Paris, Mardi. L'Arc de Triomphe, Cathédrale Notre Dame, Jardin du Luxembourg, Crêpes, Pasta and La Tour Eiffel

My goodness was it was a hot and sunny day today.  I just had to get that out of the way immediately.  At the risk of sounding ungrateful that we had a sunny day in Paris, I just want to remind y'all we are from Seattle.  The only weather Chris wished we would not get was hot weather.  Yesterday, it rained with a high of 84f.  It was humid, sticky and hot.  Today, we had sun and a high of 84f, and not even a light breeze to be felt.  In the city, this feels a lot hotter than 84.  Climbing the steps all the way up inside l'Arc de Triomphe it feels much hotter than 84.  On a heavy 3 speed bike, riding up a hill through traffic mid afternoon after a couple of glasses of white wine, it feels really much hotter than 84.  Are you forming a good picture in your mind?  It was hot and we were suffering a little.  Where was my car service and ice cold towel at each stop?  Oh, that was in my dreams.  All right, now that I got that off my chest, on with the fun day.

We skipped breakfast this morning and headed straight off to L'Arc de Triomphe, just a short walk from our apartment.  We wondered how we were going to get across that huge round about.  It is a multi lane / no lane circle and certainly no crosswalk to be found.  How did everyone get in the center?  There must be an underground passage as we did not see any pedestrians darting across... until the four of us.  Surprisingly, the cars did not seem too put off by our obviously stupid tourist, Frogger like, skip to the center.  But we made it.  

We bought a four day museum pass at the airport.  This was mainly in an effort to save time and avoid the initial queue of buying a ticket for each place and go straight to the ticket holder line.  The man who sold us our passes said the girls admissions to all the museums would be free as they are under 18, so we should not buy them passes.  What he did not tell us was that we would still have to go to the ticket counter to get them a ticket even though we don't have to pay for it.  Not happy.  Thankfully, there was no line yet since we had gotten there early.  I hope we will not have to do this at each museum, but I fear it may be the case.

After the the Arc, we jumped into the Metro to go to Notre Dame.  Upon arriving, we decided to have lunch first and slid into Bistrot Marguerite.  It was there and we were hungry.  As it turned out, it was quite delicious and the gentlemen who was our server was very nice.  It was a very lovely lunch spot.

 Goat cheese and walnut crêpe.

 Ham, cheese and egg crêpe

After lunch we walked to the Cathédrale Notre Dame.  It is breathtaking.  We walked and enjoyed the awe inspiring interior of the cathedral and sat as we gave thanks for the cool respite it gave us from the heat.

After Notre Dame, we picked up four Velib bicycles and made our way to Jardin du Luxembourg.  I don't know if it had to be uphill, but somehow that was the route we took.  Did I mention it was hot?  Might I add at this point, that a thick head of coarse black hair is like wearing a solar panel wool hat on your head?  

After a quick walk through the Jardin, and discovering the only toilette we found was closed on Tuesdays, we came upon a Starbucks where passion ice teas were had all around, as well as a toilet break.  After Starbucks, we headed down into the Metro and made our way back to the apartment for showers and rest before dinner.  On our way back to the apartment, I stopped in at the Boulangerie to see if I might find a Canelé which Desiree had asked me to investigate.  Indeed they had them there.  

I picked one up and had my first bite.  It was not what I expected.  They look so beautiful and I imagined them to be moist, light on the outside and custard filled on the inside.  Instead, it had a gummy texture to it and really did not have much flavor.  Perhaps it was not a good one as the descriptions I've found on the internet did not match what I ate.  More canelés will be needed to decide.

After we recuperated in the apartment for a bit we were off to dinner and then a night visit to La Tour Eiffel.  We wanted something different tonight, so we headed to Del Papa for some pasta and pizza.  We did miss our pasta but we have been satiated.

After dinner we taxied down to La Tour Eiffel.

I think it was the general feeling that when in Paris, one must go up the Eiffel Tower.  I suppose it's much like going up the Empire State Building or the Space Needle.  Now, if you are heavily into this type of thing, then I encourage you to do it.  Stella was the most enthusiastic and I, wanting to be a good parent, and not have any regrets after the girls' first trip to Paris, emphatically said, yes, we must do it.  

We arrived at approximately 10:00pm and got into what did not seem like a horrible line.  We were deceived.  Winding, winding, winding, surrounded by people and it was still 80 degrees out, no breeze.  After one hour and forty minutes, two separate elevator rides, one final small stair climb, we finally arrived at the top.  Admittedly, it was a beautiful view of Paris, from what we could see, sandwiched in with the crowd at the top.  After 5 minutes, we were finished.  Back in line to make the trip downward.  Once street side, we breathed a sigh of relief and waited a few minutes for midnight when once again, the Tower would be lit with sparkly lights.  We decided the view of the Tower from the street was far better than the view from the Tower, and far less effort.

