oh what a beautiful day

i always imagined my 21st birthday would be spent at a bar in NYC with some friends, but this was so much more.

i spent the day like a true parisian. it started off with bikram yoga at a studio in the marais right across from centre pompidou, then a leisurely walk to the city's oldest covered market to pick up fresh produce and flowers. made friends with the grocer boy and he gave me free heirloom tomatoes and a pomegranate! did a little pampering then cooked a "feast" (by feast, i mean a decent enough amount of food that i could physically cook in 3 hours) for my glorious new friends in celebration of my golden year. il y avait beaucoup de vin et beaucoup de pain et c'etait comme un rêve.

oriental meatballs, mushroom, butter and chive toastettes (yes, i made up this word), baked chicken with roasted eggplant, mustard, and grapefruit juice, saffron rice, guacamole, spinach salad with strawberries, mangoes, and nuts with honey vinaigrette, baked brie, malibu guava juice cocktails

gnawing at the homemade tiramisu (thank you Noemie)

après dinner, a few friends and i moseyed on over to my favorite bar and chatted up my waiter friends. met some new frenchies who happen to own restaurants in paris and ny (food havens of the world). out of the corner of my eye i saw kristin wiig, yes the most hysterical woman on tv, wearing bright pink jeans and a top bun. i stormed out of the bar after her, pushed her boyfriend aside (who is actually the drummer for the strokes) and exclaimed, "kristen! is that you?!" she was cute and wished me a happy birthday and i tried to play it cool and chat her up as if we've been pen pals for years, but my giddiness won out. 

 

i think it suits that this picture is blurred, because it truly felt like a dream. 

we cheers, wined, and dined...all the ingredients for a perfect 21st in paris.

a gift unto myself

the pamplemousse is my favorite. 

 february 21st

un bon weekend

the lunch plan was farm fresh crepes, but the place was packed. the next best was pizza. so we wandered into the "pink flamingo." for some strange reason i got the vibe that i was sitting at "pizza jerks" in killington, vermont, on the way home from an icy ski weekend on the east coast. the checkered table cloths, laid back waiter, and the decked out volkswagen van parked in front helped recreate the scene.

even the french can perfect american dishes. i ordered "l'Obama" aka "hawaiian" pizza and it outdid my expectations.

cheese, bacon, pineapple CHUTNEY

my friend stuck with classic french cuisine...

a selection of charcuterie and pickles

 a nice place to hang

for dinner, my dear friend came over to cook for me, though we both chipped in our fair share. 

inventive ingredients

 a first for everything

 the ghetto way to cook chicken

i have to say this was one of my greatest accomplishments...cooking without a recipe. especially the chicken turned out perfect. i smothered it in roasted red pepper and eggplant tapenade, mustard, and grapefruit juice, salt 'n' peppa. the skin was perfectly crisp and the juices were oozing. 

except the poor zucchini shriveled up

 roasted chicken, pesto/squid ink infused spaghetti with creme fraiche, basil, and comte sauce, zucchini, and strange cauliflower-esque vegetable with carmelized onions

this meal required beaucoup d'improvisation, but it was all the better. kwaku stepped in to add the finishing touches. 

we cool

an improvised snuggie

as we eat all meals with candlelight and christmas lights, my photos always come out tinted yellow, but the warmth is palpable. and today i went on a "roomie" date and we enjoyed our carrot coconut milk soup with a dish from my childhood...

 pan con tomate (tomato mush spread) with garlic and oil

c'etait un weekend magnifique.

the big kahuna

the kahuna of all kahunas. the best of the best. la pièce de résistance...also known as the best food i've ever had in a 72 hour span of time.

coming to paris, i knew that it would be a unique and fulfilling experience in many ways. before embarking, i took a french oral exam, where i had to give a presentation on the topic of my liking in french (obviously). i elected to talk about "mon voyage culinaire" which began at the moment i was born but has been reinforced daily every day of my life. coming from a legacy of amazing cooks, each dedicated to the craft of their cuisine, i had a reputation to live up to. so in college i started this blog. but it was more than that. i discovered my love, my pleasure, my undying lust for food.

