Discovery of Bostock

Where: Little T Bakery, SE 26th & Division

What: Bostock, a pastry I've never encountered before. Brioche soaked in orange/almond syrups, slathered in almond cream, twice baked, sprinkled with almond slivers and powdered sugar.

Who: Me and a cooler-than-thou hipster crowd.

Verdict: Delicious, crunchy around the crusts, soft in the middle. I want to eat it again.

March workouts

Time to get my workouts back on track. I actually had a great March, my running was consistent at 18+ miles per week and that was interspersed with Crossfit. The last two weeks with Paris travel have set me back, but I'm trying to get my routine back in order since I'm supposed to run Bay to Breakers in 2 weeks and then walk/jog a marathon with my mom.

I went to a handstand class yesterday, which is problematic for me because I hate being upside down and start hyperventilating a bit. I've seen some improvement from where I was about a month ago but I've got a long ways to go.

A month ago, I couldn't have my feet up against the wall and walk into something that nears vertical--now I can do that comfortably (though much improvement to be made on getting more vertical, but that's about strength and flexibility, not about my fears any more). I also could not do a headstand where I have my head down on the ground and I swing my hips/legs back up against the wall--OK so I have that now. The next goal is to do a handstand where I don't walk into it with my feet already on the wall, but where I swing my hips/legs up as I can do with the headstand. It's been a huge struggle as I don't trust myself enough to swing myself up that way, even though other people seem to do it without effort.

Paris - Post 5

This is my miscellany Paris post to catch final thoughts about the trip and a few other things we experienced. Overall, would I go back to Paris again? Sure, it's a lovely city with a lot to see and do--but at the same time, I don't feel compelled to be there again. I think I could have experienced the equivalent of this trip in New York City; when I travel internationally, I want to feel like my world is upside down or at least a bit sideways, and that did not happen for me in Paris.

One of the neatest neighborhoods we walked through was Les Villas de la Mouzaïa, which was reminiscent of Venice, California where there were these tight tree-covered alleyways with eclectic houses bounding each side of the alley.

The Chat Gentil, Chat Lunatique, and Chien Bizarre were fun signs some residents had on their mailboxes, presumably to indicate the appropriate warning for the postman.

Photo credit: Fred Moussaïan

In the same neighborhood was a gorgeous and expansive public park, Parc des Buttes-Chaumont.

It was nice to walk through here and get to the top for a view of the city.

One of the few culturally odd-to-me things was the way people dressed to jog. In the US, generally everyone has some kind of microfiber wicking fabric logo branded top and pants--while in Paris, people seemed to jog in the kind of outfit I wear casually on the weekends--solid color cotton fabric separates WITH A FASHION SCARF tied around their neck (so actually, more fashionable than me on a weekend). Men's workout fashion in Paris was a rugby polo shirt and also sometimes a little knotted scarf.

Photo credit: AViewOnCities.com

The other noticeably French-and-not-like-US thing was the daily ritual of baguette buying and carrying in your hand (because a baguette certainly does not fit in a purse and backpacks are not chic enough for Paris).

Baguette carriers were everywhere (sometimes with 2 or 3 in said hand) and there was definitely no indication that gluten free is a craze in France.

Photo credit: AsWeTravel.com

And on our last day we went to the highest point in the city, Montmartre. Super touristy but well worth it--here we are sitting and having some crepes, looking at the stairwell that heads to the top/Sacre Coeur.

Next time I'm in France, it's time for the countryside and southern parts of the country. But hopefully my next travels will be non Western European based (I know, my complaints are so first world problems...)

Paris - Post 4

Back to my favorite topic of food, I think one of my French colleagues may be correct when she made the claim that you can never go wrong eating at whatever restaurant is associated with a given museum in Paris.

Here's the menu at 104 arts center/museum restaurant, where I had the oddest but delicious cucumber gazpacho "milkshake" looking thing. I have no idea what the cream topping was, it wasn't sweet at all. The swizzle stick is sesame.

Also from 104, the best chocolate mousse ever--so incredibly light while rich with flavor (the smaller cup held caramel brittle and cream), and trifle à la mûre (the pink potted thing), which had some pop-rocks style speckles in it that crackled in my mouth. Both fantastic.

