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