Friday Food Feast - wiping the plates clean

French food has always been the epitope of fine culinary skills, the best produce and meticulous presentation. And although I'm no expert in the food industry, I don't think it takes one to know the difference between food and happy food. Now, happy food for me isn't just ice-creams or desserts, it's the food that makes me smile from the second its placed in front of me and one that leaves me licking every bit of that folk at the end. Needless to say the cobbled Parisian streets are full of such culinary gems. There are the standard Steak and chips and burger places and not to mention some famous chains but stay away from them. Paris isn't about a Pizza or Lasagna, it's all about Croque madame and Quiche Lorraine. So explore those taste buds!

Slightly distancing ourself from food for a second, (we'll get back to it later) let me briefly tell you about  the doings of the day and a chance encounter with a lovely lady.

A friend of mine arrived from London to spend the weekend with me in Paris. On a sunny Friday we wandered along the Thames, sipped Angelina's hot chocolate (your trip is incomplete without one of these) at Jardin des Tuileries and walked to Centre Pompidou to met up with one of his friends, Lihn. Although socially a bit awkward and shy, I love meeting people and listening to their stories. Lihn, a French national who spent a few years living in Vietnam then went to New York for a year and is now going to Beijing for 2 years to be a master in Kung Fu. Wow, now if that isn't a travel itinerary from heaven, wonder what is. Meeting such people is always so inspiring and refreshing. I call such people the 'other kind'. So, there's those that work all their lives and know no better, followed by the ones that work and travel a little when they can (the sensible kind) and then there is the 'other kind' - the sorts that just follow their heart. I know one or more of each kind and they all teach me something of value. Anyway,  after an evening well spent with Lihn, we headed to explore little cobbled streets in Marais and came across restaurant Equinox.

This French restaurant situated at Rue Rosiers in Paris's 4e district, is a warm and welcoming place - primarily because of it's stoned walls and wooden beamed ceiling. The candle-lit tables with minimal lights and only 10 tables made it feel cozy and none commercial. Although the restaurant served lasagnes and pastas, we skipped straight to the French courses with me ordering a 'Croustillant de volaille, sauce aux poivrons doux, gratin de pomme de terre'. Phew! or Stuffed chicken breast coated in thin pastry served with red pepper sauce and potatoes confit.

The picture probably does not do it justice (because I decide to demolish it before taking this photo) but it was a delicately presented dish that would make any grown man smile. The thin pastry crust on a well cooked chicken infused with delicate flavours coming from the vegetables was sublime. The red pepper sauce and the potato confit was seasoned to perfection. Overall the meal, accompanied with a class of red wine was a delight to the taste buds.

Main course followed by a lovely Tarte Tatin concluded the Friday and the food feast.

For similar recipe of the stuffed chicken, go to: http://frenchfood.about.com/od/maindishes/r/Stuffed-Bresse-Chicken-Recipe.htm

Growing up to love the smell I once hated - Exploring Marché Bastille, Paris

Ok, I am already on day 16 of my 44 day stint in France and although this is my first real post (due to reasons explained earlier), I promise to look up the accounts in my diary and write as much as I can whilst I try and keep up my daily posts. Here we go.

It has been a rather dull and rainy day - first since I've been here and hopefully the last. Staying indoors in this beautiful city is a criminal offence. So come rain or come storm I had to venture out (foolishly forgetting my umbrella) to shop for fresh produce at Marché Bastille - a street market and a buyers paradise. Situated on Boulevard Richard Lenoir in the 11th arrondissement, every Thursday and Sunday, this space is transformed into an experience of different smells, colours and flavours. 

Walking down this crowded market in the rains reminded me of when I used to accompany my mother to our local vegetable market back home in India. She would have to pull me by the hand and drag me in because I almost always wanted to run away even before stepping in. The covered market had a peculiar smell - the blend of the onions with the garlic and the lemons with the coriander. The vendors all screaming to get your attention to buy from them - it was all a bit much for my eardrums. As a girl, I detested the thought of ever having to cook with these ingredients but as they say wisdom comes with age, I have grown to love it. I crave that smell of fresh produce and miss the lack of it in London. The coriander doesn't smell the same and to my disappointment they don't even taste like the ones in India. My mother on the other hand has now switched to supermarkets and her trips to the local mandi are now next to never.