My other favorite desserts from Paris were any "Pâtisseries orientales", particularly Algerian pastries that I found at Bague de Kenza near Rue Oberkampf.

Typically when I've had Middle Eastern style pastries, they all sort of taste the same even if they look different--honey, rosewater, pistachio, and some combination thereof. These Algerian pastries each had their own distinct flavor (coffee, chocolate, pine nut, and lemon are the ones I recognized).

I managed to cobble together a phrase in French that I think meant "I would like a mix of 10 things, please." as the Algerian shop was too complicated to point at items and had no labels. Success!

Thanks to work related events, I got to eat at some very frou-frou-to-me French restaurants. This is the dining room at Mini Palais, where I had some extremely expensive soup that tasted like dirt had been sprinkled on top (but I kind of say that in a good way, it was a weird but good dirt taste). Overall it wasn't a bad place, but not my favorite of the frou-frous.

The best upscale place was out in the 'burbs called Archibald (in Issy Les Moulineaux), just really well executed food. The worst was Cinq Mars where you paid a lot for really poorly done food.

Photo credit: HungryForParis.SquareSpace.com

The most authentically French meal I had was petit sale' aux lentilles at a place of the same name, Le Petit Sale', out by the Meridien hotel in the 'burbs. It's salted pork, lentils, and carrots with some herbs. Simple and super tasty.

Photo credit: JamesWalshBlog.Blogspot.com

The other authentically Parisian food thing I had everywhere was Cafe' Gourmand--which is simply an espresso with a sampling of desserts (typically 2 to 3 desserts). This is perfect if you're s a sugar freak like me and always want to try out multiple desserts.

Photo credit: www.o-chateau.com

Paris - Post 3

There's no shortage of museums in Paris, though the highlight was definitely Musee Fragonard at the National Veterinary School. It was my first time seeing preserved human cadavers and animal mutations so artfully displayed.

What's incredible is that these preservations were made well over 200 years ago, so I can't even begin to fathom how strange it must have been for Fragonard to figure out the right sets of chemicals and techniques to make this all possible. He apparently got the boot as director of the vet school for being too crazy.

Dancing baby cadavers on the left, lamb with many legs mutation below. Additional Fragonard pictures at the end of this post.

The next best 'museum' was 104 (Centquatre), which is not really a museum but more an arts center. When you walk in, there are people practicing theatre, dance, and any other imaginable body movement art in a massive open space. Publicly funded artists reside on the upper levels and are expected to showcase their work throughout the year.

One of the best pieces was Leandro Erlich's "Bâtiment" which was simply a facade of a building on the floor with a mirrored reflection to make it look vertically correct on approach. Here's a picture of me (standing by the number 6) looking up at the mirrored reflection.

And, below, this is what it looks like as people play on the facade on the floor. Oh no, they're all upside down and hanging off the sides of the building! Super fun.

The Carnavelet museum was good on the first floor, where original shop signs from hundreds of years ago were on display. This museum got a little dreary on the upper levels as it was then filled with general Parisian furniture/arts finery of different time periods.

Photo credit: EveryTrail.com

And for no particularly compelling reason except that we were right by it, we made as quick as possible visit through the Louvre. It's so massively humongous as to be unpleasant, and the works on display are so historic as to be a bit dull.

Discovering Hammurabi's Code in the Egyptian section was great, though.

It's a bit disconcerting that there is a shopping mall (like a fancy airport-style shopping mall) inside the same complex as the Louvre, though below ground so you would never know it.

Photo credit: DailyVenture.com

Paris - Post 2

We spent a lot of time at various markets around town. We did Marché aux Puces St-Ouen again (last visited in 2005), which seemed pretty much the same. It's a massive and pretty touristy flea market, but fun to walk around. If you like furniture and knick-knacks, there's some tempting finds. For clothing, it tends to be cheap, trendy, mass market items, which is not appealing.

Getting crepes from this guy is always a highlight, I think he's been at this market forever. I was happy to recognize "marrons" as chestnut spread, and sweet sweet deliciousness was mine after patiently waiting for him to finish the 5 crepes ahead of mine.

Photo credit: DawnOne on Flickr

The most insane market we went to was Marché Barbès, I seriously thought I'd been transported to Northern Africa (having never been, but this is just what I'd imagine it to be). A mosh pit full of shoppers, heckling vendors amidst gorgeous fruits and vegetables.

