Paris by the Sea - a favourite place to visit!!

Paris by the sea..............Restaurants in Paris may come and go, but after 15years the seagulls are still squawking daily at one of our favourite haunts in Paris's 1st arrondissement.

 

As Australians we are spoilt when it comes to exceptional quality seafood, so I think very hard before choosing to eat seafood when abroad, however, the French grow the most fabulous oysters and as one of my favourite foods, this is definitely an exception to my rule! As a nation, the French are Europe's largest producer of oysters and the 4th largest in the world with almost all consumed domestically, so, as for many food products in France, the craft of producing, consuming and selling oysters, is taken very seriously indeed!

Like wine, oysters reflect the terroir (area) of where they are cultivated and have been part of the French diet for centuries. Since Roman times they have been farmed in the Lagune de Thau, in the Mediterranean and in the Bay of Arcachon, where they are still farmed today.

I will certainly plan a trip to these regions in the future to samples their varieties, but in the meantime,  L'Ecume St Honore oyster bar on 6 Rue du Marché Saint-Honoré, 75001 Paris, offers me samples from across the country and is a fabulous spot to punctuate my day. A plate of oysters, a glass of wine and the traditional basket of brown bread and butter - all enjoyed while the seagulls fly above your head (painted on the ceiling) and squawk continuously (a looped audio tape) - a perfect way to rest your feet from arduous task of the Paris sales and spectacular art galleries.

Oysters in France are sold by size - I think the smaller sizes often have a more intense taste but are perhaps not as 'full bodied' or 'well rounded' as the larger sizes. At L"Ecume they are always freshly shucked by men who look like they have just departed the fishing trawler, and the presentation is superb - simply delivered on a bed of fresh seaweed with fresh lemon. I am a fan of all oysters but if I had to make a French choice it would be the large creamy and intense flavour of the Blanches variety - succulent & sweet with the delicious briny aftertaste  of the juice that they are ensconced in - though I certainly intend to continue sampling all the possible varieties just in case there are better varieties I may have missed!

If Oysters are not your thing then they also sell delicious platters of smoked salmon, expertly hand sliced, and other beautifully fresh seafood product. And as for dessert..... don't expect cake or macaroons here, their treat when we were there a few days ago, was superb, finely cut raw St Jacques scallops! 

 

 

 

 

I've never met a Paris food market I didnt love!

Charles de Gaulle once stated "How can anyone govern a nation that has two hundred and forty six different kinds of cheese". Maybe when he said that in 1953 he was correct, but today, France has well over five hundred different kinds of cheese, and I think I saw them all today at Sunday's Marché Richard Lenoir food market.

This place is a foodie’s delight! Whether you are renting an apartment in Paris and need to stock the fridge, or simply want to spend a colourful and fun Sunday morning enjoying a very typical French way of life, this market has got it all! Stretching about a kilometre from the monument at Bastille down Boulevard Richard Lenoir there are three alleyways of deliciousness of French gourmet products to delight your taste buds and cause havoc to your waistline! And I can promise you we did well on the waistline!

A fabulous busker who sang and danced with small children while balancing a goldfish bowl filled with fish on his head entertained us while we ate the most delicious crepes expertly made to order by a stall holder who had clearly done it many times before. Breakfast doesn’t get much better than this – calories galore (my crepe was goats cheese, smoked salmon grated cheese and an egg), colourful entertainment, and a taste of true French life – all free of charge in a Paris winter that is pretending to be spring!

 

We bought an awesome Roquefort cheese that smells like a gym junkie’s dirty socks, endive that was picked directly from the beds in which it was still growing (I have never seen this before and food doesn’t get much fresher!) and small green beans that were so expertly stacked they looked regimental and severe but were so crisp & young that we ate them raw. For a late lunch we bought San Jacques - the largest scallops I have seen and in our apartment we simply steamed them with lemon. The texture was meaty, the taste delicate and at 12.50Euro a kilo we thought they were a bargain.

 

I LOVE a food market like this – to me it is shopping in its most perfect form, exciting the senses in all formats. This makes me want to move to Paris!!!

