NOT JUST ANOTHER MUSEUM

This morning I woke up, had my daily cup of hot chocolate with breakfast (and another one for good luck), wrote a paper, and then went to THE CHOCOLATE MUSEUM!!!  Who knew there was such a thing?!  This was the museum for me.  We learned all about the history of hot chocolate (4,000 years old, hot chocolate making), and the more recent (only the past 200 years) making of solid chocolate.  Then for the best part: a demonstration complete with lots and lots of free samples.

Chocolate bars of the world

Theoretically these are supposed to be chocolate people.. I think they look more like really pointy rotten teeth

Our master chocolatier.

Hard at work, filling chocolates with hazelnut praline

The finished product!

A chocolate nativity scene (the white thing on the ground is Jesus)

At the end you got a hot chocolate, and had your pick of six flavors:aztec recipe, spanish recipe, speculoos, hazelnut, milk, or dark.  I went with spanish which had cinnamon, cloves, and pimenton (good choice)

This was not any ordinary hot chocolate.  It was a cube of flavored chocolate (fudge-like), on a toothpick, and you stirred it into the hot milk they gave you!!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

The view up my street

Happy Holidays from Rue des Martyrs!!

ROSE BAKERY

Took a break from Art History essay-writing today for lunch at Rose Bakery with two friends from Sciences Po.  It's just a two minute walk from my apartment, and while I stop in all the time for their home-made granola (the best of the best), I hadn't ever sat down to eat.  Good thing I waited, because had I known how good it was, I would have never tried anywhere else.  

The bakery is run by a British-French couple, and they've got lots of traditional British "puddings" (cake!) along with loads of tasty salads and savory tarts and soups and things.  The Whole Foods salad bar wouldn't know what hit it.  

They get all their eggs, fruits, and veg. delivered from local farmers daily.  They leave the crates along the walls, coming out from the kitchens to grab big armfuls of apples, and you can buy it as well.  

This is the magical and famous carrot cake.  It is spoken of in hushed tones throughout Paris.  I didn't order it today (went with the chocolate polenta cake--solid choice), but my friend Tab did, and I got a bite.  Worth the hype.  Other friend Emily went with the cheesecake, another winner.  

Conclusion?  If you're in Paris, you cannot go wrong with Rose Bakery for some tasty eats.  The Parisians can make buttery pastries all day, but when it comes to cakes and crumbles the Brits have 'em beat.  Also I hear their weekend brunch is darn good.  Might just have to come back Saturday to celebrate my last weekend (!) on Rue des Martyrs.  

** I was too busy eating, so none of these photos are mine.  All by Elisabeth Blanchet and found here

ANOTHER WALK THROUGH MONTMARTRE

So I keep posting pictures from walks through Montmartre, but this time some friends and I took a walking tour (through Paris Walks) about Montmartre during the Belle Epoque, and the artists who were living and working there at the time.  Beautiful weather, and great tour guide.  Sorry if the pictures look a lot like what you've already seen, but couldn't miss the photo op.

Here's the real Moulin de la Galette, a working windmill that became a dancehall nights. (this one)

Where Picasso had his studio, in which he painted his portrait of Gertrude Stein, Les Demoiselles d'Avignon (hello cubism), and others.  

Your typical old frenchman: smoking and playing the accordion outside a café.  

A weirdly overcast moment on our tour, but shows the windy streets as you go up the Butte.  

Some cool street art.

A statue of Saint Denis, who (after climbing up my street- Rue des Martyrs!) was beheaded by the Romans.  According to legend, though, it didn't stop there.  He picked up his head and ran off down the hill until collapsing at the place he wanted to be laid to rest (a little over 6km away).  That place is now the Cathedral de Saint Denis, where all the french kings were buried.  Alternately, some say that to save time he rolled his head down the hill and ran after it.   Either way, quite an athlete.  

Dalida, another famous resident of Montmartre, who's having a really good hair day. Apparently very popular in the '70s, and a gay icon.  Tourists come to touch her boobs and take pictures (hence the shininess).  

FRÖHE (belated) ST. NIKOLAUS TAG

Hopefully everyone woke up to stuffed shoes yesterday morning, and if not, got themselves a clementine and some chocolate.

St. Nikolaus Day on Rue des Martyrs:

(St. Nikolaus plans ahead)

For only (ha) fifty-four euros you can eat a big St. Nikolaus and his horse made of all kinds of chocolate.  Bright side: the guy weighs 7500 grams, so you'll be set for a while.  Or the day, at least.

Or, if you'd like to go a different route in your St. Nikolaus-eating: iced, orange-infused St. Nikolaus spice bread.  

And finally, a St. Nikolaus mold for something (really big cookie?), and St. Nikolaus's black tea.  

LA COMÉDIE FRANÇAISE

Last night I went to the Comédie Française and saw a ('70s edition) of Hamlet.  In french.  It was a bit bizarre, having never read the book, or seen the play, to hear the most famous lines spoken in french by people wearing jumpsuits set to the music of a jukebox.  But not to say it wasn't amazing.  The actor who played Hamlet, especially, was amazing.  Also, after spending three hours a week learning about Moliere and watching the Comédie Française perform his plays, last semester, it was pretty great to sit there where they were first put on.   

The seats are super comfy.  If you're coming off a big exam, and the play goes until midnight, you're going to have trouble staying awake.  Trust me on that one.  

BEST SANDWICH YOU EVER DID HAVE

This post doesn't have too much to do with Paris, but I've made this sandwich twice now, and it's a game changer.  Figs are big in Paris, and for a while this fall they were quite cheap, so I tried them and was a fan.  Sadly, now they're as crazy expensive as the tiny box of dutch strawberries.  But I found, and bought, a fig jam.  Problem is, what do you do with fig jam?  So I picked up this super multigrain bread from my favorite boulangerie that leaves a trail of seeds behind as you eat it.  Very Hansel and Gretl.  Then I read something about a sandwich with cream cheese and arugula and beets and smoked salmon, but I wasn't feeling the beets or cream cheese so subbed those out for the fig jam!  It was all very If You Give a Mouse a Cookie... but it's a magical sandwich!  And I'm counting on those Omega 3s to kick in for my final exams the next few weeks.  

So to recap:

* fig jam

* multigrain bread

* smoked salmon

* arugula

Having Dr. Pepper with a sandwich always reminds me of Sundays in Germany, so that's a good thing, too.