Paris by Pastry

Right now I am listening to a 2007 interview on Wisconsin Public Radio's Here on Earth with Joyce Slayton Mitchell, the author of Paris by Pastry: Stalking the Sweet Life on the Streets of Paris. It's 50 minutes long and 2/3's of it is call-in questions from the listeners. Mitchell grew up with pastries because her father insisted on fresh pies and so her mother had to cook a pie every day. Fortunately the call-ins were well informed and interesting, one said he loved getting up early and buying pain au chocolat while it was still warm at the patisserie. Another woman said that she remembered the chaussons aux pommes. Mitchell herself loves the pain au raisin.

There are loads of books about Paris and its pastries, as shown in this list from Experience Paris, a service which will tailor make a Parisian adventure for you. By the way, they have Paris by 2CV (Deux Chevaux) and by electric bike and segway. But I digress.

La Bague de Kenza

Oh, no, I've learned about another pastry shop from the Chocolate & Zucchini Blog but this time it is an Algerian one called La Bague de Kenza. If you thought baklava was good, you should see the assortment here. The original store is at 106 Rue St. Maur in the 11th Arrondissement (near Belleville) but now they have other locations. The closest to us would be the one on 70 rue de Turbigo in the 3rd Arrondissement or the one in the 1st arrondissement at 136 Saint-Honore (near the Louvre and the Forum Les Halles). I know this is Paris but when will we ever get to Algeria?? I wonder if there are some good Algerian restaurants...

Patisseries

I was looking at our google map of Paris and all the boulangeries and patisseries we have marked. I still haven't finished the Paris by Pastry book and pretty soon we'll only have 8 weeks till we leave and I haven't narrowed down our pastry choices. Not only do we have to choose the store but we have to make sure we don't forget to try quintessential Parisian pastries, like the pain au chocolat. Maybe EuroCheapo can help us: Paris Tip: The best tarte in town! I prefer fruit tarts anyway.

Macarons

Paris Breakfast just alerted me to the fact that March 20th is the Day of the Macaron and to celebrate last year, Pierre Herme had a race where you ran around Paris getting stamp validations from all 6 of his boutiques in Paris, after which they would give you "une boîte de 35 macarons d’une valeur de 68 € lors de votre passage dans la dernière boutique." Too bad we aren't going to be there on the 20th. However the list of macaron flavors is quite interesting. I'm not sure I'd like the MAGNIFIQUE (fraise & wasabi) or the foie gras but the ISPAHAN sounds good (rose, letchi & framboise).

Paris Bakeries

Oh, my! I haven't told anything about our trip to Hong Kong!! We had a wonderful time and I'm ready to go back. I'm going to have to get a baby laptop so I can post things while I'm away. Presently I'm only using the blog to prepare for the trip, not to tell about it.
So on to the next destination: Paris! Penny suggested that and also that I brush up on my French.
In preparation, here is my first list: ten bakeries to visit by Dan Lepard.