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day 12 :
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friday, 8 mayJust when we thought breakfast in Paris couldn't get any better, we made two new discoveries today: Le Fierbois yogurt with rhubarb, and Pierre Hermé Ispahan croissants. The yogurt, purchased at our neighborhood fromagerie the day before, had the perfect blend of acidity, creaminess, and rhubarb flavor. Although Eric claimed he could eat it every day for breakfast, that might be a bit much, given the richness of the lait entier (whole milk) it's made with. After breakfast at home, we made our return visit to Pierre Hermé for second breakfast, this time buying a croissant, pain au chocolate, and three new macarons. We almost stopped there until Dawn spied some Ispahan (rose and raspberry flavored) croissants in a basket. We had already declared the plain Pierre Hermé croissant as the best we've ever had, but his raspberry rose croissant, with a sweet rose-flavored icing drizzled over it, is "dreamy bliss" according to Dawn. Our taste memory is permanently etched with this flavor, and this croissant alone is reason enough to go back to Paris someday. Instead of eating our pastries across the street in the park like we had done earlier this week, we followed the advice in Clotilde's Edible Adventures in Paris: "Just around the corner, at 8 place Saint-Sulpice, Le Café de la Mairie serves as the unofficial salon de thé for Pierre Hermé addicts: order drinks, keep your table tidy, and the waiters will look the other way as you dig into your pastries." We sat down, ordered un express and un thé, and somehow avoided scattering flaky crumbs all over our table. Thanks for the recommendation, Clotilde!
Watching all of those kids run around and get exercise worked up our appetites, so we beelined for Le Comptoir du Relais restaurant. Scoring a weeknight dinner reservation at this restaurant has been likened to winning the lottery – you have to reserve months in advance if you want to sample the five course gastronomic tasting menu, and we didn't plan that far ahead. But lunchtime and weekend meals are first-come, first-serve brasserie-style à la carte affairs. The key, as we read in Clotilde's book, is to get there a few minutes before opening to score a seat, otherwise you could easily wait an hour or more in line for a table. We were 6th and 7th people in line when we arrived just before noon, and got a great seat in the large open-air window, just behind all of the outdoor seating; it gave us a great street view with the feeling of still being indoors. The restaurant was completely full within five minutes, and there was a constant line of 10-20 people after that.
We attempted to visit the nearby Pâtisserie Viennoise for their dark hot chocolate recommended in David's new book, but they were closed for the holiday and the rest of the weekend. It's probably just as well we didn't get to visit today, given that we had finished rich desserts just moments beforehand. With no other scheduled food stops in the vicinity, and given that the weather was gray and windy, we figured this was as good a time as any to check out a museum. Really – a museum. It's very unlike us, but we had read good things about our neighborhood Musée National du Moyen Âge (also called Musée de Cluny). The museum itself dates to the 14th century, and housed examples of medieval stonework, metalwork, tapestries, and religious artifacts. It's most famous for its set of six tapestries entitled La Dame à la Licorne ("The Lady and the Unicorn"). The twelve-foot-tall silk and wool tapestries depict the five senses on five tapestries, with the sixth tapestry entitled "To My Only Desire."
Amuse of squid ink cracker with marinated onions and goat cheese Fava bean raviolo with sweet pea and herb sauce Poached egg with chilled white wine asparagus and parmigiano mornay sauce Seared salmon with rhubarb bay leaf sauce and kohlrabi lime slaw Pan fried mackerel with glazed fennel barley and preserved lemon chutney Palate cleanser – a "mint julep" with bourbon gelée and lime sorbet Herbed stuffed pork roulade with cheddar grits and green asparagus Beet salad Buttermilk cake with strawberry tarragon sorbet Petits fours – mini rice krispie treat, honey peanut caramel, paté de fruit, dark chocolate truffle
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