Back to Bastille then, with over a hundred stalls lined up in 4 rows, one truly needs another pair of eyes to see it all. The contents vary from vendors selling Olives, to handicrafts from the African continent. I even managed to find some decent pairs of socks (only I could go shopping for vegetables and end up with socks in my bag). The point of the matter is that there is something for everyone here. As you wander in this bazaar of vegetable vendors and crepe-sellers it's hard to miss that there is some very refined and expensive butchers. Word is that fancy restaurants in the area get their meat from here. 

I had all the time in the world to wander around but thanks to my leisurely arrival, I could only witness little. As I strolled down the aisles with my bags of tomatoes and courgettes, what grabbed my attention was the different ethnicities and their various selling techniques. The French being French were calm and patient with their customers but the French (not originally French) i.e. the French Turks, Indians, Arabs (you get the picture) try so hard to sell - being load and shouty is their thing. 

Price compare: Don't be fooled into thinking the street market is cheaper than the butchers or vendors around the corner from you. Be price aware - you might not always walk away with a cheap deal but at least your paying for quality and freshness. 

It's a happy and inspiring place to visit and if anything, it motivates you to go back home and cook away with the fresh produce you've bought. The smells and colours encourage you to experiment with ingredients and flavours.

With the rain pouring down, there was only one place for me and my bags of veg to go. Oh and my socks of course :) 

The Marché Bastille is open on Thursday from 7:00 am to 2:30pm and Sunday from 7:00 am until 3:00 pm  

Jardin of peace - visiting the Mosquee de Paris and Jardin des Plantes

I'm not religious and I'm grateful that my parents decided to raise me and my brother with not one but all faiths. My mother had Muslim friends whose house we used to visit every Eid and relish the yummy delicacies they prepared. Come December the 25th, my parents would leave Christmas presents by me and my brother's pillow-side and have us believe it was Santa. Being Hindu ourselves, we celebrated most Hindu festivals. It was like one celebration after another. Although at the time I never really realised the importance of growing up in a liberal and accommodating environment, because I guess I didn't know any better. It's today when I visit a beautiful mosque, a spectacular church or a exquisite temple and appreciate them all the same do I realise the reason for them doing what they did. 

Exploring Paris at my own pace has been somewhat of a boon and a curse. I lazily start my day early afternoon and because the sun doesn't set until 9 pm, I have plenty of time to wander whilst it's still light. Today unlike most days I knew what part of Paris I was going to explore. I was going to visit the Musee National d'Histoire Naturelle, Jardin des Plantes and the Mosquee de Paris - all situated in the Latin Quarter district of Paris to the Left Bank. A small point to note is that I have been walking everywhere. And by that I mean everywhere! I have only taken the metro twice so far but that is because the distances were too far to walk to. More on walking around Paris in another post. 

You arrive at Jardin des Plantes to a view like that and almost instantly the feeling of being in a city is replaced by one of easy and leisure. The courtyard is made up of the Museum, the department of Zoology and Geology. Not to mention the botanical gardens and the other plantations. This place is huge! I love walking on the best of days so this was like Mecca. I sat around admiring the symmetrical design that looked like it has been marked every inch by a measuring tape - every pot and plant was exactly the same distance from the other. The highlight however were the flowers - white and shades of yellow and orange - which looked prettier than usual in the Spring. 

If you are a Jardin person and need to pick one to visit, I would visit this as opposed to Jardin du Luxembourg - which is pretty in it's own way and not to mention, next to the Pantheon. However, Jardin the Plantes has all of that charm and more. There is a lot more to do and a lot fewer people about which is always a bonus especially in Paris! You can take your time and really enjoy the spectacular views and if you're bored of sitting, you always have one of the exhibits you can go to or go bird watching. 

Having been to both Kew Gardens (I'm tempted to write Jardin Kew)and the mother of all projects the Eden Project, I decided to give the botanical gardens and the birds viewing a miss and head straight to the oldest Mosque in Paris. 

