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Our 4 day trip to Paris was indeed filled with sugar and chocolate treats but I did make it to 2 of my "must see" "boulangeries"…my list was close to 5 pages long so I went for efficiency (it was cold) and locations (did I mention it was cold?). I took B. for quite a hike looking for 140 Boulangerie as we got of the subway 2 stops too early and walked the rue de Belleville all the way up to the pastry shop. It helped us locate a great little Thai restaurant for lunch and kept us kind of warm while getting there.

I stood in front of the shop’s array of bread (not me in the picture) for ages trying to decide what to get and finally decided on an almond croissant. The hike had burnt a whole in my stomach and I figured we could have the rest of it for an afternoon snack. It was hands down the best almond croissant I have ever had in my life (and believe me I have had my share). The dough was flaky and buttery in every bite, the filling was plenty enough to fill every mouthful with a smooth almond taste and the best part was how it had caramelized at the bottom of the croissant adding a bit of a crunch which I always favor. I have to admit that I don’t recall B. having much of it…bad me…!

The other boulangerie I absolutely could not miss was that of Eric Kayser where I knew exactly what to purchase: a baguette Monge which I had tried to recreate a while back and still make once in a while but never mine tasted as good as this one!(duh) This time I did not forget my sweet-seaking companion and got a couple of chocolate chip brioches for breakfast. Funny how no crumbs could be found anywhere…..!

You know how much I enjoy making macarons but the truth is is that I don’t eat that many. I enjoy one bite and then I am done. I still wanted to see, touch and try plenty of them and did so by purchasing a sampler in 3 different places. Unfortunately I only got pictures of one set, so you will just have to rely on websites and my descriptions for the others.
I realised one morning walking to the subway station that one of the shops on my list was staring at me while I was looking up at the sky. After 3 days of this, B. commented that it was interesting how my obsessions would materialize "on the way to…" well, what can I say, Paris is not that big after all and if you lift your nose you find out plenty of cool little places.

What happiness to stumble upon "Cacao et Chocolate" like we did! We purchased a dozen of "classic" chocolates (by the form, although there was nothing classic in the taste) and a box of Szechuan Pepper ones which turned out to be a innovative and tasty creation. I also added a sampler bag of macarons to my order and off we went to the next sweet stop. We shared a few and found them well executed and tasty but nothing to make me go "these are the best".

I believe the shop is great for its interesting choice of ganache but there were 2 masters I really wanted to visit. We stop by Pierre Marcolini store (0nce again conveniently located on the way to somewhere…), where I purchased a chocolate Christmas tree. We did not have a "need" for it, (absurd word when it comes to chocolate), but figured we could give it as a hostess gift somewhere long our travel…. it is funny how quickly we came up with the fact that nobody would really enjoy this masterpiece and so we found a little bench and opened up the box as if a treasure was inside…and gold we hit indeed! I don’t recall ever tasting something as fine and smooth as this.

We had made reservations that evening at L’Ami Jean which held the promise of great Basque food and unforgettable atmosphere and service. Dang! How do we do this, Michel Chaudun’s shop was on the way! I am telling you the sweets Gods were on our side, not the fitness ones…. and at that point we had blown every bit of reason to the wind! Unfortunately we arrived a few minutes after closing time and were left to admire the window display..if his chocolates taste as good as they taste you are in for an adventure! Well, now we have a reason for another trip!

Dinner at L’Ami Jean was truly spetacular. The restaurant is small but the plates are giant and the portions just as big. We dinned on a true basque veal Axoa, foie gras and desserts were a basque yogurt topped with pistachios and sour cherries. B. even had his first taste of absinthe and we elbowed with a couple of French celebrities.

I had built up a year’s long worth of expectations about Sadaharu Aoiki and this trip filled every one of them. Everything about the pastries swept me away: their design, their flavors, their presentation and their taste. I had never felt that torn looking at a pastry case…how many can I purchase and eat given that the holes left on my belt were disappearing day after day….how many more days here do we have left? how many miles can I walk to work them off? maybe of I skip breakfast, and have a light lunch…Oh forget it! Live large (and get large) for a while, it’s not everyday I get to do this! After much discussion with the little voices in my head…(B. at that point was feeling like I was: up for everything!), we decided upon a sampler of macarons, a chocolate chip kugelhopf, mini matcha tea financiers (which I love), and the "piece de resistance" a Yuzu tart. We had the financiers with coffee one day, the kugloff for breakfast, the tart for dessert one night and we nibbled on the macarons while queuing at the Opera….Life is good!! It was difficult to pick the tart among the array of amazing looking pastries but we did not regret our choice. Smooth like a mango and tart like a lemon, the curd was set on a perfectly sandy shorbread base and was the perfect end to a dinner in Montmartre.

