Thursday, May 29, 2014

A TOUR OF BOULANGERIE POILÂNE


As mentioned over
one of my favorite things
(if not THE favorite)
we did in Paris
was a tour of the 

It all started because
was in town.


You know Norton, right?
He's this guy:


He and Mr. Willems are fellow
Northampton, Massachuset-tians
so I've had the pleasure of hanging out with 
Mr. Juster and his lovely wife a couple times
They rock hard.

When Mo got to Paris,
Norton insisted he meet
his good friend
Appolonia Poilâne.


She's kind of a big deal

She's also great to hang out with over dinner.
Which we did with 
The Willemses
and
The Justers
at a delicious place
called
(fair warning: no manhattans to be found there)

Anyway,
after much food and much wine
we asked Appolonia 
if we foolish Americans
(who were raised on Wonderbread)
could come visit her
boulangerie.

Next thing we know...
BOOM!


Located on Rue du Cherche Midi,
this is where Appolonia's grandfather 
started his business in 1932:



Back in the early days of the bakery,
artists would trade paintings of 
Poilâne bread for actual bread.
(because no one made up the term 'starving artist')
They have a whole room displaying
some of their favorites paintings:


And yes.
That's a
bread chandelier.
Because 
used to order bread furniture
from Poilâne.


Down a set of curving stone steps
is the wood-fired oven that 
Poilâne started with in 1932
but goes back
in recorded history as far as
1791.

Yes, 1791.


Very little has changed over time in that tiny room
And they still make bread the same way.

 Flour:


Sea salt:


Water and mixing:


Weigh out just the right amount:


Shape it in a seasoned basket:


And into the oven in goes.


The oven is deeper than it looks.
The paddle the baker uses
looked at least 8 feet long.
And it runs 24 hours making
bread, cookies, croissants
and all manner of deliciousness.

After the tour
Appolonia was kind enough to send us back to the States
with enough bread for our whole neighborhood.


Which we promptly
dove into the next day:


I did have a moment on the plane 
where I realized that I didn't get to 
try one of the apple tarts I saw in the window
of Poilâne.

Looks like I'll have to go back to Paris soon!

Sooper triple giant thanks to
Appolonia and everyone at 

Monday, May 26, 2014

EL SKETCHBOOK LOS PARIS


So like...
did I mention that
Paris 
happened?


Yup.
Me and the stylish
took a vacation
(without the hobbits)
to
eat
drink
explore
and hang out with
local boy
when we got tired of
classy, beautiful people.

Mo spends a lot of time sketching in Paris
and I wanted to get in on some of that action.
So i got a Moleskine
and had at it:



I don't always sketch people from life,
but when I do,
it kinda sorta maybe looks like them.




rocked the modern art 
HARD:



One of the best parts of the trip 
was the apartment we rented in the Trocadéro.
It really felt like we had a home
instead of a stuffy, sterile hotel.
(thanks, Genia!)



We went to 
A LOT
of restaurants.
One of our favorites was
which our favorite Frenchy friend Jerome 
suggested.


While the Mrs. shopped the stores,
I usually doodled: 







Mr. Warburton fact #243
I don't really like hot drinks.
I only drink iced coffee.
But ordering an iced coffee in Paris 
is like...
well, it's like ordering an iced coffee in Paris.

So I gave up and ordered
instead.
Which are pretty delicious.


I thought the Musée d'Orsay
could have been called the
Musée d'Okay.


Ditto for the exhibition at the 
Fashion Museum.



Mr. Warburton fact #4
I don't really like wine.
But ordering a Manhattan in Paris 
is like...
well, it's like ordering a Manhattan in Paris.

So I drank wine.
And it was fine.


That said,
they make a life-fulfilling Manhattan
(that costs a million euros)




I didn't want to order a hamburger in Paris.
But everyone was ordering one at
in 
Canal St. Martin:




Did you know that there's a convenient underpass 
that takes you to the 
Arc du Triomphe
so you don't have to risk your life dodging 
hurtling trucks and angry motorists 
to get there?

I didn't.


I think my favorite part of the trip might 
have been our tour of the
world famous
(but that's a tale for a later post)


(thanks Apollonia!)


On the plane home, 
I tried remembering
French-type stuff
for future reference:




I wish I had got more sketching done.
But I was too busy doing
EVERYTHING!


Keep it locked
to hear more about it.