La Grisaille Parisienne

To everyone who's buried in snow right now, I am either sorry for you, or extremely jealous. Whichever you prefer. If it makes you feel any better, we're supposedly experiencing one of the worst winters in decades here, and that means six snowfalls of an inch or less. And a few weeks of highs in the low 30s. Terrible!

Clearly I can't complain too much, since Paris boasts a pretty mild winter by Boston standards. So consider what follows not as a complaint, but as a report. Only true facts. When people warned us about how rough the Paris winter is, this is what they were talking about. And they were right.

It's called the "grisaille parisienne" - the endless days (stretching into months) of gray (gris) skies. "Grisaille" is technically a term from the art world - it means any monochrome painting. It also refers to the gray color used in a lot of stained glass.

We sense the grisaille parisienne as surely as we sense that Panda smells bad. But it's also measurable. The French weather service keeps track of hours of sunlight by day and by month. In January, we had 47 hours of sunlight. That's out of roughly 273 possible hours of sunlight (calculated based on average sunrise/sunset times for the month). So we had sunshine around 17% of the month, or about 1.5 hours a day, or about 5 full days out of 31. That's pretty awful. (I can't find any data on Boston's sunny hours in January, but if anyone else can I'd love to have something to compare.) The sunlight-hours measurement was up in January from 46 hours in November but down from 52 hours in December. So far in February we've had 9 hours of sunlight, and we're on track for the least sunlight yet, despite the days getting longer. Hooray!

The grisaille parisienne makes even beautiful things look drab. It turns happy days into sad ones. It stamps out fun, hope, good health, and contentment.

In full daylight, St. Augustin looks like your typical neo-baroque cathedral. The grisaille turns it into a hulking, sinister fortress. I heard Darth Vader lives there.

I'm not the first to spend some time describing the grisaille parisienne, nor will I be the last.

Even Jean Nouvel couldn't design the Institut du Monde Arabe to withstand the tyranny of the grisaille, which washes out contemporary architecture, sucking windows that normally reflect the brilliant blue sky into a gaping gray hole of clouds and darkness.

Eden and JP Care Bear Stare the grisaille, but to no avail.

I wouldn't mind the gray skies if there were only 2-4 feet of snow on the ground to watch Panda frolic through. But nevermind. Tomorrow will be a brighter day.

The Cherry Orchard

Under the shadow of the Tour Montparnasse in the 14th arrondissement, a tiny hidden gem of a restaurant awaits. Chef Cyril Lalanne is hard at work at La Cerisaie creating inventive versions of traditional Southwestern French food.

A few weeks ago, we managed to secure a reservation for six (Louis, Joy, Cathy, Eden, JP, and me). There was no prix fixe menu, but thankfully the à la carte prices were not too steep. For dinner, entrées (first course) were 9 euros, plats (main course) 15, a cheese course for 6, and desserts for 8. Here is just a sampling of the deliciousness that ensued:

Velouté de citrouille/potiron et boudin noir  (Pumpkin soup with blood sausage)	Velouté de chataigne et foie gras (Chestnut soup with foie gras)	Bouillon clair de faisan et farce fine aux champignons (Pheasant broth with mushroom stuffing)

Oeuf cocotte à la crème et truffe fraîche (Egg en cocotte with cream and fresh truffle)


Filet de saumon rôti, garbure de légumes (Filet of roast salmon, garbure of vegetables)


Parmentier de civet de sanglier mijoté sept heures (Parmentier of wild boar stewed for seven hours)

Pomme au four caramélisée comme un crumble  (Crumbly caramelized baked apple)	Tarte fondante au chocolat et glace café  (Chocolate mousse tart with coffee ice cream)

As you can see, the food looked delicious, and it tasted good, too! The restaurant is quite small, so we did feel a little squished at times and we were a bit rushed to finish our meal because our reservation had a time limit (1.5 hours) so they could accommodate another group. Highly recommended, just don't expect much in the way of ambiance, and if you're going early, be sure to ask how long you'll have to eat when you make your reservation.

La Cerisaie Reservations essential. Ph: 01-43-20-98-98 70 bd. Edgar Quinet, 14eme Metro: Edgar Quinet/Montparnasse

Thanks for the photo Adam A.!