  

 

A Carpenter's Workbench gets a new lease of life as our kitchen table

A few months ago I posted a photo of a re-invigorated carpenter's workbench which we fell in love with at the Arezzo antique market. Well, here is a photo of a similar one which we also found recently at the same Arezzo monthly antique market, and, it has now become our 'new', but very old, kitchen table. A thick piece of glass has made what may have been an impractical bench into something completely usable, very comfortable, and indeed supremely beautiful. We love its character - the 2 timber vice that have tightly held hundreds of pieces of timber over the years, are still attached and working, and the visible recesses that held the tools of the carpenter's trade, bear the worn signs of their past life. It is a table that each time we sit at to eat a meal or drink a cup of coffee, it makes us smile thinking of its past history and new beginning. It looks very much at home in our beautifully imperfect ancient apartment! 

 

 

 

Verona - Aida in the Ampitheatre

Verona is a delightful Italian city  to visit only a short distance from Venice - many go just to see "Juilet's balcony", supposedly the balcony where Shakespeare's fictitious Juliet Capulet was wooed by Romeo Montague. It is always supremely busy in Juliet's corner of Verona, and I admit it is not a place I bother to go - too touristy for my liking and surely fictitious, so what's the point! - plus plastic souvenirs have never been my 'thing'... however, there are many other wonderful places to wander, discover and soak in the peaceful ambience of this beautiful city, so it is undoubtedly worth including it in your Italian itinerary.

 

We have visited many times but never been able to co-ordinate our trip to coincide with viewing Opera in their magnificent Roman amphitheatre in Piazza Bra .......... that is, until recently, when we specifically timed our visit to see Aida performed in the open air, and what a spectacle it was! The stage set designers used a large 'crane-like' structure to suspend people and create 3 dimensionality in the open void - a difficult thing to achieve when there is no roof or ceiling structure to work with. They also cleverly utilized the steps of the amphitheatre behind the stage as additional 3 dimensional height which significantly contributed to the ambiance of the production. I have to admit sound quality was not brilliant, but then we were sitting in a centuries old open air structure, so that was totally to be expected and it was the overall package of production, history of the structure and the pure spectacle that we loved. A wonderful experience that we will remember forever!

Also a beautiful and tranquil Veronese site is Giardino Giusti, a magnificent Italian Renaissance garden which was first planted in 1580. With a wonderful hilltop view back to Verona's main area, it is an Italianate mix of sculptural & natural and includes terraces filled with ancient Cyprus trees, fish filled ponds and Roman sculpture. It is the perfect place to quietly wander after one of those long lazy lunches we regularly partake in when in this part of the world!

Another interesting thing about Verona - they always seem to have some of the best buskers I have ever come across and we love strolling the streets enjoying the ambience they add to the city. When you see them do make sure you give them some money as without money they will not be there!

 

 

Lacole Casa Italiana - surely the world's best warehouse of repurposed Architectural elements

I love researching far and wide to uncover interesting and intriguing places in our local Umbrian/Tuscan community, places that excite my senses with the quality and depth of what they offer, well 'PORTE DEL PASSATO' Via della Liberta, Pistrino di Citerna (PG), and its sister store 'LACOLE CASA ITALIANA' a few hundred metres down the road, both fit this category.

 

Lacole Casa Italiana is an enormous warehouse with the most amazingly indepth product display of beautiful recycled architectural & interior design elements imaginable. Do you require a jaw dropping marble fireplace surround to finish your home?...or 70yr old majolica wear concrete tiles for that family room renovation?.....or perhaps a centuries old marble sink to complete your bathroom, or an antique stone archway - my list could go on and on, - well this is undoubtedly the place to find them, and not only will you find them, but you will also have a bevy of choice! I love these type of warehouses but never have I seen the quantity and quality of repurposed architectural items that this place has to offer - nor have I ever seen the items displayed and catalogued with such precision and attention to detail - this place is most definitely a labour of love by its owners and the photos I took below are truly just a fraction of what they offer - it did feel a little like an elaborate movie set, yet everything we saw was certainly available for purchase. 

 

I admit to seriously eyeing off the majolica ware concrete tiles - can definitely see them in my soon to be started house extension as an integral element of the kitchen/family room  - just currently working out how I can get them back to Australia, but where there is a will.....

