Chocolate Chip Cookies

I wouldn’t categorize chocolate chip cookies as my favorite cookie, but I have always enjoyed them (as I am not a crazy person!). Many of my childhood memories involve this classic cookie. My cousin Christi and I loved baking cookies together when I was little and she came to live with us after college. I would yell at her for not leveling off the cups of flour perfectly with a knife. I was unaware of how many times she had probably made these particular cookies in her life, and as a novice baker, I was convinced she would ruin them if the measurements weren’t perfect. (One time, she did mess them up – something went wrong with the eggs or the butter, and when she removed them from the baking sheet to the cooling rack, they were so liquid that they started dripping through the cracks of the rack. Later, my brothers and I wondered aloud why there were holes in the cookies, and more importantly, could we still eat them?)

My mom would make them every so often and we’d be able to sneak them for snacks or dessert from a tupperware or tin in the kitchen. She perfected her recipe over the years; the version she makes today, with Ghiradelli chocolate chips and shredded coconut mixed into the dough, is hands down my favorite version that no cookie will ever top. Their taste and texture will always remind me of home – chasing cats around my house to the soundtrack of my mom talking on the phone, my brothers practicing drums, bass, and guitar or my dad playing piano. The recipe was in its final version by the time I was in high school, so the taste of those cookies alleviated my homesickness when I lived in Washington state and Prague, and hopefully Paris too after my mom reads this.

My mom baking up a storm at Christmas

Actually, as I reflect on my relationship with chocolate chip cookies, I realize that no occasion has been too insignificant to bust out the bowl and wooden spoon. I remember some nights in college when, exhausted from endless music practicing, rehearsals, hours logged in the library writing papers and in stupid sorority meetings, a girlfriend and I would gather those oh-so-simple ingredients and make that bowl of sugary, sticky comfort. Kelly, Phoebe, and I had more than one occasion last year when, needing an escape from the difficult task of finding ourselves in this beautiful city, we needed to take a virtual trip back to the US and make some buttery, chocolate-y dough to eat off spoons and bake, tout de suite.

Last week I made some chocolate chip cookies for my crémaillère on Saturday. What cookie would be more appropriate to welcome myself and my guests into a new home than the ultimate comfort cookie? Facing a lack of beaters, I creamed the butter and sugar by hand. It was easier and quicker than I thought it would be – so if you find yourself somewhere with chocolate chip cookie fixings and fancy, but without an electric mixer, I am here to tell you that you can succeed! Just cube the butter like you would for scones and let it come to room temperature. Then use the back of a wooden spoon to mush it up and incorporate the sugar in, and you’ll be ready to create your own memories.

Coming to room temperature

I doubt I am the only person in the world with an emotional attachment to chocolate chip cookies. Do you equate chocolate chip cookies with home, or is it a different treat for you?

Marble Cake

This is yet another “stolen” recipe from my friend Phoebe. A few weeks ago, I was having a bad day. Phoebe invited me over to her apartment, located in a lovely oasis-like neighborhood in the 20th arrondissement. After climbing up some steep stairs, you encounter a few streets’ worth of cute little houses with plants and trees everywhere. Also, there are always cats running around, which is my favorite part.

Phoebe offered me some cake, still warm from the oven, and it totally hit the spot. For some reason, I have never made or craved marble cake, so I’m surprised I liked it so much. I don’t even remember why I was having a bad day anymore, so you know it’s good!

I got the recipe from her and made it a few weeks later for our end of the year choir party. I used the same substitutions as Phoebe: crème fraîche instead of cream, as well as granulated sugar sprinkled on top to form a bit of a crunchy crust. Try this! You might find a new favorite.

Marble Cake
slightly adapted from Marcy Goldman at Foodandwine.com

Ingredients

butter for greasing pan
2 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1.5 sticks (6 oz or 170 grams) unsalted butter, softened
3 tbsp melted unsalted butter
2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder (Dutch-process preferred)
1 1/3 cups granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup crème fraîche
a tbsp or two of granulated sugar for sprinkling

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350°F (175°C). Liberally butter an 8×4 inch loaf pan.
2. In a medium bowl, combine the baking powder and salt.
3. In a different medium bowl, combine the melted butter and cocoa powder.
4. In a food processor, combine the butter with the 1 1/3 cups granulated sugar. You might have to scrape the bowl down a few times, depending on the size of your food processor.
5. Add the eggs and the vanilla, process until all is combined and smooth.

