About Bear and the November Paris Cafe Letter

First of all THANK YOU for all your caring, concerned messages PBers! It means a lot.

But Louise wrote she was outraged I showed a stuffed bear when Paris was up in flames! I had to stop and think a bit...and look up 'Alter Ego'. 

A person's secondary or alternative personality

An intimate and trusted friend.

Bear is all of those. You may not know Bear. He was gifted to me in March, 2010 by Lola of Sonia Rykiel. We haven't been apart since.

Six years of traveling to and fro to France, and always the best companion.

We have a lot in common. We both would rather browse menus than eat inside.

Browsing cookie aisles is another shared pastime.

Bear doesn't eat pie/tarte crust either.

And we both love the Paddington movie

Bear is a working partner by the way. He earns his keep on Etsy.

In charge of product fulfillment and he makes sure every envelope has a stamp.

Last week Bear and I researched the November Sketch letter.

I wanted to draw classic Parisian café waiters. That entailed eating a lot of classic petit dejeuners last week. I can tell you the best deal is at Cafe Le Select. 9,80 for 'Sur le pouce'. Excellent hot chocolate + freshly pressed OJ + the crispiest croissant.

If you love Paris cafes you'll be very happy reading Le Select Crowd.

Filled with Rick Tulka's daily drawings and text by Noel Riley Fitch,  Perfection.

Le Select is at 99 Boulevard Montparnasse 75006

For the best apricot jam on the planet, Le Deux Magots is tops.

Their signature goodies downstairs are wonderful by the way.

If you want to sketch classic Parisian waiters

Go to Cafe Flore.  The waiters are top drawer.

The November Paris letters were mailed out early last week. Otherwise I don't know how I would have managed to do a thing.

Living on Isle Saint Louis, you are removed from the rest of Paris. And my TV doesn't work. I've been dependent on the NYTimes and other news sources. But there is no getting away from the constant sounds of sirens. In New York during 9/11 there was no escaping the disaster. The air was full of smoke and I saw the WTT go down from my rooftop. Sometimes being in the midst of a tragedy it's harder to fathom than those watching it from afar.
I do know I don't want to leave Paris. And I'm lucky to have Bear around.
A very cheering influence.

Elaine Sciolino is in New York right now. 

Thanks Andy and Diane for sending her talk on fresh Air on What it means to be French.

Another diversion - the BBC's excellent daily 1 hour dramatization of Proust's In Search Of Lost Time. 

Bear is listening even though its in English.

Tonight in Paris

Finally went out at 6 pm (admittedly to look for some ice cream..). I remember thinking last night on my way to a glamorous do, how the Seine always provides such a spectacular light show. It still does, though we are very sad tonight.

Bear is OK

THANK YOU FOR ASKING !!! 
XXX Carolg

Brunch with Coco Jobard

Last Sunday food stylist and cookbook author par excellence, Coco Jobard invited me to brunch (or 'bruncher' as the French like to say).

While Coco expertly scrambled the eggs (scrambled eggs?)

I tended the toast-maker. Coco bought this stunning (but in my opinion totally useless) toaster at BHV. Its two-sided and you're assured of burning both toast and your fingers. Still it looks attractive, like it escaped from a cowboy's campfire (with electricity?). Appearances count.

The appearance of Coco's plates are another matter.

There is not one dish or spoon in Coco's tiny apartment that is not wildly attractive.

Her tabletops are always delightful but she's a wonderful food stylist. Have you visited her site?

I mentioned I didn't know coleslaw was French?

"Nothing we're eating is French", I was reminded.

Doing 'bruncher' entails lots of American breakfast goodies. Note prominent maple syrup bottle (probably Canadian) decorating the table.

Were we supposed to dribble syrup on Coco's delish scones? Oh  I forgot to show the clotted cream.

My breakfast plate with English grilled sausages and tomatoes. Heaven.

Coco has authored and food-styled every Pierre Herme cookbook so I was expecting a Fetish Ispahan extravaganza. Instead we had an Autumn extravaganza of seasonal fresh walnuts and figs and Basque cherry jam (at last something intrinsically FRENCH!).

I have a secret passion for this bird lamp from Mathieu Challière. Have you seen them at Conrans?

Coco has a new bird cage lamp. I was drooling.

*Note that dark corner by the window? 

That's where Coco and top dessert photographer, Laurent Fau style and setup all the photos for Pierre Herme's exquisite cookbooks and brochures in his patisseries. Hard to believe the magic created in that little corner. Pierre Herme often visits while Coco concocts recipes for the books.

More faux birds perched on the windowsill (permanently) get to watch the magic taking place. If only they could speak...

Herme's brand new Pierre Herme Macaron: The Ultimate Recipes from the Master Patissier is just out in English. Do click again on the page for all the info. 60 stunning photographs styled by Coco and Laurent + Coco's recipes (with Pierre looking over her shoulder naturalment).

