Back from France, and Yes, I Brought You Chocolates

LUCY BURDETTE: My first trip to Paris and Provence was during my junior year in college. I have always regretted that I felt too homesick and shy to really take advantage of the experience. So I embrace any chance for a do-over. 

And last week, I was very fortunate to travel to France for a trip focusing on food in Paris and Bordeaux. The week was curated and led by David Lebovitz, who writes a blog about food in Paris and also tries to translate the unusual customs of France for Americans. For many years David was the pastry chef at Chez Panisse, the restaurant founded by Alice Waters in Berkeley, CA. So he knows food.

My friend Carol and I decided we better get to Paris a couple days early so we’d be acclimated to the time change and not miss a trick. We spent those two days walking the city and also visited two museums that I had not been to before – the Picasso museum and the Musee d’Orsay. It was utterly astonishing to stand in front of works of art in person that I had only seen in books.

Picasso's goat

Vincent van Gogh's Bedroom

For the next five days, we made the rounds of chocolatiers, bakers, grocers, sommeliers, and cheese mongers in Paris and later in the week, Bordeaux. I won’t describe everything I saw and learned – you’d be here until next Friday with eyes glazed over. But I’ll show you some of the highlights, and yes I brought enough chocolate home for all of you!

This is one of the more famous bakeries in Paris, called Poilaine. We were invited downstairs to see the bread baking in a massive wood-fired oven that’s been in service since 1932.

Next, on to visit artisanal chocolatier, Jean Charles Rochoux, famous for his chocolate figurines.

Fabulous lunch at Cafe Nemrod, for me a croque madame complet...

That night, more food and wine: Here was the opening salvo of a six-course tasting dinner at Verjus. I could’ve made a meal out of the appetizers, including this exquisite chickpea pancake stuffed with fresh herbs.

You can see it was a good thing we walked a lot, because the next morning brought more chocolate demonstrations at Fouquet.

Lucy with David and chocolatier Frederic

Lunch involved a wine tasting and tapas at O Chateau. We learned that wine and food are deeply affected by terroir, meaning the exact climate and soil where the beans or wheat or grapes are grown.

I also made a lovely new friend who welcomed me to her houseboat on the Seine...maybe Hayley Snow will visit?

The next morning, we took the high-speed train to Bordeaux... where we joined Jean-Pierre Moulle, executive chef at Chez Panisse for thirty years. First we enjoyed the chocolates made at Saunion. This woman adored her job!




The chocolates were followed by a visit to the cheese cave of Jean d'Alos...

Then we were invited to dinner at a country farmhouse, hosted by Jean-Pierre and his lovely wife, Denise. 

I wondered what made the potatoes so exquisite. The answer, they are simmered in duck fat.




During our last day, we went to the farmer's market, where we watched Jean-Pierre choose ingredients for our lunch. The lunch took place at Chateau La Louviere, belonging to Denise's family, still actively producing wine.

Jean-Pierre working on a pear clafoutis with tips from David

an amazing salade Nicoise with fresh tuna and anchovies

France under any circumstance feels wondrous to me, but meeting these artisans, including David, and hearing about their love for food and their work was very, very special. 

I could wax on and on, but I'm off to ditch some chocolate calories with a high-speed walk. And maybe puzzle out how I might use some of this in another book...

I'll leave you with another famous chocolate shop scene...

A Walking #Foodie Tour of #KeyWest @LucyBurdette

First, winners of yesterday's Readaholic mystery are Kristopher, BJ English, and Kaye Kilgore. You should email your snail mail addresses to LDiSilverio at comcast dot net. Congratulations!

LUCY BURDETTE: Ever since seeing the city of Adelaide, Australia early this winter on a foodie walking tour, I've become convinced that walking and eating is the best way to see any city. So when I learned of a new food tour in Key West, I signed up. Oh sure, we already eat plenty of good meals in town, courtesy of the research I must do for food critic Hayley Snow. But I was intrigued by the possibility of new places, and always in the back of my mind, plot threads for another book.

I met our tour guide, Analise, and two visiting couples in front of Camille's restaurant on Simonton Street. Camille's is an old time island staple, always busy for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Our guide seated us at the bar for our first taste of Key West, infamous conch fritters. While we waited for bites to be served, we heard about how Key West natives became known as conchs, and how a new baby's sex was announced according to the way a conch shell was placed on the porch. The fritters came out hot and fresh, with a zesty lime remoulade on the side. I will never be a huge fan of conch fritters, but these were pretty darn good.
 
 
Stop two was at Anna's Cuban Café, a small takeout place very near the Southernmost Point. The roasted pork with white rice and black beans and a small fried plaintain was delicious. (Remember on this kind of tour--you don't have to eat everything, though you will work some of it off:).)

 






Afterward, we all enjoyed a little shot of strong sweet Cuban coffee, a.k.a. colata.
 






 

The tour proceeded past the Southernmost Point with a quick stop for a coconut milk. I've seen hundreds if not thousands of tourists carrying green coconuts and drinking out of a straw, but I've never tried it myself. 

Verdict: even though coconut milk is all the healthy rage, let's just say once was enough.


 
Analise then took us into the Bahama Village, formerly a segregated area for islanders of Bahamian decent. I learned new facts here, such as the existence of a white horse that walked up and down Duval Street to keep black faces from crossing into white territory. We also admired a new home renovated by Habitat for Humanity. The decorative latticework was designed in the shape of the trumpet to celebrate one of the home's former jazz playing residents. 



 

We enjoyed a fish taco at Andy's Cabana...








  

And a mini- key lime pie at iconic Blue Heaven. (LOL, this is the maxi, not the mini!)







 

 


Our last stop was Flamingo's Crossing, for a mamey flavored ice cream. This tropical fruit is the national fruit of Cuba and especially popular in milkshakes and ice cream. Although I never would have chosen this flavor on my own, we all agreed it was quite tasty--like strawberry mixed with orange.


 





Analise was the real star of the tour, a conch herself and full of interesting facts about her town.


Where would you like to go on walking foodie tour?

SEEING REDS: Where you can find us

Hallie 
Saturday 4/4 @2 PM Brookline MA Public Library with Roseanne Montillo
Monday 4/6 @7 PM Weymouth MA Public Library
Tuesday 4/7 @6:30 PM Buttonwood Books Cohasset MA with Holly Robinson
Wednesday 4/8 @7:30 PM Sweetser Lecture Series Wakefield MA
Thursday 4/9 @7 PM RJ Julia Madison CT
Friday 4/10 @12:15 PM Bank Square Books in Mystic CT

Hank
Monday, 4/6 @7 PM Brookline Booksmith interviewing Michael Sears, Brookline MA
Tuesday 4/ 7 @7 PM Newton Free Library Newton MA
Thursday 4/9 @7:30 AM Habitat for Humanity North Central MA "Women Build" Breakfast, Keynote Speaker Sterling MA
Saturday 4/11 Maynard Library Book Festival with Archer Mayor and Norton Juster
Sunday 4/12 @9:30  AM, Lyceum at First Parish Church, Bedford MA  Keynote Speaker

Rhys
Wednesday 4/8, Belmont Library, Belmont, CA