A Tale of Two Bakers

After a BodyAttack (death) class at Club Med Gym, I decided to treat myself to some terrace time in the city. I'd brought my Costa Rica guide book and figured that I could map our vacation route while enjoying un café and maybe some other yummy things.  I'd earned it.

I chose Chambelland's terrace, the little gluten-free bakery in the picture-perfect Popincourt village. I love their chambellines, which are beautiful, thick breads with fleur d'oranger and sugar on top.  Children kicked soccer balls against the closed storefronts while their parents ate, and I enjoyed a jambon de bayonne sandwich with a fresh citronnade.  Two women chatted next to me and shortly thereafter, a man in a white jacket, who could only be the boulanger asked to share their table with his guest, an older gentleman, "from Washington".

My ears perked when I heard mention of the states, and then of course, they spoke in English and my ears perked some more. I tried to read my guidebook and take notes,  but it was impossible not to listen to their conversation - I was enthralled.  A quick Google search  (thank you Iphone!) confirmed that these were two great boulangers - bakers - and that they both loved bread.  The American was Mark Furstenberg of Bread Furst Bakery, and the Frenchman, Thomas Teffri-Chambelland, co-owner of the boulangerie Chambelland.

They talked about flour mills (Teffri-Chambelland has a gluten-free mill!), boulangerie schools (read about Chambelland's here), French vs American hiring practices and intricacies (nope, you can't fire someone for putting too much salt in the bread...), workers rights and contracts (nope, you can't break a contract without following a major procédure in France).  The French baker revealed that real bakers are hard to come by in this country,  the American talked about the sales of his breads at Whole Foods. It was fascinating.

And now I kind of want to be a baker.

I loved Teffri-Chambelland's English, full of faux-amis (French words that sound like the English word, but don't mean the same thing), and his French outlook on his future projets. I loved Furstenberg's enthusiasm despite his age (he started making bread after the age of 50!), his request to meet Teffri-Chambelland's children who were in the neighborhood, his own son, François being French, too.

Part of me wanted to say hello, but the French side of me stopped myself. That would be intrusive. The American side of me won for the blog - how could I not tell this story? Two bakers meet in Paris, talk about bread and the future of the almighty boulangerie. One lives in a country where bread is a staple in almost all households; the prix du pain (cost of bread) is listed at every grocery store and the government awards the best baker every year.  He goes against the grain (literally!), opening a gluten-free bakery in the land of the baguette tradition. But it's hard to have a small business in France, the rules are strict and workers have the upper hand. The other comes from Wonderbread-land, where buying daily bread with an amazing thick crust is not culturally the done thing. People buy pre-cut loaves that come in plastic and last the week, costing 1/3 the price of a fresh pain au levain.. But hiring practices are more flexible,  employers rule the roost.   Such different worlds!

And the conversation ended there, or at least the part that I got to hear, as Teffri-Chambelland lead Furstenberg into his laboratory in his petit 60 meters squared bakery in Paris.

For the love of bread.

Paris DO NOT Eats - Ban Banette!

Yesterday I found myself with a free hour in my work schedule and decided to treat myself to a gouter - that's French for "snack".  Bien sur my gouter of choice is generally my favorite patisserie of all time, the stupendous millefeuille.  If you are  unfamiliar with my love for the millefeuille, you can check it out here and here.

Basically, they rock my world.

So, milling around the 13th arrondissement on avenue des Gobelins, I found Banette, a bakery on the corner that happened to have a millefeulle.  There was a bee flying around in the meringue jar and the frosting on the millefeuille did look a bit too...set, however, I decided to go with it anyways, and for 2 Euros and 30 centimes, it was mine.

I sat on a stool and people watched as I began what I thought would be an experience equal to that of heaven or at least a hot shower after a day in the snow. Instead, this is what I got:

Soggy crust, close to curdled, lumpy, tasteless cream and stale frosting.  Quelle catastrophe. Out of principle I finished the frosting, but I left the rest and went back to work thoroughly disappointed.

