Leslie Caron at Metro Etoile & Mad About Macarons

Yesterday I had a brief encounter with actress Leslie Caron in the Metro Etoile station.

I saw an elegant French woman checking the metro map. Then I saw her little dog - out came the camera immediatement. 

Remember Leslie Caron of Gi-Gi, Lily, American in Paris, Damages, Le Divorce, more recently Law and Order.
 

I saw the woman go off in one direction, turnaround and come back. Metro Etoile is a confusing station. I sensed she was lost.

I went up and said,

'Peux je vous aidez?'/ Can I help you?
Mm. C. said, 'bla bla bla' in French

Me, 'but I'm American'

Mme. Caron responded in her inimitable lilting voice,

'Isn't it funny an American helping a French person in the Metro?' & smiled graciously.

I helped her find ligne 8 and then asked if I could take a picture of her Shitzu.

'His name is Tea-Tea' (sp)

All I could think was her movie 'Gi-Gi'

Leslie Caron's book, Thank Heaven A Memoir came out two years ago. It's a classy tell-all of her life and loves in Hollywood and everywhere else. I'll be reading it as soon as I get home. Lovely interview here. 

A new Arte doc on Caron here. She is 90.

Everyone in London and Paris is talking about the new Spielberg Tintin movie coming out exactly the day I head home. AirFrance could you please show it in economy? 

Yesterday I picked up Le Point to browse while enroute to my private macaron lesson with.Jill Colonna of Mad About Macaron fame. Jill is quite determined I will conquer the elusive macaron secrets. 

 Bear inspects egg whites put out that morning. It was a misty, rainy day so everything should have gone wrong. 

Jill is a maitress de macaron. She whipped up these madly lemony macs for me.

After class, Jill took me on a grand tour of Saint Germain-en-Laye's finest patisseries. M.O.F. Patisserie Osmont was irresistable. 

The tarte citron meringuee beckoned.

Perfect for breakfast today! Little crunchy orbs of meringue sit atop a light lemon curd. Inside a touch of framboise/raspberry surprise lurked. Today I ate my crust. Chef Osmont won me over and I was very hungry. 

Leslie Caron said in this Guardian interview,'I seldom eat pastry–maybe once a year. I never eat desserts and I don't drink'.

👏👏👏

Bonjour Leslie Caron, Jill Colonna, Tintin!

Kings of Pastry

Gerard Mulot Pastry Box, 9" x 11"

Pastry chefs and I have always seen eye to eye.  

They are the 'artistes' in the kitchen, painting with chocolate and sugar.  

They loved having their portraits on their own business cards. They got my food art biz going.

I was thrilled when I received an invite to a screening of KINGS OF PASTRY.The film is about the 3-day competition of carefully selected French pastry chefs, sixteen in total, competing for the much coveted M.O.F. award or Meilleur Ouvriers De France taking place in Lyon.

I was in Maine and missed the screening, but they sent me the video. And is it fun!  The Guardian said,"I never saw so many men sobbing at once" and,"A culinary HURT LOCKER"
You see top pastry artistes pushed to the limit, racing against time and against each other to make their super, fragiles creations. You see top pastry judges of France (PH included!) tasting and grading the contender's art works (16 desserts) and their responses. Full of suspense...catastrophes beaucoup. Even the judges are in tears. If you love French pastry, you MUST see KINGS OF PASTRY 

Top pastry chefs of the highest order are required to make chocolate confectionary sculptures.Made of sugar, these chocolate masterpieces were at the Salon du Chocolat last October. Now I have a better idea of the enormous effort that went into making them. Oh the torture, oh the sleepless nights.

I attended the Coupe du Monde de la Patisserie in Lyon in '94 - words cannot describe the fabulousness. Last June I returned to Lyon for a macaron class. Instead I ate lunch at Paul Bocuse's Brasserie Le Nord.

Chaleureuse/warm indeed.Steeped in the old French tradition of quality and simplicity.You know I had une salade.For my plat, the very traditional cote d'agneau.
Miam-miam
How I wished I had ordered dessert...something like this elaborate chocolate chapeau.
Chapeau TO THE M.O.F. WINNERS

And go see the movie.

5 Things I Ate at Jean Millet Patisserie

I only tasted ONE cannele at Patisserie Jean Martin.
je le regrete beaucoup. Only one crepe too.

THREE sable citron (not all at once).

I'm a sucker for anything with lemon on it and this rich buttery cookie has just a thin icing of lemony-ness.

I have had their croissants.

Before I noticed they had mini versions.

Abricot is another flavor I swoon for. Do you too?

JEAN MILLET
103 Rue Saint-Dominique
7th Arrondisement
Metro: Invalides Pastry chef Denis Ruffel has received France's highest honor, the M.O.F. or "Meilleur Ouvrier de France" so this little patisserie is well worth searching out.

I did not get to taste this.

Nor did I buy a 'week-end' cake to take as a gift.

Foie gras? mais non.

I would LOVE to eat one of their salades for lunch.
A la prochain.

Paul Bocuse et Moi

 I found an old menu today dated June 29, 1994 from the M.O.F. luncheon Paul Bocuse gave 13 years ago in Lyon. I was a volunteer photographer at The James Beard Foundation for 7 years.

For an exhibit of chef portraits, I painted a chef's jacket to wear to the opening. Bragard, top French chef jacket makers, contacted me. They asked me to paint a 'portrait' jacket for Paul Bocuse to wear to the Chicago Food show. I wrote to M. Bocuse requesting reference photos. And I received an invitation to his Meilleur Ouvriers De France celebration luncheon in Lyon. Mon dieu! The M.O.F. is the highest award in France for a craftsman. No way I could miss this soiree.

 Off I went with Bocuse's painted jacket, a portrait painting portrait, and 4 painted jackets to wear at the luncheon. I had nothing elegant to wear so I changed my painted chef jackets 4 times in the loo instead.
M.Bocuse is a clever man. Every guest got their own M.O.F. 'ribbon' napkin ring. By the end of the luncheon every guest was wearing the MOF on their wrist, singing French songs and waving their arms in the air. Too funny.

The menu was superb bien sur. No one in the world gives a party the way the French do.

Every French foodie person of note was at this MOF lunch. France's best cheese person, best chocolate maker, best butter maker etc. Siro Maccioni of Le Cirque and I were the only 'American' invitees. Here I'm sitting beside Jacques Maximin former chef of Hotel Negresco
I was shooting for FOOD ARTS Magazine  I took group shots of all the top chefs.
 Bocuse was instrumental in my new career with Mumm Champagne. He was their USA spokesperson, though he speaks not one word of English. But his charm is contagious.
Mumm asked me to develope a promotional portrait program for them. I painted stacks of Mumm labels they attached to bottles as gift to their restranteurs.
After two days of partying in Lyon, I had to go back to Paris. Bocuse, ever the gracious host, asked his secretary to make me a reservation on the TGV. But I arrived late and jumped on the train sans billet/ticket.
When the conductor came by, I explained I'd been caught in traffic, but Chef Bocuse made the reservation. He paused, thought a moment and then said OK and walked on. Only in France can you drop the name of a great chef and get a free ride from Lyon to Paris on the TGV!
Bonne 13th Anniversaire of your M.O.F. award,
Paul Bocuse et grand merci!