Paris Part 2 -The Groceries

Heading home from Paris, my suitcase was stuffed with pantyhose and groceries. I had meant to bring home a whole new work wardrobe but that just didn't happen. Everytime I left a store,  I had filled my bag with food and under things. Oh well. I'm not going to show you the underthings, so here's the food!

The gold tin is Rose Tea from Fauchon. Fun Fact: Fauchon is the most ridiculous store I have ever been to. I love it! It is a speciatly grocery store. Their shelves are lined with exoctic ingredients all packaged in pink, gold, black, and white.
The black bag is filled with Angelina's Hot Chocolate Mix. I'm not sure I've ever left a country without bringing back chocolate.
Next I have a big ol'jar o'honey. This honey is flavoured with a small field flower. I got it at a farmers market from a nice old lady. It was half the price my sister paid for a teeny tiny jar of honey from Fauchon. Mine however is not packaged in fushia. Drawback.
Of course I brought home mustard! I spent forever in Maille and was not about to leave until I was certain I would be only slightly under my luggage weight limit at the airport. It's a good thing skivies aren't heavy.  This was their seasonal trio. Neon! The green one in basil and parsley. The orange is pepper and garlic flavoured. Lasly the purple one is some kind of berry. I've only cracked open the green one so far. It is very tasty on my sandwiches but I feel I should be doing something more than putting it between plain bread and honey ham. I've done the odd salad dressing with it, so I feel slightly better about sqandering limited edition condiments on Tueday lunches. Slightly.
Our layover on the way back was in Germany, so it was in Frankfurt that I stocked up on Duty Free. Sadly I have eaten all my German chocolate. Luckily I have my biscotti-flavoured Bailey's to concole me.

Links
http://www.fauchon.com/
http://www.angelina-paris.fr/
http://www.maille.com/

Away to Paris

While I have titled my blog Home and Away, I have only written about home thus far. I am a great lover of trips. Road trips in particular. We are gone at least one weekend a month, but often more. These trips don't seem to make it to the blog though. In part this could be because it is personal. Don't get me wrong, food is deeply, deeply personal but trips are personal in an internet-stalker-invitation sort of way. So here I go, shaking off my fear of the internet and the ownership of information by multinationals, to bring you PARIS.

Macaroons are Disgusting

Twoish months ago (really, only that long?) I was in Paris for a week. I was spoiled.
Sights are a small part of traveling for me when there is the joy of smells and tastes!
The bread is obviously amazing here. There is no getting around that. European lattes are incomparable (but if you had to compare, you could order a cafe crema in St. Albert or head to Cafe Haven in Sherwood Park).
While we were there, I booked a cooking class . We learned to make salmon, souffle and baked zucchini. The instructor showed us proper french presentation.

Ta-Dah

I made a face. Like IHOP.
The cooking class was nice but brief. I was also a little disappointed because when I think french cooking, I think complex. What we learned was all quite straightforward. Maybe I just have just been misled all these years or maybe the course is meant to appeal to a certain level. As you can see from my work above, I would be more suited for the master class...
We dined in many a fancy french restaurant, cafe, and street cart (there is no passing up street crepes!). 
My favourite thing I ate all week was truffle pasta. Too bad I was eating it off my dad's plate. That was at a place called Le Carre. It was a happy accident that we found it. If was lunch time on election day. It seemed everything was closed so we wandered aimlessly, guided by our hunger. Turning left, crossing right, closed cafe after cafe. We very nearly ate at a place with large window signs saying ``English Menu Here!``. It was a close call but at last we came across Le Carre.
The desserts were exceptional. Luckily I have photos of these!

Raspberries Encircling Pistachio Cream, Layered with Chocolate

I ordered the Chocolate ball, with chocolate mousse and Hot Chocolate.

The chocolate mousse was contained in the chocolate ball. Upon serving it, the waiter takes a small container of hot chocolate and pours it over the ball to melt it slightly. The gold leaf is just flourish really.
We go now from high class to street food. Nothing quite like a European waffle! So crisp and sweet. It the perfect street food! Add some nutella and we`ve taken it to the next level. Just next to the line for Orsaay there is a cleverly placed waffle hut. This here is our waiting waffle.

Mmm Waiting Waffle

Here are some links!
The tasty resturant (as though there was only one)
http://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g187147-d800575-Reviews-Le_Carre-Paris_Ile_de_France.html
The cooking classes
 http://lacuisineparis.com/product/classes

A Little Bit Green

Front Steps

For the past three summers I have experimented with a patio garden. I rent, so the only thing actually in the ground is a delicious rhubarb plant. This I take full advantage of. Strawberry-rhubarb is one of my all time favourite flavour combinations. I love sweets but even more so when they are combined with something quite tart.
Down my front steps I have been planting various herbs and vegetable plants. I'm not going to waste my time planting and watering something that I can't even eat in the end. What would be the sense in that?
Each year I plant basil and tomatoes for certain. There isn't anything like fresh basil in a salad. I would eat fresh basil everyday if I was a good enough gardener to maintain it. Sadly where I lack gardening skills I must compensate for with self control. I am always tempted just to pick the basil plant clean, enjoy it and be done with it.
Tomatoes are another mainstay because they are not too finicky and well suited for planting in a pot. I prefer the smaller grape and cherry like varieties because they mature faster in our short gardening season. The one time I grew larger tomatoes, I waited all summer and that plant only produced one tomato. I picked it in the last week of August. It was such a momentous occasion that the tomatoe rotted on the counter while I decided what recipe would best showcase my achievement.  Over the years I've tried various herbs: oregano, thyme, sage, dill, chives and rosemary. This year I have some thyme and sage on the go. The sage is barely clinging to life but the thyme is doing alright. I've got two tomato plants this year. Both are small and sweet varieties.

Thyme

I'm also trying two different kinds of basil, a sweet one and a French basil. The French basil is a few full bunches of very small leaves. They are very pretty and smell amazing. Another bonus to the French basil is that you don't have to cut or tear it if you are using it as a garnish. It looks much nicer that the large leaves all torn up. Unfortunately my French basil is protesting something or other. I don't really know if it's over watering, under watering or disease. The base turns brown, the leaves turn light then the whole bunch shrivels and dies. Each time this has happened I've been in an unnecessarily bad mood, recounting all of the recipes I could have eaten with it.

French Basil =Death on My Doorstep

I have a lot to learn.