After arriving back at the apartment at 1:00am, dissension was in the ranks.  Perhaps it was the long day of touring and that last line put us all over the edge.  Or perhaps it was the heat and our brains had become irrational.  Come to think of it, dissension is not accurate.  Once one of us spoke out, we all chimed in agreement.  Tomorrow, we shall view the Louvre from the outside, rather than from within. 

Weather forecast for Wednesday, high of 86, scattered thunder storms, 85% humidity.  

Paris, Lundi. Le Tour Eiffel, le Bon Marché, le Marais and a Roast Chicken

Stella rose ahead of all of us.  The little birdie must be fed.  With Maggie still fast asleep,  Chris and I set off once again to collect breakfast.  With yesterday's success, we opted for the same, but this time with the fabulous croissants and a baguette from the boulangerie around the corner.  The croissants were buttery buttery yet light and fluffy and the baguette delicately crisp on the outside and airy pillowy dough on the inside.  

It was going to be a hot and rainy day, so our plan was to find solace inside.  It was shopping or a museum.  The girls voted for shopping.  We once again picked up our Velib bicycles and road across town to le Bon Marché.  After the long bike ride and a couple of stops along the way, including le Tour Eiffel, we popped into a cafe for cold drinks and a little restorative.  We shared a plat de formage, salad de saumon and l'assiette de tout canard.  The duck plate included duck confit, seared foie gras, and roasted duck breast.  Trés bon!

After lunch, shopping was had along with a mouth watering trip to La Grande Épicerie de Paris.  No photos allowed inside, but it was food at its most beautiful state.  It reminded us of the Harrods food hall in London, which is mind blowing.  Part of the Bon Marche was under construction, so I think much was missing, but nonetheless worth the trip there. 

We eventually made our way to the Marais district for some more shopping, but the heat and rain took its toll and we headed back to the apartment.  We will make our way back another day.

We planned to have dinner in tonight and had thought we would buy a rotisserie chicken at our neighborhood boucherie, Boucherie Janois Duret.  

We had stopped there this morning to buy some ham for our breakfast and the chicken looked fabulous.  Unfortunately, we arrived too late tonight to get our hands on one for our dinner.  By the time we made our way back from our shopping excursion, they were closing up shop and consequently, I was forced to go to the market down the way to buy a chicken to roast.  It was now 8:00pm and dinner was still to be made.  No problem.  We are on Paris time.   Our only sadness was whether we missed out on some fabulous chicken.  Perhaps another time.

For an appetizer, we had a duck liver mousse paté from the Boucherie with a hunk of baguette.  We were smart enough to purchase the pate this morning.  It was the best paté I have ever had.  I mean the best!  The woman working there told me it was made in-house, as were the ham and the jambon de parme, boudin noire and other sausages and many other items.  The pate was rich, smooth, silky, buttery duck fat deliciousness.  Heaven.

We had a little difficulty figuring out the oven, but once Chris found the instruction book, we were off and running.   I roasted the chicken seasoned simply with salt and pepper and rubbed with butter.  A few garlic cloves were tossed in and mushrooms and green beans were added close to the finish.

I made a gravy with the juices from the chicken and dinner was served.  Excellent!

To bed once again.  No signs of jet lag.  Staying up the day before must be working.  If only the garbage truck did not come by at 6:30am.

Paris

We arrived in France on Saturday afternoon after an uneventful flight from Seattle to Reykjavik, Iceland, to Paris.  Initially, this did not seem like an agreeable flight choice, but it was the least expensive one, and so it was booked.  As it turned out, my only complaint was the lack of sleep we had during our flights.  Perhaps this will work out to help offset jetlag.  The Reykjavik airport was quite nice and modern and had we not had to rush to our next flight, some exploring might have been done.  Our only meal during our trip, the 24 hours between the lunch we had before leaving for the airport and the late dinner we had Saturday night, was a ham and cheese sandwich purchased on board our flight.  Though it was not offensive, it left much to be desired.  Stella, in her brilliance, brought a Cup ‘o Noodle in her backpack.  When she pulled that out, I looked on with envy, thinking perhaps I could get a sip of the soup at the end.  My hopes were dashed when she somehow spilled the last bit in her own lap.  Perfect.

Once in Paris, our only goal was to stay awake until dinner.  We arrived at the apartment we rented just off the Champs-Élysées, by the Arc de Triomphe and were happy to find it was exactly as pictured in the rental listing.  After unpacking, we headed out to explore the neighborhood and found a lovely boulangerie, patisserie, restaurants and several cafes within a few minutes walk.  

We stopped into a nearby café for a libation and then back to the apartment to dress for dinner. 