Cucumber and tangerine, wasabi cream and strawberry. Coco let me taste many samples. Miam Miam

The fabulous 'Jardins' flavors are included if you're a fan.

P.Herme's Latest endeavor - collaborating on perfumes with l'Occitane. Rhubarbe/grapefruit, honey/Mandarine, Jasmin immortal. They sound like macaron flavors.

Speaking of making magic (ahem) a PBer requested a letter gift certificate card. What do you think?
PS
Thanks so much for buying Elaine's Only Street in Paris! Almost 50 books were sold and all maps have gone out. Enjoy!

Salon du Chocolat, The Only Street in Paris and a map giveaway

Last Friday I ran over to the big Salon du Chocolat at Porte de Versailles

I'm a big fan of this new line of witty French chocolate bars. I haven't tasted them yet but looks count.

Beauty and the beast - an enormous chocolate 'cubist' bear in the center of the salon, while one of the chocolate dresses is rushed through the crowd. Last week was a school holiday so scads of families and kids attending.

Perfect bear cookies for kids (from Japan). Cemoi marshmallow bears for kids of all ages. Yum Yum

Jean-Charles Rochoux's fabulous chocolate sculptures. His early-bird Easter bun looks ready to run.

From Jean-Paul Hevin - simple, but scrumptious chocolate disks. Irresistible.

I didn't get to taste these chocolate brochettes.

But no way was I going to miss out on Sadaharu Aoki's green tea batter enrobed chocolate macarons! Reason alone to attend the Salon.

Plenty of Halloween chocolates were in attendance in case you were wondering.

Enfin, some Gothic architecture I could sink my teeth in to, Notre Dame with a touch of the Golden Arches. Hmm...

From the chocolate museum in Paris, an enormous encyclopedia. Naturally a French kid is studying it with great determination.

Always masses of cooking supplies from Deco-Relief for the DIYers onboard.

Single serve portions of hot chocolate. Just dip it into hot milk, let it melt. Then lap it up.

Brussel's Debailleul with their exquisite boxes and even more exquisite chocolates inside showed up this year.

Patisserie Carl Marletti of rue Mouffetard was again onsite.

Fun to watch the work in process.

Every year chocolatier Henri Le Roux creates a special treat only for the salon

This year a wafer cookie coated inside with a thin layer of chocolate, then filled with freshly made mascarpone, Chantilly and caramelized nuts sprinkled on top. Definitely a Must try.

Vendeuse Lydia remembered me from our chat two years ago! Now she's in charge of the rue des Martyrs shop at No.24. I asked if she knew Elaine Sciolino and she melted.
Elaine's book, The Only Street in Paris - Life on  the rue des Martyrs, is finally out this week.
Hooray!
THANK YOU PBers!
You will Love Elaine's book

*The first 10 PBers to Buy a copy on Amazon will get a rue des Martyrs map sent from Paris!!

Let me know in the comments or email me.

I started rereading Elaine's book again. Chine Machine was closed when she gave me the grand tour of rue des Martyrs. What a fabulous find. I must go back and search out the second-hand goodies. Elaine found a Hermes scarf there for a mere 5€. But her book is so much more than that. She brings the street and Paris alive with her gift for storytelling, her wit, her passion, her breezy tone. Here's a tiny excerpt. I could have added so much more.

Oh just read the book. You'll love it I promise.
You can meet Elaine here.
Tell her Paris Breakfast sent you! :)

I learned the street’s early morning rhythm by jogging from bottom to top. The first sound is a six a.m. rush of water, as street sweepers dressed in chartreuse and emerald-green uniforms open valves to send the flow downhill along the gutters. It is part of the Paris cleaning ritual but also a waste of water and a con- tributing factor to the wet underbelly of Notre-Dame-de-Lorette Church, at the bottom of the street. Depending on the day, I might have to dodge an all-night crowd gathered at Bistrot 82 for more booze and an early breakfast.
By six-thirty, the first food merchants have arrived. The metal shutters of the shops open with a crashing and screeching that ricochets off the old concrete and stone walls. By seven, the roar of trucks delivering food takes over. Every fifteen minutes or so, the 67 bus climbs the street, announcing its presence with a bell. Dogs are late sleepers in my neighborhood, seldom out before eight or eight-thirty. Their masters seem to be a civic- minded bunch who rarely leave behind dog excrement—unlike residents on my old street in a much fancier part of Paris.
The three bells of Notre-Dame-de-Lorette ring at nine a.m., as they will every hour until eight p.m., plus three times a day for the Angelus prayer. Boutiques begin to open at ten a.m. When school lets out, in late afternoon, children crowd the sidewalks with their parents (mostly mothers) or nannies.