My favorite vegetable of this trip was thick white asparagus which I had at two different restaurants (but was sold at all the market stalls here, too).

Photo credit: Sarkis.com

Right by Marché Barbès, we couldn't resist trying out French churros--6 for 3.50 Euros. They were much better than I was expecting, given that I thought they looked a little anemic and curvy compared to the Standard Mexican American Churro.

These were freshly piped into the chaud grease, and then momentarily housed in a thin paper holder, as we snarfed them down quickly.

Photo credit: Allotment2Kitchen.blogspot.com

My favorite flea market was Le Marché de Montreuil, which felt like a whole bunch of people having a garage sale. If you're a commited bargain hunter for clothes, it was a great place to discover designer duds for as little as 1 Euro. There were mountainous piles to dig through, though you had to elbow your way inbetween other determined ladies.

However, many of the vendors were savvy about the designer brand names, and so those items were priced accordingly.

Photo credit: Hg2.com

At Montreuil, "Drive Food" was a purveyor of the fluffiest pocket of awesome I've had in beignet format. You know you're getting a good beignet when the large lady in front of you starts doing her happy dance in anticipation of getting her 2 beignets.

Our last major market was the one at Bastille--a more upscale fruit/veggie, meats, breads, and cheese market. It was equally frequented by both tourists and locals and had the most sophisticated foods of the markets we went to.

Photo credit: MidnightEphiphanies.blogspot.com

At the Bastille market, I branched out and tried some Terrine Gascogne. Simply put, this terrine made my mouth sad--I spread it on some fresh bread and gave myself two attempts to figure out where the delicious existed in this item.


I think I am not sophisticated enough for pork confit mixed with duck liver.


Photo credit: DavidLebovitz.com

Thanks to the Lebanese food stalls at Bastille, the world of my taste buds was righted with the discovery of manakish. I've been waiting 25 years to taste this again--stemming from a long ago childhood memory of eating this once and never knowing what it was called.

I don't know how to describe this taste, it has no comparison to anything else I've ever eaten, and now I will be attempting to recreate it when I'm back home.

Photo credit: TheFoodBlog.com.au

Paris - Post 1

I've had the good fortune to visit Paris as part of a trip for work. This is my first time spending more than a quick day trip here, and I like the feel of this city quite a bit. When walking around, the neighborhoods can change quickly and have very distinct feels to them; it's easy to figure out and pick parts of the city to suit whatever your mood desires. An Algerian fruit market? Crummy Chinese & Vietnamese bric-a-brac stores? A baguette refill every other block? Roman ruins? Revolutarionary monuments? Speciality film and arts libraries in a shopping mall? It's all here and more.

We're at the Marriott in the 13th arr., which overlooks La Sante' Prison, whose famous prisoners include Noriega and Carlos the Jackal. Despite being able to see right into the prison courtyard, we never see any stirring of life from there.

It's actually quite nice to be in a location that's not particularly near any tourist attractions; it's quiet here and when you walk back into the neighborhood shops, it's all locals.

The Gérard Mulot chocolate & pastry shop was a great find back in the neighborhood by the hotel, and the boulanger next door to Mulot had delicious sandwiches, croissants, and coffees to help us start the day and avoid the 24 Euro per Person continental breakfast at the hotel.

I cannot wait to try out the Caramel & Salted Butter, Pineapple & Ginger, and Coconut & Vanilla macarons that I purchased to share with work colleagues.

Macarons were everywhere across the city, I ate a couple almost every day (from different shops). Unfortunately, I rarely knew what flavor I was getting because I would just name the color in French and hope for the best. I'm still at a loss for what flavor a dark grey one was supposed to be. The light turquoise one that ended up being like minty toothpaste is best forgotten.

Photo credit: ADozenEggs.com

And, while the hotel breakfast was crazy overpriced, it was a nice spread. My favorite choices were the still unknown substance labeled "apricot cottage cheese" which seemed to be some variation of Greek yogurt, brioche the size of a child's head (self sliced and spread with Nutella), and apple slices with various pieces of cheese.
 
Photo credit: Bittersweetblog.wordpress.com