Doesn’t this vanilla bean tube remind you of Raven’s Revenge?

6. Add the dry ingredients to the food processor and process until just combined.
7. Add the crème fraîche and process until smooth.
8. Remove one cup of the batter from the food processor and add to the cocoa mixture. Stir until smooth and combined.
9. Spoon half of the light batter into the pan. Smooth out with a butter knife or spatula.

10. Plop the chocolate batter in large globs on top of the light batter. Spread carefully with a different butter knife or spatula.

11. Plop the remaining light batter on top of the chocolate batter using the same method.

12. Create 4 or 5 swirls with a knife (doesn’t matter which one since you are now mixing them!). It’s not rocket science, just create some sort of swirling, turning pattern with the knife. Just don’t do too many swirls or you won’t have a pretty inside later. But it REALLY won’t matter because it will taste so great!

13. Sprinkle granulated sugar evenly over the top of the cake.
13. Bake the cake for 25 minutes. Reduce heat to 325°F (160°C) and bake for 25 minutes more. At this point, check for doneness by using a toothpick inserted into cake, and looking at the top of the cake. If moist crumbs come out on toothpick and the crust is nicely golden, remove from oven. If it’s not done enough (the crumbs are liquidy and still resemble the batter from before baking) cover with foil and bake 10-15 minutes longer.
14. Remove from oven. Let cool in pan for 10 minutes. Turn cake out onto a cooling rack and let cool almost all the way, then serve warm if possible.

sweetmaddy’s notes: I accidentally overbaked the cake and left it in the pan for too long, so mine was a bit dry. To remedy it, I made a simple syrup of equal parts water and sugar that I heated in a saucepan until dissolved, along with a piece of vanilla bean that I discarded later. Then I brushed the bottom of the cake with the syrup and let it sit upside down in the pan for a few minutes. Moral of the story: FOLLOW THE DIRECTIONS! Be sure to do the toothpick test and remove the cake from the pan after 10 minutes.

Traveling with a cake

I am a cake-pusher. It started in high school, when my bff Ottilia began making a cake for our friends’ birthdays. She would bring it to school, leave it in her trumpet locker in the band room (that’s right, we were both in jazz and marching band and loved it!), and at lunchtime all of our friends would all crowd around eating it together. It was a lovely addition to our normal lunch rotation of Cup O’ Noodles, cheesy chips (Skyline High special: Doritos bag with hot cheese poured in, eaten with a fork), and P.E. cookies (Otis Spunkmeyer cookies that were sold next to the gym changing rooms).

I butted in and copied her, and after awhile we were both bringing cakes for our friends. I soon began approaching people when I knew their birthday was coming up, and demanding what flavor of cake they wanted. I loved having an excuse to make a cake!

I still jump on any chance to make an extravagant dessert, and this weekend I got an opportunity! My friends Kelly and Bruno got pacsed (pacte civile de solidarité), the French equivalent of a civil union. It was also their 2 year anniversary! They had a party at Bruno’s parents house in Mons-en-Montois, a town about 100 km (62 mi) southeast of Paris.

I made this cake from smitten kitchen. The only substitution I made was using crème fraîche instead of buttermilk, so click over for the recipe. It worked just great! The cinnamon and coffee flavors were really lovely, and it was very chocolately. My only problem with the recipe is that it takes a LONG time to incorporate all the ingredients. I had to scrape down the sides of the bowl and the beater several times. So, don’t panic, just keep scraping and mixing slowly, and eventually it will come together and you will be able to whip it and continue.

Baked and cooling

I also made this buttercream frosting from smitten kitchen. I used only 3 cups of powdered sugar and about 8 oz of butter because the food processor I was using was too small. It was still very sweet and buttery, and made the perfect amount to cover the cake.

Deb has great cake tips that I used for traveling. I baked the cake on Thursday, cooled them ALL the way, then wrapped them several times in plastic wrap and froze. On Friday night I moved them to my fridge to begin the defrosting process. On Saturday afternoon, I removed them from my fridge and placed them in my trusty Tesco bag. Thus began the long journey to Mons-en-Montois. The frosting kept just fine in my fridge from Thursday to Saturday.

Under those baguettes are the cakes and the frosting

OF COURSE the one random time I want to go to this tiny far away town, the train (ONLY to that station) was not operating. So, we (Phoebe and I) had to take the RER and then a bus that took forever. Then, we were still earlier than the other party guests, so we waited at the train station for an hour to be picked up. Luckily it was sunny so we worked on our tans.

Bruno’s parents house is magical. It was worth the journey! Check it out:

I immediately unwrapped the cakes (they had survived being dragged all over France and being crushed by 10 baguettes) and began to frost them. The French people at the party were so confused about the frosting, it was hilarious!

Then when I brought out the second layer of cake they were REALLY confused/excited! The second layer started to completely fall apart, so we had to break it into pieces and place them on the cake one by one.

Yeah, this happened

I would have been prescribed high blood pressure medication if I had been hooked up to a blood pressure cuff during this process! Having a group of people watch your cake almost fall apart is SCARY. But with the help of Phoebe and Bob, I was able to get all the pieces on there, then I simply glued everything together with frosting! That’s the beauty of frosted cakes.

Sorry, no picture of the finished product! But I can tell you this: It was a hit – I even got a round of applause at one point!

Cake and Truffles

Rome update on the way..meanwhile I will tantalize you by talking about cream and chocolate.

Last weekend I went to Edgar’s first communion.

Zoom pic of Edgar after his first communion

The church (Notre Dame in Boulogne – not THE Notre Dame) was beautiful and the service was good. I was proud that I understood all the French, although a little less so after I found out the pastor was from Australia so he’s not a native speaker. After the service, the family was generous enough to invite me to their house for lunch. Myrtille made me try tuna sauce (I didn’t hate it but I would never cook it for myself) and we drank Veuve Cliquot to celebrate!

But, the highlight for me was the cake, which was Le Saint-Honoré from La Pâtesserie des rêves, (the best bakery in Paris according to Myrtille). This cake – OMG. What an indulgence! A base of puff pastry is covered in pastry cream (SO thick, SO creamy, SO perfect) with little cream puffs hidden throughout; then you encounter MORE cream but this time it’s the whipped variety (again, perfectly executed); there are cream puffs lining the edges, and covering each cream puff is a thin, shiny, crunchy layer of caramelized sugar, which is a great contrast to the creamy, divine middle. I’ve had many a great cake in my life and hope to have many more, but this one I will remember for a LONG time. The pain of having to babysit Sunday night, the next day, was severely lessened by the fact that there was leftover cake and I got another slice!

Crappy picture of FABULOUS leftover cake

I was invited to a friend’s cousin’s house for dinner last night. I decided I wanted to make some truffles to bring as a host gift so I flipped through one of my birthday presents, Trish’s French Kitchen by Trish Deseine. I didn’t end up bringing the truffles because I had a texture problem – I didn’t chop the chocolate up small enough, so it didn’t melt all the way and they weren’t smooth. Also, I just realized I used 200g less chocolate than the recipe called for. Oops! They taste amazing which is why I am sharing this recipe, but I couldn’t bear to offer them to someone I just met for fear they would judge my cooking skills (wow, I don’t sound vain at all!). So, don’t be like me and read everything through and make sure you have the right amounts of everything and that you follow all my instructions!

Chocolate Truffles (Truffes au Chocolat)
slightly adapted from Trish’s French Kitchen

Notes: I used 2/3 normal chocolate from Monoprix and 1/3 of a 99% Lindt and the taste was great! Use what your budget can handle, except don’t use something like Hershey’s. Trish gives the options of using powdered sugar (icing sugar in Europe), powdered pistachios, and powdered piment d’Espelette as additional coating options. If you have them available, go for it, because they look pretty! If you use all four, you will only need 1 tbsp of each (including the cocoa powder).

Ingredients

-450g or 1lb good chocolate
-250ml or 1 cup heavy cream (crème legère in France)
-4 tbsp cocoa powder

Instructions

1. Break the chocolate into very small pieces and place in a large, heatproof bowl. Very small means smaller than the squares that they will break into naturally – use a serrated knife and really chop it up.

THIS IS NOT SMALL ENOUGH. Don’t be lazy, use a knife!

2. Bring the cream to a boil in a saucepan. Pour the cream over the chocolate and stir together until all the chocolate is melted and smooth.

Cream + chocolate. Magic is about to happen (except not all the way in my case).

Deceiving glossy surface hiding clumps below

3. Cool until the chocolate is hardened significantly and will be scoopable. You might need to put it in the fridge or freezer to help it reach the right consistency. (Trish says to stay away from the fridge but I had to use it because I didn’t use the right amount of chocolate.)
4. Place the cocoa powder in a bowl. Sift it first, or use a fork to break up any clumps.
5. Use a small spoon or cookie scoop to grab little balls of chocolate. Roll them in between your palms to create a smooth ball. Place the ball in the cocoa powder, then use a fork or your fingers to coat the whole ball with the powder.

Scoop a spoonful, roll between palms to create a ball shape

Coat in powder, tap against side of bowl to remove excess powder

6. Repeat until all the chocolate is gone. Store in a tupperware in the fridge or in a cool place until ready to serve.

Ugly, chunky, but delicious!

The Holidays

Mike came to visit me during my two week vacation from work. We had a lovely time together! Lucky for me, he has been here before, so I wasn’t forced to wait in the cold to climb the Eiffel Tower or do other touristy things.

I can’t begin to talk about everything we saw and ate, so I will just give you the highlights.

FOOD (of course it’s the first item!)

After serious analysis, we determined that Pierre Hermé macarons are better than those from Ladurée. This is interesting because I read here recently that the grandson of the owner was the first to make macarons the way we eat them today – two outside parts with ganache in the middle. But although he wasn’t the first to make macarons, we preferred the texture and flavors of the Pierre Hermé ones, especially the olive oil and blood orange (Mike) and passionfruit (me). However, I will still be happy to visit Ladurée because of the girly and gilded décor!

France might be the hardest place on Earth to be a vegetarian. Most salads come with meat in them, and soups are usually made with chicken or beef broth, and while it’s delicious to eat lots of bread and cheese, it does not do a body good after a few days! We had to go to Soya so Mike could get some sustenance. It is my second favorite meal I have eaten in Paris so far (1st is still the confit de canard at Le Bouillon Chartier). It’s a dark and sexy restaurant with great service! I highly recommend it to anyone who likes food, vegetarian or not. The meal was hearty, filling, and comforting!

Hummus with amazing bread

Front: zucchini and feta tarte. Back: "Meat" lasagna. Both came with salad and butternut squash.

Poîlane is renowned, and for good reason. We chose a loaf of bread at random that pleasantly surprised us – it was a simple walnut bread, easily the best I have eaten in my life. We ate it with a ton of cheese we bought at the fromagerie near my house.

Orange gouda, brie, Roquefort, Comte

I plan to eat many more loaves of bread there (and pay more attention so I can give you a better description), but I do not plan to buy their fancy cloth tote bags for 30 euros!

Candelaria was a great find. The chips and guac tasted just like home, the tacos were interesting and delicious, and they had Mexican beer! I felt like Alice tumbling down the rabbit hole when I tentatively pushed the plain white door from the plain, brightly lit restaurant that leads into the adjoining bar. I looked around in awe at all the candles imparting a subtle, sexy glow to every corner, making the tons of Parisians (and probably some Americans too) packed inside look even sexier than usual. Now I understand why they named it Candelaria! Unfortunately, I don’t remember what drinks we ordered, but they were definitely well-made. This is definitely where the cool kids go, and I hope to return!

We cooked a wonderful Indian meal for Christmas dinner (instead of trying to recreate our home traditions, we just did something totally different), I made Pioneer Woman’s Cinnamon Rolls for Christmas breakfast, and we bought a Buche de Noël for dessert.

Dal, Potato Curry, Chana Masala, Mango Chutney, Raita, and Rice

Shhh, we ate them all in one day...

Buche de Noël - chocolate with pralines

WINE

We visited La Grande Épicerie right before Christmas, and happened upon some free wine and champagne tastings. The Vouvray maker was there himself with his marketing agent, a very pleasant older French woman who gave us her business card and invited us for lunch anytime. Yes, please! The wines were all tasty to my amateur palate, but one in particular stood out – the Le Mont Demi Sec 2008. As I know next to nothing about wine, I will just say that after sipping it, I felt like the little kids in those Welch’s grape juice commercials from the 90s who smack their lips after chugging a glass.

We also happened upon a Corsican wine bar: A L’heure du Vin near Opéra. We had great service and tried some great natural wines made in Corsica! Only in Paris, right?

OTHER

We checked out Shakespeare & Company, which is located right near Notre Dame, at Mike’s request. I had written it off as a boring tourist activity, but I had no idea what I was in for: A tiny bookstore crammed floor-to-ceiling with English books of any and every subject, and an upstairs library where you can sit peacefully and read any book you desire. Aspiring writers can sleep there in exchange for working in the bookstore. I started reading Donna Tartt’s The Secret History and I can’t wait to go back and finish it!

Ok, this post is long overdue, so I will finish here.

Pumpkin Caramel Bars with Sea Salt…for Americans only

After approximately two weeks in France, I began to crave pumpkin. This was slightly odd for me; although I have a pumpkin latte or two every fall, and enjoy most pumpkin desserts, I would not call it my favorite. But of course, people always want what they can’t have, so when pumpkin was not readily available, I had to go find a can and make something! That’s when I found myself at La Grande Epicerie, paying like, 15 euros for two cans of Libby’s! Oops…but when you have mal du pays, anything goes.

Could not figure out the can opener so I stabbed it open!

I made these during my vacation and brought them to a weekend getaway I attended with some of my new French friends. If you would like to witness firsthand a profound difference between the French and Americans, serve a pumpkin dessert! Americans will probably be excited, and French people will be…confused.

Despite trepidation from our French hosts, Kelly and I found these bars delicious! I would like to try them again with white chocolate. Also, if you are short on time or want something less decadent, I bet the bar part is great by itself. You could just mix the chocolate in with the batter and bake!

Pumpkin Caramel Bars with Sea Salt
adapted from Ooey Gooey Caramel Pumpkin Blondies with Chocolate and Walnuts from the Tasty Kitchen Blog

Ingredients

-3/4 cups softened butter
-1 cup brown sugar
-2 eggs
-1 tsp vanilla extract
-1 cup pumpkin puree
-2 tsp quatre épices or allspice
-1 3/4 cups flour
-1 tsp baking soda
-1/4 tsp table salt
-1/2 tsp sea salt
-1/4 cup chocolate chunks or chips
-8 oz jar of caramel
-splash of cream, half and half, or milk

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a 9×13 pan with butter or cooking spray and set aside.
2. In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Stir in eggs, vanilla and pumpkin until combined.
3. Gradually add the flour, baking soda, and table salt. Spread about 2/3 of the batter evenly into the prepared pan.

Pumpkin base

4. Sprinkle the chocolate and sea salt evenly over the batter.

They don't have chips here, so I broke up a chocolate bar. Chocolate is chocolate!

5. Melt caramel and cream in the microwave or in a heat-proof bowl set over simmering water until smooth and easily spreadable. Pour over the chocolate and spread out evenly, trying not to disturb the layers underneath too much.

Glistening, buttery, sugary loveliness

6. Wait a minute or two for the caramel to cool down a bit. Place dollops of the remaining batter on top of the caramel layer. Carefully spread it out so it covers the caramel. Be slow and patient – it will work out! And if it doesn’t, just swirl the layers together, throw it in the oven, and call it “marble-ized.”

Blobs and dollops of the remaining batter

Carefully spread with a knife

7. Bake for 25 minutes or until edges are golden brown.

I may or may not have drank two glasses of wine while I baked these, and subsequently may or may not have been more excited about eating a bar than taking a picture of the finished product! But if you are curious, I am sure you can a. imagine what they look like b. look at the original recipe c. bake them yourself! <3

Update from Paris

French Reflections

I have now been in Paris for 1 week. It feels like a lot longer! I still see it for the beautiful city it is, but a little of the magic has started to wear off, so I have noticed some of the less glamorous aspects. Like, not every person you see is super fashionable (although I still think most people are better looking than Americans!), there are places that are sketchy at night, you get whiffs of piss in a lot of places, cigarette smoke everywhere. But, I still turn corners and come upon beautiful fountains and gardens!

Jardin des Tuileries

Weather

The weather has been very hot. I suffered wearing jeans for the first few days, but lately I have been wearing the one pair of shorts I brought. People give me funny looks, but I feel more comfortable so I don’t care! If you are wearing jean shorts here, you must wear tights under them, but to me that defeats the purpose.

Blending In

Not everyone can instantly tell I am American – I get asked for directions frequently by French people and foreigners alike. It’s always a mood boost when someone approaches me and talks in French. Of course, as soon as I open my mouth, the jig is up! I always start every conversation in French, and about half the time people continue with me in French (!) and half the time they go to English. Many of the French people I speak with are very nice, and gently correct the errors I make when I speak. My favorite instance of this was when I was ordering a demi-baguette yesterday, and I said “Je voudrais un baguette traditionelle” and the woman at the counter said very sternly, “Tu voudrais une, mademoiselle.” (For you non-French speakers, every noun is masculine or feminine, and you must match all of the pronouns and articles accordingly. So, apparently baguette is feminine!) And I repeated it after her, and she and I had a laugh together. She wasn’t condescending, but very firm – like, if you are here, you must describe the bread correctly! The French people I’ve met so far seem to have this attitude: we can tell instantly that you are not French, but you are cute so we will help you attempt to blend in.

