Le Gastronome in Paris

*Scream* I need to get “work” off my head. Our new store is nearly complete, but I’ve been baffled by the fact that though the store is almost done, we still haven’t been able to give a specific opening date! It’s the details that kill you most of the time– in this case, it is the store details that are slowly taking the life out of me. I’ve had sleepless nights (nothing new), but I’ve never really had “Stressful” sleepless nights until construction began.

Photo: We had to work with an empty shell of a store– that was how the store looked when Rockwell turned it over to us. I can’t believe this was just a month ago! 🙂

*Sigh* I guess it’s never easy to be the one to coordinate with different suppliers and contractors. Everyone works on different times and schedules that it’s real easy to get discombobulated. I’ve lost some weight because of this (yea so I’m proud I lost weight :D), despite the fact that I constantly find myself at Pepper Lunch for lunch or dinner on most days that I am in Rockwell hahaha.

Anyway, I seriously need to get my mind off this work thing because it is driving me up the wall. I may have lost some weight, but I have certainly gained serious eyebags and dark circles under and actually around my eyes (Think: Raccoon). I’ve even began concocting eye cream cocktails just to lighten those dark circles. A bit of Olay Regenerist mixed with Hylexin might do the trick– but if it hasn’t been working on me, go ahead and tell it to my face ;). I feel my skin is much “tighter” though 🙂 *Grumbles.. I can’t believe I’m in my early 30s and I’m already using all these creams to counter skin anti- ageing. Hmm maybe all I need are Stress Tabs!*

Now, let me talk about the food in Paris. This is sure to perk me up for the day. So when we were in Paris, we went to Les Halles.

The markets at Les Halles

Pigeon

Poulet (Chicken)
Cholesterol Hell (or gastronomic heaven… whichever you prefer)
Fromage (Cheeeeese!!!)
More fromage!
These just look too good to eat!
Chocolat… Now this wouldn’t survive the heat in Manila. These chocolate “crisps” are a product of liquid chocolate poured onto cellophane sheets. They are allowed to cool and voila, you have sheets of chocolate crisps, ready to be “pulled off” and eaten.
And then there’s A L’Olivier, a favorite store of mine which stocks different flavored olive oil (lemon, pimento, basil, orange… name it!) as well as biscuits made with Olive oil and fragrant fleur d’ oranger.

We were so hungry roaming the streets of Les Halles. We finally decided we were to eat at Au Pied de Cochon, a very short walk from Eglise Saint Eustache. Yes, Au Pied de Cochon translates to: Pig’s feet. This is actually a pretty famous restaurant operated by Les Freres Blanc. I do wonder though if it’s a tourist trap. Some say yes, others say no. Bottom line is, we had to try this. I’ve read about this restaurant in the past too.

The restaurant was packed, packed, packed.
We had escargots bourgouignonne
French Onion Soup
The restaurant’s signature dish, roasted pig’s feet. I know, it sounds rather gruesome to be eating this, but oye, I must admit, it was fantastic (once you get past the fact that you are eating pig’s feet!!)

Stuffed pig’s feet with something. Oh God, how could I forget the name of this dish. 😉 Anyway, this dish was forgettable (which was why I obviously forgot the name). The roasted pig’s feet was much better.

The bill for the night: EUR 78.40 (I can’t believe tax was 19.6%– I remember once asking our driver why the tax was so high for food and his reply *complete with an almost sarcastic chuckle, might I add* was “Ask Sarkozy”. Pffft )

Alrighty, it’s back to the real world for moi once again. Sorry for not having blogged for a bit. And thanks for reminding me not to forget about this blog! *Thwaps myself*

x
Mrs.T