To be fair, we purchased another dozen macarons from Gerard Mulot, as we figured one could not judge on two shops only….I have to say his creations were pretty great: pear-ginger, basil-lemon, nougat, coconut, salted caramel, violet…but this trip Aoiki won our vote.

I could not leave you without a few pictures of my dream kitchen: the one in the castle of Chenonceau which we visited after New Year’s Eve on our way back from Tours.

You probably have wondered where I have been hiding since we came back last week. Truth is, I have started this post a million times and erased it just as many. I never thought it would be so difficult to jump back into blogging after three weeks off. Between bad internet connections and entertaining friends and family since our coming back, it has been difficult to sit and write for more than a couple of minutes at times.

I have to say that this is the first time that I experienced culture shock "the other way". Up until this year, I still felt that things were familiar to me and I was just away for long periods of time but having culture shock moments as a French in America. Well, this year felt very different and I think that because I am fully at ease with my new country and adopted people that I experienced the opposite kind of "moments", you know, when you pause and scratch your head, curious to know whys, whos and wheres…Funny how life is…

I have to apologize for the poor quality of the pictures accompanying this post, but most shots were done on the spot, either in a hotel room (sometimes bathroom) or on the dining room table. No time to stage and plan!

We have had the most wonderful time in France. It was a true blessing to see as much of my family as we did. Every minute of every day was filled with things to do, people to see and places to visit. We were lucky to be staying with my parents in Le Mesnil Saint Denis, not far from Versailles and being so close to the things we had planned to visit.
We started by an amazing show in Paris, Le Quatuor, where both B. and I laughed our heart out.
The next day, we were leaving for Normandy where we saw the Mont Saint Michel, the beaches of D-Day, the American cemetery, the Bayeux Tapestry, the Memorial of Caen, and dined on fine foods and wine.

We returned home to prepare Christmas and welcome my brother and his family. Words fall short to express the joy it was to see my nieces Lea (6 years old) and Camille (4 months). Each day was filled with laughs, games and pranks!

Food wise, I have to say "hats off" to my mom who had prepared great food ahead of time and who nicely gave her kitchen to her son for the main course of Christmas dinner, a capon with a white boudin and truffled stuffing, and her daughter for dessert, a traditional praline filled Yule Log and a Nougat & Rapberry ice cream one (sorry no pic of that one).

Being the good sister than I am , I made sure he had a bowl of his favorite treats, "chouquettes"

while I snacked on the biggest meringue I had ever had from the patisserie next to our house.

Right after Christmas, B. and I eloped to Paris for a 8 years- late honeymoon during 4 days. We did not rest much during this time as we had paln to alternate visits of museums and pastry shops in a mini 4 day marathon, an Amazing Race of food and knowledge if you will. We stayed in Saint Germain des Pres in a quaint little hotel and made "Neo Cafe" our after dinner, late night spot. Our heads are filled with sculptures from Rodin, relics and gold from Cluny, found treasures from Alexandria at the Grand Palais, Mozart at the Opera. I admit we gave up waiting in line for the Doisneau exhibition at the Hotel de Ville when we were told the wait was 2 hours…outside…and it was freezing cold!

I had told B. about all the pastry and chocolate shops I wanted to see but I did not want to make these 4 days just about what I wanted. I knew there were museums and places he wanted to see no matter how much he also likes macarons! However I did not expect him to get caught in the game of finding these places and some were wuite out of the way! It had been 10 years since my last stay in Paris and I found myself looking at maps and bus stops just like any tourist! Except for the language, everything was just as different to me.

It was virtually impossible to do everything on my list in 4 days (including travelling times) so we went for what was close to us and the museums, parks and neighborhood we had planned on seeing. Literally across from our hotel was Gerard Mulot Patisserie where we filled up on pastries for breakfast, and bought desserts and macarons for my parents…well, I needed an excuse to sample more so we said we would bring desserts back!

