Popelini - Paris

One of my favorite things we ate in Paris were these wonderful little pastries from Popelini. They were like cream puffs filled with a wide assortment of flavors and then iced in the same flavor. Celine turned us on to this them. I ordered the Caramel, filled with an amazing salted caramel cream. Dan had the Praline and loved his too. The flavors available are chocolat noir, café, vanilla de Madagascar, citron, pistache, chocolat au lait, rose and chef’s specials. The case is like a rainbow of flavor and you want to try them all. They have 2 locations: 29 rue Debelleyme 75003 Paris and 44 rue des Martyrs 75009 Paris. You can go to their web address at  www.popelini.com

Dining Out in Paris

Dining out in Paris can be very daunting unless you know French or are with others that do. Because our friend Kyaw is such a good cook, we only had to worry about eating out for lunch and both he and Jeff were with us. On Friday afternoon we ate a late lunch before going to the grocery store at Paul. Paul is a bakery/sandwich place that serves fast, fresh and wholesome food. This is the same type of food you find all over Paris and in Italy. Unfortunately you get mostly unhealthy fast food in the states. I realize there are exceptions, but wouldn’t it be nice to find a place like Paul on every corner as opposed to McDonald's or Burger King? Paul is a chain in Paris and the sandwiches were very good. I had a tasty Caprese on olive bread, it was so good.

 

 

 

 

Saturday we dined at the Marche des Enfants Rouges with Jeff, Kyaw, Michael and Celine. After our horrifying crepe maker viewing it was nice to sit at an umbrella covered table at a little French Cafe. We shared it for a while with another couple because sitting was at a premium. The food was very good and the company was awesome. I had a meal that consisted of a sausage, mashed potatoes and a salad with a really good French brown beer. Dan and Celine had an incredible buckwheat pasta risotto. Both Michael and Kyaw ordered the venison roast, which looked wonderful, even though Celine referred to it as Bambi’s mother. Jeff had a special plate that consisted of sardines, onion soup, fennel and some other things I do not remember.

I’m not sure of the café’s name, it may be on that chalkboard, but not 100% sure.

 

 



 

 

 

 

Our final lunch was a quick crepe ordered from a window in Montmarte. Ham and cheese just seems to taste better when wrapped in a light crepe.

Paris Markets

On Saturday morning, Jeff and Kyaw organized a French market tour for us with their friends, Celine and Michael. We met up with them on Saturday morning around 10AM close to the Bastille and started our long and wonderful day. We first went to the large outdoor Marche L'Aligre in the 12th Arrondissment  to look at the wonderful vegetables and flowers for sale. The displays themselves were like beautiful works of art. Who needs the Louvre when you can see such natural beauty!

We then headed into the covered Marche Beauvau located next to L'Aligre. Here they sold all kinds of meat, poultry, game and sausages. There was an Italian market, a beers of the world shop and wonderful cheeses. There were also wonderful little shops along the street behind the vegetable market. A person could spend a day here easily.

We then headed towards the Marche des Enfant Rouges with a stop along the Promenade Plantee. A disused 19th century railway viaduct that has been turned into a wonderful planted walkway, a model for the New York High Line.

The Marche Enfant Rouges is the city's oldest food market, dating from 1615 and is partially covered. There are numerous places to eat and picnic tables and such to sit and dine. We walked around and found this wonderful crepe place where people were standing in line to get what looked to be a wonderful creation. After standing there for about ten minutes, the man had only made 4 orders and there  were 6 people in front of us. As we watched him prepare the food we started to notice little things that he was doing that would cause us to move on. He touched his face, he used his cell phone, he took off his hat and shook his longer grey hair and he tore a piece of prosciutto from a sandwich he was making and stuffed it in his mouth. All of this without brothering to wash his hand. Needless to say we decided to eat elsewhere. I'll write about the great lunch in a separate post.

It started to rain and we continued walking and subwaying it through the city to see cookware shops, bakeries, cheese shops and more. We ended up close to Montmartre to buy cheese and then back to the apartment to cook dinner for a party of 12. This was by far the most wonderful way to spend a day in Paris and I hope that Celine decides to give tours and cooking classes as a profession. She currently works for a publisher and translates none other than Jamie Oliver's cookbooks!! If she decides to give food tours, I will post her info here.

Grocery Shopping in Paris

We arrived in Paris this past Friday for a weekend stay with friends Jeff and Kyaw. They are staying in Jeff's cousin John's large, 4 bedroom apartment in the 16th arrondissment between the Arc de Triomphe and Eiffel Tower. Kyaw was preparing beef bourguignon for dinner and needed more supplies, so we grabbed the grocery bag carrier and headed to the store.

 

 

 

Casino, the grocery store, was located in a mall of sorts and it was large. I was so jealous after my tiny stores in Leeds. This place had everything and more. Huge fresh veggie section, large cheese department, wine, dairy, meats, seafood...you get it. Pretty much like America. We loaded up our cart with potatoes, carrots, wine, more wine, Pastis, dessert, juice, lemon radlers and more.

 

 

 

We headed up to the long check out lines and then some guy decided to crowd in front of us. He was very nonchalant and my group all looked at each like " what can you do?" One of my pet peeves are people who crowd and act like they have the right, so of course I was the one to do something. I gently pushed my cart up to the backside of the lady in front of us and looked him straight in the eyes. He looks at me and says" Oh, you are in line?" What the hell. I'm surprised he didn't pull the "I don't understand English" card on me.

 



 

After dropping off the groceries and getting the dog Belle, we headed out for a long stroll. We first walked over to the Arch, which is glorious. There were so many people there, much different than the last time we were in Paris. The guards would not let Belle come onto the Arch grounds, so her and Kyaw stayed behind. We then headed down the Champs-Elysees to see the shops and the people. Belle decided to poop like 3 times. She obviously did not care for the fancy shops.

 

We had a great walk and the headed back to the apartment for dinner. Their friend Casper was joining us for dinner and we needed to get back and finish up. Jeff, Dan and I headed to the bakery down the street to pick up some baguettes for dinner. We walked in and Jeff told the girl we needed 3 regular baguettes and one wheat. She thought he meant 8, so he tried to explain wheat as grain, then went as far as spelling it in the air. I thought I might wet myself before she finally realized he was wanting what she called "cereal". Back at the apartment, we roasted the potatoes and carrots with fresh herbs from the balcony. Kyaw then served the most wonderful dinner. We had a great time and did not go to bed until around 1AM, very late for Dan and me, but you only live once.

 

It's amazing how much more we enjoyed the city after our previous time here. Having somebody who speaks the language makes a huge difference!