Dinner was perhaps a tourist trap, but we like it.  Le Relais del’entrecote is the birthplace of one of our favorite steak sauces.  It is a prix fixe menu with a green salad, steak frites and pommes frites served with their creamy herb steak sauce.  They serve your meal in two halves.  They bring you half your steak, fries and sauce, and then once you are finished with that, they bring you the second half, all in an effort to keep everything warm.  This is a place that must be basically printing money in the kitchen.  Always a queue, must be an easy inventory to track, and your cooks do not have a tremendous amount of preparation and cooking to learn.  Brilliant.

After dinner we took a long walk back to the apartment where we quickly found ourselves fast asleep in our beds.

On Sunday morning, Chris and I awoke at a decent hour after a good night’s sleep and set out to bring back breakfast while the girls slept.  Throughout Paris, there are Velib bicycles available for rent.  Pick up one at one station, return it at another close to your destination.  Chris had gotten us all a week-long pass and wanted to give it a try.  Off we went to pick up our bicycles, and oddly, not to the boulangerie around the corner as I was expecting.  We got our bikes, rode to a different boulangerie Chris had resarched and found it to be closed.  Back we went to the one close to our apartment.  Again, closed.  It was Sunday after all.  Back to the station to return the bikes and then off to the store around the corner to hopefully not go back empty handed.

The grocery store baguette was 0.80 Euros, or about one dollar U.S.  A baguette, some butter and strawberry jam with a few slices of parma ham made for Stella’s favorite breakfast of all time.  Not bad.  Breakfast for four, about eight euros.  Happy day.

After breakfast, we leisurely set off for our electric bike tour.  We picked up our 4 Velib bikes to ride to our meeting place for the tour. 

Paris is mainly flat, making it quite pleasant and easy to ride around.  It does call for a little more attention as you are mostly riding with traffic and no helmet.  Having arrived safely, we met our tour guide, Paris Charms and Secrets, picked up our electric bikes, and set off for a four hour ride through Paris to all the main sights.  As many shops are closed on Sundays, this was a good day to do this and it gave us a good lay of the land.  Our tour finished at 6:30 and back to the apartment to freshen up before dinner.

On our list, and recommended to us by more than one person, was Le Stella.  After just one day in Paris, Stella has noticed mostly everyone in France looks quite fit.  And after just one day in Paris, we know why.  The walking.  It is so pleasant to walk everywhere.  Where back home we would normally jump in our cars for that one or two mile jaunt, here you do not give it a second thought but to walk.  Le Stella is a brasserie serving many classic French dishes.  I had the steak tartare which was very nice.  We couldn't help but wonder, however, if we were perhaps seated in the 'American' section of the restaurant.  Once we sat down, we realized we were going to have to listen to two American women talking loudly for most of our meal.  This was offensive and I could see why they were seated away from the 'locals', but apparently we were immediately typecast to be the same as them.  Perhaps this was a coincidence.  But when those two women finally left, another group of three Americans were seated next to us.  Perhaps they were trying to be nice, seating us next to our country folk.   Hmm.  The service was friendly and we enjoyed our meal, but a little was lost because of our seating position.  I suppose this would be the case anywhere we went when seated next to folks imposing on the peace of our experience.

After dinner, we strolled back to the apartment with a quick stop at the Häagen Dazs.  A stellar day in Paris and ready for bed.

Bacon, Lettuce, Tomato, Egg and Burrata Sandwiches

So, here's part two of the wild boar bacon from Marx Foods.  The website requires you to purchase a ton more than you would do at the store here in Seattle.  You can buy it by the single slab there.  It is delicious but my only complaint would be that it'd be nice if the slab was thicker and I could cut a thinner slice of bacon strip from it.  But I assume that is the nature of the wild boar and that it is not going to be as fatty and plump as a other farm raised  swine.  As it was, I had to cut the slab at an extreme angle to get a wide enough piece to fry which resulted in a thicker piece than I would like.  Because of this, the bacon was not crispy, but it was delicious nonetheless. 

The BLT is probably my favorite sandwich, though a good Vietnamese banh mi or a croque monsieur comes close to a tie for that spot.  When I was pregnant with Maggie and we were living by the Pike Place Market, I used to buy a BLT at Three Girls Bakery on my way to work and have it for breakfast.   Yep, that's right, I did get my bacon in with a little veg in the morning.  Tonight's version had a couple of extras by virtue of what I already had in my kitchen and needed to use up.