House of Three (or Four Really, Really Delicious) Teas

As Louis mentioned, the beginning of 2010 was a little bit ridiculous in terms of how many different food and drink establishments we managed to visit over the course of a few short weeks. One of the most unique places we visited was the Maison des Trois Thés, near Place Monge in the 5th arrondissement.

You might be able to guess from the outside that this is no ordinary Parisian salon de thé. This tea-lovers Elysium boasts an impressive array of fine mostly-Chinese teas (you won't find Earl Grey behind the counter here). In fact, we learned during our visit that the owner, Madame Tseng, spends at least half the year in Asia, gathering teas to sell in this very shop.

The choices were seemingly endless, but based on the advice of our server, we decided to taste four Wu-long or Oolong teas. A traditional Chinese tea hailing from several different regions (we tasted one from Taiwan and another from Fujian province), oolong tea is semi-fermented (which distinguishes it from green (un-fermented) and black (fermented) teas). A traditional way of drinking oolong tea is via the gōng fu chá dào or gongfu tea ceremony (if you didn't read the Madame Tseng link above, I'll just tell you that she is the only woman on a list of ten gongfu tea ceremony masters, so I think we went to the right place).

Madame Tseng was otherwise occupied, but she sent one of her very competent employees to serve us and demonstrate how to get the very best flavor from our chosen teas.

Louis, JP, Eden, and I each had an opportunity to try our hand at performing the gongfu tea ceremony, a process that involves steeping 5g of tea in almost-boiling water for just less than 30 seconds. First, fill a small pot - let's call it the steeping pot - with your tea of choice. Then, add nearly-boiling water until the pot is just barely overflowing. Finally, seal the lid with another quick pour of hot water. Be careful not to burn your fingers!

Wait no more than 30 seconds. Dry off the bottom of the steeping pot on a beautiful towel placed nearby. Next, deftly and swiftly pour the contents of the steeping pot into the (slightly larger) serving pot. A flip of the wrist will ensure minimal spillage. Wait a few moments while the freshly brewed tea empties. This is a good opportunity to amuse your guests with some witty banter. If serving more than one other person, it will be necessary to brew another batch and add it to the first already in the serving pot. These two infusions will mix and provide enough tasty tea for all your guests. 

From the serving pot, pour the tea into the taller, narrower cup - the sniffer (probably not a technical term). This cup is solely for sniffing. We smelled honey, grains, tobacco, flowers, nuts, and more in our teas. Each tea is unique and must be sniffed and tasted for maximum pleasure. 

Finally, pour the contents of your sniffer cup into your taster cup (the squatter one) and be sure to smell the empty sniffer cup for a strikingly different smell experience. Finally, raise the taster cups to your lips, and enjoy!

We highly recommend this tea house for anyone remotely interested in tea. Before we visited, I had read a review somewhere on the interwebs that said the shop was a little bit intimidating. That may be true (the tea canisters behind the counter are labeled in Chinese, for instance), but the staff were nothing but gracious and helpful and we really enjoyed our experience. 

Voisins/Amis

Just a quick shoutout to Mohamed and Héloise, neighbors from the next building over, and their kids Mehdi (7), Nahel (3), and Tilal (10 months) who just left after a delightful mid-afternoon goûter (snack). We first met at the pot in the courtyard in September; since then Maggie has done a bit of babysitting for Mohamed and Héloise, and they've generously lent us DVDs from their impressive collection. In an exciting development, Mohamed and Mehdi (avid gamers both) have promised to help me improve my French video-game vocab by playing Assassin's Creed and Call of Duty on their new Alienware computer.

For the first course of our goûter, we enjoyed galette des rois (#4 for us since Christmas Eve). Enfin (at long last) I found the fève (plastic figurine, in this case Asterix), thanks in part to a new tradition we learned about. Apparently it's the job of the youngest person present to get under the table and determine the order in which slices of galette are handed out. Tilal was too young (speech is an important part of the tradition) so Nahel did the honors.

The second course was another quince apple tart that we made fresh this morning (pictures forthcoming on flickr). The amuse-bouche (wordreference.com translates it as appetizer, but I think of it as anything that comes between courses) was chocolate-peanut-butter cookies (thanks to Eden and JP for bringing the peanut butter chips!).

