:30 pm, it is paris and a day cannot go to waste. so i hopped on the metro and found my way to the american church in paris to hear a piano recital on a newly restored steinway.

this modest american community has made its own niche in the narrow alleys of paris. right of the seine, this church stands between old haussmann style buildings erected in brick with stained glass windows. it is a very tight knit community as over 8 musicians came from the congregation (mostly schooled at Julliard and other major musical institutions) to re-inaugurate this 124 year old piano by staging a huge concert including pieces from the likes of chopin, liszt, and none other than george gershwin's "rhapsody in blue"

after the concert, we were invited backstage to have a piece of the cake that was in the shape of the piano and as big as the piano (except only an inch high). it was delicious but i don't doubt that "cake bosses" would have made a life-sized edible steinway.

i decided to stick with my american routes for dinner so i headed "down south" so to speak. really i just got authentic mexican tacos for dinner at my new favorite bar in le marais called "candelaria."

dos equis

they import some of their ingredients from mexico, assuring quality. 

this kitchen/counter consists of 8 seats maybe, and the bar is hidden in the back- a kind of word of mouth only place. you would never know the bar was hidden by a slab of white painted wood. chic Parisians and expats alike frequent this place. reminds me of those whole in the wall taco bars in NYC. 

veal taco, potato-onion quesadilla, fresh lime

corn tortilla chips, guacamole (in major withdrawal)

slicing cactus leaves

there is a benefit to sitting alone at the bar in a place like this. i made friends with the waitress who was from mexico and she invited me to a party they are having on thursday. i ask why and she says "you know mexicans, we are always celebrating something!" 

arrrriba!

paradox

as i sit here chomping down on a spotty banana i realize that i have yet to solve my conundrum.

"all the baguettes in the world and nothing to eat."

the 3 euro sandwiches in the caf at my school just won't cut it. however, i finally found a normal grocery store so i do believe i'm on the right track. here's a quickie that my good friend taught me back in montreal for when you're stomach is a bottomless pit and you feel like a lazy beached whale. 

sweet carrot "purée" (though, without an immersion blender, magic bullet or the like it was more like chunky boiled carrots) with cumin, goat cheese, and cilantro on pita. the perfect healthy-ish college kid meal.

the other night i went round 2 at cite universitaire aka a ginormous hostel in the 14eme arrondissement that houses a motley crew of undergrads and grad students in residences each designed in accordance with the architectural style of its country. pretty sweet deal. as it was sunday and everything in paris is closed on sundays including any means of normal food consumption, i grabbed some chinese beef on the way to bring as an offering. it worked. 

garlic bread

with an assortment of cutlery and ethnic flavors we put together a most satisfying meal. i took a back seat on this one and let our wonderful hosts Kwaku and Kailin do the dirty work. and it was dirrrrty. 

roasted potatoes with rosemary and onion, scrambled eggs with vegetables, beef and broccoli, egg noodles, mango, avocado, lettuce & tomato salad, and PRAWN CRACKERS! (best thing since sliced bread)

cooking and eating in a communal kitchen atmosphere is pretty great too. in and out walk all sorts of people from everywhere in the world. the houses at "cite u" are by no means segregated by nationality. i must say i saw some envious eyes wandering in and out of the kitchen. 

snazzy eh? i can honestly say i had to unbutton my pants to digest this one---an accomplishment i am proud of! 

of course the company made it taste even better. a little dancing never hurt no one either.

and just last night i made one of my classic dishes for me and a friend seared tuna steak with mango chutney.

she brought the rosé and desserts, equally crucial je pense. ok, now i really need to stop writing before i eat my laptop. 

out with the old, in with the new

after my 4 hour walking tour on sunday, my body said "no more!" and it crashed into a dreadful sniffly ache-y state. but with a little cold-fx, oj, and my comfy bed. i became a new person. i got a new 'doo, a new apartment, new friends, and this new-found feeling of being fully satiated after a meal.

though these classics did the trick for a few hours...

