Category Archives: paris

Croissant à la Vanille, Pouchkine

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jessica's dinner party, croissant a la vanille, paris, pouchkine

I’ve been doing a little reminiscing about my time in Europe these last couple of days; going over places I visited and things I ate.  I don’t really miss being there, but sometimes I do get fleeting thoughts that maybe I didn’t take full advantage of all my surroundings. However, I don’t have big regrets and I know I’ll go back again…just maybe not soon.  In the meantime, here’s one of my favorites from Paris: Pouchkine‘s Croissant à la Vanille. My friend who interned there introduced me to it and it’s absolutely amazing. There are tons of different croissants in Paris, but this one stands out as most memorable for me. It has the perfect ruffle and crisp of a croissant with a defining presence of vanilla in the middle. It’s quite large for one person so I always split it with a friend, but I’m beginning to feel like maybe I shouldn’t have!

My friend didn’t quite find out the secret to that filling (which is more of a buttery addition than a filling filling), but maybe one day she’ll whip up something similar at her newly opened patisserie in Quebec! I’m dying to go, and one day I will, but if any Quebecer readers are out there, check it out!
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Moroccan in Paris

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au p'tit cahoua, moroccan, restaurant, review, paris

Before my mind completely moves away from Europe, I thought I’d do some catch up posts on place I never got to write about.  I have tons of forgotten trips, restaurants, and patisseries that are just itching to be posted.  I probably won’t get around to all of them this summer (seriously, there are so many!), but maybe some of those are supposed to be saved for nostalgic days.
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Le Stage Cuisine: Back to Patisserie

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paris, stage, internship, le cordon bleu

A lot has changed in the past month and a half I’ve been absent.  I went from trimming vegetables in the basement kitchen to working service and making desserts. It was sort of by chance that I was switched from cuisine to patisserie, but the realization that I belonged in pastry began to arise soon after I started my stage. In my gut I just felt like I was more interested and suited for patisserie. A random side comment about that to the chef, and a few days later I was making desserts.
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Le Stage Cuisine: Chef Saw Me Take a Picture…

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le cordon bleu, stage, internship, paris, restaurant, cuisine

…and he just smiled.  I was so startled when he walked in, the photo didn’t focus correctly.  I half expected him to yell at be afterwards, but he just passed by me. All the photos I’ve taken so far have been in secret when I’m alone.  It’s not a crime and I’m definitely not taking pictures of super “important” things, but some chefs don’t like it.  At my last stage, we were never given the space to take or even ask to take photos.  One time, one of the stagiaires asked the chef de partie if she could snap a photo of the display case that we had worked on during the day and he said to take it quickly before the chef came back.  I just assumed that most establishments were that way and that this restaurant was no exception, but I guess I was wrong.  Because I was so scarred once, it’s hard to believe that this stage is going to be so much better and that the people are going to continue to treat me with decency, but it’s slowly getting there. However, I’m still going to refrain from taking pictures out in the open…for now.