Monday, March 07, 2011

Never Been to Paris

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I haven't been to Paris (I always have to say "yet" because I am an optimist) but books have let me travel there. The most recent was The Sweet Life in Paris by David Lebovitz, which was a great travel and foodie read about being an outsider in an amazing "and perplexing" city.

I have followed David Lebovitz in Twitter and Facebook for quite some time now, so I wasn't surprised to laugh along with his stories of awkward culture clashes and trash-day outfits, nor was I shocked to find delicious sounding recipes. I wasn't quite expecting that I'd feel inspired enough to attempt making macarons for the first time, just to feel like I was somehow close to being there. I haven't made it to any of the trendy NYC bakeries that have started offering French macarons, much less Ladurée in Paris, but I can now say I have made them for myself. They weren't exactly perfect, rather fugly in fact, but delicious and easy enough to attempt again.

Spiced Nuts
I have my eye on quite a few other recipes from The Sweet Life in Paris - there are some tasty sounding fig things and more fun things to do with meringue, as well as a blue cheese cake that I can't even taste in my head. I had the ingredients for spiced nuts on hand, so I whipped those up in between steps for the macarons. I think it is safe to say that David Lebovitz himself is no longer an outsider in Paris. He has provided insight into a culture that is known as unwelcoming but may just be misunderstood (or untolerated), and this would be a useful guide for anyone considering a visit.

3 comments:

David said...

So glad you enjoyed the book & the results of your baking! : )

David T. Macknet said...

There's still time to make it to France ... although I can think of lots of places I'd rather visit. ;)

Anonymous said...

I love "The Sweet Life In Paris". Cook a few things from it and all turned out to be fabulous!