After returning from Paris, I began an interest in French food.
I always look at the featured books when I go to the library, and one day I came across Peter Mayle's French Lessons: Adventures with Knife, Fork, and Corkscrew. With this new interest, I picked it up and was presently surprised. The book describes his experiences at the many food festivals around France, and from reading this book, one day I'd like to try eating frog legs.
After we got the Food Network (for the cost of Alex not eating out for lunch once a month... good deal!), I started watching Laura Calder's French Food at Home, which has encouraged me to try a few recipes and has taught me a few French cooking techniques. It always amazes me how much butter and bacon fat she uses.
So for my birthday, I wanted to try a few places with French Food. The first evening was with Cin, when we checked out Thierry. It was Friday night and the place was packed. Not a free chair in sight, so we got some macarons to take home. The macarons were nice and light, with a crisp outer shell and chewy cookie. The filling was more of a creme (butter cream?), as compared to the ganache filling I remember from Laduree. I think I prefer the ganache. There also seemed to be a very slight artificial taste, particularly in the darker coloured ones, which I suspect might be food colouring. All in all, I definitely still enjoyed them.
The next evening, Alex and I went to Salade de Fruits, a French bistro connected to the French cultural centre. Just sitting down in the restaurant felt very authentic to a bistro we went to in Paris - it could have been the owners and servers speaking French to each other, the menu written only in French, or the tight and cozy seating. I ordered beouf bourguignon, and Alex had duck breast with cassis sauce. My dish was very fragrant, and everything was cooked very well. Alex even marveled at how good the side vegetables were.
The next morning before church, Alex and I went out to Kerrisdale to try Faubourg. I had read that they had the best pain du chocolat in Vancouver. It was as good (if not better) as the ones we had in Paris - crispy outside, soft on the inside. Yummy. A few months ago I tried a croissant from La Baguette & L'Echalote on Granville Island, but it couldn't compare to a Paris croissant. Faubourg is the place to go.
Unfortunately, I didn't take any photos this time. Next time.