In the background from left to right: "chausson aux pommes" (apples in puff pastry) and classic Financier. In the foreground: cannele, a specialty from Bordeaux, and "cerisai" which is to this day one of the best thing we both ever tested: a ligth cake filled with pistachio cream and sour cherries. Not bad to start the day!

The desserts we brought back included: a Troubadour (top) a shortbread base topped with a salted caramel cream, coffee mousse and topped by a thin shortbread cookie, a Milk Chocolate Ganache Tart

Or this delicious Delice de Ninon aux Peches: a thin genoise layer filled with a light peach cream with diced caramelized peaches.

To be continued…..macarons, Sadaharu Aoki, Cacao et Chocolat, 140 Boulangerie and more coming tomorrow….

I missed the last Blog Party hosted by Stephanie but I am ready to have fun this time. We are 6 hours away from departure but I figured I could not leave without one little piece of decadence.

Because I have spent the last few days running around I decided to fall back on one of my favorite books for inspiration. When I first got Dorie Greenspan’s book Baking From My Home to Yours, I bookmarked this brownie recipe right away but never got around to making it until yesterday. What a perfect fit for the party which theme was Hollywood. I was not sure what cocktail to pair it with so I went with one of my new favorites, an Apple Martini. The color always makes me giggle….!

Katherine Hepburn Brownies, adapted from Dorie Greenspan:

4 oz bittersweet chocolate
2 tsp ground coffee
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1/4 lb unsalted butter
1 c Sugar
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 ts Vanilla extract
1/4 c all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 ts salt

Preheat the oven to 325 F. Butter an 8-inch square baking pan.

In a heavy saucepan, melt the chocolate with the butter over low heat, stirring until completely melted. Remove from the heat and stir in the sugar, coffee, cocoa powder and cinnamon . Add the eggs and vanilla and whisk well. Stir in the flour and salt and mix well. Spoon the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 40 minutes.

Apple Martini, adapted from about.com:

2 oz gin or vodka
1 oz green-apple shnapps

Pour the ingredients into a shaker with ice cubes.
Shake well.
Strain into a chilled cocktail glass.

The brownies were really moist and flavorful and the martinis went down way to easily. We gathered outside with the neighbors and enjoyes the warmth of th evening, I have the feeling this is the last time I an standing on the porch at ten o’clock at night with a skirt and a t-shirt.

Off, to finish making sure for the tenth time that we have not forgotten anything…!I will come back as soon as we are settled and as soon as my parents understand the need to spend hours on the computer looking at other people’s culinary adventures!!

Well, we played Santa this afternoon and got all of our goodie baskets delivered to the neighbors and family members. Looks like nothing is going to last until Christmas but that is ok. To make the holiday spirit last a little longer I also included an ornament in each and some clementine marmelade I made yesterday.

We are all packed (I think…!) and ready to go. Last things on the agenda are to tidy up the house tomorrow, rsvp Stephanie’s Blog Party and get my fish to the neighbors, the dog is already at my in-laws and the house is so empty without him! But let’s go back to the blog before I start feeling weird again!

I was able to include the meringue kisses in the gift baskets because I made one of my favorite pastries over the weekend and had leftover egg whites, and since I hate to waste but love to bake, well there it was!

I first had a gateau Basque when my parents and I took a road trip in the Basque region a long long time ago and we stopped in a small village and looking through the window of the local bakery I saw this little cake calling my name. The one I had was filled with pastry cream and sour cherries and I found out since then that there are many different interpretations if this dessert, with or without cream or cherry filling. Finding this out I think I bought one in every town we visited!

I did not have any particular reason for making this cake except that the baking stars aligned themselves and the signs all pointed me in its direction. Have you ever had that happen to you? I was getting coffee at the German bakery next to the gym (I know, evil combination) when I looked at their half price table: day old bread, muffins, and jams. Among the loot I found a jar of sour cherry jam and I love the stuff so in my basket it went! That same afternoon I was reading one of my favorite new French blogs, Blanc d’Oeuf , when I started reading about Stanislas' interpretation of Gateau Basque with cherry jam….. and the rest is history… the cakes also because they are all gone…already!

