Le Printemps, La Soupe et L'Amour à Paris!

Hi again, Readers!

This is a blogging first for me-- I have brought my computer along with me on my weekend trip, and now I get to write to you from outside of Paris!  So where am I now, you ask?  Nowhere other than the fantastic Nice, France!

Yes, it's wonderful, and yes, I'm way too full from my most recent meal, but that's not what I'm here to write to you about quite yet.  Hold your horses because instead, I'm going to take a brief step back and get you up to speed on this past week in Paris.

Going back to last Friday, the group for my final project in my wines class assembled to get some work done.  Abbey, Lani, Julia, and I had been assigned the task of learning everything there is to know about the Bourgogne wine region of France (a.k.a. Burgundy).  One part of this assignment is to get together and cook ourselves a meal that will complement a bottle of this region's wine.  So we picked up a bottle of red pinot noir and proceeded to make our meal.  Here's what we had:
- a baguette with camembert cheese
- burgundy chicken and potatoes (with thyme, garlic, onions, tomatoes, mushrooms, and red wine)
- chocolate covered baked pear slices
It took us several hours longer than we thought it would to complete this meal, but it was so worth it.  The food all came out great and we really got to see how cooking the proper food to eat with your wine not only affects the taste of the food, but allows you to appreciate your wine in a whole new way too.  I am so excited to have acquired this new knowledge to be used when I come home and cook.  Now, who volunteers to buy me my French wine?

Saturday, Brian arrived from Barcelona to spend a few days.  His abroad program has sadly ended, but he decided to spend a bit more time in Europe before heading back to the states.  I met him after his flight at about 6:00 pm, so we immediately made plans for our dinner together that night.  Brian was really craving some good onion soup, and unfortunately, for various reasons, most of the places we considered trying were eliminated as options.  Thus, it came as a sign to us that we were meant to return to the place that challenged Brian to eat a pig's foot back in February: Au Pied de Cochon (See: "Le Fromage, Les Escargots et L'Amour à Paris!", circa February 14th).  So back to this restaurant we went, where we were quickly reminded how good their onion soup really is.  We also split some escargot, and Brian tasted a simply cooked chicken dish.  Full and happy, we left the restaurant to go back to my apartment and to sleep.

Unfortunately for us, we had obliviously chosen to leave the restaurant after the metro had closed.  In addition, we had been eating in one of the busiest areas, just as bars were shutting down, and the prospects of catching a cab were slim-to-none.  After a bit of frustration and wandering back and forth, we chose to do something wild: take the bus.  As it turns out, the bus is a crazy thing-- it picks you up from where you are... and drops you off where you are going!  Furthermore, so long as you don't lean your body against a drunken bum, people are not trying to put their hands all over your stuff and attack you!  Moral of the story: I should have started using the Paris bus system four months ago.  Oops.

Sunday morning we slept in a bit and then headed down towards the Eiffel Tower to get brunch and sit out in the sun.  We stopped at a little place I love in that area where Brian again had onion soup (this is my favorite I've had in the city thus far) and I had an enormous salad with melted goat cheese.  We enjoyed a glass of some delightful rosé Provence wine with our meal and eventually sauntered out into the sun.

We decided it was the right day to pick up some wine and celebrate the beautiful weather out on the grass before the Eiffel Tower.  Unfortunately, two small elements were going to come in the way of this plan: it was both a Sunday and May Day.  On Sundays, most main shops are closed in Paris, and on May Day, everyone gets the day off from work.  This added up to the fact that there was virtually nowhere in sight for us to buy a bottle of wine.  After wandering around for a bit, we finally found one place where we could take out a bottle.  Causes for concern?  The bottles were mini one-person sized portions, they were from a place in Greece that I've never heard of, and they were suspiciously cheap.  But, hey, the birds were a-chirping, the sun was a-shining, and the Eiffel Tower was a-waiting, so we ignored all the signs.  So when we finally picked out the perfect spot to lounge in and toasted our glasses to each other, you can just guess what that wine tasted like.  Yes, it really was that bad.

So we didn't drink the wine, but the weather was still amazing, and we fully enjoyed every moment of the lazy afternoon/evening.  We didn't return to my apartment until about 8:00 pm, when we showered and got ourselves ready for dinner.

That night we chose to eat at a place over in République, just a short walk from my apartment.  Here we both enjoyed another onion soup (no, there is no such thing as too much) and Brian tried the duck.  Tired out from the sun, we headed home on the early side and fell asleep quickly.

On Monday morning, I went to class.  Brian met me after, and I picked up my sandwich.  From there, we continued on with Brian's Onion Soup Adventures (Note: no movie rights have been claimed yet...).  We wandered into a good-looking bistrot, Au P'tite Boulevard, where we gave the soup a modest, "very good, but not best ever".  Next, we wandered around by the Centre Pompidou, exploring some shops until it was time for me to go to back class.   While I was gone, Brian entertained himself with more "soup-ing", giving one place an lowly rating of "wouldn't go back there".

That evening, Brian, Abbey, Amanda, and I planned to meet for dinner in the Quartier Latin.  We had decided to try a fondue place called Heureux Comme Alexander where we were told refills on meat, cheese, and potatoes are unlimited.  We really pushed the limits on this, eating more than our stomachs could handle.  The meal was a great success, as we ate great food, enjoyed good company, and listened as Amanda pondered our impending 2012 doom and told a wandering musician that we were Canadian (her newfound paranoia of being American is a product of recent news).