i sometimes worry that people mistake me for an obese woman the way i speak about food, but that is ok- that is my secret identity.

so yesterday, i went to a delightful reading at Shakespeare & Co. (my temporary nirvana) by author John Baxter, who discussed among many things, the art of flâneur-ing (sauntering without a care in the world among the streets of paris), holidaying in new york, and the culture of coffee. i realized that there are people who do this for a living: eat, sleep, breathe paris. and that is what i am lucky enough to do now. yes ok, i have some work to do, but in the scheme of things, what is life if not to be enjoyed and savored?

i went up to him sheepishly after the reading and revealed that i keep this food blog (even after he turned up his nose at the blogosphere and expressed his disdain for the loss of the written word), but nonetheless declared proudly that i am eating my way through paris, and he replied "well that's a wonderful way to see paris!"

so without further ado, i present my true parisian culinary journey and the quest for the best crepe in town. 

Friday night I hit up 404 again. (best moroccan food on this side of the mediterranean). couscous, lamb tagine, chicken filo pockets, kebabs, you name it- roasted, broiled, boiled, steamed to perfection.

Saturday my partner in crime and i started the day off right with (again the best) banana nutella crepes in paris. je pense. in a little dingy looking, abandoned creperie from the outside in montmartre, we found a treasure...

sizzling, bubbling, gooey deliciousness.

from here, we strolled up and down the stone alleyways of a bygone era and poked our heads in "les deux moulins" (the cafe from Amelie). i got the shivers.

for dinner we indulged in a selection of tacos and guacamole from the best taqueria and the best kept secret in the marais. queso fresco, ternera, salsa, chips. my favorite bar is hidden in the back. for references, you must be my friend. so buddy up.

in the "cave" at "le violon dingue," i was poured my first long island iced tea and it was strong. i'm glad the scottish bartender understood me when i said "tres fort." 

now we're getting into the heavy stuff. please hold as i stifle back tears of joy...ok.

 just enough food for a group of six

sunday brunch was unlike any single meal i have ever eaten in my life. my friend and i flâneur-ed in late and sat down to the menu. I looked in the buffet column deciding what to pick. "no," my friend says, "you have to get all of it. the buffet only is served to children under 12." that's when i got nervous. "can i be 12?" i asked, scared for my arteries. but then, i had no choice. so i went to check out the spread. and what a spread it was. not a food group was missing, not a flavor overlooked, not a pastry overturned. a real american parisian fusion brunch in a restaurant eerily similar to your grandmother's living room.

ok, ok i'll get to the food now.

TA DA!

fruit, cheese platter, fresh breads resembling fluffy challah, rice pudding (a great addition), jams, butters, confits, yogurts, tarts, pies, cakes, croissants...the list goes on. 

 classic stink. the best kind

all served on mismatched platter, the most delightful smorgasbord i've ever laid my eyes on. 

topped with a piece of chocolate tart for good measure

we went back for seconds

and thirds

oh and then our entrees came

eggs benedict for benedek

i can't stop.

in sum, it was worth every penny, and the feeling like i was about to give birth to triplets. twice.

a souvenir

but then of course, we got hungry for dinner. steak was a necessary evil.

and at Robert et Louise, they know steak, or rather "entrecote," cooked briefly over an open fire 'till it just stops bleeding. 

lettuce, potatoes, bordeux (4.50 euros what?), steak, mustard= completeness

 succulence

now we were truly stuffed. passed out in fact. 

i ended the weekend off strong, by dragging my fellow "sciences-po-ets" from Shakespeare & Co. to l'as du falafel. 

home away from home for some

fashionably located on the hoppin' rue de rosiers in the center of the marais.

I ♥ the marais. i ♥ paris. j'adore food.

special thanks to nicole for letting me drag her along, and to galee for always leading me down the right path