The boys were a little scared of Panda at first, but eventually warmed to her. Tilal spit up a little on the rug, but it was no biggie. Mehdi and Nahel ate about 30 cookies, but weren't interested in taking a doggie bag home. They probably figured that since we live just across the courtyard from the them (literally), there's plenty more where that came from. And they're right.

Tomorrow: Matt arrives!

For the love of cheese

Eden and JP have now returned to their lives in Minnesota, but we can't quite forget them and the fun/delicious times we had. Here are some photos (some taken by us, some by JP) that we particularly like:

Below you'll find photos of several delicious treats we consumed during their visit (mostly cooked/baked by Eden and JP... I suspect you'll figure out which was not). First, a picture-perfect cherry clafoutis, then an utterly divine tartiflette (sans bacon, of course). Next, a tasty and filling leek bread pudding (JP, please send us the recipe!). And finally, a platter of cheeses!

Thanks, Eden and JP! Come back again real soon!

Eiffel Tower Tips

There are many things I love about Paris, but the Eiffel Tower (ET) is not one of them. Don't get me wrong - it's great to look at from far away and from up close, during the day and at night. I'm a big fan of the symbolism of it, its history, its architectural characteristics. But I don't like big crowds, I don't like waiting in line, and I don't like tourist traps. (ET: check, check, and check.) So even though we've been to the ET four times since September, until last week I hadn't actually been up the tower since 1999.

Last week, of course, was a special occasion: the first time my mom has ever visited me in Europe (she waited until my fifth stay of 2+ months to take the plunge). Once I had committed to "going up," I did everything in my power to eliminate the obstacles that normally keep me earth-bound. And I succeeded. If you, too, are interest in avoiding crowds, shortening your wait, and generally enjoying your experience of the ET, I have the following advice to offer:

1. Go on a weekday, preferably early in the week. Three of the four times we've been to the ET this year, it was Saturday and the place was mobbed. My mom, Cathy, and I went on a Tuesday and were shocked at how few people were around.
2. Arrive early. The tower opens at 9 and most people - especially jet-lagged people - aren't capable of getting there that early. We got there at 10:30 and walked right in (in part thanks to #3 below). By the time we left at 11, the line had already tripled in size. Cousins Ethan, Sandi, and Jacob arrived at the ET around 11 on a Saturday in October and waited around 45 minutes to take the stairs. 
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3. Buy tickets in advance. Most tourists don't know you can buy and print tickets online. Everyone waits in line for an hour or more just to buy tickets, then another lengthy period of time to enter the tower. Who wants to spend a trip to Paris waiting in line? Not this guy. Look, there's even a special entrance, just for you! 
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4. Take the stairs. The southwest pillar is the only one that allows you to climb to the first and second floors. The line there is usually shorter. Climbing is not only good exercise but gives you more time to appreciate your surroundings without the crowding you'll surely experience at each landing. And if you like counting things, you'll love counting the 600+ steps you'll take. Notice how the sign for the stairs includes an unfortunately-designed stick-figure (photo and Nazi-stick-figure-identification courtesy of JP): 
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5. Go up only as far as the second floor. I know this sounds lame, but due to construction (continuing Jan. 4 through Feb. 5) we were forced to stop at the second floor, and it couldn't have mattered less. The view from the second floor is ridiculous - you can see all of Paris quite clearly, as well as many of the suburbs. The higher you go, the better the chance you'll be in the clouds (literally) or that the ground will be too hazy to make out much of anything. Moreover, after you get up to the second floor, you have to wait in a new line to take the single elevator up to the summit. So now you're waiting in line for another significant chunk of time, which (again) is not my idea of funtimes. Consider that the first floor is 187 ft. (57 m) above ground level, the second floor is 377 ft. (115 m) high, while nearly every other building in Paris (with the exception of the Tour Montparnasse) rises no higher than 121 ft. (37 m). This is all to say, there's nothing you can see from the summit that you can't see from the second floor.

This advice serves mainly to ensure a speedy, efficient, and relatively un-crowded visit. It does not ensure ideal visibility, which depends heavily on the weather and season (going earlier in the summer is better than going earlier in the winter, since the sun is higher, which diminishes glare from too much light or haze from too much pollution). Here are two examples of the view from the second floor.

Tour Montparnasse, as barely seen through the early-morning glare and haze during our visit last week.

The difference is clear in a photo from Maggie and Alyssa's visit on December 26.

