Hotel Royal Monceau Raffles, Möet Hennessy

A plethora of Noel preview tastings. Buche from Pierre Hermé collection for

 Royal Monceau's forthcoming Christmas celebration in December- petite bouchée of mini Ispahans

Bites of foie gras mini 'burgers' on mini sesame buns to sustain us

Buche 'Sarah' - moelleux aux marrons, crème aux marrons glaces, crème onctueuse au the vert et compote de fruite de la passion'.

Buche 'Azur' - biscuit chocolat, sable diamant Infiniment vanilla, fine feuille de chocolat.

Buche 'Infiniment Vanille' - pate a sable Breton, ganache et crème de mascarpone a la vanilla, biscuit imbibe au jus de vanilla, pate sable.

Let the cutting begin

Nothing mini about these slices.

An ample portion of Infiniment Vanille accompaning by the perfect Port.

And buche Azur with its perfect companion, a glass of Muscat.

The week before a gorgeous tasting of Champagnes-Scotch from Möet Hennessy.

Giant Moet bubbles to dream of

Specially created miniature 'potatoes' filled with sweet cream by pastry chef Sebastien Gaudard to go with the Krug.

I cannot resist anything passion fruit/mango flavor including a Bellevdere vodka cocktail

Little jars of red fruits drinks and a liquidized 'millefeuille'. Now that's a first.

The most divine starter ever - fresh peach slices with a molded faux peach pit made of foie gras!

Bottles of Scotch and brandies...such lovely golden colors. Very Fall.

And brandy tastings for everyone.

Attendees take off. After all this luxe et volupte you might want to recover with some fresh veggies

At Israeli Miznon in the Marais, 22, rue des Ecouffes, 75004.

Go at noon or just after before the crowds hits. Excellent.

Look at this heavenly 📮Veuve Clicquot Champagne yellow mailbox new for this year's Xmas. Perfect for receiving your Paris mail !

Musee Gustave Moreau with Elaine Sciolino

Does your bedroom look like this?

Or your fireplace? Who has a fireplace...

Do you have stacks of decorative tchotchkes like this (a clue where you can find them later).

Malheureusement my cyclamen are not so glorious, in fact they're non-existent. 

Visit Musee Gastave Moreau at 14, rue de la Rochefoucauld, 75009 M Trinite. You will encounter all these treasures up close. The walls are filled floor to ceiling with his works and his collections.

Moreau was a leading Symbolist painter and teacher (1826 -1898) and  friend of Redon, Degas, Chasseriau.

Restoration has finished at last. The Moreau is one of Paris's best small, secret museums.

They changed how you can view his massive collection of drawings. Instead of a circular bookcase allowing just one person to view the pictures there are now banks of drawings and many stools upstairs in the atelier.

It you love to draw and looking at drawings, this is an extraordinary experience.

The personal rooms downstairs are tiny, but upstairs the space is glorious. That's Moreau's watercolor box in the glass case by the way. Start drooling. And paintings in various stages of development, another rare treat.

I love circular staircases to look at, not climb.

The day before I got a grand tour of upper rue des Martyrs

With ex-pat NYTimes journalist/author Elaine Sciolino. Remember her terrific book, LA SEDUCTION? Couldn't these tchotchkes go nicely in your new small mansion in the 9th arrondissement? Elaine has a great eye for spotting hidden treasures and she's as bubbly as the best Champagne.

Did you see her NYTimes story on single-product shops on rue des Martyrs? She has a book coming put in November on RDM, THE ONLY STREET IN PARIS:Life on the rue des Martyrs. It's full of fabulous nuggets of Paris info. For example, I didn't know there are 85 churches in Paris. I think I've only hit a mere 6-7 thus far.

I didn't know every building in Paris (since the year 2000) must restore it's facade every 10 years (except churches). Ever gone back to your favorite restaurant and it's covered in scaffolding yet still open? In NYC it would be closed for fear of lawsuits. Nuggets like that make you feel practically Parisian reading Elaine's book. Yes, I couldn't resist the cherry cup at L'Objet Qui Parle. I'm on my way to creating my own Moreau-esque musee.

Just across the street divine artisan shop (one of the few left at 97, rue des Martyrs).

There is artisan Laurence Gillery (included in Elaine's book) back in her atelier gold-leafing something or other.Her main obsession is restoring mercury barometers back to full working order. Laurence may be one of the last in Paris able to do this. I wondered if she ever re-gilded any of the Moreau collection - so many frames! Could be a goldmine (no pun intended). If you've ever worked with gold leaf you'll know it is the most fiddly, delicate stuff on the planet. Some pastry chefs like to add it to their creations. It is edible by the way but don't lick your gold frames. Varnish and shellac is not.

While Elaine and Laurence bavardé (chatter too fast in French for moi) I take in this perfectly lit atelier with gorge skylights overhead.

