Et voilà, it’s already June?
May was a wild one. It was a month filled with so many firsts. I traveled to Paris/France for the first time (and Connecticut, call me Mrs. Worldwide!). Happy to report that a sunny long weekend in CT can feel just as magical.
For the purpose of this month’s newsletter, I’ll politely slide the land of Dunkin Donuts and Subway to the side to dive into the main portion of this month’s content: Paris.
To set the stage, this is my first transcontinental trip with my family. Our primary purpose, to finally celebrate the wedding that my brother and sister-in-law have been dreaming up for nearly two years. It was nothing short of a fairytale wedding that could not have been more beautifully planned and carefully thought out.
This celebration also carried a lot of weight for me. We lost family members over the years that we hoped could have joined us for this day. My grandmother in particular, would have adored and inserted her opinion over every aspect of the event. I thought of her often throughout this trip. Her thoughts on everyone’s outfits, access to luxury shopping, and affinity for cheese would have been a danger to us all. The woman would combust within her first step of the palace at Versailles.
In the same vein, this was also a really beautiful opportunity to make new memories as a family. I hope everyone has the chance to experience Europe with their family. In the most sincere and loving way, it is a sure-fire way to make a French bistro feel like your go-to suburb spot in the middle of the city of love.
This was a six-day whirlwind in Paris, with a one day trip to Normandy tagged on towards the end. Much like the city itself, this month’s newsletter has quite a bit of ground to cover. Shall we?
thursday - arrive and sprint
lunch (Le Florimond) - Will and I rolled in hot off the redeye at about 8:00am local time. We checked into Hotel Le Cinq Codet courtesy of my mom/go-to luxury travel consultant, showered, slapped our faces awake, and met the crew for lunch around the corner at Le Florimond. Named after Monet’s gardener at Giverny, the menu reflects locally sourced ingredients mostly passed through one man in the kitchen. It is a tre busy lunch spot for Parisians that seem to have standing reservations and are all best friends with the maître d'. Truly could not beat their 25€ lunch that gets you a sampler platter, and lush entrée (see post below for deets). Paired with a glass of orange wine and some homemade chips and tartar sauce, I could’ve stayed there until dinner service.
dinner (Les Cocottes) - After a full afternoon jam packed with a neighborhood walking tour and all access pass to the top of the Eiffel Tour, we rolled into Les Cocottes hot and hungry. Delirious from 24+ hours of functioning lucidly, my order matched: razors clams and steak tartare with frites. I leaned in hard and Les Cocottes delivered. With the exception of two shared clams, I pounded back 15 slender mollusks drowning in a zesty herb oil. The steak tartare didn’t hold back either. A beautifully seasoned raw quarter pounder with a little baby gem wedge and fries served in Staub. Le Diplomate on 14th street could truly eat its heart out. Desserts were ravaged and Will and I ate the lightest whipped mousse that would’ve put my 8-year-old body in a coma. Excellent stuff.
friday - Versailles, soup, snails
lunch - The fam squad rolled up to Versailles in the sprinter van between the hours of 8:00 and 9:00am. Fueled by hotel breakfast a little espressy, the garden grounds started to blend into each other. After ornate room #8 of the palace, I understood why the proletariat were slightly pissed off in 1789, and that was only after a few hours without food. We stopped by a tourist restaurant on the gardens property where our server memorized lunch orders for 10 people. Not our dear gent’s first rodeo. I eagerly ordered french onion soup and french fries. So french.
Dinner (Cafe Francais) - This meal followed our lunch by three hours, so I decided it was the perfect time to go light and face my fear: tuna. What better vehicle to address my fear than a nicoise salad? Doused in a French version of a green goddess dressing, I only thought long and hard about the after taste once or twice throughout the meal - progress. Also got to sample a giant snail. The shell is an ideal vessel for sipping straight garlic butter.
saturday - wedding day!