Situated just behind the entrance to the Musee National d'Histoire Naturelle, the Mosque is located on a quiet little residential street in the 5e area of Paris. Mosques have always intrigued me - as a child I would tell my mother how much I liked hearing the sound of their prayers. It was loud and clear because most mosques in India always had a loudspeaker on top and when the Imam said their prayers, everyone in the area could hear it. I found the rhythm and tone of the prayers slightly hypnotic. I still enjoy listening to it except, Mosques in London haven't got loudspeakers on them. 

The entrance to Mosquee de Paris is like entering a royal garden. The aqua coloured tiles and the contrasting colour of the plants are so warm and welcoming that you are left longing for more. The walls of the entire mosque are mosaic with a similar pattern throughout and the minaret, also mosaic, is 33 meters high. Founded in 1926, the mosque was built as a token of gratitude after World War I. It has to be said that the influences of the past can still be seen in the ceiling lamps, the furniture in the library and the prayer room itself. 

There is a certain kind of peace that one feels whilst in here. I overheard an American couple say how much warmth this place had - they couldn't be more right. Peace is a state of mind and can be felt in a Jardin or your house but the peace that one experiences in places of holy significance is usually something else. Is it psychological or is it just the aura created by people who respect and follow that religion, I'm not qualified or religious enough to know. 

I've never known why but I truly believe that although there might be more peaceful places and less peaceful places in the world, peace can never be found in one specific place - it's everywhere and it's nowhere. 

I just need some time off

If you're reading this, you are either a friend of mine who I've pestered into reading this blog or it's popped up on google whilst searching for a keyword or more excitingly, you have randomly come across it. Either way, now that you're here you might as well read about my exciting 3-month sabbatical.

I have to admit it's a bit into my sabbatical already (exactly 15 days and 3 hours) but I blame it on the internet/mac issue which only got resolved a couple of days ago. Anyhow, I promise to catch-up as quickly as I can but before any of that you should know why I decided to take 3 months off work and what adventures I've got planned for myself.

May 2012, Mumbai: It's one of those evenings when most things around you don't make sense and in times like these you start to wonder about what life's all about and have you done everything you really thought you want to do. I'm sure this is the most cliched statement ever but it's true. For me, the answer was no and so I decided to make my little to-do list but except this time it wasn't the standard list for the day but one full of things I wanted to do before I turned 35. With a whole lot of other more achievable things was a 3-month sabbatical. I came back to the UK from my trip to India, spoke to my manager and by the end of Dec 2012, I had my sabbatical approved. With time off work granted, I now had to plan the trip of a lifetime (hopefully there will be more to come but let's say lifetime for now).

Where to go: I knew from when I was young that I wanted to spend a summer in Paris - probably because of the French films I saw or because it just looked so dreamy in every movie. I also took French lessons (which were of no use but more on that later) so I could come here and speak my way through Parisian streets and cafes. So it was a no-brainer that I was spending all or some of my time in Paris. Destination No. 1 - Paris. Tick.

3 months in Paris or even in France would be a lot not just because it would be mighty expensive but also because it's too long to spend in a city not doing a course of some sort or engaging yourself with something to keep you occupied. So, I thought of going and working with a charity in South America - a part of the world I have never been to and have always wanted to visit. Chile was the first country that popped to my mind but the charity I was wanting to travel with did not have a set-up there. Defeat no. 1. Change of plan and charity. Through a friend's suggestion I came across a fantastic charity called Latin American Foundation for the Future or LAFF (google them and support them) and the incredible work they do with other partner organisations in Peru. Peru would be fab, I thought. By the end of January 2013, I had exchanged emails with the organisation on my job role and so the later half of my sabbatical was decided too. I was going to make fundraising films for LAFF. Destination no. 2 - Peru! Tick.

When to go: Keeping the weather in mind, I decided May 2013 - August 2013 would be my 3-month sabbatical with 6 weeks in France - mostly living in Paris and 6 weeks in Peru where I am going to be based in Cuzco.

So, if you are planning one yourself, make sure to:

- Plan in advance and give your work enough notice

- Come up with a fairly decent idea of what it is that you want to do (dig into those dreams you've always had)

- Plan your finances sensibly and then,

- Go with the flow!