Spring Flours
Well, the truth is, the flours and sugars and all are always out in great varietal beauty in Paris. These I shot through the bottom of a mostly closed window shade, at a pâtisserie in the Marais, after hours.
...and Flore in the spring.
Yesterday, I saw some of my favorite people from Flore, the man and lady who sit next to me upstairs with their two Yorkies. They're there every day, and we always talk when I'm next to them. This time, the lady came all the way back down and outside after depositing her dogs to say hello and ask me how I was, which I thought was very sweet.
Two or three Paris visits ago, I was sitting upstairs, and a waiter I'd been chatting with left me a couple of chocolates, which I was saving in a little stack on my placemat to eat.
The shifts changed, and the mean little short waiter came over, all brusque, no "Bonjour...ça va?" and cleared them away. He knew I wanted them, and did it to be mean, and it was so starkly mean it made me feel close to tears.
When I chatted in my broken French with a guy I often see there about what happened, and how awful I thought it was, I think the doggie couple heard and intervened with somebody in the management. Amazingly, about 20 minutes later, the waiter came back, gave me two chocolates and apologized...sounding rather sincere, too!
Damn, now I'm hungry. Geeze, Amy, hit me right in the sweet tooth.
Good for your friends. That waiter deserved whatever trouble he got into. Chrissake, what was the big deal over leaving you a couple of chocolates anyway?
Donna at February 21, 2008 4:29 AM
I hate you. It's been 13 months (with 6 more to go) since I have had anything more indulgent then dove milk chocolate bars.
Tomare Utsu Zo at February 21, 2008 6:17 AM
It's always so bittersweet when the heroine is revealed to have a weakness. . . . . (not that the loss of french chocolate at the hands of such a villain wouldn't have brought me close to tears)
Elle at February 21, 2008 7:14 AM
Man, I'm salivating over that raspberry thing, there. Nice! o_O
Flynne at February 21, 2008 7:34 AM
I'm with Flynne. I've been craving that rasberry tart for about seven hours now. Thanks a lot, Amy.
SeanH at February 21, 2008 12:14 PM
One of the wonderful things about living in a large, urban center, is the availability of fine foods. For gastrointestinal joy, Portland is possibly the greatest city in the country. With a higher concentration of restaurants per-capita, than any other city in the U.S. you can find most anything you could desire, at a level of quality that you can afford.
In a ten block radius downtown, there are food carts representing the cuisine of more than thirty countries. One of the carts that sells Mediterranean food (Abbla's), is one of the top two purveyor's of Mediterranean food in the Portland metro area. They also sell the very best Gyro I have had in my life (something that I have tried nearly everywhere I have traveled, always seeking out the best in the area.
There are bakeries of any ethnic focus you can think of. It is easy to stumble upon them in the oddest of places, tucked away on side streets. One of my favorites is a nominally Armenian bakery, that also produces French, German and British baked goods. They make fusion treats as well, including a honey-scone that is served with a pistachio paste.
There are also a huge number of tiny, neighborhood ethnic food stores, everywhere around here. There is a Peruvian store that specializes in treats and spice blends, from a relatively small region in Peru. I have found eleven different German food stores, five of which focus their wares on specific regions of Germany.
And there are candymakers from all over the world, making their traditional sweet treats, right here in town. Including four different Swiss chocolatiers, that I know of. There is also a fifth generation, Belgian chocolatier.
In some cases, these offerings can be rather pricy, but in many cases they are very reasonable. Some of them are downright cheap, something not always reflected in the quality. All in all, it's a great city for good food and cool little shops.
DuWayne at February 21, 2008 1:05 PM
The waiter;sincere?
The guy should be a movie actor,not a waiter.
Garçon!!!!! 2 lumps sugar please and be a good
boy,will ya?
GPV at February 21, 2008 9:13 PM
Just back home and awakened by a car alarm.
DuWayne, in Portland, if you like coffee, you should check out Ristretto Roasters, Nancy Rommelmann's husband Din's place. Amazing coffee. I mail-order it, and did that the first time to be nice, since friends were starting a new business. Now, I joke that, if I hated Nancy and Din, I'd still order it, because it's that good. Sumatra Mandheling, ground fine for espresso, although Din, I think, secretly hates that I order the same coffee each time, and get it ground. He roasts it himself, and if he has a religion, I'm pretty sure it's coffee.
http://ristrettoroasters.com/
Amy Alkon at February 21, 2008 11:59 PM
Actually, the one thing that has been the bane of my existence, here in Portland is coffee. When I lived in Lansing, I started roasting my own coffee. There were no less than three places to buy green bean coffee there. Since moving here, I have found only one place that sells it and it is really expensive.
Sumatran is my very favorite coffee, excepting a Guatemalan coffee that is considered exceedingly rare. A friend picks it up for me, whenever he's there. It is seventeen dollars a pound at the plantation. Contrasted with Jamaican Blue Mountain, which goes for right around ten dollars a pound, on the mountain.
I am certain that he does hate it that you order the coffee pre-ground, it made me cringe too. Back when I had a steady supply, I roasted my coffee for the following morning, every night. Light roasted Ethiopian and dark Sumatran, was my staple blend. I would also do a little Jamaican Blue mountain on occasions when I had visitors (oddly, I have never been too keen on the Blue mountain).
Anyways, I will check him out. I usually get my coffee at Trader Joe's, because it is decent and cheap. Usually I buy the expensive green bean coffee for treating myself.
DuWayne at February 22, 2008 11:56 AM
Isn't it funny how it is the small unkindnesses that can dehumanize us the most? It truly is the little things that matter.
HC at February 22, 2008 1:37 PM
True. A guy taking away my tiny chocolates...yet it was really awful.
Amy Alkon at February 22, 2008 1:51 PM
And you know, knowing me, I probably had part of a Lindt chocolate bar in my purse at the time. I always have chocolates and tiny sausages in my purse in Paris, in case I get hungry.
In L.A., if I'm going out somewhere alcohol is served, and Gregg isn't driving, I take a Laughing Cow cheese or two. Emmanuelle Richard made fun of me for that, but I don't ever want to drive drunk, and I'm kind of a lightweight!
Amy Alkon at February 22, 2008 2:06 PM
I can't, can't, can't fucking believe that Amy Francophile Alkon eats Laughing Cow.
I used to eat that in Brentwood back when Whole Foods was Westward Ho, and thought I was slumming. Who knew it was so continental?
Crid at February 22, 2008 5:20 PM
"They keep well!" she huffed.
(I suspect you could leave one unrefrigerated for a decade, and it would still be as semi-edible as when you bought it.)
I'm not saying I LIKE the things. I'm saying they serve a purpose!
Amy Alkon at February 22, 2008 5:57 PM
And the 50 Euro note on the table didn't have anything to do with getting the chocolate replaced??
artpunkt at February 23, 2008 2:02 AM
Hah, cute. No, this was to pay the nice waiter this time, and I needed change, as the croissant, confiture (jam) and coffee were 9.90 eu. The chocolates incident happened in the upstairs section (where I sometimes see the plastic-surgery wrecked Deneuve), a bunch of visits ago.
Amy Alkon at February 23, 2008 2:18 AM
> the plastic-surgery wrecked
> Deneuve
Damn.
This shit has got to stop.
Anybuddy seen Bardot lately? Everything still cool?
Crid at February 23, 2008 10:25 AM
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