My Very Own Self
"Sugar and spice and everything nice, My Dearly Beloved and then Some
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|  || Sunday, October 08, 2006 || Paris Weekend (2)Day 2 of Weekend : Saturday, otherwise Day 26 It is often said that great people have interests outside what they do. I agree. I myself have two deep and extra-legal passions : books and food. Trusting that my friends would not let me down as I turned 21 in terms of books*, thus went Sin and I on Day 2 on a food expedition! Schedule for the day: - Marché at Rue Mouffetard - Leisurely stroll along the River Seine and visiting its boquinists (bookstalls selling second-hand books and quaint paintings. Hope I spelt it right.), Notre Dame, then Shakespeare and Co (a famous expat bookshop. Ok fine, food-cum-book expedition) - Lunch at Boulangépicier (a select bakery) - L'Étoile d'Or (The Star of Gold, which we later found out was a world-famous sweet-and-chocolate store, for its salted butter caramels, and chocolate. The owner is nicknamed "La Reine du Chocolat" or "The Queen of Chocolate"!!) - Tea at the Rose Bakery (excellent English tea place) "Nature's first hue is gold, her hardest hue to hold". So once wrote Robert Frost. Seizing the day, we woke early to go to the Mouffetard Market. It was great. Imagine walking down a beautiful street on cool, clear morning, the street bustling with life yet leisurely-ly unbusy... while eating strawberries and sniffing in the warm, delicious scent of roasting meats, the briny tang of seafood and the luxurious perfume of chocolate WITH an excellent swing band was playing in the background. That was the Rue Mouffetard Market for us. Sheer joy! Some pictures:  [From left to right - First row: little boy looking at seafood, chocolate animals on display, assorted sweets in pretty containers, more chocolate; Second row: Truffles!, one chocolate shop, the swing band that was playing, mushrooms on display; Third row: the rotisserie, part of the market, olive oil shop, display of food; Fourth row: more food, food at the Boucherie (the butcher's), fruits de mer (i.e. shellfish), the Butcher]Remember the rotisserie picture? Well that the bottom of all that roasting meat were potatoes, slowly being cooked by the heat AND with the juices and fat dripping down from the meat. Sin Yee and I bought some.  Starch cooked in fat. A sinful and satisfying pleasure. The Seine, the boquinists, Notre Dame and Shakespeare and Co. were next. I bought a lot pictures and posters (including soap ads). What on earth will I do with them? Oh well.  [From left to right - First row: A boquinist and the distant view of Notre Dame, Close-up of Notre Dame; Second row: The swing band again!! Following us from Rue Mouffetard!, Shakespeare and Co.]Then was late lunch at Boulangépicier (a contraction of baker [boulanger] and grocer [épicier] in French by the way, cause they sell bread and upmarket pesto, biscuits and jam...). I wanted to get the skewer of bread that had been strongly recommended here, but alas it was sold out. So we had the olive bread and sardines which had been tried, tested and proven true here. It was good. (And ha! We got a complimentary chocolate tart!)  [The sandwich, the complimentary tart, and some onion with chorizo bread I later bought. That one was a free sample. Gosh who says the French aren't nice!]Rather full after all that good food. Not that that mattered. I decided I needed to try those salted butter caramels which had been waxed lyrical about here, and, Sin Yee being an excellent host, so we did. Pictures of L'Étoile d'Or:  [From left to right - First row: The shopfront, sweets and chocolate on display; Second row: Sin, the Queen of Chocolate and I, Moulin Rouge]My buys!!  [By the way, these chocolates and caramels are GOOD. Oh till December comes so I can buy them again!] We ended the day by having tea the Rose Bakery (which was also strongly recommended here). Sticky Date Pudding and Orange Citron Cake and English Afternoon Tea (one of my favourite blends).  I absolutely and completely love Paris!! So much food. Oh yeah and I went to the Louvre. It was closed by the time we finished all our eating. But then I got a nice artistic photo taken.  That was all the art I needed for the day. Gosh I'm such an uncultured glutton. * Those of you who are getting me the voucher(s) I wanted, please note that Betula, my book-seller has unfortunately sufferred carbon monoxide poisoning while on a trip. Thankfully, she's fine but still a little weak now, so don't worry if you don't get a reply from her. All in good time! |