Mini Gateaux Basque, adapted from Blanc d’Oeuf:

300 g flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1 egg
3 egg yolks
150 g powdered sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 pinch salt
200 g butter
sour cherry jam, for the filling

Note: I made the batter by hand with a whisk and a spatula, but feel free to use a mixer.
In microwave, melt the butter and set aside. In a large bowl, combine and whisk together the egg, egg yolks, powdered sugar, the vanilla, salt. Add the butter and give it another whirl.
Add the flour and baking powder and fold into the egg/butter mixture with a spatula or whisk.Park in the fridge for an hour.
Preheat oven to 350. Grease a standard size muffin pan.
Place 3 Tb. of the batter in each muffin cavity and with your fingers or the back of a spoon, push the batter up on the sides of each cavity a little. Put 1 Tb, sour cherry jam in each, cover with 3 more Tb of the batter over the jam. To make sure the top would seal over the jam while baking I scooped out the amount I needed and flatten it out between my palms before laying it out on top of the jam. The 2 batters will meld together while baking and encase the jam without any spillovers.Bake for 15 – 20 minutes or until golden brown.

Feel free to make these with just jam or just pastry cream or both, which is I have to admit my favorite way.

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Now, here is another food and blog related post: I received my Blogging By Mail package monday afternoon and my secret Santa spoiled me rotten! Shaula from Tsuredzuregusa and her family are organic and flexitarian oriented folks so my package included tons of goodies B. and I favor also.

– large container of dried cranberries
– long organic protein bar with hemp and dried cranberries, and some chocolate on top
– Numi flowering tea ( I had been wanting these for so long), you put the dry flower in boiling flower and it blossoms while the tea steeps.
– Good Earth original tea
-bag of hickory smoked soy nuts
-turkey jerky
– big box of O’Cocos chocolate and cinnmaon chips (individually packaged for portion control)
– bag of Dr. Kracker Pumkpin seeds and cheddar flatbreads
– bag of Almondina, thin almond cookies
– bag of sweet potato and beet chips which we devoured while discovering the inside of the package

Thank you again Shaula! and to think that your husband’s family lives in Charleston is pretty amazing! or Stephanie knew what she was doing….and that would not surprise me a bit!

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Allright …because I can’t resist showing you my big furry love:

That was yesterday while I was trying to put aside the clothes and shoes to be packed….and he would not let me near my slippers and running shoes…. the two pairs that absolutely define who I am these days!
He was trying to add his favorite toy to the pile as a "if my toy is on your toys then my toy wins"…one of his favorite games, along with "if it falls on the floor it is mine" and "if you touch my leash you have to take me out"!

Oh yes we are for these! I have already made 3 batches and each makes a lot. Every time I go fill a gift basket with a jar of these, B. comes down fron his study and starts munching claiming he needs the energy…160 research papers and 160 finals and we are leaving on Thursday! He has proclaimed himself the official Santa Gift Basket Tester…good thing we’ll be walking a lot while in France

The recipe from these is straight out of Real Simple magazine and I only did minor alterations to the ingredients and process.

Spiced Mixed Nuts, adapted from Real Simple

2 large egg whites
2/3 cup sugar
2 1/2 tablespoons cinnamon
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
1/2 tablespoon chili powder
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon salt
6 cups mixed nuts (I used almonds and peanuts but any combination of untoasted walnuts, pecans, cashews, and pistachios works great)
1/4 cup (½ stick) butter, melted

Preheat oven to 300° F. Line 2 large baking sheets with foil or parchment. Grease lightly and set aside.
In a large bowl, beat the egg whites until foamy. Gradually add the sugar, beating to a loose, meringue like texture. Beat in the cinnamon, Worcestershire sauce, chili powder, cayenne, and salt. Add the nuts and butter and stir well to coat evenly.Divide the nuts between the baking sheets, spreading evenly in a single layer. Roast for 30 to 40 minutes to a golden brown (do not allow the nuts to darken too much), rotating the sheets during cooking for even roasting. Line a work surface with foil or parchment.After removing the nuts from oven, immediately slide them onto the foil or parchment. Cool completely. Store, refrigerated, in an airtight container for up to 3 weeks.

