Paris Resto and Culinary

A Casaluna Restaurant

Front Door

I have already featured in this blog a dinner over at my friend's Elizabeth. She has so much style that I cannot help sharing again with you a dinner at her place.

Of course everytime the guests wonder why I am taking pictures, and I say I have a food blog, but I sense I am miles away from their reality! I do not mind because I know you're going to enjoy my post!
Elizabeth is (fully) responsible for me becoming a fan of Jacquard-Francais table cloths. Unfortunately their website is not great; the table ware is much, much better than it shows in the pictures in the website.
I love Elizabeth's red one and the sumptuous matching napkins. Red breathes luxury on a table!

She had decorated the table with rose petals - instead of the traditional vase in the center of the table. This allowed room for what was coming as the main course, a delicious "paella". The little silver teapots that you see have a candle inside, very cute indeed!

Before the meal Elizabeth served Champagne or Kir Royal with "verrines" . You can learn about Kir by clicking on the word, it will take you to my website and the explanation.
Hers were made with a layer of guacamole, a layer of cream cheese, and a layer of home made tomato sauce. They were presented in a Japanese rectangular blue and white dish.

Then we moved to the dinning room. Her silver ware is beautiful and comes from her family, as do the Limoges porcelain dishes. Look how beautiful silver is on red!

And the menu? We had a delicious Cavaillon melon and Parma ham as an appetizer, and then a rich paella, which Elizabeth learned to master during the 14 years she lived in Spain.

She served it with a wine from La Rioja.

We had strawberries and raspberries for dessert. Perfect!

A stop at Yamazaki pastry shop.

A pleasant Parisian stroll on a Sunday afternoon ... I went all the way to Chaussee de la Muette (metro Muette, line 9) in the 16th district, where I live, and once there, to one of my "must go" spots, the pastry shop Yamazaki which features a blend of French and Japanese pastry.
My very favorite order in summer is one of their "Granites", snow like mounds served in an icecream bowl, with a light syrup of your choice - I often order "green tea" which you can have with ou without anko (I always order mine with anko).
The impossible game is to eat it trying not to stain the table! Quite a challenge, believe me - and a difficult training in good manners!

UPDATE JULY 21: Thank you RoyalTLady for your comment. I had forgotten that Yamazaki also offers Condensed milk as an option (actually I never tasted granite with condensed milk but may try it next time).

The house speciality is "choux" or cream puffs, which are worth the stop.
It's a great place to go to if you are on a visit to the peaceful Musee Marmottan , at 2 rue Louis-Boilly, on the Jardins du Ranelagh. You can come here for lunch or for the afternoon tee; they serve light lunches and delicious pastries.

A Cheese Odyssey

Two years ago I impulsively decided to take on the whopping task of tasting each and every cheese produced in France. Today, April 18, is the two year anniversary of la Fête du Fromage.
I think that calls for a celebration!

Each and every cheese...just how many is that exactly? Apparently there is no definitive answer. Some say as few as 350 and other sources cite as many as 1000. The most common answer is that there are around 400-500 French cheeses.

In the last two years I have tasted about 130 of the 350-1000. That means I've got another 3 to 10 years of delicious French cheese tasting to look forward to. Here's to that!

A few highlights from the last 2 years:

Tomette des Corbières,
Langres
Le Napoléon Commingeois
Tomme de Maquis
la Taupinière
Cabretou
La Courounne Lochoise
Gaperon

.

La Fête du Fromage - le Cados

The jury's still out on this one.

I take a bite and it is pretty tasty. Then I start chewing and absorb the full, heady, boozy flavor, and it practically knocks me on my ass.

Le Cados.

Another cheese by Carole Brihier of La Société Fromages Service in Campigneulles-les-Grandes, in the Pas-de-Calais département. She's the genius behind le Cameau, a cheese we tasted a few weeks ago.

Calvados soaked breadcrumbs surrounding rich Camembert

My husband and I both tasted it. Both of us were undecided. Was it good? Did we like it? It was highly unusual for both of us to be this ambivalent. We aren't shy about expressing our opinions around here!
So we recruited six friends to be guinea pigs and give us their opinion as well.

"Too strong."
"Would taste delicious with apple or pear slices to cut the strong flavor."
"Strong and unusual. It's...interesting."
"Wow. Really rich and has a strong alcohol flavor."

Do I sense a pattern here?

Le Cados' strength is exactly why neither my husband nor I were sure about it. Not that I don't like strong cheese. Au contraire. I love it.
But this Calvados soaked, raw milk Camembert is exceptionally potent and intense.

So, as half of it sits in my fridge, uneaten and mocking me every time I open the door and look in there, I have to state my honest opinion and say that it is highly doubtful that we'll finish it.

I wanted to like le Cados, I really did.
However, I won't be pursuing this one again any time soon.