Distance Walked: a lot, Alcohol Consumed: 1 glass white wine, 1 glass red wine, 250ml Beaujolais
Slept badly. The hotel prides itself on its environmentally friendly policies, which includes no air-conditioning. As they point out, this is only needed in Paris for a few weeks each year. I suspect the cost of installing air-con also played a part in their decision. However, my room is on the first floor, at the back, with windows over a rear courtyard. There is also a roof over the doorway below me just under my windows, plus a lot of builder's junk in the courtyard. It seemed all to easy to me for someone to climb up onto the roof below me and from there into my windows, so I kept them shut at first. I was too hot so halfway through the night, I opened them which meant mosquitos, so I had to get up a again to coat myself in insect repellent. Urgh.
Breakfast was served in the cellar of the hotel. They weren't kidding when they refer to it as a "cave". The staircase leading down has rough stone walls on either side and the doorway is so low, even I had to duck. The room itself has a curved roof. Breakfast was harmless. I must stop eating pastries every morning.
Then it was time for my last food tour of this holiday. It was led by a young woman called Rebecca, a Parisian local, who originally trained as a pastry chef. She has worked in Paris, but also New York and Sydney. She is now back in France, doing a masters in food cultural history and doing tours to make money. There were only 5 of us on this tour. There should have been 7 but one couple failed to show, which surprised me as at 100 euro each it isn't something I would skip on a whim.
The other people included two Australian women from Sydney who had been in London for work and had taken the opportunity to come to Paris for the weekend (as you do). The other two were a couple, a 41 year old man from the US and his much younger Polish girlfriend who is a model. We never got to learn a lot about her as he would always answer questions on her behalf. At one point on the tour I heard him explaining to her how Obama had been a terrible president but now Trump was forcing people to take the US seriously again. We all agreed not to discuss politics today.
In some ways this tour wasn't as interesting as others I have taken. Paris is so big and such a melting point, the food was from all over. rather than being traditional food from the region. However, because Paris is so big, we got to sample the best items from all over France. In particular, each shop we went to just sold one sort of thing.
Our first stop was a shop selling nothing but charcuterie. We got to sample a salami made with black truffles and parmesan. I actually thought it was a bit too fatty and a tiny bit bland. Next stop was a shop that sold nothing but choux puffs. These have a craquelin coating - made from a square of butter and sugar that is put on top just before baking so they have a crunchy topping. We got to chose whatever flavour we liked. I had fig with a marscapone cream filling. Delicious. Next was a local market, which was underwhelming. There was fish stall, two cheese stalls and two vegetable stalls. All the rest (more than half) sold fast food - French style admittedly, but still it was more food trucks than a market. We stopped here to have four different sorts of cheeses from around France along with a glass of red wine. I really like Comte. I must look for it when I get home.
After the market we went to a shop that sold nothing but jam. They only make it with sugar and fresh fruits plus herbs and spices. It is only made with whatever fruit is currently in season. We tried pear & vanilla, blood peach and a third flavour which I forget. They were good. Lots of fruit flavour but not sickly sweet. Next we had falafel. The shop is very famous and had a huge queue - which we skipped as our visit was prearranged. Rebecca says people will wait for over an hour to get served. It was delicious falafel, but it was just falafel. I can make it myself.
Then we went to a Coriscan bistro and had bruschetta topped with coppa from Corsica plus cheese & tomato paste, along with a glass of a local white wine. This was very disappointing. Too much cheese, so the dish didn't taste of anything else. Next stop was a Provencal grocery store. There we tried a vinegar made with mango (I think) followed immediately by a shot of local olive oil. We also tried some pistachio butter, think peanut butter but from pistachios. I've bought a jar, but I'm not overly confident I'll be able to bring it back into the country.
Second last stop was the gelateria I went to last night. We got to try various flavours, including one made from carrot & ginger (tastier than I had expected) and also mango, candied walnuts, pear & vanilla and chocolate. All divine. Final stop was a chocolatier. He is eccentric. He insisted on knowing where we were from and what we liked. Then he selected for us what chocolates we could sample individually. Apparently terroir is just an important in chocolate as it is in wine. First we all tried a simple square of chocolate from Venezuela which was rich and smooth. Next we had one where the chocolate came from Papua New Guinea, where the volcanic soil gives the chocolate a peaty flavour like an Islay malt. I didn't like it. Next I was given one flavoured with Madras curry powder - blerg. Then I was given a chocolate with some sort of citrus in it as a palate cleanser. Finally we all got a spoonful of a blend of chocolate and roasted hazelnuts, with a lecture on the evils of Nutella (as that is mostly sugar and palm oil).
That was the end of the tour and so we went our separate ways. I went back to the Provencal grocery for the pistachio butter. I will be heartbroken if they confiscate it.
For dinner I went to a bistro called Chez Camille. It was recommended by the company that did the food tour and opened at an unfashionably early hour. When I got there at 7:15pm there were only a few tables occupied and all by tourists. By 8pm it was full to the brim with a mix of French (tourists too perhaps?) and tourists. Being in Paris the food was "traditional" French - so from all over the country. I started with a plate of charcuterie from the Auvergne. For main I had lamb chops with Provencal ratatouille. I must remember that combination as I can easily do that for my own dinner. For dessert I had fromage blanc (from nothern France) with a jug of red berry coulis. The fromage blanc has the consistency of marscapone but wasn't anywhere near as rich. It was a light and refreshing dessert. I washed down my meal with a small jug of Beaujolais.
Tomorrow back to Melbourne and sensible eating. Far less processed meats, far less wine and much more fresh fruit and vegetables. Very dull.
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