What, more Paris? Honestly, I hadn’t intended to do Part 2 (or is it Part 3?) of this series, but I had a few more photos and thoughts to share, along with a video that my husband Jeff just made of the City of Light. And, never fear, there’s a recipe at the end—and a French recipe at that—for the beautiful shell-shaped Madeleine, a favorite accompaniment for a cup of tea, as anyone who has read even the first few pages of Marcel Proust’s Remembrance of Things Past (À la recherche du temps perdu—also translated as In Search of Lost Time) will tell you. But more on that later.
Subway art, cats, Amélie and Avignon
Of course you can find art in the many wonderful Parisian museums, but there it was in a subway, even if you had to climb 181 steps to enjoy it!
In Montmartre, the business of art was on full display. (That’s Jeff and our friend Nico on the right.)
At the Musée d’Orsay, two of my favorite paintings by Pierre-Auguste Renoir, “Danse à la Ville” (left) and “Danse à la Campagne,” both painted in 1883. Doesn’t it make you want to dance?
Also at the Orsay, a giant clock and visitors who seem frozen in time.
At the Père-Lachaise Cemetery in Paris, many famous people are buried—among them, Chopin, Balzac, Edith Piaf and Jim Morrison. But we got there too late to visit any of them. I had just enough time to discover a cat—not famous as far as I could tell (except, perhaps, with photographers!).
This is the little Montmartre grocery that was a set in the 2001 movie Amélie, starring Audrey Tautou.
On our side trip to Avignon in Provence, I wanted to see this landmark (though it was hard to see all of it!). When I was a little girl, my mother used to sing a well-known French nursery rhyme: “Sur le Pont d’Avignon, on y danse, on y danse.” It was about dancing on this bridge. It’s actually called Pont Saint-Bénézet and dates to the 12th century. It’s missing a few spans but still looked splendid in the setting sun.
Eiffel Tower: A little histoire
Every tourist who thought of going to Paris during the pandemic seemed to have converged at the Eiffel Tower while we were there. Maybe they imagined, as we had, that early November would be off-season and they’d be the only ones trying to get that iconic Paris picture to share with their friends back home. Whoops!
Still, the tower is a sight to behold—and you really needn’t be part of the crowds in the Champs de Mars or directly across the river in the Trocadero, where the top photo was taken, to catch a glimpse of it; it’s visible, from all over Paris—including from many hotel rooms. Here’s a site with some suggestions. And you should also check out Jeff’s latest PhotowalksTV episode, where he offers hints on how to get the best photos of the Eiffel and of other Paris landmarks.
Created in response to a competition to build an iron tower 300 meters tall (almost 1,000 feet) in time for the 1889 World’s Fair in Paris, the Eiffel Tower has a fascinating history that began with controversy over its design and size and ended in world fame and civic pride. There’s even a 2021 French romantic film, Eiffel, about Gustave Eiffel, his battle to build the tower, and his purported relationship with a woman he once loved. Here’s a link to the trailer:
Proust’s cookie
As memories of our trip fade, I needed a little taste of France. What better reminder than a madeleine, the beautiful cookie shaped like a seashell? Meant to be eaten as soon as they’re popped from their small molds, they’re quite simple to make, with few ingredients, at least in the basic version that I chose to attempt. If they sit a little too long, they tend to turn a bit hard, which makes them perfect for dunking in a cup of tea or coffee.
If you’re feeling ambitious or curious, you can prop up a copy of Proust’s Swann’s Way, the first book of Proust’s masterpiece, En Recherche du temps perdu. Though the first galleys of the reclusive author’s novel numbered 4,215 pages, you encounter the passage early on where he talks about the morsel of cookie crumbled in tea that summons up a lost world. It actually inspired me to download a bilingual version of the first volume to test my French and read about the “Petites Madeleines” for myself.
The molds I have aren’t quite so “petite.” Perhaps that’s something to buy when I make more of these! Meanwhile, I recently bought a terrific book, Gâteau: The Surprising Simplicity of French Cakes, by Aleksandra Crapanzano, from which I took the madeleine recipe. I made her classic madeleine, a simple cookie with only eight ingredients. Here’s her description of a pastry whose exquisite nature is somewhat transitory but that is still well worth making and eating:
“But the beauty of a madeleine is fleeting. From the minute they are removed from the oven, the clock begins to tick. Eat them within five minutes, and you will fall silent in awe. After fifteen minutes, you might close your eyes in bliss. After thirty minutes, you will find these delicious, but not transcendent. After an hour, they will please, but not delight, unless you dip them in a cup of tea, as Proust was wont to do.”
The French, Crapanzano says, meet the timing challenge by refrigerating the unbaked cookies for a few hours or overnight—which is required anyway to achieve their signature “hump”—and then popping them in the oven to serve immediately after baking. Apparently the finished cookies can be frozen—which is what I did vso as not to keep brewing pots of tea just for the pleasure of dunking!
Never fear if you want to experiment. Madeleines are a blank canvas; Crapanzano includes more than 50 variations. Among them are Chile-infused honey madeleines and 13 variations on chocolate, including dried cherry, chocolate orange, and mocha. You can also fill them with chocolate, lemon curd or raspberry jam, or flavor them with Earl Grey tea, variations suggested by Dorie Greenspan in her book Baking: From My Home to Yours. Clearly there are more madeleines in my future!
Crapanzano’s La Madeleine Classique, flavored with a little orange blossom water, reminded me of my mother’s plain but delicious pound cake, also terrific with tea. Here’s the recipe from Gâteau:
Thanks for sharing your thoughts about our travels and for reading, watching, liking and sharing this newsletter. We’re staying put for a while. Hanukkah is almost here and I’ll be making some favorite traditional holiday recipes (latkes and rugelach!) and hopefully coming up with a few variations and new dishes. If you have favorites you’d like to share or wish I’d explore, please let me know. I’m always inspired (sometimes a bit humbled) by the many talented bloggers, cooks and writers out there. It’s an honor to be in your company.
Hope you’re staying warm, well and in good spirits. See you soon!
Ruth
What a gift, all these beautiful views and photos, thank you Ruth! I see you've gotten yourself a copy of Gateau... isn't it just beautiful? Can't stop flickinng through its pages and admiring the delicate illustrations 😍
What a beautiful read, Ruth, and to end with Madeleine is so perfect! I saw some of Jeff’s photo walk, love his beret! Thanks for this wonderful ‘virtual’ trip! 🇫🇷 ✨