Size matters Sunday

 

A good croissant will always land butter-side down.

Above: viennoiseries (croissants au beurre and raspberry croissants) at Bo&Mie

***

Is it me or has there been a quiet evolution in the size of Paris croissants post-Covid?


Until 2021, croissants, especially from renowned bakeries like Laurent Duchêne and Des Gâteaux et du Pain, had been described as light, airy, even “dainty,” aligning with the traditional style that focused on layers of flakiness and a delicate balance between butter and dough.

Since a 1993 decree requiring butter croissants (croissants au beurre) to be straight, the only other contender was the cheaper crescent-shaped croissant normal that humbly took its place next to straight croissants on boulangerie shelves, hinting at margarine use.

But post 2021, particularly after the Covid lockdowns, a shape-shifting seems to have taken place: a trend toward "generous" croissants. Bakeries like Cédric Grolet, known for plump creations, gained prominence. Larger, richer croissants using more butter and dough began to appear, some suggesting to attract those in search of indulgence after lockdown austerity. And, as customers lined up, other bakers followed suit.

The 2025 Concours du Meilleur Croissant au Beurre results, with Basile Fourmont’s voluptuous winner, suggest a preference for fuller shapes, possibly up to 30% larger than their slimmer predecessors.

For some, to witness something so basic to French culture being turned into an inflated pod is disconcerting. For others, it’s a welcome novelty. Only time will tell if puffier versions are here to stay, and if body shapes will follow. - BPJ

Fat Friday

It's Fat Friday, also known as Greed Day, the last Friday of the month.

 

Galerie d'art: Dominique Réol

 98 rue Lepic 75018

 

Living art

 

"Boterismo" on the Boulevard Saint-Germain. 

 *** 

 

Tourists: Le Retour 

 

December newsletter 

Most essential

Not long before our stay-at-home orders became de rigueur I met a friend for a drink on the Left Bank. We got into a conversation about the now legendary toilet paper panic buying in the U.S. and I noted that a friend in Brooklyn informed me that TV therapists have been attempting to explain this behavior. While supermarket chariots in Paris have been fuller than usual, we haven't seen toilet paper hoarding. So I turned to the bartender who'd been listening and asked her, if she could name the one item that the French are stocking up on more than others, what would it be? Without hesitation she said, "Butter." We all laughed and you know something, I agree. You should see our freezer. - BPJ 

Above: a salt-studded hunk of butter from Brittany

 

L'Avant Comptoir de la Terre

3 Carrefour de l'Odéon 75006

Chocolate plus chocolate

Rich hot chocolate served with chocolate crêpes warm up cold afternoons at local café.

Wine time

Paris wine restaurants and wine bars: why are they so special?

March newsletter

Holiday crumbs

All the month of January and even into February traditional galettes des rois were king.

Above: almond and butter cream pastry frangipane filling

Gérard Mulot

78 rue de Seine 75006 

Better with beer

Shellfish platter lunch at one of our local cafés.

Tartine lunch

Simple, light, beautiful lunch (entre Parisiennes) on the Left Bank.

Above: jambon cru, house mayo on grilled Pain Poilâne; miso soup starter

The Parisienne #2

How many of these are you?

 [Chart: My Little Paris 11/2019]

Clichés are often anchored in truth and in Paris, the (cliché) Parisienne is alive and well. Like other clichés - the Southern Belle, Valley Girl, Sloane Ranger... - she is a subgroup unto herself. Not every woman in Paris is, or even wants to be, this Parisienne. But many are. Trying to change and redefine her to fit your comfort zone doesn't work. As legendary hair stylist David Mallett put it, "You know her when you see her."

That’s her on a bicycle with flawless skin, scarf in the wind, a baguette under her arm. She's feminine, thin, natural, but mostly, she's "bien dans sa peau" (well in her skin) at any age. Facelifts and botox are not part of her world. She can be chic. Or not. As long as it's on her terms, not yours. And her hair! Sometimes referred to as that "just-rolled-out-of-bed look," it's been like that all of her adventurous life.

Long after she's left you in the dust will it hit you that you were sent off on fausses pistes (translation: holes in her stories). And besides a full head of "French hair" (didn't you know?) she's had that smug expression - some call it a sneer, others a smirk - for as long as she can remember and it usually means, “You are a bore.”
 
You hate her but love to copy her. In your zeal to wrap her in as many shapes and sizes as there are French cheeses you forget that she is, like all clichés, unaware that she is one. Or cares what you think what she is or isn't because, well, she just is.

La Parisienne plays by her own rules. She tries to be politiquement correcte and not judge books by their covers, but will point out that if covers don't matter, why do publishers devote entire departments to book cover design? - BPJ

***

The No. 1 response to my informal survey of French women about the secret of magical ageing is not gaining weight. Ever. - From French Secrets to Ageing Gracefully - Ann M. Morrison (Lifestyle/Beauty - Sydney Morning Herald 2010)

***

Some comments lambasting Parisiennes:

- Believe me when i tell you that NO ONE wants to look like most french women do ! I've lived here for 6 years and for the most part, they shower once a week, don't wear any make up and very rarely even put a comb through the hair! Not to mention about the hairy situation all the time... And the parisians that everyone is talking about are one in a million rich people who can afford to buy Channel and Dior….

- (Paris) is full of people who are not a singular white, thin woman in a messy topknot and Breton-striped shirt. And yet, this is rarely (if ever) included in the many odes to "French style.” How to be Parisian, for example, doesn’t mention the incredible array of hijab fashion you will see on the street every day in Paris. And, while it would be wrong to imply that France (and Paris in particular) is a bastion of diversity — or that French culture has mastered embracing different backgrounds — the reality is that these outdated notions of What Is Parisian only perpetuate the real problems of representation in the country itself.

- Thank you for this article! I couldn't agree more with your points, especially the last one on diversity. As a Francophile, I have been made aware of this obsession with trying to become the French woman since "French Women Don't Get Fat" hit the bookshelves in 2004. To be honest, I've also entertained the notion that they possess a certain je ne sais quoi that was lacking in American culture and that I should try to obtain it. Now, I'm just over it and I roll my eyes each time Vogue, Huffington Post (or Refinery29...) writes an article about this elusive woman. I roll my eyes because I know her and she is just the same as us! Let's be proud of who we are as women on this earth and not women of Paris, of New York, etc.

 

But then...

- You almost convinced me. But then I remembered that the last time I was in Paris, I was struck by the dozens of chic Parisian women, commuting on bicycles, looking fresh faced and moist-lipped, even in blaring traffic. They pedaled in skirts and flat shoes, gamine and athletic no matter their age (...). I love being an American woman, but I love loving the French women.

***

Adapted from: 

Seduction and the Art of The French Femme

and

Eating French: Why French Women Won't Get Fat

   a.k.a.

A French Paradox: The French Non Diet and The Art of Eating for Pleasure - Barbara Pasquet James

Tomorrow:
My French hair

 

The Parisienne #1

 "Qui a dit que la Parisienne était un mythe?" / Who said the Parisienne was a myth?....

You don't have to be from Paris or live there to be a Parisienne. It's a look, a style, a state of mind. - Inès de la Fressange and Sophie Gachet La Parisienne (2019)

 

***

 

Once again the elusive Parisienne is in the headlines, diluted and democratized by those who will never accept the entrance requirements. Like the Southern Belle, she belongs to a category entirely her own, one that no diversity seminar can manufacture. Being a Parisienne is an attitude, a style, an unapologetic Frenchness, an unyielding essence that can’t be minted. Rebrand her all you like; she’ll still be leaning against a zinc café counter in her decade-old trench, surveying the circus with the faintest lift of an eyebrow. Some myths simply can't be. focus-grouped into oblivion. - BPJ

Tomorrow:
Are you a (cliché) Parisienne? Check the chart

 

Update: see December 14, 2020 post

Parisienne rules

 

 

 

 

A Paris butcher

 

 

Head bowed in reverie, a butcher prepares a roast for pickup.

Carpe diem

An expresso, a café crème and to share, a luscious Saint Honoré pastry.

***
  
"The ant had wasted its life and its beauty hoarding for winter only to discover a world of beautiful, carefree grasshoppers." 😱 - Coffee partner and local philosopher J. S.

That one, please

Though the Feast of the Epiphany falls on January 6, galettes des rois will dominate boulangerie shelves until the end of the month.

Above: in France, galettes, tartes and gâteaux (cakes) are sold according to set portion sizes

Private pleasure

 

A generous Saint Honoré at La Grande Épicerie Bon Marché Rive Gauche

Liégeois

Thought to originate in next-door Belgium, ice-cream and chantilly-rich café liégeois is a specialty at many local cafés.

 

*** 

 

This decadent dessert isn't actually from Liège, historic city in eastern Belgium. Originally, it was called café viennois (Viennese coffee) in Paris. During World War I, after Liège heroically resisted the German invasion, the French renamed it "café liégeois" in tribute. The name stuck, but in fact the name is French in origin. - BPJ

Casual chic

Love this place. Its chic black and red interior has barely changed since I wrote it up for USA Today except that sadly, Joël Robuchon is no longer with us.

Above: reserve a seat at one of the counters to keep an eye on the action 

L'Atelier de Joël Robuchon

5 rue de Montalembert 75007

 

***

 

 From “Where To Eat: Some of the hottest spots" - USA Today Paris City Guide
by Barbara Pasquet James

 

Legendary chef Joël Robuchon had gone gently into retirement but he’s back, with an exciting new concept, new restaurant – well, new everything. Chefs dress in black, not white; the staff's in red; the ambience is casual, tip-top and totally smoke-free (note: written pre-2008 no-smoking-inside-restaurants law). Robuchon, considered to be the finest French chef of the twentieth century who, in 1996, had passed the torch to his successor, Alain Ducasse, comes out of the kitchen and wanders from table to counter. Is everyone happy? They’re ecstatic. Be prepared for a combination of tapas-influenced dishes with a Japanese look and style. In fact, there is now a twin of the Paris version in Tokyo. Reasonable prices, to-die-for food. Open seven days; reservations absolutely essential; L’Atelier de Joël Robuchon, 5, rue de Montalembert, 75007, Métro Rue de Bac, (331) 42 22 56 56. - Update 6/2021: Pricey

A simple meal

A delightful part of Parisian lifestyle is spontaneous dinners with small groups of friends. A plus when everyone lives in the same neighborhood!

Above: dinner chez an artist who happens to be a wine expert; starter salad

Below: sunset view from the dining room which also serves as an atelier

Red is for radish

Springtime means radishes, and Paris market stalls are brimming.

Below: with homemade mayo, a twist on the classical French way of eating radishes (w/salt, butter and baguette)

Soup's on

From creamy veloutés using winter vegetables to a Vietnamese grilled eggplant hot pot - not to mention my own minestrones (grazie to my Italian Aunt Maria in Rome) and soupe à l'oignon, just ask my French in-laws - there's enough chill left in the air to make soup the hottest thing since the return of bone broth (which, in my family, never went away). - BPJ

[More soups - plus where to find them and recipes - April newsletter]