« Dining Out and About (Paris): French fast food | Home | Cooking for one »
French food news: Easter chocolate, best Italian in Paris, and Seville oranges
By Ann | April 13, 2009
Bonjour mes amis and happy spring! Look who decided to waddle into the Jardin du Luxembourg? That’s right a pair of duckies (photo above), who quacked so close to my chair, it was as if they were professional duck models! Alas, by the time I unearthed the camera, they had already wandered to the lawn (they’re allowed on it — humans are not).
Okay, on to this week’s French food media. First of all, happy Easter! In recent weeks, Parisian chocolatiers have worked around the clock to create special chocolate sculptures and treats for the holiday. Yes, there are plenty of run-of-the-mill eggs and bunnies, but the traditional French Easter treat is… chocolate fish.
Though the fish come big (photo above) or small, and in all types of marine shapes (crabs, lobsters, fish) the tiniest are called “friture,” which means fried, and refers to the plates of tiny, deep-fried fish you can order at the seaside. There are also foil-wrapped, chocolate eggs, that are filled with hazelnut praline.
The holiday also inspires amazingly intricate chocolate sculptures, like these chocolate-filled eggs, topped with marzipan (I think?) chicks. The chocolate cherubs behind them were equally ornate, but harder to see in the photo. In honor of all this choco-philia, Le Figaro has an article about Paris’s best chocolatiers. I can’t find a link (arrgh!), but click here for a list of the best.
Anyway, enough about chockie. In other news, Le Figaroscope dedicates their weekly round-up to Paris’s best Italian restaurants, dividing them by region. Could’ve been interesting, but strangely is not. Check it out for yourself here.
And Saturday’s Le Fig had a tiny snippet about Bill Clinton’s dinner at Guy Savoy. Again, cannot find a link, but here’s a summary: After shopping at the FNAC, and having a drink at Café Latéral, Clinton arrived at the restaurant on foot. His entrance caused a bit of a sensation. He dined on oysters in stock gelée, poulet de Bresse, and a strawberry dessert. He thanked Savoy, who gave him a copy of his book, “Vos petits plats par un grand,” translated into English.
Finally, a few weeks ago, someone gave me these lovely Seville oranges, with which I made this airy orange and almond cake. My only complaint is that the oranges didn’t give off nearly enough juice, so that I had to supplement with lemons. Hm, perhaps I’ve created another variation?
Happy eating!
Topics: Food Wednesday, In the news |
2 Responses to “French food news: Easter chocolate, best Italian in Paris, and Seville oranges”
Comments
« Dining Out and About (Paris): French fast food | Home | Cooking for one »
April 13th, 2009 at 12:02 pm
i love richart, the one in the seventh. customer service that i’ve had has been a little nutty but hey, it’s the goods that matter, right?
April 14th, 2009 at 10:44 am
Funny that the Italian food article did not mention the Cherche Midi, a classy and highly reliable place near the Bon Marche. The service is great and the menu changes daily. Signature dish: truffle pasta. But my favorite may be the escalope de veau, which is always perfectly thin and tender. You can order it with spaghetti (oil and garlic sauce) or vegetables. The Cherche Midi is not super expensive, either.