KarmaFree Cooking

A Vegetarian in Paris… Musts from the Internet

Last month I spent a whole week in Paris… because I haven’t been in Paris since I was 16, I wanted to do all the touristy things 1^st time visitors do – Tour Eiffel, Place de la Concorde, Arc de Triomphe, the Seine River, Notre Dame, the Louvre Museum, Montmatre, Sacre Coeur, etc…

But in addition to the monuments musts, I also had a separate list – the FOODIE MUSTS. Reading on the Internet, I built a list of foodie must do’s I wanted to try. I only had a chance to do only a few things, but here are several of the highlights…

Berthillon Ice Creams

At Serious Eats, many contributors mentioned the ice creams for Berthillon were “to die for”. So the day we decided to walk over to Place Vendome, visit la Place de la Bastille, we made our way to Ile de St. Louis to try out these spectacular ice creams.

berthillion 2

After walking a great deal trying to find this ice cream parlor, we were bummed to find out they are closed on Mondays and Tuesdays… so we had to do the next best thing – cross the street and have our ice cream at the café in front, where the advertised they serve the delicious ice creams from Berthillon.

berthillion 1 berthillion 4

All the reviews said the best was bitter chocolate, so I ordered chocolate and a new flavor recommended by the server, caramel beurre salé. It’s true what they say… these ice creams are superb!!! The chocolate is not super sweet and the caramel beurre salé tastes like a salted toffee, my favorite flavor. Annie Mariel followed recommendations as well and ordered chocolate and pistachio. The pistachio flavor tasted like real nuts and did not have that artificial green color most US pistachio ice cream have.

caramel beurre salle et chocolat

pistachio et chocolat

After having our first taste of these Berthillon ice creams, we would order a few flavors every time we saw them listed on any menu… so when visiting Notre Dame, we also had a chance to try the nougat and coffee flavors. Outstanding as well…

notre dame nougat et cafe

When you visit Paris, forget about your waistline for a few minutes and try out these spectacular ice creams. Hey, when you’re on vacation, you can break the rules once in a while, no?

POÎLANE BREAD

Ever since I got Ina Garten’s Barefoot in Paris cookbook a few years back, I’ve been planning to visit this bakery. She says it has the best bread in Paris and that’s a lot… because bread in Paris is the best in the world. Just ask my little niece Mariana, who visited Paris about 3 years ago when she was only 4 and right before my trip to Paris she told me: “Titi Madelyn, the bread in Paris is soooooooooooooo good!!!!” She still remembers… and she was only 4. She has the food-loving gene, I know…

I did not get to visit the famous bakery on the same street that Giada DeLaurentiis lived when she attended culinary school, but during my first meal in Paris, we had tartines made from whole-grain Poîlane bread. Again, all bread in Paris is good. But I will have to do a specific taste-test to be absolutely sure the Poîlane bread is head and shoulders above the rest. I’ll keep you posted on this one.

Tartine Madeleine

L’AS DU FALAFEL

The Marais is located between the 3^rd and 4th arrondissements… and it’s kind of “the West Village” of Paris. It’s filled with small pedestrian streets with plenty of shopping and restaurants to last you a whole month in Paris. It’s also part of the Jewish district… so it’s the place to go for some Middle Eastern food. And I sure needed a break from the bread, cheese and potato diet I had been carrying for the last few days.

I’ve read about L’As du Falafel in many internet discussions and about the huge lines formed right in front of this stand. Even the Director of the Alliance Française in PR knew about this place… he knew the street address by heart. That’s how well-known this place is for the locals and foodie tourists alike.

We searched for this street in every map we had… I had to consult my newly bought map by arrondisement to actually find it. We walked past a mob of people to find L’As du Falafel CLOSED. For the second time, I arrived to an internet recommendation to find the place closed. It happened to be Saturday and some Jewish people observe the Sabbath, and the owners of this stand apparently do too.

l'as du falafel 1

Then, on our way back to a main avenue, we noticed again the mob of people on the street. I read the name of the place, Chez Marianne, and thought nothing of it. What could be happening here that people are standing in line for??? Well, apparently when L’As du Falafel is closed, people stand in line at Chez Marianne for their falafel fix. We were not sure how to order, so we found a little table right next to the pick-up window to observe how the locals were doing it.

Chez Marianne chez marianne 2

After much deliberation and salivation, we decided to order a plate of 5 components that we then used to stuff some pitas and create some falafel sandwiches. Our order included falafels, tabbuleh, eggplants cooked with tomatoes, eggplant dip, a salad and pickles. With a squirt of lemon juice on top, the falafel sandwich was exquisite. The falafels were crispy and light… nothing greasy. Just what my appetite needed… no cheese for just one meal. Can you believe I just said that???

