Pieces of Cake, original watercolor, 9" x 11"
Yesterday, when I mentioned painting dogs wasn't a piece of cake a strong urge came over me to paint a piece of cake...
You will not see so many white cakes in Paris. True I bought this creamy affair from Castelblangeois, thinking I'd paint it. Your standard American white cake with icing is hard to find in Paris.
Whipped cream like this pile of creamy delight from Angelina is another matter. This will not deflate like your everyday Ready-Whip.
Love these glorious whipped cream-filled Gerard Mulot creations.
White eggs abound in Paris - a giant white chocolate Easter egg at Pierre Marcolini. The French are more prone to have an oeuf dur every morning.
The Japanese know how to make a good white cake like this St. Honore at Mitsuwa Marketplace in New Jersey.
The French can do no wrong when it comes to white porcelaine .
Mariage Freres' white teacups are perfection as is their tea.
This bebe blanche is la creme de la creme. Only the Italians run neck in neck with the French in the area of exquisite baby clothes.
White cheese is another area of expertise the French have mastered. Fromage frais de campagne sounds so much better than our Cottage Cheese.
The French may make the best yogurts or yaourt on the planet, but Greeks might take umbrage with that...
Wall after wall of white yogurt are available in any French super marche. PBers ask me to reccommend a nice Paris bistro. My 'bistro' meal of choice is eaten a casa:
Yaourt + a Salade Compose
I eat too many researche pastries for your benefit hence I'm reduced to a cup of yogurt for dinner. Don't ask me where you can find a nice piece of white cake.
BONJOUR BLANCS!
Maybe white cake doesn't have enough panache, a bit too boring.
ReplyDeleteAs you've shown here, white finds it's own way to look right in everything from fromage to bebe clothes. You've gotta hand it to the French!
A very true observation and most appreciated by those of us who have spent countless hours searching for decent piece of white cake in Paris.
ReplyDeleteMerci!
I read your daily emails with interest.
ReplyDeleteI'm going to Paris for my 10th anniversary this fall and wondering if you have suggestions about foodie type places. Maine love is just great food, so restaurant/bistros/cafes are great, but I love (as I think you do) just meandering around foodstuff stores - markets, kitchenware places, off the beaten track shops and lunch places and would happily travel miles just for the right bread or tarte.
If you have suggestions, please let me know. We'll be staying in the 6th but are game to walk/metro anywhere...
Merci-
Emily
Those glass pot vanilla flavored yogurt out of Normandie milk would look fine to me!
ReplyDeleteI am surprised that the French don't do white cakes. The Culinary capitol of the world. I guess there is always Betty Crocker. LOL
ReplyDeleteNice painting BTW.
This was a great post! Love the photos.
ReplyDeleteOn Sunday I attended a show of the portraits of Cecelia Beaux. She rivaled Sargent, especially when she painted subjects wearing white. Like Beaux, and I think Wayne Thiebaud, your whites in that painting today are effulgent with lush charges of colors across the palette.
ReplyDeleteA wonderful white (and colorful) post!
I think the Viennese have the right answer to the "white cake" dilemma: Baking real chocolate cakes, and then offering it with vanilla-white Schlag!
ReplyDeleteMmmmmmmmmm...! Boy would I love to be your pastry-finding assistant! Are you hiring? ;p
ReplyDeleteYour blog is so delicious in every way. Your paintings, the dessert, the thoughts.
ReplyDeleteI think you did a wonderful job on the dogs. They are sweet (perfect for you) and playful looking. The lines have a lot of action in them.
Keep it up.
You have been given a - You Make My Day Award - at my blog today - Well deserved my dear
ReplyDeleteThis made me hungry.
ReplyDeleteahhh im hungry!!
ReplyDeleteHungry too! Drooling over the... yogurt! What is wrong with me? Cake abounds and I want yogurt and berries...or some schlag und berries. Oh wait, a little morsel of cake would be good. Gorgeous blanc post.
ReplyDeleteAll best, Jan
These all look delicious, Carol. I eat yogurt every day, for breakfast, but somehow these look extra special, not just coming out of my own fridge. Yummmmmmmmm...lovely painting, bien sur.
ReplyDeletesue
French yaourt is "extra special" SUE - silky texture and a very tart taste that is sooo refreshing..cleansing almost.
ReplyDeleteJanice you have the flu, so you can't have dairy. Sorry :(
ONLY CAKE for you!
THANK YOU DI for letting me make your day - it's my modus operendi when I create a post I must admit..
Wendy and Addicted I will try to keep in mind not to arrouse your appetite tomorrow but I can promise..
Cakes are my bread and butter after all :)
Susanna I was hoping someone whould pay ME to come along as chief pastry assistent. After all this is valuable information not easily come by....ahem
Vienna I think those Austrian chefs are pulling yr leg if they want to call that "white" cake. Let's face it. It's an American phenomenom..
Or should I say phenomen-MOM oh heck
White iced cakes come out of the ovens of moms not from fancy cafe kitchens IMO.
Yes! Dear Betty Crocker! Thank you CRIS
A very romantic painting today, definitely! And I like the way you painted the sides of those slices of cake. By injecting little slices of color into your shadows, your colors also serve as a secondary compliment to the whites...thus making the whites whiter, by comparison.
ReplyDeleteYUM
I miss the European yogurt so much... That's why I had to start making my own at home. I love the St Honore... calling my name!
ReplyDeleteWhite cake, white whipped cream, white china, white chocolate, white clothes, white yogurt....have you been reading Melville?
ReplyDeleteI miss the yoghurt, too. My daughter used to live in Switzerland, where she introduced me to the smoothest, creamiest yoghurt in the world. they had fantastic flavors - marron, chocolate, and aloe (odd, but good for the digestion - they say)
ReplyDeleteBut the best I ever tasted was in Paris. Violet!!! I love violets and violet flavored sweets. It was just so wonderful, I dream of it. .
In French nursery schools, when little children learn "measuring", they are taught how to make "un gâteau au yaourt" - easy and always successful.
ReplyDeleteMaybe a solution ...
Marie-Noëlle
Another excellent post. I was happy to see that you know Mitsuwa. Maybe sometime you can do a post just about that???
ReplyDeleteI want to eat these.
ReplyDelete