Fête de la coquille Saint-Jacques à Montmartre 2025

 

This past weekend I went to the Fête de la coquille Saint-Jacques à Montmartre , always held next to Metro Abbesses.

Two days in a row! An absolute first time for me.

Blue + Yellow fund raiser, Fete de la Coquille St.Jacques à Montmartre

 

❤️BIG MERCI PBers❤️ for helping Ukraine!🇺🇦🌻

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*This is a SCREENSHOT of the email I received from Paypal for the donations*

On Sunday, after painting blue & yellows all week, I took a break at Montmartre annual Fete de la Coquille St.Jacques festival at Abbesses. No, I did not climb up 144 metro steps. Instead I got off at Pigalle and climbed up the big hill.

Yes, I ate oysters.

And a bowl of soupe  de poisson (2,50€) as always/comme d’habitude.

No, I did not have any Kouign Amann this time

Yes, when I see vanilla anything, I have to try it

Yes, the little train is still running!👏👏

So sunny 🌞 on Sunday, 

So many Parisians out and about

The cafes were busy

Are Montmartre cafes cuter? Or is it the altitude that makes you think so.. 

This is the first time I saw a doggie carriage. 

Les Primeurs (fruit & veg stands) have extra special displays in Montmartre - berry boxes stacked on bottles!? 

I kept seeing blue + yellow in the windows, on streetwear, on Christophe RousselMacarons…is it me?

I painted more blue n’ yellows in  case you missed out first round. 50% goes to WHO (until March 31). 🌻Happy Printemps dear PBers🌻

Kouign-Amann I ♥ U

 Can you have a love-hate relationship with a pastry?

 Yes, if it's a kouign amann

 A pastry impossible to spell, pronounce or resist if you love caramel.

 Butter-loaded kouign amann come from Brittany as does this gent at the Salon du Chocolat.

 I even love his hand made signs/porte-etiquette...very gemutlich/homey

 I think I ate more kouign amann at the chocolate salon than I ate chocolate...

 Georges Larnicol is the maitre de kouign aman in Paris perhaps. He even makes minis called kouignettes to keep the guilt at bay in a vast multitude of flavors. To-die-for near Metro Odeon.

 I'm also a big fan of Pierre Herme's kouign amann even if he does sometimes sneak in framboise confiture in the bottom (propably a no-no if you're a die hard kouign-amann lover). It's tucked away in the viennoisserie bin, mostly overlooked by mad about macaron lovers.

 You would think kouign amann is a regional monument in Brittany. It utilizes the famous local au beurre sale. If you see the letters CBS run and get some. Caramel au beurre sale/caramel with salted butter. Abbreviations are rampant in France. This is a chocolate box at CDG to remind you of all the goodies you must eat in France 🇫🇷 
 

 A kouign amann must be lurking in one of these pastry cases. Recently a lot of vintage books have been republished like Nos Geographies de France by Daniel Picouly. A book with wonderful old school maps of where to find what to eat in France (as if we needed help).

 At the chateau Sebastien's sister made it from scatch while we all sat around, enhaled and drooled.
 

 One could say this is taking things to an extreme but it aptly expresses my fondness for Kouign amann.

The roots of the obsession started early. My dad and I used to sneak out Saturday mornings and make a run for Philadelphia Sticky buns before anyone was up. Certainly this is a distant carmelized cousin of the kouign amann Breton non?

Old habits have a way of sticking with you forever.

 

Blé Sucré

Here's some Paris torture for ya! And for me too, since I'm back in chilly NYC. The above viennoiserie is the famously unpronouncable and unspellable Breton kouign amann, an impossibly buttery, caramelized pastry. It took me out of the apartment last Saturday off to Blé Sucré in the 12th near Marche Aligre. Don't miss it!
If you want go off your diet with a bang and never regret a single bite try this thing called "paille"/straw something or other. Getting powder sugar down your front is one of the memorable experiences from eating paille. You'll get raspberry jam on your chin too. This is the most unmanagable of French pastries but worth it.

I'm grateful that I don't love whipped cream. I am a sucker for any tarte citron I come across. I did have Blé Sucre's and it was absolutemente excellent.Did I mention that Ble's chef Fabrice Le Bourdat, was formerly pastry chef at Le Bristol and it shows. Though the prices do not.

I'm glad I found Blé Sucre just 2 days before leaving Paris or the results of my summer regime would have been out the window.

Their wall of homemade jams. I got l'abricot - there was a stick of vanilla inside...sigh

They have macarons but I was loaded with enough. I went straight home to try them out. You can get lunch too at Blé Sucre.

Eat on their terrace overlooking Square Trousseau, while gazing in at all the possible dessert choices.

7, rue Antoine Vollon 75012

Metro: Ledru Rollin

*Closed on Mondays and Sunday afternoon
BONJOUR Blé Sucre!