On Tuesday morning, I fortunately didn't have to go to class, so Brian and I were able to get up together and explore.  We traveled back down to the Latin Quarter where we feasted on gyros and fries.  After eating, we walked about the area, until I realized that we were close to a place I had wanted to visit: Shakespeare and Company.  This is a famous little book store was opened by George Whitman in 1951 and has served as a center to creativity, encouraging curiosity and intelligence ever since.  We found the store quickly, and I was overwhelmed by joy.  I felt a bit like a child, jumping from shelf to shelf, oohing and aahing over everything I saw.  I took in the look and the smells of the old-fashioned shop, wondering for the millionth time what I would be like today if it hadn't been for the love for reading I had ingrained into me so early in life.

From Shakespeare and Co., we started to walk me towards my afternoon class.  We took a small detour, however, and stopped on Île Saint-Louis, home to Berthillon ice cream.  Because I am so adventurous, I went for chocolate and vanilla, while Brian tasted the caramel.  The chocolate was unbelievably rich, and entirely unique from any chocolate ice cream I've had before (and that is quite a lot).  Mixed with the vanilla, I had a perfectly balanced combination of flavors in my mouth at once.  High on sugar and books, I went to class, making plans to meet Brian later.

That evening, we invested in some quality French snack food: a baguette, cheese, and wine.  We were excited about the cheese and wine because now that I am a pretentious French person, I know that Loire Valley cheese and Loire Valley wine should complement each other beautifully.  In spite of this knowledge, however, I'd never actually tried it.  As it turns out, the pair we had picked were perfect.  Success!

After a nap and a shower, we decided to supplement our appetizer with some dinner from Les Anémones, the bistrot on the corner.  We shared a plate of escargot, Brian had duck, and I had a goat cheese salad.  When we were finished, we were excited to come back to my apartment and have a relaxed night, watching some quality television via my laptop.  Unfortunately, after several hours of struggling, we had to give in to the the fact that no shows were going to load for us that night.  The true sign of desperation appeared as we found ourselves celebrating one version of the Celtics / Miami basketball game that streamed in 3 second intervals.  Dinner?  Success.  Television?  Fail.

Wednesday was Brian's last full day in Paris, so after class I took him to the Jewish Quarter.  He told me he didn't like falafel, but I did not take "no" for an answer as we walked up to the counter.  All I will say is, Brian has been converted.  L'As du Falafel is amazing.

After falafel, we went to Berko's for dessert.  This is a small place by my school that has the most insane cupcakes ever.  We bought ourselves a box of six (shut up, they're little!), and after serious deliberation, we picked out the following:
- chocolate with chocolate chip cookie
- vanilla with vanilla cream, raspberries and blueberries
- chocolate with caramel and nuts
- white chocolate with raspberry
- red velvet with cream cheese icing
- vanilla with straciatella icing
My favorite was the vanilla with raspberries and blueberries because a) it was delicious, and b) I got to insert the cream in the middle myself before eating it.  It was like my childhood cupcake dream come true.

So after I had gone back to and from class, we decided the best way to enjoy the beautiful weather on our last day in Paris together was to take a nice walk by the Seine.  We headed down past the Louvre and over to the Pont des Arts.  We took pictures of the love locks and looked around at the amazing views of the Eiffel Tower to the west and Île de la Cité and Pont Neuf to the east.  I truly felt so lucky to be with someone so special to me in the city that I love the most.

That night for dinner, we went to La Sourdière by Opéra.  This was the restaurant that we had carefully picked out together for Valentine's Day back in February, only to find that we did not have enough time to make it over.  So we figured May 4th was as good a day as any to celebrate St. Valentine.

As soon as we arrived, we knew we had picked the perfect place.  Hidden away from the main streets, the restaurant was practically empty, but we were immediately greeted and seated by the friendly host.  The ambiance was excellent, beautifully but simply decorated with gentile music in the background.  We ordered de-shelled escargot, two onion soups (you didn't truly think the hunt had ended yet, did you?), pan sauteed t-bone of veal with mashed sweet potatoes for Brian, and thick white tuna in a white sauce with spinach and vegetables for me.  To complement our dishes, I drank a white Sauvignon, and Brian had a red Merlot, both from the Côtes du Rhône region.  Every bite was better than the one before; we even gave our soups scores of, "up there with the best ever".  We couldn't have been happier that we had made our way back to La Sourdière.

The following day, we spit ways as Abbey and I flew south to Nice and Brian flew back to meet his friends in Barcelona, and then the Canary Islands.  It's a little sad to think that we may not be back in Paris together anytime soon, but we had such a wonderful week together.  And, really, what do I possibly have to complain about now that I am here in Nice?  (Aside from, perhaps, the miniscule sunburn on my left knee.)

Stay tuned for more on that in a few days!

Wine we paired our meal with

Burgundy Chicken and Potatoes

Me and Brian at Heureux Comme Alexander

Gyros in the Latin Quarter

Shakespeare & Co.!

Sign outside Shakespeare and Company

Berko cupcakes!

My favorite-- delicious and so fun!

Love locks on Pont des Arts

In La Sourdière