Mad for Macarons

This morning I went to the corner patisserie to get my morning croissant, being in the moment, I admired a lovely building placed diagonally across from the bakery.  There is a balcony on the top floor with all sorts of colorful plants and I thought, “ they have created their own little garden there.”   On my way out, not even a good minute later there was smoke pouring out of the top of the building!  As  I stood there dumbfounded a police car pulled up.  I stood for a minute more and decided that they didn’t need my person in the crowd.  On my way back, the patisserie is really very close, one could hear sirens blaring in the distance.  One alarming thing in the apartment is that the teakettle reminds me of the sirens here; I wonder if it is a notice that if you don’t pay attention you will hear them for real!  Once back on my street a person asked if I knew what was going on.  Then as we were talking people hung their heads out their windows above to ask more questions.  Quite a little neighborhood here on Cour Damoye. 

I worried about it for a bit, what if I had to leave the apt, would I be able to intelligently get my stuff together to evacuate, is there anything here that Jan would want me to take, etc.  Finally I decided that I needed to eat my breakfast!  I slathered up croissant with butter, yes more butter, and apricot jam and took a bite.  As I was chewing I thought,  “a little tough, some one must have been a little heavy handed.”  Then I had to laugh at myself, one class and suddenly I am an expert!

I decided to have a lazy day, one just like I would have at home. I am a temporary Parisian and why not live large? So, today,  I have done copious research on Macarons.  I now have on my computer recipe flavors that include Chocolate, Snickers and Ketchup!  In my research I even encountered a site that states the caloric price of each of these little delicacies.  All this research kept reminding me that there is a luscious little box of them in the kitchen!  But to just eat them without fanfare seemed wrong. So I trekked to the corner to check out the remnants of the fire, one cannot even tell now!  Then on the way back I stopped in the cutest little shop that is on my street.  It is a Brullerie, and I purchased some coffee there yesterday and remembered that she had a huge amount of tea.  That was what instigated the trip outside the apartment at all.  I purchased something that has “virgin” in the title; it is beautifully flavored and smooth enough that I am happy without sugar.  I thought it appropriate considering my work!  I made some tea and picked out two more of my sweet little fairy pillows to enjoy.  I decided on grapefruit and a mixture of passion fruit and rhubarb.  To be honest neither of them had the excitement of yesterdays flavors. 

I finally pulled myself out of my fun filled day of laziness, research and macarons and readied to go to dinner with my on line friends from the Fordor website.  On my way I had to have a look at the macarons at Dalloyau, which is quite near to me.  We met at a place called Perraudin on the 5^th er, quite near the Panthenon.  Actually it is just around the corner.  There were 17 of us from the US, South Africa, and Australia.  We had a great time and the food was good.  I had, you guessed it, Fois Gras on toast for an appetizer, Salmon on a bed of spinach with a sorrel sauce and potatoes (which I did not eat – I was saving myself) and Nougat Glace with a raspberry sauce.  Yum.  I tried the Kir du Masion (for Jodi), it was made with Armagnac and was tasty and then a glass of the house Cotes du Rhone.  The food was reasonably priced and the company was great!  I sat beside 2 ladies from California, Sandy and Holly and then Tina and her nephew.  While there were 10 of us at our table I did not really get to chat so much with the others, they were just so far away.  I did get to chat with Leely, Leslie and her spouse on the way to the metro.  Yes I was eating and drinking so it is looks like I am lit in the photo, I was only high on a great evening!  It was a beautiful evening out and even at 10:00PM I hated to go inside, but alas tomorrow is another day and a Frenchie needs her sleep!