All sorts of things grow when the weather is going crazy. In Paris this week, the temperature fluctuated between 14C and rainy and 35C and excruciatingly humid. I got home from a day of walking around the rive gauche (Left Bank = mix of university, studenty, somewhat wealthy, public service, cultural and dawdling tourist population). Look what had grown in my bag from the curious cultures floating through the air…
There was a strange box containing delicious cakes and a small cellophane bag of macarons. (Pierre Hermé’s coffee and vanilla tarts, plus macarons: grapefruit, pistachio+cherry, olive oil+vanilla, passionfruit+choc.)
Then there was a bag of chocolates from Patrick Roger.
And much to my surprise, a bunch of caramels from the rather eccentric Denise Acabo.
Plus some bags of handmade lollies from Fouquet, and read what David Lebovitz has to say. (EUR 14… who knew sugar could cost so much?!)
Not to mention the compensatory box of chocolates from Artisan du Chocolat in the letterbox. (Read why here. Oh look, no touching!)
And I mustn’t forget a passing mention of confit de canard, the best crème brûlée I’ve ever had, two macarons from Ladurée (bergamote and fleur d’oranger) and (gasp!) an ice-cream from Berthillon (cacao extra bitter — like cold liquid chocolate, thym-citron (thyme-lemon) — beautifully tangy with some bitterness). Okay, none of those were in my bag.
On days like this, you just wish apples or a light salad were easier to find 😉
Yikes I got such a scare when I read your title..
It reminded me of the Jean-Paul Hevin chocolate petit four growing mold while sitting in the fridge for a few days (3 days is the limit evidently).
The newest P Herme summer macaron flavors will only last 1 (!) day. The shelf life on these goodies is so short! Eat up and enjoy.
Why oh why did I not get any caramels this past trip?
Because I ate so many last trip. Paris caramels are the champion du monde IMO.
Merci
Carolg
PS
You can find light salads at any cafe and quite reasonably too. But a good apple in Paris?
Forgetaboutit. I take my own New York brew with me.
Carolg
Chocolate Passionfruit!!!!!!!
*FAINT*
xox Sarah
Duncan, I hope you are eating your vegetables too!
Oh my, that chocolate sorbet (?) really just caps it all off!
Hi Duncan,
Not sure if you’ll still be in Paris when you get this message but if so, you should make a trip to Carl Marletti’s over near Place d’Italie. His coffee tarts are awesome. He also has a website, http://www.carlmarletti.com.
My teeth are hurting just looking at these photos. 🙂 It all looks fantastic though!
Jealous, jealous, jealous, jealous.
I am so jealous you are in Paris!
Dear Duncan! It’s been great seeing you again and we hope you enjoyed asparagus á la Melbourne in Flensburg and my cheese cake under the grey skies of Schleswig down at the Schlei fjord beach. We are curious about how you will “communicate” the green breakfast eggs to the blog world 🙂
The kids thank you for the cuddly toys!
Oh, and happy birthday!!
Love, Silke & Co.
Hey, I just remembered, did you get a chance to do the ‘behind the scenes’ tour at Gerald Mulot????
@Julia: no, I couldn’t find the tour in various lists/sites and then got so busy once I was in Paris that I didn’t get around to searching again.
You poor thing, to have found such AWFUL morsels on you r person…. You must have felt so dispassionate about HAVING to eat them…;O)