My Paris Diet (i.e., Brad promised me I can eat as many pastries as I want and not get fat).
My cousin Karen, who traveled to Paris in December, sent me an email and mentioned that she was excited to see Paris through my eyes. As she probably could have predicted, my view of Paris is directed towards the patisseries, boulangeries, and creperies. (Specializing in pastries, bread, and crepes, respectively). Did you know that in France, a patisserie is a legally controlled title that may only be used by bakeries that employ a licensed maître pâtissier (master pastry chef)? I didn’t either, until I learned this fact on Wikipedia. Wikipedia teaches me a lot these days.
I don’t really pay attention to the names, other than to notice that in Spain I liked anything that ended in -eria and in France I like anything that ends in -erie. I mostly follow the delightful smells. Seriously, there is nothing more aromatic and calming that the smell of French baguette wafting down the street. It is rare that one of our meals these days do not chiefly consist of baguettes. Not so great on carbs, but nice on the wallet. Fortunately, we’ve happily been adding vegetables to our baguette-based meals, because we have found that all of the vegetables taste fresher and have more flavor than most of the veggies at home.
I have been eating Nutella crepes, madeline cookies, palmiers, macaroons, lemon tarts, and chocolate eclairs with abandon. On our first night in Paris, Brad, a friend of Sean’s who works for Sean’s former employer, and who is here in Paris working for about a month, mentioned that when he first came to Paris, he promptly dropped a ton of weight because of all of the walking that he did. He assured me that he had been sampling everything Paris had to offer, and that he dropped the weight despite the Parisian treats.
While I am sure that I would have promptly commenced eating crepes and such regardless, this was the go-ahead I needed to eat them guilt-free. Luckily, we have been walking a ton. Paris is very flat, making it easy to traverse from one area of town to the other. I am not sure that I am losing any weight, but I can fairly say that I have not yet gained any weight, so the Parisian diet must be working on some level. I mean, the treats are so delicious here, and I am eating so many of them, that I don’t even find the need to make sure that each treat is chocolate filled or covered.
I promise that I will write about more than just food, but the way I see it, food is the best way to experience the cultural differences between countries and even regions. Sean is a slightly alarmed in my increase in sweets in particular, but I seem him enjoying quite a few baguettes, paprika-flavored pringles, and comte cheese himself. Besides, I am taking advantage of sweets now in Europe, where they are abundant. You never know when I’ll suddenly find myself cut off.