Rue Cremieux, 5 Great Paris-Brest, Boulangerie BO, Jill Colonna Bakes Choux,Arom, Paint a tulip

Yesterday was perfect to go exploring.

Solli said I  must go to rue Cremieux,75012, just 18 minutes walk from my house thanks to Google Maps.

Paris has quite a few of these hidden enclaves. You feel you landed in a French country lane like Le Vieux Belleville and rue des Thermopolyes to name a few.

All exploring should include a little snacking no?

Paris By Mouth announced on Tuesday the 5 Great Paris-Brest to be found in Paris.

Fortunately Boulangerie BO, 85 bis rue de Charenton, 75012, #3 winner in the contest is just 15 minutes walk from rue Cremieux.

Baking choux at Jill Colonna's house on Tuesday makes tasting all choux obligatory doesn't it? Note the crumbly, crunchy topping on this delicious winner.

'Craquelin' is popular in Paris patisseries.

Jill calls it 'crumble topping' made from salted butter, flour and light brown sugar.

It adds zing to the plainest choux surface.

Bear is Very fond of it.

The coffee pastry cream is nice too. Soon you can make your own when Jill's Teatime In Paris comes out in May/June.(page 72)

Back to exploring the 12th. Arom, 73 Avenue Ledru-Rollin, is a divine fleurist, perfect if you're getting married. Ballerina Marie-Agnes Gilot buys her bouquets 💐  here.

Wonderful tulips

I thought I'd give you a tulip painting demo in case you'd like to DIY.

I started out using a photograph, making a value study with the help of app My Sketch. I wasn't happy with any of these, so tossed them into the circular file.

Best to work from life directly,

Drawing the contours with a Japanese Pentel Waterbrush.

Then just adding loose washes of color

on top of color

I'm never satisfied so I redraw it again.

Voila. Your turn.

Eclair Mystique et Fauchon Noel Éclat

Since I came up for air I've been immersing myself in the land of chou.

Here's a map of what I tasted yesterday and today.

While painting Jill's éclair I was struck by lightening. I asked Jill about the stunning ridges on the sides of some eclairs. They look so labor intensive. Nothing of the sort. It depends on the shape of the nozzle on your pastry bag.
C'est tout.

Oh.

 Eclairs are made of the very basic pâte de chou pastry, same as the lowly, quelle ordinaire cream puff. In fact Jill says they're brother and sister, cut of the same cloth, just different shapes. One round and empty. The other long and empty. Both filled with flavored (or not/nature) creme patissiere. Yet the eclair is far more upper crust than the petite chou..well depending on their surroundings. A round chou, caramelized and set into a towering piece monté was the queen of French wedding cakes till the macaron showed and pushed it aside. Chou has been making a stylish come-back the last few years. Even pastry king Christophe Michalak now has a choux shop.

Time to visit Fauchon, maitres of the eclair and deep in the throes of holiday festive desserts.

Firstly my eye landed on the perfect marriage of chou pastry, cream puff and éclair in the savory department!

In desserts eclairs have been king for a long time at Fauchon.

Just think of this as an elongated chou/puff decked inside and out in luxuriou deep chocolate.

I fell hard for their holiday  religieuse de vanille de Tahiti. (8€)

What is it? 

Two chou/puffs pasted together. That's all, with fancy clothes on, outside and in, white chocolate and so forth.

Fauchon's latest for the kids is an all-black Batman eclair. Shhhh Colored chou pastry.

Still quite a stunner.

For a witty twist on the traditional eclair Fauchon has special for the holidays mini eclair-like marzipan. Adorable no?

All this research is so exhausting. Time for an afternoon gouté(snack) of fromage blanc topped with red fruits preserves.

Fortified, I moved on to Maison Lafayette to look for more choux pastry samples. (3,50€) A chou a la crème from Sadaharu Aoki.

Why not a salad eclair? Not yet. The l'Eclair de Genie stand of Christophe Adams formerly of Fauchon and creator of the Mona Lisa éclair.

I got the vanille-cerise combo to try. (5€)

Back on Ils St.-Louis good old (empty) little puffs covered in rock sugar, chouquettes - a mere 2,50€ for 100 grams. That's a lot of choux.

Not to be missed - the new chou in town on St.-Louis, La Maison du Chou

5, rue Jean de Bellay 4e

Baked inhouse and filled before your eyes with pastry crème.
woo woo

Bottoms up.

Top down.
It doesn't get fresher that this, my absolute favorite of all the chou tasted. They have another shop in the 6th at 7, rue de Furstenberg. You can sit down and have a caffe crème should you need a little more crème in your life.

Well I hope I've dispelled some of the mystique of the eternal éclair, my mission. Clearly the little chou puff and the high falutin' éclair are joined at the hip. And mine especially after this research project. The wonderment of Parisian pastry can never be brought to far down to earth. Let's face it, we're all 5-year olds like this kiddie trying desperately to pass through glass.
What's not to love?