Paris Food Excitement

The food here is amazing. This is an obvious statement I didn’t fully understand until I got here and started going to the markets. I feel like we have barely begun to investigate what’s available and yet I am already struck giddy with such frequency that I don’t know how people handle it on a daily basis.

“The rabbit still has its kidneys!” I exclaimed about an hour ago. I knew it came with heart, liver and head intact. These I saw at the butcher when he quickly morceaux-ed it for us. Unwrapping it at home I found the kidneys, still attached in their regular place. Even as a fairly intrepid home cook, I have little idea what to do with rabbit kidneys. I let the butcher keep the head, which I now regret on an emotional level, but rationally I have less of an idea what to do with the head than I do the kidneys. Here is a photo of our market haul tonight (in a style cribbed from Martha & Tom) We trekked to one of the few remaining wood-fired oven bakeries for the bread and pecan tart. Closer to home we hit the butcher and vegetable joints on rue Oberkampf. The yellow orbs are complimentary Mirabelle plums from the pleasant vegetable man. He also threw in the bouquet garni- fresh thyme and bay leaves. The wine is from Marché U, an annoyingly packed, basic market at which we buy dirt cheap yet still tasty wine. Here is a flattering photo of me eating all the tomatoes:

Last week we visited La Cocotte, a cookbook store not far from our apartment. It’s super cute, well stocked and knowledgeably staffed. We bought a pretty basic, comprehensive cookbook, Le Miamissime. The rabbit is my third attempt from the book. The first was the veal from the previous post. The second was the peas in this photo. Also included in this photo are a pork shoulder steak, some potatoes and a bunch of cream.

This weekend should be exciting. Friday night one of Lia's coworkers is throwing a party. I am excited to go and speak English. Saturday night is La Nuit Blanche, an all-night citywide art party, from what I can tell. I foresee lots of walking around and drinking rosé from the bottle.