Paris -- Bastille Market as Reality Show

Especially when cooking for one, a visit to one of Paris' great open-air markets is like a reality show: you have to choose ingredients that look great and leave to later the task of figuring out what to do with them. For me, this is one of the most enjoyable things to do in Paris.

Today I went to the Bastille (Richard Lenoir) market near our apartment, and bought the following:

Half cooked crab

Cèpe

Turkey breast roast and chicken sausage

Mankoush - Lebanese flatbread with za'atar

Mirabelles and reine-claudes

Scamorzza

Together with items that I already had at home, I made lunch and dinner from these ingredients, in addition to munching some slices of scamorzza and wolfing down a bunch of tiny mirabelles (my favorite fruit) and reine-claudes (my second favorite).

Lunch consisted of oeufs sur le plat with white vinegar sauce, accompanied by the cèpe, which I dry-sauteed and then added a smidgen of butter, salt, pepper and thyme. (Followed with a piece of soft nougat from a Vietnamese traiteur.)

Oeufs sur le plat with sautéed cèpe

Soft Vietnamese nougat

For dinner, I reheated the chicken sausage and roast turkey breast and the chicken sauce, and boiled and then sautéed ratte potatoes, followed by a piece of camembert that I had left out all day and a square of Lindt chocolate (yes, I love Lindt chocolate even if it is not the most artisanal or exotic).

I am left with the mankoush, which I'll toast for breakfast, and the crab, which will serve nicely as tomorrow's lunch.

Bobby Jay

Paris -- Holiday Food

December in Paris is all about food. I've been here nearly a week and have done less walking than usual due to bad weather, but I'm starting to get around and check out what's new.

On the Île Saint-Louis, the famed butcher Gardil has a window full of gorgeous, well-dressed and expensive (64 euros per kilo -- $35 per pound -- for Bresse capon) birds. This is where I plan to provision myself for our annual Christmas dinner with our Japanese friends in Paris. Jews and Buddhists celebrating Christmas: why not?

Poultry at Boucherie Gardil

And there's a bakery on Rue Saint-Antoine that sells a big variety of what the French call "cakes," generally not overly sweet cakes made in loaf pans. I have to try one soon.

Cakes at bakery on rue Saint-Antoine

I did get to the Madeleine. As usual, Hediard had nice windows,

Hediard's Christmas window

And the Maison de la Truffe had about a million dollars' worth of black truffles in its display.

Giant truffles at Maison de la Truffe -- a study in noir et blanc

 Caviar Kaspia had a cute display, with fake Russian dolls,

Caviar Kaspia window

And Fauchon had a beautiful new cake this year. (They always beautiful products even though Fauchon is no longer the best that Paris has to offer.)

Gorgeous cake at Fauchon

More to come in future posts.

Bobby Jay