Chez MArianne - falafels

falafel sandwich

LA DURÉE PASTRY SHOP

Pastries in Paris are as beautiful as any other masterpiece at the Museé du Louvre or Museé d’Orsay. And one of these pastry museums is La Durée. We just found it serendipitously while walking towards La Madeleine church. I saw the name on the store and immediately said: “We need to go in there”.

Laduree - dehors

La Durée is famous for their pastries, but most of all, for their macaroons. To me, macaroons are like coconut kisses (besitos de coco), but in Paris, macaroons are something different. They are these meringue-like sandwich cookies.

laduree - bag

laduree - macaroons

We had to stand in line for about 15-20 minutes to buy these macaroons. While in line I photographed some of the marvels they make there… check them out. Aren’t they gorgeous??

laduree 2 laduree 5 laduree 3 laduree 4

PIERRE HERMÉ

Walking from the Museé du Luxembourg towards Boulevard St. Germaine, we ran into my friend’s Jesiel favorite pastry shop, Pierre Hermé. She has actually decided she wants to move to Paris to be a pastry chef and sometime intern with Pierre’s famous crew. I was impressed by how people line outside the store to taste their masterpieces.

pierre herme

I was tired and craving a crepe, so we decided to pass on standing in line this time… but I will most definitely try to go in the next time I visit Paris.

Even though I got to experience all these foodie adventures, I still have some pending stuff I have waiting for my next trip…

Go to Poîlane Bakery to see the lamp made from bread
Le Grand Epicerie at le Bon Marché
Visit E. Dehillerin to see the best stocked kitchen gadget store in the world
Go to a street market in the MORNING so I can purchase all the components to a great picnic lunch
Sitting at an outside table at Café de Flore
Have dinner at a Joel Rebuchon restaurant
Go to the Le Creuset outlet store and drool for a few hours

Tags: france, paris

Comments Leave a Comment
Categories MY EDITORIAL, Travel

A Vegetarian in Paris… Mon premier repas à Paris

13 Oct

You already know I am in love with anything French. And it was only fitting that I would visit the capital of France to experience firsthand all that Paris has to offer. Last May, my friend Annie Mariel and I decided that we would go to Paris in September. June was too close, July too hot, August emptied of real Parisians… so September was the ideal time to go.

Drapeau Francais

I had not set foot in Paris since I was 16… we will not actively reveal how many years ago that is. Just know that it’s been a real while. They used the French franc then and the European Union did not exist.

So this trip was a re-acquaintance trip of sorts – getting to know Paris as an adult, testing my French language skills, and discovering all that French cuisine has to offer, to a vegetarian. Because something else is also different on this trip when compared to my previous one… I was not a vegetarian then. Not even dreamt about it. On that original trip, I remember quite well ordering steak frites, one of Paris’ staples. But I was confident I would manage…

I will divide my trip experiences in a few installments … because I noticed I took as many pictures of what I ate as pictures from the well-known Parisian monuments – the Eiffel Tower, the Arc du Triomphe, the Mona Lisa, Place de la Concorde…

I hope you will enjoy Paris as much as I did, even if it’s vicariously thru my pictures and commentary… on y va!!!

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

The trip to Paris is quite long… 3 ½ hours from SJ to NYC and 7 hours from NYC to Paris. It’s a “sort-of” overnight trip because you arrive in Paris at 7AM Paris time, even though it’s actually 1AM for your mind and body. We were lucky to fly 1^st class from SJ to NYC, but not so lucky on the long leg of the trip… we ordered vegetarian meals for both of us, Annie Mariel and I, and this is what we got: Curried Chickpeas with White Rice – is this a flight to Paris or to India??? – some overcooked broccoli, a salad and cantaloupe. This reminded me of the airline food challenges in Top Chef a few seasons back. Pathetic to say the least… I was very much looking forward to some great Parisian food.

Ariline Food 1

We arrived in Paris at about 7:30AM. We got into the city at about 8:30AM. Our landlady was waiting on us in our Parisian apartment. We rented an apartment in the 2eme arrondissement because we wanted to live as the Parisians do. And besides, it’s much cheaper than a hotel if you’re staying more than a few days. We were a bit jetlagged and took a power nap to get our energy up…

We arrived on a Sunday morning and Sundays in Paris are very much like I remember things in PR about 30 years ago – no shops are open, everything is closed for the day. Only the Champs Elysées and the touristy areas are open. But we wanted to live as Parisians and that meant to walk to a touristy area if you want to eat in a café or restaurant on a Sunday.

