I'm not supposed to be in Paris
I'm not supposed to be in Paris
Missed connections, altered plans, and a bonjour from the fair
Bonjour! Bonjour!
I was supposed to be saying mselkir from Marrakech, but I woke up on getaway day with a bad case of vertigo and couldn’t go to the airport. The dizziness resolved itself in the afternoon - a very good thing, but too late for the trip. I’m still sad, but also grateful to have gotten through it. There’s nothing to make you more thankful for good health than not having it. I’m hoping that Michael and I will be able to take this trip later in the year. In the meantime, I’ll be making this tagine with apricots. (You can, too — download and print the recipe below.) It won’t be the same as having it surrounded by the colors and sounds of the Red City, but it will be delicious. And it will remind me again of the power that food has to transport us to places far away and out of reach. I’ll take it.
A Day at the Fair
Paris has been everything from summer-sunny to winter-blustery. There are buds on the trees, daffodils in the parks, magnolias here and there and winds so frosty and fast that the windows rattle. But like the postal service, nothing stops Parisians. Café terraces are still full, restaurants are still busy and the annual Salon d’Agriculture still brought people from all over the country. As my friend Jane Bertch (she of the fabulous La Cuisine Paris cooking school and my companion for the day at the fair) said: You see all of France here. And you do. Oddly, we heard English being spoken only once or twice. A surprise, since this celebration of all things food is really a terrific event for everyone from everywhere.
Yes, there are more sausages than most humans can imagine — within 2 minutes of being at the salon, I’d tasted a sausage made from toro, one from venison and one with chiles, making the piece of fruit jelly (pâte de fruit) that was offered to me a second later, very welcome.
We loved the display of honey from Ruchers du Morvan and I loved the pain d’épices (a cross between honey cake and gingerbread) — I bought a small one and polished it off within a day. It was great with coffee, great with tea and great on its own.
There are no fancy pastries at the salon, but regional specialties abound — that’s really the purpose of the fair: It’s meant to highlight all that France produces. So there are pretzels, kugelhofs and bredele (small cookies baked in abundance for Christmas) from Alsace; choucroute (sauerkraut and sausages) too. Baguettes from Paris, where they were invented. Hard candies flavored with mountain herbs from the Vosges (I bought pine and violet). Fleur de sel from Guérandes — I got carried away and bought a kilo. (It was just 17 euros and I couldn’t resist a bargain — all of my friends will be getting little sachets of salt.) Wine from everywhere and cider from Brittany. Little cookies from Burgundy with a texture I’d love to be able to get at home — they were thinner than a penny and extraordinarily snappable. And lots of places to stop and nibble, which is how we found ourselves having oysters and white wine well before noon.
The salon is held in the Versailles convention center at the edge of Paris every year at the end of February. It’s fun for everyone, especially kids — there are acres and acres arranged indoors for farm animals. I skipped the cows the size of skyscrapers this year, but I think I was the only one — the animals are the prime attraction.
Some of the links in this post may be affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I might earn a little flour-and-sugar money if you make a qualifying purchase after clicking on a link, which I promise to use while creating more stories like this. Thanks for your support.
Cookbooks Galore
So many good books have come out over the last few months and I’ve been meaning to send you an annotated list of my favorites, but now the books are in Connecticut and I’m in Paris, so I’m just going to mention a few and I’ll get you more in the coming months. For now, I think this handful will keep you as deep in deliciousness as it’s kept me.
Aliza J. Sokolow’s This Is What I Eat
If there are any children in your life, this is the book you should buy. It’s not a cookbook, although it will inspire children of all ages to want to cook for themselves and others. It’s an activity book that helps children understand food, where it comes from and why it’s good for us. Mostly, it makes food a pleasure. And don’t we all want children to learn to take pleasure in food? Yes, Gemma has a copy.
Gesine Bullock-Prado’s My Vermont Table
Part memoir, part love letter to Vermont and recipes from starters to bread and dessert. It comes out later this month, but I’ll be sending you a very pretty, very simple recipe from the book.
Claire Saffitiz’s What’s For Dessert
A must for every baker. Great recipes with Claire’s signature detailed instructions. There’ll be a recipe from the book coming your way, but you can make her chewy spicy molasses cookies now.
It’s been more than 20 years since Claudia’s ground-breaking book, The Last Course, was originally published — Delectable was worth the wait.
Naomi Duguid’s The Miracle of Salt
There is no one better when it comes to going deep on a single subject. Naomi is an intrepid traveler, a passionate reporter, a wonderful storyteller and an excellent photographer. If you don’t know her work, it would thrill me to be the one to introduce her to you.
I love everything about this book, from the topic (tinned fish!) to the writing to the illustrations and I’ve got something from it lined up for you.
The Leung Family’s The Woks of Life
One of my favorite recipe blogs just became a really good cookbook. If you love cooking Chinese food at home, I think you’ll love this book. I do!
Jody Williams and Rita Sodi’s Via Carota
Even if the only thing you make is the vinaigrette for the beautiful stacked salad, you’ll be happy. As for me, I bought a pasta machine (at last!) after I read the book. I haven’t opened the box yet … but I will.
Edd Kimber’s Small Batch Bakes
I love Edd and I love his latest book and I’ll have a recipe from it for you. In the meantime, here’s a popcorn cream puff from Edd that he shared with us.
Yamming It Up With Louise Penny
I think most of you know how much I love my friend, Louise Penny, the genius behind the Chief Inspector Gamache novels and the village of Three Pines, the place so many of us wish we lived. Louise was in Paris for a day — just enough time for us to have a quiet lunch together and a laugh-filled dinner with friends. Also, time to ham it up with some yams.
We had a lovely lunch at Semilla — you might not think you could fall in love with parsnip soup, but that might be only because you haven’t had it at Semilla. And we had dinner at Juveniles, one of my favorite bistros in Paris and now one of Louise’s. I posted a hilarious video of Louise from that night with a little backstory explaining how we met and how the bistro ended up on page 1 of her book, All the Devils Are Here, which, in turn, ended up as #1 on The New York Times Bestseller List (lots of her books have!).
We had dinner at Juves, as locals call it, with our mutual friend, the designer Ryan Lawson, and his partner, Sean Robins, as well as Ryan’s childhood friends from Arkansas, Becca and her husband Neall. Becca, who was in Paris for the first time, brought Louise and me the best present ever: sweet potatoes from her hometown! We were almost out the door and off to dinner when we realized we needed pictures of the spuds.
Here’s a bit of deliciousness from dinner (the amazing rice pudding is in the video) and a picture of Louise and Romain Roudeau, Juvenile’s chef.
More soon. In the meantime, keep in touch. You can find me here, on Facebook and on Instagram. Also at Les Éditeurs (see above), my Paris office.
I’m glad you’ve recovered, and I hope someday soon you can describe the sights, smells and tastes of Morocco as beautifully as you do of Paris.
Hi Dorie, So glad you recovered! I've had vertigo and there is no way I could get on a plane, let alone get to the airport. I would love to go to the Salon d'Agriculture someday. I read in the paper today that they stopped letting people in two hours early because of the crowds last night. Thanks for the restaurant tips. The parsnip soup at Semilla sounds lovely and the Saint-Jacques rôties, endives caramélisées listed on Juveniles' website sounds wonderful as well. I'm adding them both to my wish list.