I want to apologize if my posts are short and not filled with interesting memories or tidbits but I reserve that for the coming weeks : thursday we are going to France for 3 weeks, spending Christmas and New Years with my family. There will be a lot of posts about our traditions, our menus and the excellent chefs and meals in my family. One example, when I called my parents yesterday my mom was at a neighbor’s house preparing foie gras….and when I called back she was in the finishing phase of her onion and fig confit….and my brother called me requesting that I made Yule logs for New Years and by the way one of the guys attending that dinner is trying to get a star on the Michelin guide for his own restaurant…talk about pressure!!

I will post as much as I can, promise…!

One more item destined to my gift giving baskets. You are probably starting to wonder how big these are getting! Well, not everybody is going to receive every single item I have blogged about so far, (allergies, preferences, etc…), but they are pretty big indeed. They’re really not baskets however… I got very holiday-ish decorated hat boxes and filled them up. The last set of ggodies will be completed tonight.

I made a couple of things over the weekends that left me with 3 egg whites. I am running around like crazy before our trip so I chose not to venture into macaron making and since I wanted to use them for my goodie baskets, I chose the safe route with Meringue Kisses.

These are the easiest things to do and they go great with chocolate mousse, parfaits, trifles, ice creams..". They are also called "Forgotten cookies", and sometimes include nuts and chocolate chips. I am pretty sure everyone has a version of them. I can’t tell you where this particular recipe comes from as I found it on a old wrinkly piece of paper in my mother in law recipe box and no source was included.

Holiday Meringue Kisses:
3 egg whites
3/4 cup sugar
pinch of salt.

Start these in the evening, you will understand why at the end.
Preheat oven to 350.
In a stand or hand held mixer, start whipping the egg whites. When they start to foam and form a soft mousse, add in the sugar 1/4 cup at a time in a nice steady stream (don’t just dump it in there or your meringue will plunk). When the meringue has a shiny gloss and stiff peaks, stop mixing and put the mixture in a piping bag. Pipe rosettes on parchment lined baking sheets.
Put in the oven, turn the oven off and leave the meringues overnight. In the morning they will be done and dry!

I divided my batter in 2 and added a couple of drops of red and green coloring, gave to spatula turns and piped them for a holiday feeling.

Only one problem with these: far to easy to pop in your mouth one after the other. Not sure if the neighbors will get any tomorrow….!

Yes, cheese, blue cheese to be exact is sneaking its way into my "everything sweet and baked" blog. No, I have not gone mad….since it has to do with baking, flour and butter it qualifies.

I wish I could have made this with Roquefort cheese but for a couple of reasons I went with a basic Gorgonzola: the taste is strong enough to show through the cracker once it is baked and I am trying to use up as many perishables as I can before our upcoming trip. I am also including these in my goodie baskets for Christmas because not everybody likes sweets…I know crazy eh?! They go really well with the rest of the assortments, especially beside a little box of spiced nuts.

I found the recipe ages ago and originally made them for a cocktail party but they never made to the munchies table because B. and I devoured the whole batch before our guests arrived….they are excellent. You can really taste the blue cheese because there is barely enough flour to hold them together and they are so buttery that they instantly melt in your mouth.

These are really convenient to have around during the holidays. The dough can be made way ahead of time since it needs to refrigerate before baking and you can cut slices as needed if you have a small party. Believe me, that won’t be necessary…. If you have leftovers, which I highly doubt, the baked crackers will keep for a week in an air tight container in the refrigerator.

Blue Cheese Crackers, adapted from Pascale:

100 gr. all purpose flour
80 gr. salted butter (unsalted works fine too)
1/2 tsp. chili powder ( I used piment d’Espelette)
1 Tb cornmeal
100 gr. blue cheese

Crumble the cheese. Cut the cold butter in small pieces. In a large bowl, mix all the ingredients with you fingers or a pastry cutter and gather into a ball. On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough into a cylinder about 6 inches long. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for an hour.
Preheat the oven to 350. Cut the log into 1/2 thick slices and spread them out onto a parchment paper lined baking sheet. They will spread a little. Bake for 10 minutes or until the edges start to get golden brown.

I made another batch the other day and baked bigger slices, about 3 inches wide and topped them with smoked salmon for an appetizer. Delicious!