Pierre Herme Tarte croustillante aux cerises et aux pistaches

Pierre Herme Cherry Strusel Tarte, watercolor, 9" x 11"

Normally I wouldn't have picked out the strusel-covered tarte at Pierre Herme, but Amy and I had discussed having a 'crumble' taste test at Les Deux Abeilles so the rest is history. Then yesterday I popped into Dorie Greenspan's delicious blog and what was she chatting about? Pierre Herme's strusel-covered tarte with a recipe to boot. Some times the stars are aligned and you just have to go with the flow. No use fighting it. So that's how the strusel tarte became the star of the today's show.. As it happens I took a shot of the tarte before gobbeling it down Sunday a week ago - I mostly forget to do this. I sent it over to Dorie and she said it made her day! M. says cherries/cerise = June/juin
This being the last day of June it seems appropriate to do an homage of sorts to cherries...

New York Girls

I always wonder how Bill Cunningham does it?

Capture the New York Girl with such dash and ease..? Yesterday as I was slogging through the 90 degree heat, the New York Girl was everywhere! New York tourists are always looking up, so they completely miss her... Or they're looking and shooting each other at New York 'monuments' like Rock Center...The way to find the TRUE New York Girl (or NYG) is to look at the ground... Fab sandals everywhere. Does this NYG have a twisted ankle? Divinely simple Gucci sandals - how could I miss the logos all over... The Gucci's owner - quite soigne and all in neutrals.

Champagne for Breakfast

Champagne et macarons, watercolor, 9" x 11"

This past weekend I was remembering some Champagne days of yore... I got to spend a week at the then newly decorated manor house owned by Veuve Clicquot set in the vineyards of Verzy... Roselyne very kindly invited me to stay and paint the house and the vineyards... It could have been Champagne for breakfast everyday if I was that kind of girl. The gigantic refrigerator was chock full of jeroboams and nothing else. I don't mind a tiny frigo full of macarons, but I like my hot chocolate first thing in the morning, not that I want to sound fussy or anything... The landscape was idylic. Perfection really...

Eton Mess

In London I spent time messing around with teapots and boxes ...

And I browsed more in supermarkets than museums...The names of the products are so enticing. Were they created with me in mind? An Eton Mess is an English dessert I felt an instant affinity to, being a master of mess-making myself...ahem Tom the cat could expound on the subject at length. Here he steps none too gingerly onto my 'work table'/bed.
Tom Squeak does an inspection of the Gillott mess...

Il fait beau...

When I came back to Paris I got an email from Vicki, still in London, asking me,

"How's the weather in Paris?"

I always find this a funny question. In one day in Paris you can have brilliant sunlight... Parisiens, like New Yorkers, at the first hint of sunshine shed their clothes... Or not - this Parisien is ready for any possible inclement weather...

bien élevé

I looked at this little paw clutching the patisserie counter in anticipation and wondered... Mom, how come my 1st sandwich cookie was an Oreo? Not a framboise macaron..? I've no remembrances of things (madeleine) past... I cut my eye-tooth on home-made, rock, hard oatmeal cookies...I never made religieuses with the aid of a kid's cookbook. Thanks Mom - you did let me place raisin 'buttons' on the gingerbread men. C'est comme ca...
My marshmallows were not exotically flavored delicate affairs like these pastel guimauves...

Mine came in a puffy bag and I popped them one-by-one into my mouth without thinking. I enjoyed roasting them over the stove on a fork, especially when you were out of the house Mom. How I never burnt down the house is amazing.

Claes Oldenburg got it right...

Our cakes are clutzy! Everything is too big.

No wonder we go nuts over Paris pastries?

When we grew up eating this?

Where was our early taste-bud training?

French kids learn to become little locavores early, cooking what's in season..

Mom, I'm a bit miffed. A bit deprived...

I have a lot of catching up to do. And such hard work!

I'd like to send you all bites of everything I have to taste to catch up. The next best thing is, Paris patisserie guide. I met the editor at BEA last month. She was telling me what hard work it was, having Paris pastry chefs drop off new cakes everyday to taste. It took heavy arm twisting to get those chefs to divulge their secret recipes. Pastry isn't all fun and games you know...

pictures in this book are almost better than the real thing in fact, so take a bite.

bien élevé = qui a reçu une bonne éducation.

BONJOUR PASTRY EDUCATION!

Sunday in Paris

Sunday morning in Paris is perfect to go foraging for desserts.You must start early. M and I left by 9:30 am joining joggers and dog walkers. While Paris sleeps you'll catch the best desserts that got away all week, when you walzed in the late afternoon to find zero. A Paris restaurant 'guard' cat watches us go forage... Gerard Mulot is always buzzing with activity on Sunday from dessert foragers... I'm looking for desserts to shoot and later paint... Never easy at Mulot - too many to choose from... Ah ha! This chocolate dome will do the trick. I send off M. with the booty while I head on for more treasures. She has instructions to carry the desserts gingerly... Pastry vitrines are full of springy colors and flowers to honor new macaron flavors..
Why do I always feel like this 5-year old full of excitement and anticipation in any Paris patisserie?

I head off to Pierre Herme on rue Bonaparte. The windows are impossible to shoot, full of reflections. Photographing inside is verboten. I have a plane to catch Monday so...

Last pit stop for the elusive sesame eclair at patisserie Sadaharu Aoki. It's M.'s birthday and she must have a sesame eclair bien sur.

Back at the apartment I shoot like mad in the beautiful overcast morning light. Pierre Herme's Cherry Pistachio tarte looks an awful lot like M.'s bumpy Japanese tetsubin teapot.

The PH cerise/cherry comes in handy as a prop.

Pistache cupcake + cerise... The other two patiently wait their turn. I've never been a eater of cupcakes, but suddenly I'm converted. I wolf down the citron.

Later I meet up with Amy of Sweet Freak at Carette's newest tea salon in the Marais at 25, Place des Voges...

I can't even eat even one bite of Amy's clafoutis.

I'm desserted out.

Still, can you think of a better way to spend a Sunday in Paris?

I'm back in New York, unpacking, paying bills, and heading out to the pool to work off that citron cupcake!

BONJOUR DIMANCHE!