Mes amies á Paris! (Part deux)

With a great start to the trip my Colgate friends and I still had a few more days of adventures before they left! I took Friday off and we got up early to go to Versailles. With the SNCF strike still going on it took us a little longer than expected to get there due to train delays and cancellations. I went to Versailles in 2000 with my family and have been wanting to go back ever since and am so glad we did!

Versailles from outside the gate

We first started with a tour of the Château. The Château is massive and extremely ornate. Every surface was covered in decorations be it gold plating, wall paper, murals, etc. Paintings and sculptures were found everywhere and most ceilings had ornate paintings to representative of different Gods and Goddesses. However, what surprised me the most was how close together all of the rooms were: King Louis' quarters backs up to the Hall of Mirrors. The Hall of Mirrors is very impressive, on one side is floor to ceiling mirrors and on the other floor to ceiling windows. The mirrors reflect the gardens that can be seen from the floor to ceiling windows that line the other side of the hall. The windows let in ample light which makes it feel as though the gardens are around you. The mirrors in the hall were constructed by Saint-Gobain, and the company was actually founded by the King in order to manufacture them!

In the Hall of Mirrors

After a tour of the Château we headed to the gardens to find a place to picnic for lunch. We headed away from the Great Canal and towards the Grand Trianon where we found a small pond that wasn't that busy. The weather was perfect so we were able to sit and relax for a bit. However, not wanting to waste time (you can spend days there and not get bored!) we headed to the Petit Trianon and Marie Antoinette's Hamlet. We did a quick tour of her Palace and then headed into the gardens. Marie-Antoinette had the hamlet built in 1783 so she could return to the "charms of the rural life."  Once completed the Hamlet consisted of 11 cottages around a large lake: 5 cottages were reserved for her and her guests, 4 were reserved for the peasants who lived there, the farm and its annexes and one cottage for domestic use. The farm was a working farm complete with livestock, goats and birds as well as a vegetable farm to supply some of the food. The Hamlet was my favorite spot in Versailles all those years ago, and was still one of my favorite places today. Located a little further than the rest of the gardens, not as many people make it to the Hamlet so it is a lot quieter and more peaceful!

The gardener's cottage

After a full day at Versailles we got back to Paris around 6 which gave us enough time to head out to a nice dinner and drinks! Saturday was our last full day and we wanted to take full advantage! In the morning we headed to the left bank to do a walking tour and pick up a picnic lunch which we enjoyed in the park behind Notre Dame.

In the afternoon we had a Patisserie cooking class at La Cuisine Paris, where we learned how to make Croissants, Pain au chocolat, Pain Suisse (dough with vanilla custard & chocolate chips) and Pain Raisin (a spiral of dough with vanilla custard and raisins) as well as some jelly pastries. The class was three hours long and so much fun! We went through all the steps of how to make croissants and all got to make everything. Since the dough takes almost a day to prepare due to all of the breaks you need to give it to let the yeast work, etc we had dough ready to go for us. However, at the beginning of the course we were given our own bowl of ingredients for dough and throughout the course we did a condensed dough preparation version to learn the steps.

Making the Pain au Suisse

Throughout the class our instructor provided us with some funfacts about croissants:

• The croissants we made had 49 layers alternating butter and dough
• In the oven the butter forces the dough to separate giving it the light and airy interior 
• Croissants have two different shapes and names for a reason
• Croissant ordinaire is Crescent shaped and is made with margarine 
• Croissant au buerre is the typical straighter shape and is made with butter

At the end of the three hour class we were served coffee along with our pastries straight out of the oven! Everything was so delicious that it was hard not to try to eat all of them right away. We all left feeling full, satisfied and very happy with a bag filled with pastries to enjoy later and the next morning for breakfast!

After our class!

We ended the night at the 33rd edition of Le Fete de La Musique, a free musical festival throughout Paris that anyone can participate in. Throughout the night there are concerts throughout the city ranging from anyone who wants to play to well known bands and orchestras. We saw a really great percussion band in front of Notre Dame and then wandered the streets listening to others.

Sunday morning everyone had to return to the states. I had the most amazing time with Eri, Emily, Emily and Caroline and words cannot describe how happy and grateful I am that they were able to make the trip over. It was amazing to spend a week with them here and show them my life in Paris! I am very much looking forward to my return to the states so that I can see them again soon!

Mes amies á Paris!

This past Saturday, some of my best friends from Colgate, Eri, Emily, Emily and Caroline, arrived in Paris for the week. They booked their flight back in January so I've been anxiously anticipating their arrival! I was so excited to see them and so glad they were able to make the trip over! After a 2 hour flight delay, they arrived around 3pm. Later that afternoon we went out for a walk around Paris, had some Le Nôtre macarons and sat in the Place des Vosges park in the Marais.

Sunday morning, our first stop was the Musée D'Orsay. I had been wanting to visit and thought it would be a good Sunday morning activity. The Museum is housed in the old Gare d'Orsay, the train station built for the Universal Exhibition of 1900. Musée D'Orsay has a large number of impressionist and post-impressionist paintings by painters such as Monet, Manet, Degas, Rodin, Renoir and van Gogh. I really enjoyed Monet's landscape paintings, especially the paintings of Étretat, which I had just seen.

After a morning well spent at the Museum, we had worked up an appetite and headed to Le Voltigeur Bistro in the Marais, for a wonderful quiche lunch. With the beautiful weather, the café had all of their doors open to the streets with little tables spilling onto the sidewalk. From there we headed to my favorite park, Jardin Luxembourg for a relaxing afternoon in the sun. We spent some time sitting near the fountain chatting and watching the wooden boats in the fountain. To end the night we headed to a nearby bar to watch France beat Honduras 3-0 in their first World Cup game.