We decided to walk around our neighborhood to get familiarized with it… we were located right in between the Opera/Madeleine area and the Louvre – all that within walking distance. Following my namesake, we decided to head towards Opera/La Madeleine and see where that would lead us.

Place de la Madeleine

We found a café aptly named Café Madeleine… hey, I had to eat there!!! I loved that most everything on the menu was accompanied by “frites et salade”, French fries and salad. Remember I told you, all fries in France and French fries… you need to order frites. I ordered a tartine which is an open faced sandwich on toasted whole-grain Poîlane bread (check!!). I ordered the one with cheese and tomato, sans the jambon. The server was not too happy, but I explained in my best French that I was vegetarian and I did not want the ham at all… he understood or was it he felt compelled to please me by my attempt of speaking French by the locals… I will never know.

Tartine Madeleine

The tartine looked and tasted delicious… way better than what we had had on the airplane a few hours back. The salad was simply dressed with vinaigrette, worthy of any French café.

And because we were on vacation, we had to end with ice cream… Annie Mariel loves chocolate and I had to oblige. It was delicious. And the wafers that came on the side were awesome too.

Glace au chocolat

This was light and a perfect introduction to our culinary/eating adventures in Paris… stay tuned for more on my French vegetarian adventure. A bientôt…

Tags: french

Comments 1 Comment
Categories MY EDITORIAL, sandwiches, Travel

Vegetarian Awareness Month

3 Oct

October is Vegetarian Awareness Month. This is an initiative of the North American Vegetarian Society to promote vegetarianism and its benefits across the US and North America.

WVDhome_msthd

For vegetarians, it’s a way to celebrate and promote our healthy, compassionate life-style and dietary choice. And for those who still have not made the change, it serves as an incentive and motivation to give meatless meal a more serious look and possibly even giving it a try. You will be helping to create a better world because vegetarian diets have proven health benefits, save animals’ lives and help to preserve the Earth.

Please consider joining us, with the thousands of others this October, who will be exploring the vast variety of tasty and healthful meat-free foods, and sharing information about the benefits of vegetarian diets with the people in their local communities…

If you are still not a vegetarian, consider these few tips from NAVS on how you can still support Vegetarian Awareness Month:

Eat meat-free for the day or throughout the month
Learn how a vegetarian diet can benefit you personally
Try the meatless options available at local restaurants and eateries
Discuss vegetarianism with your interested friends, family and co-workers
Host a meatless meal or potluck for your friends
Eat meatless meals on a regular basis

Comments Leave a Comment
Categories MY EDITORIAL

Provençal Rice

21 Sep

With my stove out of commission for a few weeks, I resorted to my trusted friend the rice cooker to help me out in the kitchen.

This is a dish I used to order a lot as accompaniment when I used to eat at La Parrilla Argentina, a “fast food” joint found here in PR in mall food courts. Never been to Argentina, it’s still in my to-travel list, but apparently this is a popular side dish too. The name is “french” but that’s the way the named it at La Parrilla, I guess because it uses parsley and garlic.

It’s easy to make, delicious and you don’t need to occupy a stove range when making it. I usually set the rice cooker and then go off to take a shower, meditate, and do other stuff without having to tend to the food itself. Rice cookers are the best invention ever…

Arroz Provencal

PROVENÇAL RICE

1 cup of whole grain, brown Texmati rice (I use the measure in my rice cooker… so I am not completely sure if my “cup” is the same size as yours)

1 tbs sofrito or 2 cloves of garlic, chopped

¼ cup minced flat leaf Italian parsley

½ cup grated Parmesan cheese

Water

Salt

Olive oil

Measure rice and wash well.
Place in the rice cooker and fill with rice with about ¼ more than the rice cooker lines say. Brown Texmati rice needs a bit more water than regular white rice.
Add the sofrito, salt and olive oil to taste. Mix it all in a bit. I usually pour about 1 tsp to 2 tsp of oil. I learned to do this by “eyeballing” it. Cover and turn the rice cooker on.
In my rice cooker, when the chime goes off, I still need to let it rest for about 10-15 more minutes to make sure the steam finish cooking the rice. After this time has passed, fluff the rice with a fork and stir in the parsley and the parmesan cheese.
Let the flavors meld for about 5-10 minutes more and serve.

I had this rice with a tomato and avocado salad and french fries. YUM!!

Tags: flat leaf parsley, parmesan, whole grain rice

Comments 3 Comments
Categories basics, From my CSA box, side dishes

Mexican Recipes Recap

19 Sep

To celebrate the Fiestas Patrias in México in September, conmemorating Mexico’s Independence, let’s do a recap of Karma Free Cooking’s Mexican-inspired recipes so far: