obsessing

Deborah reports on her trip to Paris...

When it comes to Paris, what can I say?  I obsess. This recent visit  had me completely captivated by Parisian apartment windows. The weather in Paris last week featured a magnificent October heat wave with temperatures in the low 80s. Perfect for wandering around the city and staring up into peoples homes. Not only are Parisian apartment windows over-the-top beautiful with gorgeous glass panes, elaborately lush window boxes and ornately curled iron work, no, not only all of that BUT also, they are unmarred by air conditioners! And even more dazzling for me was to see these magnificent windows thrown wide open to catch the breezes without a single instance of screening or insect netting. Amazing! See for yourself:

 

 Do people really live in these places?

Oh yes, and those awnings, the perfect accent of color. sigh.

The other great Paris obsession is of course food. One of my favorite blogs is Paris Breakfasts, the chronicles of one woman's serious obsession with French Pastry. 

 These simple fruit tarts were irresistible to me.

I like pastry too, but I am more obsessed with the fresh food markets. Last Saturday found me strolling around Paris' Marche d'Aligre, a huge open market teaming with produce and packed with shoppers. 

The garlic just flopped on top of the apples, too much!

Overly stimulated and now totally starving I headed in to the covered market area where you can buy charcutiers and cheeses. I put together a picnic of country pate, goat cheese and a container of artichoke tapanade. To round out the meal we stopped at a boulangerie to pick up a baguette and when they handed it to us it was STILL WARM! Ah heaven, you are Paris.

 

There is no shortage of perfect picnic spots in Paris. Just stroll right up to the river bank and join the rest of the pleasure seekers.

I did not have a kitchen to cook in on my trip, but I want to make that artichoke tapanade. It had a rich earthy flavor that was addictive,  scooped straight up from the container with chunks of that warm baguette. There are no artichokes in the NY farmers markets right now so for a quickie version this is what I am going to do:

Artichoke Tapanade

- Simmer a package of frozen artichoke hearts in some vegetable or chicken stock until tender.
- Drain the artichokes and puree in a food processor with a good glug of extra virgin olive oil.
- Season with salt, pepper and lots of lemon zest.

Bon appetit!

For further obsessive musings on my Paris trip this link is to my husbands blog where I wrote a post about our day at the horse races in the Bois de Boulonge.