On reading//articles of interest for the weekending 12/4

Tags

,

Thank you London.

Two ex-Saveur Magazine employees start Canal House Cooking. A (daunting) print venture in these internet times. Show your support for paper by subscribing. [NYT]

Nation’s Restaurant News just came out with its survey of food trends for 2010. I’m, not sure whether to laugh or cry that “nutritionally balanced children’s dishes” are a trend for next year. [NRN]

NY Mag pushes its holiday gift guide for foodies. Someone buy me the Spanish pantry!!!! Don’t buy me the Dean & Deluca tea sampler tho, it’s strictly Mariage Freres or Hediard for me bitch. [NYM]

The Huffinton Post on “French Cuisine Today”. really good article featuring my favorite French foodie, Alexandre Cammas, founder of Le Fooding. On a side note, why are these guys (the French foodies) obsessed with David Chang? I love Momofuku as much as the other guys but come on…I can think of at least 10 other American chefs to be obsessed with. Let’s get over it and move on. [HuffPo]

This is cute: What’s inside Ruth Reichl’s fridge. [Salon]

NPR’s top ten cookbooks of 2009. [NPR]

I’m sweating HuffPo: The priciest foods ever and why. [HuffPo]

Cheerio//Scence from London’s Borough Market

Tags

, , , ,

[cough, British accent please]

Whilst I lay visiting my young sister in London, we happened upon a truly fantastic and colorful market: Borough Market located on the south end of London Bridge.

Meat pieslease hover over the Pork & Stilton Pie and bask in its British glory.

Olives. All kinds. One could make a meal of this. My fave was olives/ Harissa. Spicy.

Olives in wood barrels with large wood ladels. Beautiful.

Black and white truffles want you to smell them. I prefer white.

Truffles + anything you can dream of = dreams do come true.

Truffle honey.

Best store sign ever. Read it.

Condiments for fish 'n chips. Stay safe.

On reading//articles of interest for the weekending November 22

Tags

,

Art Nouveau exhibit @ Musee d'Orsay

Hiya. I used to post links to articles of gastronomic and culinary interest but then I stopped for a reason unknown to me (butter and cream clouded my capacity to read perhaps).

Homework:

A loving tribute to Gourmet’s Thanksgiving issue(s). [Oregon Live]

Exploring Paris & her culinary delights via a 19th centuray guide. [NYT]

Animal, Vegetable, Miserable – a great Op-Ed piece. [NYT]

10 foods that flopped. [Mental Floss]

Sad. Don’t eat Bluefin tuna. [NYT]

An oldie but a goodie: why one chef vanished after cooking for the greatest chefs in the world. Plus an amazing menu. [Chicago Tribune]

Reviews of New Food. [McSweeny's]

GG, out.

Mucho Gusto//Gusto

Tags

, , , ,

I often find myself in the same place over and over again. No particular needs ever draws me there, I don’t know anyone there and I can hardly tell you the address. But, somehow, I land there safely ever time.

In the heart of Paris there lies a rather large culinary shopping district in the the heart of this area lies a very special place, Librarie Gourmande. I have traveled a good part of the world and have yet to come across a bird are special and as rare as this bookshop. Librarie Gourmande carries books in every language (though most are in French)  from almost every part of the world ranging from traditional French cuisine and pastry to food sociology and literature. You can even buy food calendar’s, magazines and gourmet books for kids. I’ve seen baguette pens and magnets, aprons and muffin tins. Everything a gastronomical me needs. A gem indeed.

IMG_6462

My new favorite food journal

I also found my new favorite source of gastronomic literature at Librarie Gourmande – Gusto. I bought this back issue about women in the kitchen/at the table for 10 euro. It’s published in French with an English translation a cote. I’m not sure if they are publishing anymore as the last issue I found was from 2008. Sadness ensues…

A bit about Gusto:

“Initiated by IEHCA, The European Institute of the History of Food Culture, gusto reports on the annual round table discussions held in Tours which bring together the leading players in the field of cuisine, not just those that create it but those that reflect upon it. Within this framework, the magazine plays an active role in the French procedure to request that French cuisine be recognized by UNESCO as intangible cultural heritage.”

