Cinq par semaine: III

This will probably be my last edition, given that I have about a week left and I still have about a million and one avocados that I bought from the market. I went a little avocado crazy when I saw the 5 pour 1E sign above the audicious vendor shouting at me. And although I would love to write a post about avocados and my uncompromising love of eating them with a dollop of white sugar in the center (thanks mom for raising me with diabetic tendencies), I won't -- because I don't think they're French. Contrairily, I did discover 2 other products that I just LOVE that are not on this post but will probably be posted later -- peanut flavored apéritif snacks & Reine Claudes. These little guys began popping up everywhere around Paris a week or two ago, and like the shrewd shopper I am, I never go around any fruits that are bright green because that sets off an alarm in my head that the said produce is either sour, unripe, or ... a vegetable. Oh how my instincts have failed me. While I was at the Marché Bio Raspail, a man shoved one into George's face (no doubt he was hitting on him -- perhaps these are an aphrodisiac?). George proceeded to cautiously bite into one -- the juice nearly spilling from his mouth. I swear I'm not trying to write an erotic novel. He then handed it over to me and when I tasted it, it was like . . . pure juice. It was like the type of wine that Chicco would order.

I immediately bought like 2 sacs of them. Named after Queen Claude of some 14th century lineage, they certainly seem to garner prestige from the French (each box has a red tag that says "OMG WE'RE REALLY FRENCH PLUMS, DON'T BE FOOLED BECAUSE WE'RE GREEN!" or something to that extent) What's strange to me is that a queen would be named Claude. . . kind of sad that her only call to fame as a queen were plums. . .

Are there watermelons or grapefruits named after queens?
Perhaps Viking queens.

At the same marché, I stopped by the fromageur (or geuse, I should say) and perused the many moldy chevres, the oozing bries, and the giant blocks of cantal. I stumbled upon this little thing! Hee. It's a heart! * claps * It's called Le Coeur de Neufchatel (de Normandie) and believe it or not, I've never seen it before! I'm so excited to have discovered a new cheese that I like. Not like it's hard to like cheeses, but the texture and the taste of this cheese is perfect with some fig spread or even simply a baguette. The texture is not too creamy, but not too crumbly, and the taste is like a Tomme de Savioe + Gruyere with a little kick to it as well if you eat it alone or with something acidic, like fruit.

This was really bizarre when I saw it in the grocery store. It's literally a giant bowl of rice pudding... about 6 inches in diameter. When I ate it, it was still defrosting, so it tasted like paper --- I think I will wait to give a real critique on this one, but it's definitely a strange one.

At marché Maubert with Chicco we saw lamb brains at the butchers'.
I almost cried.
And then I took a picture.

Oh I know, pear juice.
Nothing too novel about that,
but really GOOD pear juice?
Yeah, that's pretty French.

OK, so I was running out of products, but hey, violet chocolate? At your regular supermarket for 1Euro? On the plus side it's pretty good. But I've had better. I'm bringing home like an arsenal of NatureTree chocolates (in apricot ;))




Off to worksies.