Here Elaine is browsing the Fab bargain books(only outside) at Librairie Vendredi also in her book, but that's another story for another PB post.

If you're one of those people who say, "I won't go there...too many Americans" (like my sister, who fortunately doesn't read my blog - one of the few) you'll Adore rue des Martyrs and Elaine's book. It's mostly locals & people-in-the know coming to this charming enclave in the 9th.

Watch a mini film of Elaine exploring RDM HERE. 

By the way we're collaborating on an illustrated Paris Map so you can get clues to the  street's secrets...very exciting!

I'm so delighted to have met Elaine. I loved her book, French Seduction. Her new book is full of engaging Parisian tales. Story-teller Elaine is a Scheherazade .

I went back Sunday to St.Denis for the free organ concert and survived to tell the tale. Divine. Elaine wrote about the marche St.Denis by the way.

Relais Desserts - Les Buches de Noel 2015

It's that time of the year, early September

When we must taste the best, new Christmas Bûche de Noël at RELAIS DESSERTS.

Septembers are extra tough, PBers.
Isn't this a witty idea - turning the log on its side so you get a chocolate cake? Then pop on top an elf or two et voila from ever-witty, Frederic Cassel of Fontainebleau and president of the Relais Desserts pastry chefs organization.

This years Buche tasting was in a grand hall at Pavillon Cambon. 47 rue Cambon.

A lovely Christmas buche by Sebastien Bouillet of Lyon called 'l'Avalanche'. (I used to have a friend who called me 'Avalanche...hmm). (Mousse au chocolat blanc, huile d'olive, biscuit fondant, croustillant grandija).

The big, big difference at this year's tasting was, instead of choosing just 5 buche to taste, you could taste ALL 26! There were sample slices just beside the whole cake and they were replenished liberally. Plus you remembered exactly which cake you were tasting unlike last year's tastings.

All the chefs were tasting as well. Top chefs Pierre Herme and Arnaud Larher are obviously in a state of deep introspection.

Herme's buche I thought was a double entendre or visual pun - a chocolate log within a more realistic log. (Biscuit au chocolat imbibe au sirop chocolat, ganache et crème Chantilly au chocolat noir Pure Origin Bresil, Plantation Paineiras).

Wrong! It was an artistic reference to an artwork called 'Spacio' by Luce de Giuseppe Penone, shown in a London gallery.

'Pamplemousse Rosa' by Claire Damon was pretty and delicate in pink with pink grapefruit and rose flavored mousse.

Damon of Des Gateaux et du Pain is the first woman member of Relais Desserts. Hooray!

This cerise beauty was irresistible by Bernard Besse and called 'Coeur de Rubis'. (Crème souflee a la vanilla de Tahiti parsemee de cerises Amarena, mouse de chocolat et fine feuille craquante de chocolat noir).

An adorable choo-choo by Laurent Le Daniel. (Crème mousseline au praline, noisettes grilles et caramelisees, mousse au chocolat epice et de gingimbre fraichement etc.).

More cherries! And definitely a visual/verbal pun. Hooray! Aurelien Trottier's Bouche de Noel (bouche(mouth) instead of buche) A kiss to end your Christmas dinner. (Creameux framboise et cerise, une nougatine craquante aux amandes et une mousse de chocolat noir).

This buche from Dalloyau has a wave down the middle representing la Seine.

Pascal Lac's beautiful orange 'Buche Manon'. I will be here through Sunday(dimanche) copying out these ingredients. Sorry, you will just have to come to Paris for Christmas and taste these yourself. I can think of far worse things to do for Xmas, so why not PBers?

Jean-Paul Hevin can be depended upon to come up with a devilishly creative chocolate solution for his buche.Voila!

A very chocolaty buche with Fall leaves as a nice touch by Eric Vergne.

Consisting of raspberries, chocolate mousse, cassis, Sacher torte crunchy cake base, plus vanilla cream and nuts from Burgundy. What more could you ask for ?

Very dear to my heart was this mailbox (not full of Paris sketch letters and maps malheureusement) but still quite adorable snowmen (and women I hope hidden within the box?) by Maelig Georelin.

Chef Alban Guilmet happily posed with his tres charmant buche of orange, passion fruit and mango with a bit of hazelnut cream. Yum yum.

A sneak look back in la cuisine at Pavillon Cambon - they were supremely organized. Everything went off without a hitch.

50,000€ raised from JOUR DU MACARONS DAY for cystic fibrosis (l’association Vaincre la Mucoviscidose).

Another very well-deserved Hooray!

Best chef of 2015 went to Christophe Adams, eclair king of Genie d'Eclair.

Naturalement I tasted all 26 buches.

'I had to go to rehab' yeah, yeah, yeah.