It’s poor taste to reflect on food at my brother’s wedding... I will say, no tiny snack served on a platter was left untouched. By 3am, I had consumed 12 tiny croque madams and had eaten nearly half of my baguette party favor. Not sure how any wedding in the future can live up to this.
sunday - picnics sponsored by La Grande Épicerie
I don’t believe in an afterlife, but I sure hope it looks a lot like La Grande Épicerie. Three floors of kitchen home goods, adorably packaged food and bev products, and excellent wine. My brain was completely overstimulated during our first visit, so I had to go back on our last day of the trip. This didn’t stop my dad from grabbing essentials for a picnic at the Tuileries Garden. Highly recommend splitting up some pâté, quiche, jamon, cheese, baguette, and bottle of white wine for an afternoon snacking session.
monday - Normandy and little cafes
lunch - Will and I went on a tour to visit the beaches from WWII in Normandy. It was an appropriately gloomy morning, with the skies and sun opening up right as we reached the cemetery. In between, we shared a very quaint lunch in a local beach restaurant, La Sapinière. We sat next to two elderly french women enjoying moules-frites with their respective canine companions sitting below their feet. I followed suit with moules-frites, and a glass of local cider. Will and I shared the cleanest oysters I’ve ever tasted along with a perfectly prepared mignonette.
dinner (Le Petit Cler) - We returned to Paris a bit late and caught dinner with my grandfather and our family friend who’s a retired French teacher. After many nice dinners out, the group was looking for something no frills. Le Petit Cler was exactly that. We split some french onion soup, ordered skirt steaks, and prioritized dessert. The crème brûlée was truly textbook definition perfection - the shell was resistant to 4-5 taps of a spoon. Again, perfection.
tuesday - counter for two
dinner (Freddy’s) - After many large group meals throughout the trip, Will and I were ready to take advantage of our party of two on our last night. We wandered through Le Marais in the afternoon and unexpectedly stopped for street rotisserie chicken (another highly recommended visit), so a small dinner was really all we needed. We caught two barstools at the chef’s counter at Freddy’s, which shows up often across restaurant lists in Freddy’s. I trusted @parisbymouth’s review from a friend who took one of their tours on a recent trip. Looking into the chef station from our stools, there was a duo slinging small plates from a tiny grill and sauté station. Once ready, the dish would slide directly from the expo and under the window to our counter section. A lovely spot to sip a glass of wine you’ve never heard of and split some seafood and fried goodies (details in caption below)
Et voilà, it’s mid June.
Finding good food was never going to be an issue in Paris. It was time itself. Like the first half of this year, I knew this trip would fly by. I tried to not over document or stress about what places I needed to visit. Paris, quite like NYC, isn’t really going anywhere. There’s a sea of amazing places to eat, whether it’s rotisserie chicken, or a gastronomic experience.
Life continued to sprint after the trip. We celebrated another beautiful wedding over MDW weekend in Connecticut. I made it to another round of cookbook club where we explored Illyanna Maisonett’s, Diasporican, which documents her family’s Puerto Rican recipes. We celebrated our friends moving in together, while I also moved out of my own apartment after 5+ years of living with the best roommates a city slicker gal could ask for. I then moved into a new apartment with my extremely patient boyfriend, and I now have unbridled creativity to arrange a kitchen set up with little (maybe some) to no push back. I’m now preparing to go home this coming weekend for the final celebration of my brother’s wedding in Philly with lots of extended family and friends that I haven’t seen in years. A week from today, I’ll be leaving for a really exciting work trip that my superstitious-traveler-ass will reveal shortly.
Needless to say, there’s a lot going on. And it is so goddamn cheesy but I can’t help but hear Bueller’s stupid voice saying “life moves pretty fast.” So if you see less posts, it’s because I’m trying to take a few moments to stop and look around before I forget what it feels like to have constantly moving parts. I know that in two months time I’ll feel bored and want to remember it well.
Thanks for your patience with this one and see you (hopefully on time) the first week of July!