It was an enlightening year, to say the least — full of lessons learned, many notebooks filled, and dear friends who became like family. What’s more, France is also where I “remet” my husband (we first met when we were kids in Canada but lost touch when our families moved), so it will always be special to the both of us.

Now, almost 12 years have gone by, and B and I have never really had an opportunity to go back. Once baby E arrived, and it also started to look like a lot of our travel will be centered in Asia the next few years (for both work and family), we realized it’d only get more expensive and more difficult to make this trip in the future. So we thought we would have no better opportunity than now.

To put things into a little perspective, the last time I was in France…

• We were still using French francs.
• I saw Amelie in the theatres when it first came out.
• My university in the US did not have wifi yet, and my university in France was actually still on dialup!

I may have dated myself a bit there… But, really, it’s been too long!

So what did I notice this time ’round? Well, for one thing, I really think the meal portions are a whole lot bigger than I remember! The sizes were even a bit daunting at times. And, am I imagining it, but do the streets and subways also seem a whole lot cleaner now?

Finally, Paris was just more incredible than ever this time. Please forgive me for even thinking this, but I actually was not that into Paris the year I was in France. For some reason, it seemed too flashy to me at the time, and I preferred more of the subtle elegance of a city like Vienna. This time, however, I was surprised by how intimate Paris feels. The handsome old buildings, wrought-iron balconies, narrow cobblestone streets. Everything just seems to have been purposefully created with the greatest care and attention to detail — from the pastries to the street signs. And, as I mentioned, the city also felt cleaner to me. Yes, Paris was just perfect, and I’ve been missing it terribly since I got back.

I think a large part of my experience this time also has to do with where we stayed. There’s only so much of a big city I can handle (not much). I don’t like the crowds and noise and rush. For this trip, we managed to keep things low-key by renting what turned out to be a dreamy Parisian apartment in a typical European building (it even smelled like Europe upon entering, if that makes sense). The place had all of the historic charm of an old European flat, plus all the benefits of modern living (including a big stove and oven, a dishwasher, and even a dryer — those parts were not typically Parisian but definitely most welcome; and let me not forget the iMac either!). With an almost-7-month-old with us, we really couldn’t have asked for anything better.

The apartment is located in the Bastille quarter, which I knew pretty much nothing about when we arrived. Only after I returned did I stumble upon this article comparing the neighborhood to NYC’s Williamsburg. The area is actually quite residential while at the same time being home to a lot of gems that aren’t mentioned in the piece.

We were lucky to have a kind landlady (did I mention she had the loveliest Parisian breakfast waiting for us when we arrived?) who gave us lots of recommendations for what to see and do in the neighborhood. One of my regrets is simply not spending the entire week in this area alone. (That is actually how I cope if I have to live in a big city — I find a neighborhood I like, and I try not to leave it.)

We took our first day in Paris really easy. After getting settled in that morning, we took a walk to the nearby Marché Aligre, which includes both a covered market and an open-air market where we picked up some groceries for some easy meals at the apartment.

The famed Marché Richard Lenoir is also in this neighborhood, just off the Place de la Bastille, but I will talk more about that in my dedicated market post in the coming weeks.

Pastry-wise, we didn’t fully realize just how good we had it on rue Paul Bert where we were staying until we encountered a few mediocre pastry shops around the city. My husband and I admitted to each other that we had each thought our first breakfast at the apartment was amazing simply because we were in Paris, and all the pastries in Paris are amazing. Alas, this is not true. Our first breakfast at the apartment was amazing because our landlady had purchased the pastries from Cyril Lignac’s La Patisserie, which, unbeknownst to us at the time, is famous for making one of the best croissants in all of Paris. One morning, B got up early, went to La Patisserie, and brought back a little of everything: eclair, croissant, pain au chocolat,and the never-to-be-forgotten pain aux raisins. I know — raisins! I would never have thought to order a pain aux raisins anywhere. But it was just that good — flaky, moist, and… I believe it had coconut in it too. That pain aux raisins will forever haunt B’s dreams.

As the week went on, we also ventured to the Blé Sucré, whose pain au chocolat was apparently voted best in Paris. The pastries were indeed good and comparable to those at La Patisserie. I also got a bag of delicious rose-flavored marshmallows and some of their famous madeleines and financiers. Our landlady also recommended the Blé Sucré’s lunch menu, as well as the bistro just a few doors down called Le Square Trousseau, which has been in several movies and is named for the park it faces (sadly, we never had a chance to check it out).