Me, Eri, Emily, Emily & Caroline

During the week, I would head to work while Eri, Emily, Boots & Caroline explored Paris.  Monday night we headed to the Eiffel Tower for a picnic dinner of bread, cheese, charcuterie, strawberries, and Champagne. The night was very relaxing and a great way to enjoy the Eiffel Tower and relax.

Picnics in the Park

Tuesday, while I was at work my friends had planned a trip to Champagne but due to the SNCF strikes, their first train was cancelled. After a crazy morning they were able to make the trip and get out of Paris for the day. They ended up getting back to Paris around 8:30 and we headed to L'as du Falafel for their famous falafel sandwich which did not disapoint! The pita was stuffed to the brim with falafel, tahina sauce, roasted eggplant, cabbage slaw, cucumber, tomato, parsley and topped with some spicy sauce. We meandered the streets until we found a place to sit and enjoy our meal. The next night we headed into the Latin Quarter for drinks. The weather was so nice we were able to sit outside and enjoy the night.

Paris nights

My last day of work for the week was Thursday and after we headed to Breizh Café in the Marais for a Breton region dinner of savory and sweet crêpes with cidre. I always heard good things about this café and its always packed with people, requiring a reservation to get a seat. They had a large selection of crêpes as well as four entree and four dessert specials on the board and an extensive cidre selection. Everyone enjoyed their crêpes and we left the café full and very satisfied!

After our delicious dinner

The week was going way too fast but luckily I had all of Friday and Saturday to spend with my friends...to be continued...

Ich bin ein Berliner

I spent the past week in Berlin on business. We arrived Tuesday late afternoon and ran events through Friday night. One of my main tasks while in Paris was working on Friday's final event and I can happily say that it went very well!

Knowing that I was going to be in Berlin, I reached out to my family who lives there and was able to spend Saturday and Sunday with them! Saturday morning they picked me up from my hotel and we began a tour of Potsdam and Berlin. Having visited Berlin before, in 2010, I had seen many of the major sites within the city, so we headed out to Potsdam to visit Sanssouci Palace.

Once of the Gardens on the Palace Grounds

Sanssouci Palace, built by Frederick the Great, King of Prussia, in the 1740s, is known as the Versailles of Berlin. The Palace is much smaller than Versailles and only has approximately only 10 rooms but the park and garden layout and size is similar. The Palace is built on a hill and when you walk out onto the terrace you overlook the gardens and are able to see how extensive they really are. King Frederick used all of the garden space wisely and the steps leading from the palace to the gardens are planted with wine grapes!

Looking up to the Palace

Throughout the gardens and park are smaller houses and buildings. We were able to see the Chinese House, the Gardener's House and the Orangerie. We climbed to the top of the Orangerie and we were able to look over the entire park. I couldn't get over how detailed the parks and gardens were. Each area was perfectly manicured and the gardens and park were designed and planted to look so natural. The Gardener's house looked like it came right out of Tuscany and the plantings around it matched the area as well!

View from the Orangerie

After a wonderful day at the gardens we went back to their house for an apperitivo and dinner. They live in West Berlin towards the outskirts. Their quartier looks like the suburbs and is so quiet, you would never guess they lived in the city! Their house was beautiful and we were able to enjoy our aperitivo outside in their garden! They made a Northern Italian/Ticinese meal which brought me right back to Switzerland and was delicious!

The next morning we headed out to Berlin and did a Boat tour on the Spree. I find it really interesting to see the city from the water and it was nice to go by some of the major sites.

View from the boat

My flight back to Paris was in the mid afternoon so my next stop was the airport. My trip was amazing and I absolutely love Berlin! The city is completely livable and is filled with parks and green spaces. It would be an amazing city to live in (if only I could master the German language) I had such a great time seeing my family and exploring Berlin and its surroundings. Hopefully we will be able to meet up again soon!

Macaron, sweet macaron

The French macaron is one of France's most well-known mini pastries and is absolutely decadent! There are so many different flavors and marques to choose from that it can sometimes be a little difficult. After a taste test in the winter, Shelley and I thought it would be best to go to a macaron class and learn how they are made!

Shelley & I during the class

Saturday morning we found ourselves at Le Nôtre cooking school, home to some of the best macarons! We chose the "classics" class where we would learn to make chocolate, cafe and vanilla. The class was taught entirely in French! I can now honestly say that my French language immersion has worked as I got through the class with almost no problem!

Le Nôtre Ecole de Cuisine

Our instructor, Chef Legras, walked us through the first batch of macarons, vanilla, and took the time to explain why specific ingredients were used and the difference between the different types of sugar. He also explained why the order of ingredients was important, which I've been known to ignore once or twice in my baking past...

Chef Lagras at the end of the class, assembling macarons

After the first batch was in the oven, he had us work on each of the steps so that we could fully understand what we were doing. Getting the perfect macaron size and shape was a lot harder than it looked! Each one had to match so they would all bake evenly and in order to make it easier to sandwich them later. However, that is a lot harder than it sounds, so they were not all equally sized.

Piping macarons

The hardest part was not forming a small peak on the top of each shell after we picked the pastry bag up. While the shells were cooling, we were able to make the three ganache fillings which were used to sandwich our macarons.

Macaron Steps

The class was three hours long but time passed quickly as we were always busy and the class was lighthearted and fun. At the end of the class we were give recipes for each of the three flavors and boxes filled with our homemade macarons. After trying them they were a bit crunchy, but the filling and the macaron flavor were spot on. I think they were a little overcooked as they were all different sizes making it impossible to bake them evenly. Shelley and I now understand the difficulty in making the perfect macaron!