Joyeux Noël!

Merry Christmas to all around the world!

*Plaza Athénée's bûche for 2010 - layers of strawberry jam and violet/vanilla cream between thin layers of biscuit, atop an almond nougatine base

soupe à l'oignon

Soupe à l'oignon. French Onion Soup. Cheese. Onions. Bread. Salty broth. More cheese. Deliciousness to warm you up during a chilly Paris winter day.

Need I say more?

You, too, can partake in this tummy-warming experience at:

Au Pied de Cochon

6 rue Coquillière, 75001 PARIS

Les Galerie des Gobelins - Salon de Thé

I wish I was able to take more photos at work, and I think I'm allowed to, however, with all the hustle and bustle going on, I dare not. I mean, sure, I can go into the walk-in fridge and snap some shots, but everyone knows the lighting just isn't good and if someone comes in, it just kind of looks strange... if you know what I mean.

Anyway, everyday, one of us from the pâtisserie centrale has to prepare the chariot for tea time in the Galerie des Gobelins around 15h. Sometimes I'm given this task, and that's fine, however, the time to add the finishing touches to the desserts can be a disruption to the rest of my work. I hate being rushed, especially when it comes to presentation. Fortunately, one particular day when I had time to breathe, I remembered to get my camera and take advantage of this opportunity. Here is the selection of desserts for the Autumn/Winter 2010 collection:

Les Galeries des Gobelins (photo courtesy of linternaute.com)

the chariot for the Salon de Thé aux Galerie des Gobelins

in the background, there's the traditional millefeuille, while in the foreground, we have a tarte passion-framboise (biscuit, raspberry jam, and passionfruit/banana cream, all layered on a thin sablé crust)

Zuccotto: a biscuit with layers of caramel and café mousse on top. One of the best, I think.

Poire d'érable: maple syrup bavaroise with a pear purée filling, atop a pear-filled financier

Red Power: Soho litchi chantilly with a strawberry bavaroise/strawberry jam insert, resting on a strawberry filled financier

Mont Blanc: a ball of chestnut bavaroise filled with a mini baba au rhum, coated with vanilla whipped cream and dotted with meringues

Religieuse au caramel salé: pâte à choux filled with salted caramel pastry cream

selection of cakes: lemon, marble, and fruit... with "American" chocolate chip cookies on the right.

let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

It's finally winter here in Paris, and after a week of temps in the mid-20s during the day, it actually snowed on Wednesday! Apparently it was a record snowfall since 1987.

brrr!

0°C! I guess that's cold enough for it to snow, huh?

Even some of the buses had pertubations and were eventually shut down due to intempéries (bad weather) for the day.

I guess you could take a Velib instead?

Plaza!

I think going to school in Maine helped me deal with this a little bit, but I think I'm a true southern Californian at heart. Definitely warmed up with the help of a little stand attached to Le Comptoir at Odeon:

a buckwheat crêpe with ham, artichokes, mozzarella, marinated red peppers, and roquette salad

can you say anything but yum??

a few bites of plain crêpe can't hurt anyone before digging in...

...digging into this delicious goodness! Yup, you definitely saw me sit on the bus stop "waiting for the bus that would never come" just so I could enjoy my lunch during the snowy blizzard.