Flying the Colors

There's no reason why we can't be both patriotic and Francophilic (that's not a disease, just in case you were wondering). So here's our attempt at an abstract American flag photo collage.







I never was very good at collage. It would have been so much easier to just save this post for today. Oh well - Happy 4th of July!

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 . . .

One night in Paris

Alyssa and Michelle could only stay for one night in Paris, so even though they were very jet-lagged, Louis and I somehow managed to drag them out of bed after a brief mid-afternoon nap (well, Panda helped, too). We had made plans to meet up with Joy and Jake at Galeries Lafayette, one of the big department stores that we have visited twice before.

It was nice to get out of the cold, go inside, and see the grand Christmas decorations.

As we were walking around, Joy saw a dress she liked. It cost only 1400 euros, and even though we all thought she looked great in it, she decided not to buy it.

We passed through the "épicerie," which is really a giant gourmet supermarket, and marveled at the huge table whose multicolored spices filled the whole floor with delightful scents.

Back outside, we walked a block over to Printemps, another grand magasin (epic department store). They didn't have a central area with amazing decorations, but they did have a "Russian" theme going on. I especially loved the larger-than-life nesting dolls.

To give you a sense for just how big the store is . . .

Through careful study of this complex map, we figured out that the real highlight of Printemps is its rooftop deck, from which you can see the whole city in all its amazing shapes and colors . . .

La Madeleine, with la Grande Roue de Paris (Ferris wheel) just to the left

A Printemps turret bathed in red light, with the back of the Opéra visible to its left

Eventually we took 8 flights of escalators down from the roof to leave Printemps . . .

. . . and headed to dinner at Le Mesturet, another restaurant on Jesse's list that's very close to Louis' primary place of research. If Alyssa, Michelle, Jake, and Joy wanted to experience tasty traditional French cuisine at a reasonable price, they couldn't have done any better than Le Mesturet. Louis' three-course meal (just as an example) included:

Smoked-salmon-topped puff pastry, greens with fennel vinaigrette

Parmentier de canard - mashed potatoes over roasted duck, baked just a few minutes

Mi-cuit gâteau de chocolat (chocolate cake with a moist center), topped with cardamom ice cream

What a night!