Lest you think me a rabid, unrepentant anti-towerist, I offer a slideshow of gratuitous beauty presenting views of and from the Eiffel Tower over the course of our stay thus far. Enjoy!

Foodie's Paradise

Over the 13 days that JP and Eden were in town (which coincided with the 8 days my mom and Cathy were here), we engaged in some epic food tourism. Here's a list of most of the places we hit, just so you can get a sense of the sheer magnitude of our consumption. With the exceptions of the places specifically indicated as not recommended, this is a pretty good list of places to eat and buy food during any random visit to Paris. We'll be posting about groups of these places and reviewing individual restaurants in the coming weeks, so don't worry - there's plenty of food photography in store.

Afternoon "Tea"
Ladurée (tea and pastries)
La Maison Berthillon (pastries and ice cream)
Hôtel Crillon (hot chocolate)
Angelina (hot chocolate and pastries)
Mariage Frères (tea and pastries)
Maison des Trois Thés (intense authentic Chinese tea)

Lunch (only the ones worth mentioning)
Così
Le Baratin
Café Trésor
L'As du Falafel

Dinner (* = from Jesse's List)
Fish La Boissonerie*
Coq Ming (do not recommend)
La Cerisaie*
Polidor (famous, but do not recommend)
Nambodaï
Astier*
Hotel Kaiserstein (two meals)

Fine Food Shopping:
La Grande Épicerie (at Le Bon Marché)
Galeries Lafayette Épicerie
Fauchon
Mariage Frères (tea)
Pierre Hermé (macarons)

La Bonbonnerie (chocolaterie across from la Trinité)

Now it's time to rest for four days, eating as much rice, beans, and pasta as possible, so we can do it all over again when Matt gets here Monday . . . (well, maybe we won't do it all over again).

Galette des Rois

We hadn't even finished our bûche de noël before it was time to taste another year-end delicacy: the galette des rois. Traditionally served around Epiphany (Jan. 6), the galette des rois or "king cake" makes reference to the three kings or magi who bestowed gifts upon baby Jesus, signifying recognition of his sanctity by non-Jews.

Adoration of the Magi by Bernardino Luini, 1520-1525, as viewed (conveniently) in the Louvre last Friday

The cake is composed of an outer pastry crust and a filling of frangipane, within which is placed a tiny plastic figurine.

Whoever gets the figurine in his or her portion is crowned "King" (or "Queen") for the evening. Eden was the first winner.

While we only had one bûche de noël, we somehow managed to consume three galettes des rois. That's because at first we thought it was a New Year's Eve dish, then thought it should be served on the Sunday closest to January 6, then decided we definitely needed to have on January 6. JP was crowned King for the second and third galettes.

My favorite is the airplane.

Next time, we'll have to try the elusive and rare chocolate galette des rois, which we only ever saw at the Galeries Lafayette épicerie . . .

Milliers d'artéfacts désuets / Thousands of obsolete artifacts

Today, Eden, JP and I visited the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, a museum located next to the Louvre and dedicated to the decorative arts (ceramics, furniture, glassware, furnishings, etc.) from the Middle Ages to the present day.

My favorites include these 18th-century food-shaped food holders (you can see close-ups here):

The Art Nouveau room (click on "Visionnez la version plein écran" for a full-screen 360-degree view of the room!), in which this chandelier, table, and chairs appear:

And this Art Deco "chiffonnier" designed by André Groult for the 1925 Exposition International des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes (although I like to think that it was inspired by the French animated character, Barbapapa):

"Available radiant veneer stingray accentuates the effect of wavy lines and the location of the breast and belly." (Thanks to Félix Marcilhac, André Groult, décorateur-ensemblier du XXe siècle, Paris, Éditions de l’Amateur, 1997, p. 154-155. and Google Translate)

Continuing through the museum, we explored furniture designs of the 1940s and 50s and enjoyed a brief rest in the 1960s chair room...

...before moving on to an exciting exhibition in the galerie des jouets featuring one of my favorite childhood pastimes, Playmobil! If you're passing through Paris before May 9th, I highly recommend stopping by to see the fun displays filled with memorable firemen, castles, chevaliers, princesses, horses, farm animals, and more.

Finally, a haiku from Eden to sum up the exhibition:

Kids and plastic

equals

tons of fun!