The other highlight of our stay is certainly no secret, and it happened to be just across from our apartment: the Bistrot Paul Bert. I will devote a separate post to our meal there, so stay tuned for that!

Finally, one evening we stopped by a nearby Italian market called Soboa and picked up some fresh ravioli: squid ink, lemon, mint, and spicy sundried tomatoes.

There is so much more in the Bastille Quarter that I never got to check out: Le Baron Rouge wine bar, bistros Au Vieux Chene and A la Biche au Bois, Pizza e fichi, Cyril Lignac’s restaurant Le Chardenoux, as well as the Viaduc des Arts and its Promenade Plantee (sounds like a Parisian version of the High Line), the culinary bookstore La Cocotte, and the kids’ shops Lillibulle, Le Petit Pan, and L’Ourson en bois.

In truth, I think you could probably plop yourself down in any neighborhood in Paris and be content just spending a week exploring all the little shops, restaurants, and nooks. Here are a couple great resources for things to see, do, and eat in Paris, organized by neighborhood:

20 Little Cities
Pret a Voyager

I told B we should try to visit Paris once a decade. But I already want to go back!

I’ve become a bit of a coffee lover the last few years (thanks to a friend who gave me my first bag of Stumptown coffee beans… which was also my introduction to freshly ground beans and, later, the French press), but I still don’t often find myself cooking with it. Not long ago, I came across a recipe for roast beef–another classic dish I’ve never made and keep meaning to try–that is served with a coffee gravy. That piqued my interest, and I was further surprised to discover it to be a classic sauce in Southern cooking known as red-eye gravy. Well, now I am sufficiently intrigued, and I’m hoping to give both roast beef and coffee gravy a try in the not-too-distant future.

Have you ever tried coffee gravy? Do you make roast beef often in your home? If so, I would love some pointers before I make my first attempt!

Photos from here and here.

I love the fruit stands in SE Asia where you can buy cut fruit that often comes with a little package of chili salt. In my family, guava is one of those fruits we always eat with chili salt. But chili salt is basically great with any fruit that’s a bit tart, like green mango, pineapple, or grapefruit. My mom always told me that adding a bit of salt to any fruit that’s sour would bring out its natural sweetness. Or maybe spicy, sour, and salty is just the SE Asian sweet. :) When we lived in Arizona, we noticed that Mexican road stands also sold mango with chili salt, so there has to be something to it, right?

Images from here and here.

Whenever we go to Vietnamese restaurants, this is one of my Dad’s favorite dishes to order. He doesn’t make it too often at home, and I think part of it has to do with the lack of fresh sugarcane in the grocery stores. Granted, you could probably make it without the sugarcane or even substitute it with something else, but I think munching on the sweet sugarcane at the end is my favorite part of the meal (and his too, I like to think)!

Well, after chopping up my own stalk of sugarcane, I did in fact have fresh sugarcane for this recipe. If it’s not available in your area, you can always used canned sugarcane too.

Vietnamese Sugarcane Shrimp (Chao Tom)
Serves 2 as a meal or 4 for appetizer (accompanied with rice paper and all the fixings)

Instead of chopping the shrimp by hand, you can also use a food processor to make the whole process faster. Even if you use a food processor though, take it out at the end and whack it in a bowl a few times to help make the mixture more springy.

1 lb. shrimp
3 slices bacon, fat only
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 beaten egg white
2 Tbsp. corn starch
1/4 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. fish sauce
1 Tbsp. oil
1/4 tsp. salt
1 tsp. sugar
dash of white pepper

1. Remove the fat from the bacon. Set aside the meat for another use. Mince and save the fat for the shrimp mixture.

2. Chop up the shrimp and keep chopping until the mixture turns into a smooth paste. This is usually done with a butcher knife and at the point where your chopping is no longer doing any good, use the flat side of the knife to mash the shrimp a few times.

3. Add in the garlic, corn starch, fish sauce, oil, salt, sugar, pepper, and bacon fat. Beat the egg white until frothy and add that in as well. Mix until everything is well incorporated. Pick up the whole mixture in your hand and throw it back into the bowl with a forceful motion several times. This helps add springiness to the mixture.