chicken, mushroom, pesto galette (aka savory crepe)

soupe à l'oignon gratinée

the eureka moment came last night when i went to a highly recommended moroccan restaurant with a friend. tucked into a side street of the marais (obviously, i haven't had the desire to leave my neighborhood yet), is this vibrantly ethnic restaurant with decorative tea lights, communal tables, silk covered chairs, and tapestry-laden walls.

of course i tried not looking as a complete tourist with my broken french and my camera out, so i only got a quick shot of these delectable spiced chicken-stuffed filo pockets, with cilantro dipping sauce. this was followed by a steaming hot lamb tagine with artichokes and peas, with a side of couscous with a vegetable soup-like broth, and un verre du vin blanc. we were so perfectly full that we didn't even feel the need to gorge ourselves on the leftover couscous and the complementary moroccan bread basket. 

last night i saw the light at the end of the tunnel, and i'm not going back to growling stomach pains. 


bring it on paris.

a bit(e) of ny in paris

things i've learned so far:

1. bread is not filling. okay, maybe it's filling for an hour...tops. my stomach has become a bottomless pit. i think the excess of yeast is expanding my gastrointestinal tract to accommodate the extreme amount of bread i've been consuming.

2.  the french are skinny because there is not much of a late night food scene and by observing them in their natural habitat i have concluded that they only consume café allongé (i.e. espresso) and cigarette smoke.

3. blogger, Vahram Muratyan, author of parisvsnyc.blogspot.com draws many adept comparisons between these two glorious cities. In his own witty way he whittles down these two worlds into expressive pieces of pop art that sometimes make you cringe at how accurate they are. However, what he may not realize is that some of the gems of ny don't just resemble paris, they exist in paris.

Take for example "Merce & the Muse"http://merceandthemuse.com/, "an East Village-hip coffee shop run by a young American expat in the upper Marais" http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/2011/may/06/top-10-cafes-paris. This establishment made me feel at home this morning when I was greeted by an American and served earl grey tea and a real true brunch of arugala salad, radish & sesame salad, a soft boiled egg, and smoked salmon and 'ol style philadelphia cream cheese on some (healthy!) whole wheat bread. But alas...there was an added bread basket with butter and cranberry coulis. sigh.

 

neat fact no. 1: 75003 is the zip code for the 3rd arrondissement aka "le marais" and I know this how? well, you can tell by the last number(s) of the zip code which correspond to the number of the arrondissement, so the 5th would be 75005

 
and in true french fashion i spent the afternoon digesting by walking around and shopping my heart out (mostly with my eyes).

for good measure, here is another blatant example of how a bit ny exists within paris...

à la prochaine

la douceur de vivre

bread.cheese.wine.sugar. is there anything else that you need in life? je ne pense pas. however, though i have a deep deep love for these four essential ingredients i am trying to pace myself. 6 months to go and there is only so much bread and wine that stomach acid can digest. have i seen the eiffel tower yet? only the top...twice. have i seen the louvre? no, i've passed the metro a few times. have i been to marche des enfants rouge (the oldest covered food market in paris)?...duh! 5 baguettes? 4 croissants? 3 cheeses? cheap wine? of course. as sundays are generally lazy days in paris i decided to stay in "le marais" the 3eme & 4eme arrondisements (neighborhoods) to explore my foodie passions. on the good advice from my fellow foodies i hit up the famous juice bar called "Bob's Kitchen," and "Rose Bakery" (again...twice). as it was packed to the brim i grabbed brunch to go.

read: the extent of my vegetable intake over the course of 3 days...a delicious mini tartine of sundried tomatoes, mushrooms, eggplant, etc. topped off with:

their famous carrot cake. best i've ever had. i enjoyed this petit dejeuner at place des vosges, an old royal stomping ground, renowned for its exceptional people watching. however, i'm pretty sure most of the people were watching me as i chased after my paper bag in the wind and shooed away the pigeons. i did manage to snap a couple photos of the natives in their natural habitat.

peculiar creatures they are.

it hurts my eyes.