Eat, love, pray in Paris

MILLIE: I love Paris. “Whenin Paris, do what the French do.” So said my brother Gerry, so I am here for the joie de vivre.

When my Dad passed away last December, I was so devastated I could not work. I could not even write. I prayed for guidance and comfort and the answer came through an invitation from a dear friend to join him on a trip to Europe. I prayed incessantly and my marching orders were: “Search for the joy in your life!” 

I’m glad I came.  No definite itinerary or plans. My wish was simply to eat, love and pray.

L’Elegance, a delightful Parisian chocolate cake from Aux Delices de Manon

I arrived at 5 a.m. on a Sunday morning, slept for two hours and by 10 a.m. was ready to go out and enjoy Paris! My friend and I took the Metro and went to Le Marais to do some shopping as all the boutiques in the Faubourg St. Honoré area were closed. Le Marais is a historic district in Paris. In the 17th century it was the French nobility’s favorite place of residence, mansions that have been converted to hotels. It is known for its museums and art galleries, trendy restaurants and fashion houses. It is said that Le Marais was a popular commercial area with a large Jewish community.                 

I was so excited I had forgotten about breakfast so we stopped for a cup of espresso at a sidewalk café and to enjoy the cold temperature outdoors. I was still dazed and could not shop, unable to figure out the conversion from euros to pesos. Ha, ha, ha! Instead I kept looking at the menus of restaurants we passed by. I had so wanted to eat mouthwatering falafel, but the queues were long and we could not find a place to sit.

KARLA: Falafel is a popular street food of Middle Eastern origin. It is made from chickpeas or fava beans ground together with parsley, scallions and garlic. The mixture is then shaped into balls and usually flattened like patties, then deep-fried. This is either stuffed or put in between pita bread or a pita pocket and sometimes, even over rice. This is served together with an assortment of tomatoes, lettuce, cucumbers, garnishes or pickled vegetables and drizzled with a tahini-based sauce. In New York City, almost every corner has a food cart selling falafel, chicken or lamb and rice, etc., but I always find my way to the one on Seventh Avenue at 27th Street near the Fashion Institute of Technology.

MILLIE: Tired from shopping at Le Marais, we finally had a late lunch or early dinner of grilled rump steak served with French string beans and pommes frites in a typical outdoor sidewalk café.

The next day, as I strolled along Rue Saint-Honoré, I chanced upon Aux Delices de Manon and went in because its show window of French cakes and pastries, chocolates and bread assortments attracted me. To the French, croissants and baguettes are daily must-haves. I could not resist and ordered a freshly baked croissant, fresh butter, homemade confiture and a cup of coffee. The croissant was so flaky and buttery in flavor and I contemplated having a second one. It was mid-morning and I thought brunch would be in order, so I decided on a quiche Lorraine instead, to satisfy my by now French-y palate. Delicious! A petite salade vert with tomatoes and chopped black olives and a creamy but light French dressing on the side complemented my light and tasty quiche.

The waiters were briskly walking to and fro and seemed so “presse” or busy, it was difficult to catch their attention. The place was bustling with customers dining in quickly or taking away food, which was conveniently prepared to go.  The French pret-a-manger is designed for those who are always on the go and do not have the luxury of time to savor a meal. Piles of baguettes stuffed with sliced ham and cheese, salami, jambon cru or smoked salmon lined with lettuce and tomatoes seem to be the favorites. Other French specialties are quiche variations like crab, croute au fromage, croque monsieur, and pizzas, to name a few. I suddenly thought of Karla and her latest project called Go Gourmet.

KARLA: Unfortunately, I was not able to join my mom on this trip or else we would have had just eaten the whole day. However, I did have firsthand experience of making croissants while I was studying in New York in 2009. Contrary to what people know, croissants really originated from Vienna, Austria. Croissants were patterned after a Viennese pastry called “kipferl.” The product was introduced in the late 1930s when a Viennese bakery, or boulangerie Viennoise, was founded in Paris. As the popularity of Viennese pastries increased, French imitators tried to copy the kipferl and named it “croissant” because of its crescent shape.

Karla tries her hand at baking fresh croissants.

Croissant making is a long process and has several steps. I remember receiving this booklet with diagrams that I could not understand since they all looked like shapes and numbers to me. You have to be very meticulous when making a croissant since you have to measure with meter sticks how long and how wide the dough should be rolled. I had a problem of getting my dough to expand because the worktables in my school were too high for me. I literally had to kneel on a stool to be able to use the rolling pin with enough force. I learned that to be able to make the croissant puff up and flaky, you have to incorporate a huge amount of butter into the dough. I guess that is the secret of a good croissant: butter, butter, and more butter. The fun and noisy part was actually flattening the butter by hitting it with a rolling pin. You cannot use soft or melted butter because it will not incorporate as well and therefore, not puff as well, and of course everyone wants a puffy and flaky croissant. We then had to roll the butter to half the size as the dough, where the dough would be folded several times a certain way until every inch of the dough was sure to have butter. When the right time came, we then had to roll out the dough into a certain dimension and start cutting out triangles and rolling them to form a yummy croissant.

MILLIE: As if I was not satisfied, I even asked for dessert. Without hesitation, my waiter suggested one called L’Elegance, which was a rich, chocolate-coated, two-toned chocolate mousse with a lovely chocolate base, decorated with Florentine biscuits and topped with a white chocolate curl plus sprinkles of finely chopped pistachios! To die for. My guilty conscience told me to stop when I reached halfway and to punish myself, I walked around for an hour!

I found myself at the Place de la Madeleine and suddenly felt I was being beckoned to go into the beautiful Madeleine Church to rest in God and fulfill my wish to be silent in prayer. There was so much to pray for but no words were uttered or spoken out loud. It was enough that I was sitting in His presence. God knew what was in my heart.

If ever you find yourself in Paris, visit Aux Delices de Manon at 400 Rue Saint-Honoré.

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