Librarie Gourmade
90, Rue Montmartre
75002 Paris
Metro: Bourse

The art of pastry//another reason to love Paris

Tags

, , , , , , , , , ,

“The fine arts are five in number, namely: painting, sculpture, poetry, music, and architecture, the principal branch of the latter being pastry.”
Antonin Carême (1783-1833)

IMG_6251

hunters bounty

When three food writers come together to discuss the art of Parisian Pastries for an hour, you can bet that most people in the audience will be planning an excursion to the best pastry boutiques Paris has to offer armed with a list, a map and an empty tummy. Or, maybe that was just me.

In the span of 3 hours, I got back together with Pierre Herme (we broke up in June due to my impending addiction to the Isphahan croissant), re-connected with Laduree (we parted ways in June due to lethal doses of macarons) and found new love with Ble Sucre. Please see photo exhibits A-D:

IMG_6267

Doomed romance: Pierre Herme's Isphahan Croissant

Isphahan: a combination of rose jelly, raspberries and litchi. I ate them almost everyday, until I had to quit. Still, she is the most amazing croissant I’ve ever had.

IMG_6273

Chestnuts, Violette & Chocolate, Rose and Vanilla macarons from Pierre Herme

Considered the most modern and innovative patissier, Pierre also makes the best macarons in Paris.  With crazy flavor combinations and special edition macarons which are available for a limited time, he’s certainly one-of-a-kind.

-3

Laduree's Fig Tart

House of Laduree (as I like to call it), born in 1862, is one of the oldest pastisseries in Paris. Furthermore, the art of pastry is one of the oldest crafts in France which lends the explanation as to why the French are so obsessed with their pastry.

Laduree holds a very special place in my gastro-heart as its windows could rival Cartier for the lavish colors and decor. It is a jewel unlike any other. Willy Wonka has nothing on Laduree kids.

*This fig tart was so fresh and luscious and just a pleasure to look at. The French do know beauty.

-1

Bergamot macaron by Laduree. Nail polish "Madrid" by Movolo.

This is one of my favorite flavors – bergamot – also seen in Earl Grey tea. Look at the color…vivid…the taste? Tart and sublime.

-2

Violet Gateau from Ble Sucre

My last stop was a small and rather new pastisserie & boulangerie in the somewhat out of the way, 12th arrondissement – Ble Sucre.

Highly suggested by David Lebovitz, Ble Sucre is located on a very charming street off of Square Trousseau.  The shop is is owned by Fabrice Le Bourdat who trained under Gilles Marchal of Hotel Bristol, clearly this was not going to be an epic fail.

Though known for the madelines, I chose to break away from the mold and eat their violet gateau. Floral and velvety, this little piece sat in my fridge for 2 hours before I could no longer resist her temptations – and that was after eating the macarons, fig cake and croissant.

Paris can be everything and anything to anyone: beautiful, cold, chic, unrelenting, delicious, extravagant but there is one thing we can all agree on: it is, most certainly, sweet.

Laduree
21 rue Bonaparte
75006 Paris
Metro: St. Germain-des-Pres

Pierre Herme
72, Rue Bonaparte
75006 Paris
Metro: St. Germain-des-Pres

Blé Sucré
Square Trousseau
7, rue Antoine Vollon
750012 Paris
Metro: Ledru-Rollin

Food Inc.//How on earth did we get this far

Tags

, , ,

You need to watch this movie. Irresponsible behavior on the part of consumers, Big Food companies and *cough* the government have made America sick, fat and stupid. I said it. You read it.

Food Inc, is an honest look at something that should be simple, but is eerily complex: where our food comes from. The film dives into the illusion of diversity in our supermarkets where 90% of products are made from corn and most poultry and beef cattle are fed…corn; and where the picture of “farm fresh” is all smoke and mirrors. How did we get this far and what can we do about it? It’s about time that someone made a film exposing the realities of industrial agriculture and the current sorry state of health we are in because of it.

Watch on my sistahs and brothas. This is one documentary you quite literally can not afford to miss.

FYI: I didn’t get to see this when in came out in June b/c I am in Paris and yes, i finally found an illegal way to download it. SHHHH. DVD out Nov 3rd. Holler.

Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.