I Miss U all my Blog: Guimauve

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Friday, January 21, 2011

French Pastry Loves Andy

0 comments Posted by pece at 9:02 AM

Andy Warhol was the absolute master of color...

And multiples of color were his specialty...

It makes perfect sense pastry chefs would flip for Warhol. Let's face it, not all French pastry is wildly colorful like these famous caneles of Bordeaux. So why not box them up in a Warholesque version?

And what about the wonderful but dreary old cacao bean - well it is colorful for the short time it's in the shell. Here Chocolat Cluizel has cleverly colored giant chocolate 'beans' in brilliant Warholian colors..

A wall of colorful chocolate bars - I wouldn't mind that at home, say in the living room...

How about a wall of colorful Macarons - citron, mango, fraise, framboise etc.

They deserve a lovely colorful box - why not?

Miam

Miam!

Warhol Macaron Boite, watercolor,contact, 9" x 11"

I had to try my hand at a bite of Warhol non?

So many are thankful to dear M. Warhol, even posthumously...

Was a French marshmallow-maker looking at Warhol too?

YUM

Merci beaucoup M. Andy!

BONNE WEEK-END!

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

bien élevé

0 comments Posted by pece at 5:49 AM

I looked at this little paw clutching the patisserie counter in anticipation and wondered...

Mom, how come my first sandwich cookie was an Oreo?

Not a framboise macaron..?

I've no remembrances of things (madeleines) past...

I cut my eye tooth on home-made rock-hard oatmeal cookies...

I never made any religieuses with the aid of a kid's cookbook. Though Mom, you did let me place raisin 'buttons' on the gingerbread men.
C'est comme ca...

My marshmallows were not exotically flavored delicate affairs like these pastel guimauves...

Mine came in a puffy bag and I popped them one-by-one into my mouth without thinking. I enjoyed roasting them over the stove on a fork, especially when you were out of the house Mom. How I never burnt down the house is amazing!

Claes Oldenburg got it right...

Our cakes are clutzy!

Everything is too big.

No wonder we go nuts over Paris pastries?

When we grew up eating this?

Where was our early taste-bud training?

French kids learn to become little locavores early cooking what's in season..

Mom, I'm feeling a bit miffed. A bit deprived...

I have a lot of catching up to do and it's hard work!

I'd like to send you all bites of everything I have to taste to catch up. The next best thing is this Paris patisserie guide. I met the editor at BEA last month. She was telling me what hard work it was, having Paris pastry chefs drop off new gateaux everyday at her office to taste. And it took some heavy arm twisting to get those chefs to divulge their secret recipes for the book. Pastry isn't all fun and games you know...

The pictures in this book are almost better than the real thing in fact, so take a bite!

bien élevé = qui a reçu une bonne éducation.

BONJOUR PASTRY EDUCATION!

Friday, April 9, 2010

Paris Miam-Miam

0 comments Posted by pece at 7:04 AM

This morning I got an email from Cindy:

Bonjour Carol - What does "miam-miam" mean?

This is a complex question that has been keeping me up nights...

The basic translation of miam-miam is your everyday Yum Yum or nom nom nom, it's used more extensively in France than we would expect...

And while it's also true "miam-miam" is basically a kid's word (like yum yum),in Paris you'll hear "miam miams" coming out of the most sophisticated mouths. It's actually kind of shocking...

If you go into Hugo & Victor, you'll hear a lot of "miam miams" over these very high-end marshmallows.

Galeries Lafayette Gourmand is Miams HQ (headquarters if you're not British). They have this giant poster plastered over the entrance. And please note the words MIAM MIAM are spelled out in red and hit you immediately upon entering. You would never in a million years find Dean & Deluca plastering YUM YUM on any of their posters...if they had a poster, which they do not...sniff

Another one of those French cultural nuances that takes a bit of getting used to - this woman is having a severe attack of the Miams and is trying to merge with the window - something the French call, "le leche vitrine" meaning to lick the windows!

Laduree, is another Miams HQ. This customer is on her cell desperately calling for help on what to buy and who can blame her? The choices are infinite...

At macaron class at the Paris Ritz the sound of miam-miams was deafening, and this was The Paris Ritz!

One Parisien phenomenon that makes me go miam are these "fake" madeleines inside every vending machine in every Metro station. They have to be fake don't they? Can a madeleine be mass produced? It goes against all belief. And yet I have lost more $$$ than I like to think, trying to grab a bag. These vending machines are a total scam...