4. Pound the sugarcane sticks with the flat end of your knife a few times to help the sticks release their juices.

5. Separate your shrimp paste mixture into 12 sections. Grab one section and form an oblong ball with it. Place the sugarcane stick in the center. Press it into the ball and enclose the sugarcane with the mixture. Reform it into a smooth football shape.

6. Place the shrimp sticks into a steamer and steam for 8-10 minutes, until the shrimp turns opaque.

7. Meanwhile, heat up a small amount of oil in a pan. When shrimp is done being steamed, you can dry them off and fry them lightly in the oil to brown the outside.

8. Serve with lettuce, Vietnamese herbs, rice paper, rice noodles, and nuoc cham dipping sauce. For wraps, you can cut the shrimp balls into quarters so they lie nicely in the rice paper.

At Hubbard’s, you’ll find all your general hardware store needs…and then some. Think: gardening tools, seeds, dishware, linens, toys, and machetes.

We took this bad boy home with us and became the proud owners of our first machete!

I discovered the trick to breaking down the sugarcane (for me, the first-time machete user) was peeling down the hard outer skin of the sugar cane first. Then, we used the machete to whack the peeled portion off.

After the sugarcane was peeled and cut into sections, I used my smaller chef’s knife (butcher knife probably would have been better) to cut the cane sections into even smaller pieces. Stick these in the fridge, and they make perfect summertime munchies! Stay tuned for a sugarcane recipe coming up later this week.

What’s your favorite ice cream flavor? I’m betting lobster isn’t one of them. I had never heard of lobster ice cream until I was searching the internet for recipes for my lobster.  I happened upon The Dog’s Breakfast’s version of it and was instantly fascinated. After a bit more research, I discovered that quite a few lobster bisque and lobster sauce recipes actually incorporate vanilla in them too! Who’d have thunk? It seems weird, but somehow, the sweet, creamy texture of lobster bisque does strangely remind me of melted ice cream. Try it next time with this recipe for vanilla lobster sauce or if you’re feeling adventurous, make lobster ice cream!

Photos from here and here.

10: The perfect lazy Sunday in Aix-en-Provence.

9: Boeuf bourguignon and cozy seats next to the radiator on a chilly, rainy afternoon in Paris. Plus, hot coffee and molten chocolate cake for dessert!

8: Discovering that I love sheep’s milk cheeses. I’ve really taken to Perail as well as Tomme de brebis (brebis refers to sheep or ewe). (I didn’t happen to get a photo of one, but below is a Reblochon, usually a cow’s milk cheese.)

7: All the amazing markets!

6: La Patisserie by Cyril Lignac, our default patisserie because it was at the corner of our street in Paris. Only now am I realizing that it’s a destination in its own right.

5: Sunday picnic brunch from Marche Richard Lenoir: anchovy-stuffed olives, St. Marcellin cheese, bread, Portuguese custard tarts, and oysters from Normandy.

4: Our landlady had breakfast waiting for us when we arrived in Paris. It was the sweetest welcome, topped off by the fact that the pastries were from La Patisserie.

3: Bistrot Paul Bert, where we had our favorite meal of the trip. (More on this in another post.)

2: Our neighborhood in Paris. We lived in the 12th [update: make that the 11th, aka the Bastille Quarter] and loved it. It was out of the way of the usual tourist sights and was more residential, which is what we wanted. But there were still lots of gems here, as we learned during our stay.

1: Our apartment in Paris. I think I could’ve stayed in the whole week and still felt like I was in Paris. It was my very favorite thing out of the entire trip.

More details to come!

Have you tried eating mac ‘n cheese with ketchup before? I feel like everybody I know either loves it or thinks it’s the most disgusting thing ever. I first discovered it on a camping trip with my cousin in Canada, and though revolted at first, kind of loved it after a few bites. Maybe it’s a Canadian thing?

If you think about it, it makes total sense. Cheese and tomatoes are a classic combination, and so there’s no reason that mac ‘n cheese shouldn’t go with ketchup! What do you think? Do you love it or hate it?

Photos from here and here.

My favorite memory of this food pairing comes from my last visit to France (Julie is currently visiting Paris right now and is having her share of culinary adventures, I’m sure. :) Salut ma soeur!). Dean’s aunt made a simple carrot salad with some French citrus mayo, and it was perfect. The sweet, earthiness of the carrots matched so well with the tangy, tart lemon. Try making your own version of the salad here or try the two combining the two in a soup!

Photos from here and here.

Don’t you think this earl grey milk jam would taste divine on toast too?

Images from here and here.