Skip if you're bored with food porn

[rachelmanija]

I am posting from a net cafe in what I believe is em-h's old stomping grounds, near the Luxembourg Gardens. Great recommendation! I like this area a lot. On my way there I saw a patisserie about the siwe of a walk-in closet, with people lined up outside and new people walking up to join the line and walking out with little bags. I immediately joined the line, and got a very nice quiche lorraine, and a very light cheesecake gateau with raspberry sauce, garnished with jewel-like red currants. (They are sour and are mostly seeds.)

While I am not a fan of formal French gardens - they are a bit like geometry lessons in grass and flowers - the Luxemberg is a great place for a picnic, packed with benches and chairs, so I set up and ate there in front of a statue of some jolly Greek God and a meticulously pruned ellipsoid of mixed flowers with accents of Swiss chard. I had neevr before seen that as an orrnamental, but it's a pretty one with its red veins and great crinkled leaves.

I passed another patisserie with an extraordinary cake display of a chessboard chocolate and vanilla cake with chocolate chessmen on top. Inside, they had pastries labeled "tendresse de fruit3 and 3insolent fruits de bois." I expect those don't actually translate to "insolent fruits" and "a tenderness of fruits," but I shall keep my picturesque illusions until one of you corrects me. They also had whole candied fruits (confit de fruit) at outrageous prices, but that is how I learned that ananas is not banana, as I had assumed, but pineapple. I didn't buy anything there - way overpriced - but did note the presence of violet and Earl Grey macarons.

Can anyone who speaks French give me an idiomatic way of saying, "Can you please flip the egg over in the pan? I like the white to be cooked more." Or is that too outrageous a request? I like croque madames but I am tired of scraping off totally uncooked egg white. As for omelettes, I will never order one again. I do not understand the appeal of slimy uncooked egg white, but it seems people in Paris appreciate it a great deal. Or else I'm just unlucky.

Comments

[em_h]

Yes, my favourite neighbourhood! Did you find the cheese shop yet? I suppose it may not be there anymore.

I've found that since the incredible storm of December 1999, there's been a tendency to do parks in a less landscaped and geometrical way, but that's mostly in the smaller parks scattered around the area. There's one (I think near Shakespeare & Co, if I remember correctly) that's meant to recall a medieval herb garden, and it was quite quite nice last time I saw it.

Can't help re eggs -- I could ask my brother in law, but then you'd end up speaking Quebec French, and you'd probably get further in English.

[ide_cyan]

Pourriez-vous retourner les oeufs dans la poêle, s'il vous plaît? Je préfère que les blancs soient biens cuits.

[ide_cyan]

(...cannot edit on DW for typos, but that's about it -- don't know enough cooking terminology to phrase it with a specialised phrase, but "bien cuit" means well-cooked, well-done.)

[tool_of_satan]

Who could be bored with food porn?

That is a very nice part of Paris - my aunt and uncle used to live not too far from there.

I agree about traditional French gardens - I prefer English landscape gardens (or Japanese gardens).

Google Translate says "tendresse de fruit" is "love fruit" and "insolent fruits de bois" is "insolent berries," but it is (inevitably) not good with idioms it doesn't happen to have seen in its training, e.g. the time it told me Stalin was a goldsmith. I am in favor of keeping your illusions.