Not only does it have amazing photos and well written commentary, it is HI-larious. I laugh out loud by myself reading this stuff. Not what you usually get from your standard foodie website. After all, eating delicious things in Paris is a serious matter.
The blog author, Adam, eats pastries every day. Every. Day. All day every day. Clearly this is my kind of people. He makes my pastry eating patterns look miniscule and insignificant, which I greatly appreciate.
Long story short, I got to meet up w/ Adam the pastry guru for lunch on Thursday at one of the top pastry spots, Jacques Genin, and by “lunch” I mean “pastry overindulgence at a lunchtime hour”. I tried to make it clear via email that I was not a lightweight and would be getting multiple pastries, if not the entire pastry case, just to let him know that I was in his eating league and not some froo froo “Oh I couldn’t possibly! I’m watching my figure” kind of girl. Oh, I’m watching my figure. Watching it get larger and larger by the day. Nay, by the hour.
So here was lunch on Thursday: 2 massive hot chocolates, 6 pastries, 3 caramels each, & 6 jellied fruit candies.
This is just the pastry course. I forgot to get a picture of the caramel & candy portion of the meal.
The server’s eyes got bigger and bigger as Adam continued our pastry order: This…and this…one of these…and this-and-this-and-this…6 of these, and 8 of those. As if people normally only get one or two. I feel sorry for those people. With their tiny tables and their one pastry. I tried not to cheer and roll around on the floor in happiness as he kept listing what we would be having.
We started off with a teapot full of thick hot chocolate, followed by the 6 pastries: chocolate éclair, caramel éclair, lemon tart, raspberry tart, vanilla flan, and St. Honoré, as well as 6 caramels and 6 fruit candies (don’t even know how to describe these…like soft pureed fruit in candy form).
And we ended with what Jacques Genin is famous for, his melt-in-your-mouth, holy-cow-how-is-this-possible, I-can-hardly-even-call-it-a-caramel-without-being-insulting-to-the-greatness-in-my-mouth caramels. We each had a macadamia nut caramel, a ginger caramel, and a passion fruit caramel.
I won’t even try to describe them. Just know that cherubs started fluttering around the room playing flutes & harps, flowers started blooming out of the floor, a rainbow came through the window, and a Care Bear slid down it and sat on my lap, asking me if I had ever had something so delightful. Then it floated away on a caramel cloud.
I’ve never had a true sugar high until this day. There was a point where I just felt kind of dizzy and like I just wanted to start giggling for no reason. Weeee!
The hilarious part comes in here. After consuming about 70 euros worth of master pastry creations, we walked a good 45 minutes from Bastille to the 6th (which I’m sure TOTALLY worked off the 6 pastries, liquid chocolate, caramels & candy). Where would you think we probably wouldn’t go after eating a massive pastry lunch?
Well, you’re wrong. Because we ended up stopping at yet another pastry shop (for dessert, obvi).
2 thick pudding-like hot chocolates, a strawberry tart, and 2 espressos.
Cleary this is my new favorite person. Anyone who suggests stopping for a pastry & hot chocolate after a massive pastry lunch is bound to be a lifelong friend.
Can I be a lifelong friend too?
ReplyDeleteGlad you had a successful pastry experience! :)
Please. I think we knew from day 1 at the computers doing emails that lifelong friendship was in store.
ReplyDelete