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Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Frugal in France: Return Trip

It's always good to leave a bit undone, so you have a reason to go back. Aside from the more than fifty chateaux in the Loire valley that remain unseen by us, we need to make a few purchases of items both consumable and not.

1. It turns out that French macarons are, indeed, divine. Thanks to Duchesse for spelling correction, and also to Marcela and Deja Pseu for endorsements. Really, I only had a few days in Paris and I didn't want to contend with the lines at the most famous spot. All the bakeries have them, including those out in the boonies, so I really have no excuse.

2. There are two cheeses that we didn't get to try (one was confiscated as we left France). Bon appetit to someone, I hope.

3. OOPS! Forgot to go back to Petit Bateau for a few tees.

4. Mr. FS wanted to cook some mussels, but we just ran out of time.

5. We forgot to buy the buckwheat flour for the galettes we learned how to make.

6. Gotta eat more fromage blanc.

5 comments:

Unknown said...

I am happy that you had macarons from Ladurée! I baked my first batch on July 14th and, even though I am still far from that perfection, I was happy to be able to make my own.:)
You are right, it's always good to leave a place wanting to go back. I wish you many more lovely trips to France!

Duchesse said...

Wonderful! You were lucky to have such an intimate experience, visiting a family and friends. Who confiscated the cheese? (French customs can be infuriating- but thought it was the US who outlaws raw milk cheeses.)

And can't you get buckwheat flour there?

Brenda said...

Pioneer Woman has a post today on making macarons with a link to Demystifying Macarons by Helene Dujardin.

Sorry. I am not a blogger and don't know how to "link" these.

http://thepioneerwoman.com/blog/2011/07/wonderful-weekend/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+thepioneerwoman+%28Confessions+of+a+Pioneer+Woman%29&utm_content=My+Yahoo


http://issuu.com/helened/docs/demystifying_macarons_-_updated?mode=a_p

Duchesse said...

Brenda, I have tried making macarons at home: "How hard can this be"? Hah! The meringue cookies are not hard, but you need a dry atmosphere to keep that crispness, and the ganache has to be pure intense velvet. There are a lot of macaron recipes on the net, they are "in". But like croissants, the work to produce a really good one at home is harder than I thought.

Frugal, you might start a Return to France fund with all your frugality netting your kitty for the next trip. Knowing you, you will have it saved rapidly.

Unknown said...

I made macarons at home and posted the step by step pictures in my blog, with links to the recipes and tips I used: http://thecelebrationgirl.com/?p=483
I particularly recommend reading the article Macarons Mythbusters by Stella, a pastry chef who writes the blog Brave Tart.