 

Porte del Passato, its sister store down the road, cleverly uses these collected old materials and up-cycles them into useful and beautiful furniture/kitchen units/internal doors - in fact I have no doubt they could work around what ever you required to complete your space. Their craftspeople repaint and rework the pieces to rejuvenate them on a scale I have not seen previously and their attention to detail seem to know no bounds! 

Both places are inspiring and I feel certainly worth going out of your way to visit if these type of things interest you ....... you will definitely find unusual and exciting product, but just don't expect to find a bargain... though I have to point out that with the obviously enormous effort the owners have put into breathing new life into these old items, the prices are totally understandable.

 

Internal doors repainted and rejuvenated at PORTE del PASSATO

Old cupboard repainted & fitted with rejuvenated marble sinks in a Carrara marble
benchtop makes a beautiful bathroom unit for a refurbished ancient home

 

 

Museo Atelier Canova Tadolini - one of our favourite restaurants in Rome

Fancy sharing a table with religious royalty in Rome? Well, amidst the busy high end shops around the base of the Spanish steps you can at one of our favourite restaurants - a theatrical & bohemian haven which transports you to another world.

Originally the atelier of sculptural artist Antonio Canova who bought the space in 1818 to favour his prized pupil Adamo Tadolini, it remained as a sculptural workshop until 1967. Re-created into a restaurant in 2000, Museo Atelier Canova Tadolini Via del Babunino 150 Rome, is a wonderful place to enjoy a very Roman lunch or dinner. 

Dwarfed by huge plaster, bronze and marble sculptures the tables are nestled into the space in a casual manner that creates a feeling of secret inclusion in Canova's and Tadolini's brilliance - and my favourite table, (photo #3 below) ensures not only will you never dine alone but your guest may very well be the custodian of church secrets, though unfortunately he will not be in a position to reveal them to you! The original layout and a large amount of the workshop tools have been retained so the space has a feeling of authenticity which is captivating and intriguing.

With such surroundings one may consider the food is not the main event, however we have always enjoyed delightful fresh pasta dishes and exceptionally good seasonal food, washed down with fabulous local wines. I feel strongly that when one travels, sometimes a wonderful long lazy lunch can introduce you to a city every bit as much as an important monument or art gallery, but with Canova's sculptural works exhibited in such lofty arenas as the Hermitage and the Louvre, here at this restaurant you can do both!

 

Fresh Porcini Mushrooms & Black Truffles directly from the farmer - Ahhhhh....... it's good to be back in Italy!!

In Europe, autumn begins tomorrow and the produce markets in Italy are brimming with the most beautiful looking, and delicious, tasting fruit & vegetables. So our arrival to our home in Citta della Pieve at midnight last night, was perfect timing to fill our baskets at this morning's Saturday market. Although our town's market is small in comparison to many others in the area, it still has food stalls that always deliver exceptional quality seasonal products which we stock up on in large quantity.

 

In addition to innumerable fruit & vegetables, today we purchased some huge fresh porcini mushrooms which I prepared for lunch by thickly slicing them, then frying in a little garlic infused olive oil and served with fresh thyme and cracked pepper. Simple, quick and incredibly delicious - couldn't be better really! As L would say, all knowledge is acquired, and I discovered this method of cooking them a few moths ago when we ate at our favourite restaurant in Arezzo, "Antica Osteria L'Agania" - the strong but delicate taste of the Porcini mushrooms shines through and delivers a meal so delicious it belies the simplicity of its preparation.

 

Then later in the day in another quest to uncover some more local knowledge, we were out driving in the Arezzo area when we came upon a little hut selling freshly gathered large black and white truffles. The aroma in the little timber cabin which is open Saturday only, was overwhelming and their product - only white or black truffles in varying sizes, had been collected directly by them the previous day - hard to beat buying directly from the farmer, particularly in the case of truffles where the length of time out of the ground diminishes the strength of the taste. We chose 2 of the large black truffles for only 15Euro, then bought fresh pasta which we simply grated the truffles over for the most amazingly delicious dinner - now that is what I call fabulous fast food! The remainder of the truffles currently sit in a jar with our eggs as we are told the aroma will seep into the porous egg shell and give us truffle tasting eggs for our omelette tomorrow morning - though with the cost and availability of fresh truffles I think we will just shave them into the omelette instead!