New Home

I have found a place to live! I will be an au pair for a family with one boy and one girl. They have a separate apartment for me a few blocks away from their house. They live in Boulogne, which is right outside of Paris on the southwest corner. My apartment is free in exchange for babysitting! It is on the 7th floor, no elevator! I have a bathroom, shower, and kitchenette (alas, no oven, but I will survive!) and a view of the top of the Eiffel Tower! I will post pictures when I move in, one month from now. I am moving into a room in their house in the meantime, while they renovate the apartment and buy furniture. Fine with me!

The kids are adorable and well-behaved, as far as I can tell. They are 10 and 7. All I have to do is pick them up from school 4 days per week, and hang out with them until dinnertime. She wants me to speak only English to them. I will start the dinner and eat with the family, (which is nice because I won’t be able to cook super complex things with only a hotplate! ) then I am done around 7:30 each night. Wednesdays are no school days for primaire (elementary school) kids here, so I watch them 9-11am on Wednesdays as well. I will also babysit two nights per week, but not on the weekend! The total is 15 hrs per week, so nothing too strenuous. I am very excited to move out of my hostel and into a real house!

New Job

I begin teaching tomorrow. I have met with one of the teachers I will work with, and the others have emailed me. Tomorrow I have 3 classes, 1 hr each. I am nervous, but the first day will hopefully be easy because we can do introductions, name games, and the like. I teach on Tuesdays every other week, so I won’t have those classes this week. I will have classes on Wednesdays, but this Wed is our first training day (yes, they planned it nicely so I am trained after I start!) so I am missing those.

There is a cafeteria in my school that I can pay to eat lunch in. They charge on a sliding scale based on your pay, so it will probably only cost around 2 or 3 euros. It’s not the best food, but better than American cafeteria food for sure! You choose one fruit, one entree, and one dessert, plus bread. Dessert can be fruit, cheese, or cake. I love that cheese is considered dessert! So fancy/French! So, with lunch and dinner taken care of on the weekdays, I only have to worry about breakfast and weekend meals. This will be nice for my budget! More money to pay off my loans, travel, or shop!!

Lonely Traveler

I have gotten a little lonely without all my lovely friends and family from home around me. I think it will be better once I have a phone here, because I have met people but it’s hard to meet up. The internet is also very patchy (I even went to Starbucks today to get reliable internet, and it stopped working grrr) so I haven’t been able to properly Skype with friends and family back home.

Delicieux

When I get sad and start missing home, I just remember that I am fulfilling my culinary dreams already! My hostel has free breakfast of croissants, bread, and Cocoa Pebbles every morning. I’m sure the croissants at the bakeries will be better, but these are pretty good!! I also bought some butter and have been eating it with bread for a snack or with dinner and it is SO GOOD. I like bread, but I don’t just eat it randomly at home the way I do here. It’s hard to explain why it’s better; it just has so much flavor, and when the bread is fresh it is so chewy and not dry at all. MMM. I’ve also eaten many crepes from the touristy “Bip Burger” down the street. My favorite is with cheese, but I also tried a lemon-sugar one (citron-sucre) which was good. The other day, I ventured out to La Grande Epicurie, and it was amazing! It’s a large, fancy grocery store, but they have everything. Similar to Whole Foods, but French. I will take pictures next time I go because it’s a beautiful sight; they have several spots for cheese, a bakery, wine shop, meat, produce, chocolate etc etc with tons of samples. Everything you would ever want! Some things are expensive and some are affordable.

Sightseeing

The first Sunday of every month is a free admission day at the Louvre, so I went today. I stood in line for an hour and a half, but it was worth it! I looked at French paintings and ancient Greek sculptures. I am pretty certain that my parents and Mike will want to go check it out so I left the other exhibits for the next time. I also went to a much smaller museum the other day that was recommended by my hostel roommate. It’s called Musee Bourdelle, who was a sculpteur. They have preserved his apartment, workshop, and outdoor gardens. You can sit outside and view some of his works in nature. Seeing art in the context of nature makes it completely different and more appealing to me. I love this museum and plan to return many times. It’s free if there is no side exhibit, and if there is it’s only 7 euros.

The internet is being very finicky, so I can’t add any more pictures. Will do next time!

Bisous!