Paris archive: La Boulangerie par Véronique Mauclerc

Oh, little blog - I'm sorry I left you unattended for so long. I hope you don't feel too neglected. The same goes for you, dear readers (that is, mum).

In my iPod Touch "to do list" app, I have a list of blog entries I want to write about Paris. I'm no longer there (yes mum, I know you already know this, but I have to at least pretend one or two other people are reading this), so I'll call these the "Paris archive." I'll start with the more pleasant ones.

Towards the end of my stay in Paris, my sister came to visit for a couple of days. On the morning she left, we took a walk through the Parc des Buttes Chaumont and bought pastries from the Boulangerie par Véronique Mauclerc. This particular boulangerie is written up in both Clotilde's Edible Adventures in Paris, and the Pudlo 2008-2009 (or was it 2007-2008? anyway, I'll wager it makes an appearance in multiple editions of Pudlos) guide to food in Paris. I'd been once or twice before, but had been slightly underwhelmed - the baguette I bought the first time was a bit trop cuite for my taste, and the pastries are noticeably more expensive than those at your standard boulangerie. But on that damp, possibly a bit drizzly, morning that my sister and I dropped by, I ended up with the best pain aux raisins I'd ever tasted. Warm and fresh from the oven, soft and flakey at the same time, sweet and wonderfully buttery. It's well worth the trek to the 19th and the extra euro.

La Boulangerie par Véronique Mauclerc
83, rue de Crimée
19th arr. Paris

Here's what David Lebovitz has to say about Mme Mauclerc's wares. Apparently, Clotilde has managed to buy kouign amanns chez Véronique, but I didn't see any on my visits to the bakery.

Sticky Toffee Pudding

This is the recipe I followed (an old one from Clotilde), except that I used a mixture of dates and apricots.

Yum. 

That is all.

Friday Link Love: Food Blogs

I thought I'd start this "feature" (that word sounds a little too official for me, hence the quotation marks) off by sharing with you the food blogs I read. Let's jump in!

Tu et Vous

Пустое вы сердечным ты
Она, обмолвясь, заменила,
И все счастливые мечты
В душе влюблённой возбудила.
Пред ней задумчиво стою,
Свести очей с неё нет силы;
И говорю ей: как вы милы!
И мыслю: как тебя люблю.

Александр Сергеевич Пушкин

Projet Pont: la continuation

The last post might not actually have been too heavy - it turns out I wasn't connected to the internet, so I think that was the source of my problems. But we had to take breaks in our walk, so it's perfectly reasonable for you to take a break in reading about the walk. Now, where were we? Ah yes, we left off on the little bridge between the two îles...

Projet Pont (part 1)

A few weeks ago, Erika proposed a project to me: that we try to cross every bridge on the Seine in Paris in one day. I was game, so yesterday, after my (unusual) Saturday morning meeting with my French adviser in the 13th arrondissement, we met at Pont de Tolbiac. (Pont National is actually the farthest southeast bridge on the Seine in Paris, but I couldn't see how to access it by foot, so we had to skip it.)

Zoé Bouillon

Zoé Bouillon is a little lunch place tucked away in the 19th, not far from the Parc des Buttes Chaumont. It's very unusual among Paris restaurants, at least in my experience. In some ways, it's like a tiny cafeteria: if you eat sur place (instead of choosing take-away, which will lower the price by 0,50), you order at the counter and they'll give you a tray with whatever you order (and a carafe d'eau, if you like), which you then take to the table of your choice (inside or outside, though there are only two small tables outside), and serve yourself a couvert (napkin, spoon, fork, a knife if you need one) on the way.

Bienvenue

Well. Here it is. The Beginning.

The idea for this blog has been germinating in my head for months. I've had blogs before, but I wanted to try something a little different. I wanted to write something that might be a little more publicly appealing, rather than just a less invasive version of mass e-mailing friends with updates on my life. This is still a personal blog, but I hope it will make for more generally interesting reading than my past efforts.

Why has it taken so long for this blog to make it's way out of my head and onto the page (or screen, I suppose); to break through the soil? Well, first there was the title. Choosing a good title seemed so important, and if you know me, you're probably aware of my distinct aversion to making decisions, to committing to a choice. Of course, there are guides to blog-naming on the internet. However, they usually ask you to start by thinking about the theme of your blog. As I said, this is a personal blog. I don't really plan on sticking to one topic - at least not to start with. There are so many things I want to write about. Perhaps, after a while, a theme will emerge, but trying to pin it down now would be like trying to start the process of writing an essay by writing the introduction.

I thought that once I had come up with a title, things would go smoothly from there. But then I encountered the hurdle of The First Post. My intimidation on that front, combined with the constant thought of, "well, I could tackle the blog, but I really should be working," yielded only more procrastination. But here's the thing: I think writing this blog will make me happy, and that in turn will make me more productive in my work. So here we are: it's Sunday; I haven't done any work yet, but I'm sitting down to write this anyway.

Despite the fact that I refuse to choose a "theme" for this blog, there are some topics I'm pretty sure you'll encounter if you stick around: food (producing it, and acquiring it from people who are talented at producing it), Paris (suggestions for visitors and cultural observations, among other things), feminism, photos, and possibly some philosophy. Oh, and I've seen a trend among other bloggers: a weekly feature called "Friday link love," where they share all the funny or interesting tidbits they've come across on the internet that week. I am somewhat embarassed by my level of "facebook activity" - which I think consists mostly of sharing links - so I'm hoping to consolidate it into a weekly blog post, and become a little bit more invisible on facebook.

So, there you are. This is my blog. And to show you just how excited I am, I'll do a little song and dance for you:

Willkommen, bienvenue, welcome!
Fremde, étranger, stranger.
Gluklich zu sehen; je suis enchantée;
Happy to see you,
Bleibe, reste, stay!

(Sorry - I couldn't help myself. And please excuse any mistakes in the German spelling - I don't actually speak German. Yet.)