Tuesday, April 28, 2015

April in Paris: The Food!

Petit déjeuner à Ladurée, Avenue des Champs-Elysées, Paris
Paris in April is something special. It's special any time of the year, and one of the things I will remember most is the food. Il était incroyable! 

At the hotel, luscious apricot nectar
We stayed at the Marriott on Avenue des Champs-Elysées, a lovely place with a full service bar and seating in the lobby, plus indoor and street cafe dining.


Ladurée is famous for its macarons, sumptuous, sweet little cookies
Just across the street was Ladurée, serving some of the most gorgeous pastries I'd ever seen. We loved it so much, we went there five times. Each time we had something different. On our last visit, I had the Ladurée version of Eggs Benedict. 


It was kind of like Eggs Benedict meets Toad in the Hole-- with soft boiled eggs nesting in thick rounds of buttery toast, covered in Hollandaise sauce. There was no jambon, or ham. The dish was rich enough without it!


Mom enjoyed her perfectly cooked omelette at Ladurée
gorgeous pastries at Ladurée
We had several other food adventures, such as Croque-Monsieurs at Le Deauville on Champs-Elysées, buckets of mussels at another nearby cafe, wine and hors-d'oeuvres at the top of the Pompidou, charcuterie plates and wine at a side street brasserie, and tea at Hotel Le Bristol.

Tea at Hotel Le Bristol, Paris - I had a double espresso and cookies
charcuterie plate at a little brasserie off Champs-Elysées - yes, please!!
With fresh memories of the delicacies in Paris, I will have some new ideas for things to enjoy at home. The food and wine is incredible, but it was more than just food and wine-- it's a way of life.

With David Nemitz, classmate from the Peddie School Class of 1984. "Red" lives in Paris

Food also has a magical way of transporting us to far away places. When I get home to Portland, Oregon, I will visit France often in my own kitchen. Maybe I'll even figure out how to make the Eggs Benedict, but if not, I'll cozy up to a long sandwich baguette, avec frommage et jambon, et buerre au lieu de la mayonnaise; et un verse de vin rouge. 

10 comments:

  1. The best advice for my trip to France was to "go hungry". We loved Laduree too - try the iced coffee! Oh my. Eggs Benedict is my favorite meal of all time - I can't believe I missed this.

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  2. I've really been enjoying watching/stalking your adventures in Paris - those Eggs Benedict with those huge scoops really looks spectacular! I hope you find a way to reproduce it and share!

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  3. Eggs Benny is my ultimate fave - looks like you're having a great time!

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  4. food memory...one of my favorite parts of travel and the one that I recall the quickest!

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  5. I've just had breakfast but after reading your blog post and looking at your photos, I'm hungry again, positively drooling in fact. The charcuterie plate would be something I would enjoy, lots of little tastes of different things.

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  6. Looks like you're having a wonderful time! The Eggs Benedict and the pastries look soooo yummy!

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  7. Great to enjoy a French experience that includes classic foods! Yum!

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  8. One of my favorite parts of traveling is experiencing the food. It looks like you've been really able to enjoy it! I'm drooling over here just reading through your post!

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  9. Oh my! Those pastries look heavenly, but that Eggs Benedict - Wow! I agree - food is one of the best parts of traveling.

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