For the sandwiches, I used Macrina Bakery's brioche loaf, cut it into thick slices and toasted them in the oven at 375f until lightly browned.
I took last night's left over tomato sauce and mixed it with a little mayonnaise to make a spread for the bread.
I fried the bacon until well browned.
I fried fresh eggs from the hens in the fat rendered from frying the bacon.
To form the sandwiches, I spread each piece of brioche with a little of the mayo tomato sauce, then topped it with a piece of red leaf lettuce, a couple slices of heirloom tomatoes, a few slices of bacon, a few slices of burrata, and then the fried egg. 
I credit the ingredients.. no special act on my part, just here to put it all together.  Yum!

Build Your Own Pizza Night

On Chris' Father's Day wish list was a Kettle Pizza attachment  which turns your charcoal kettle grill into an outdoor pizza oven.  We'll be out of town next weekend during Father's Day, so he decided to take it out for a test drive tonight.  We're doing make your own pizzas, so you make up your own recipe.  Since we decided this at lunch, I did a rush pizza dough, actually using basically the same recipe as the one I used for pita, but adding a tablespoon of sugar to hopefully aid in the rising process as well as placing the dough into a slightly warm oven to rise.

3 1/4 cups bread flour
2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons active dry yeast
1 tablespoon sugar
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 1/4 cup warm water

Place the dry ingredients in a bowl of a standing mixer.  Using the hook attachment, turn the mixer on medium to mix the ingredients.  Combine the olive oil and water and slowly pour into the flour mixture with the mixer on the number 2 setting.  Add a little more water if necessary if the dough does not come together.  Once the dough comes together turn the mixer up another notch and knead the dough for about 6 minutes.  
Lightly coat a large bowl with olive oil.  Place the dough ball in the bowl and cover with plastic wrap.  
Turn the oven on for a few minutes, just to slightly warm it.  Then turn the oven off and place the bowl inside the oven.  Let sit for a couple of hours, then take the dough out.  It should have risen but at least twice it's original size.  Push the dough down.  Recover with plastic wrap and let sit on the counter at room temperature until ready to use.
About an hour ahead of cooking, separate the dough into 4-6 balls, depending on how large you want your pizzas.  I made four, approximately 7 ounce balls.  Cover and let sit for 30-45 minutes.

On a well floured surface pull and work the dough into rounds.  
Sprinkle a little corn meal onto the surface of a cutting board and place the rounds on top.  This will help them from sticking.  
Now dress your pizzas to your hearts desire.

Last week I made a stop at Marx Foods and picked up a piece of Wild Boar Bacon.  Tomorrow, it will be BLT's but tonight, we're having a little wild boar bacon with olive oil, Beecher's Flagship cheddar, aged balsamic vinegar and arugula.

Chris set up the Kettle Pizza according to direction provided.  It worked fabulously and the dough was outstanding as well.  This may be my new dough method.  

 Stella's Hoisin sauce, mozzarella, scallion pizza.  She requested a doughy-er dough and we were happy to oblige by making her crust thicker and cooking it less.

Homemade tomato sauce, fresh mozzarella, prosciutto and arugula and margherita pizzas.  Chris' favorite was teh margherita.

Wild boar, olive oil, Beecher's Flagship, arugula and aged balsamic pizza.  The wild boar bacon was mild yet flavorful.  The girls snacked up the left over bits. 

Pureed Beets with Yogurt & Za'atar and Homemade Pita

I am back to my Jerusalem cookbook tonight.  Maggie and I had lunch over the weekend at Mamnoon  and I was over the moon once again with their shamandar bi tahini and fresh pita bread.  I came home and looked in my Jerusalem cookbook, and sure enough, there was a similar version of it there.  No tahini in the recipe, but it did taste very much the same as Mamnoon's.  I skipped the goat cheese and hazelnuts from Jerusalem's recipe.  It is just so good already.  This recipe posted by Food and Wine is almost the same as what's in the book except in the book date syrup is used and not maple syrup.  I didn't track down any date syrup, but made my own by simply blending dates softened in boiling water and a little lemon juice.  

And finally, I have not had a store bought pita that comes close to the fresh ones right out of the oven.  I searched the internet and found this recipe from Smitten Kitchen.  I let the dough rise slowly in the refrigerator for two days and then removed it from the refrigerator this morning to sit at room temperature until ready to prepare.  I made a half recipe, and went for a smaller sized pita, splitting the dough into 9 pieces weighing about 1 1/2 ounce each.  Because of logistics of preparing the rest of the meal, I went ahead and baked the pitas a couple of hours before dinner and reheated them quickly in a hot oven right before serving.  Fabulous!

Kofta b'siniyah

Continuing on with recipes from Ottolenghi's Jerusalem cookbook, Kofta is something I've never tried making before.  I fell for the beautiful photo included with the recipe and after almost 3 years to the date of first spotting that huge bottle of ghee at Costco, I am finally using ghee for the first time.  I used considerably more salt than the recipe called for, but I am a salty gal.

I served this with some rice and orzo, tzatziki, and a Greek salad.  Yum!