Fast forward to approximately 10pm - Copain and I had just finished a lovely dinner at Les Caves Saint Gilles in the Marais (more on that great resto coming soon!), when BAM!! FOOOOOD POISONING!!!!!!!!!!!


Let's just say, it wasn't pretty. 


Banette - you are banned from my food repertoire! Never shall I cross your threshold again! The millefeuille is a sacred piece of craftsmanship - its crispy crust, vanilla-infused cream and rich rum icing are to be savored! You are an embarrassment to the French boulangerie tradition. 

When I posted my ill-condition following the ingestion of the millefeuille on Facebook, my fellow-expat friend L commented the following: Steer clear of Banette I say. Last time I had one of their croissants I was convinced that it had been imported from Costco. 


When Copain learned that I had gone to Banette he said something along the lines of - mais pourquoi Banette - tout le monde sait que ce n'est pas bon! (Why Banette? Everyone knows it's bad!)


Did everyone know this? Am I just out of the boulangerie loop?  From now on, I'm sticking with Huré.

Mc-Boulangerie?!

Sunday was a lazy day for me, just as I had hoped...picnic at the Parc Floral, meandering by Nation (where I couldn't help but buy two new nail polish colors - coral is the new IT color this season non?), a Diabolo grenadine (just like a Shirley Temple!) with my friend M, and then, much to my utter dismay, this:

Hamburgers have invaded my local boulangerie!!!!

What is the world coming to? I'm at a loss for words.

Oh My Millefeuille

I just realized it - just this very moment - that today is my 6 year France-iversary.  I've been living in France for SIX years now - ooooh la.  C'est crazy non??!

Don't ask me why it took me six years to appreciate French pastries, but it did, and tonight I have officially GONE TOO FAR.

It all started so reasonably...a millefeuille here, a fraisier there, a chocolate raspberry amazingness for the road....until one day it became my quest to find the best millefeuile in Paris.  I would scour the quartiers on Saturday afternoons searching for a millefeuille in one of the million boulangeries - purchasing the first one I saw and forcing myself to wait until dessert time to eat it.

Now I don't even wait for the weekend.  I see one, I buy it, I eat it. For lunch, dinner, dessert - whatever.
Last night on my way home I saw one peeking out of the bakery window.  Not one to leave a millefeuille sad and alone for the night, I popped in to buy it and ate it after my healthy high protein dinner negating any and all effort towards a well-balanced meal.

Tonight though - wow. Tonight took the cake - literally.  I was doing my grocery shopping around the corner in order to pick up a few things before Sunny Life comes for the weekend. All of a sudden I saw it -no, them! Not one but TWO millefeuille in a nice little box sitting in the bakery section of the supermarket.  They taunted me and with no willpower left in me at 8.30 pm I snatched them up!  I thought I would wait until Sunny Life came to enjoy them for dessert one night- but I had no strength - I failed, my friends.

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, FrenchCannesCannes has eaten the millefeuilles - all two of them - in ONE sitting.

My only excuse is that it is my 6 year France-iversary....it just would have been a more plausible excuse had I realized that fact before the pig out.

Merde.

The Plan

Part of my Be Happy in Paris Plan includes regular outings in the city, preferably with friends (and food). This is highly important in order to avoid: A. Wasting away in a humid mini-apartment, B. Watching too many Sex and the City episodes in pjs, C. Eating anything and everything whilst watching afore-mentioned episodes.

Therefore, I have been very proactive to prévoir....pre-plan said outings.  It's of the highest importance (according to...me) in order be contente with my new life in this new city.

So on Sunday, C and I made Paris our oyster and discovered some amazing things including but not limited to:

We now highly recommend the millefeuille and chibouste at Le Valentin, 30/32 Passage Jouffroy 75009 Paris. Trop bon!

2 more points for Paris.