I don't have many obsessions.outside of the food realm. No footwear fetishes or shotglass collections for me. Inside the food realm, unfortunately, is a completely different story. Gadgets, knives, etc- I never seem to tire of them.
I've always thought it hilarious that I can walk into kitchen stores and browse for long periods of time. How is it that I can see spatulas for the 100th time and not find them boring? Kitchen stores usually only have a few things that are seasonal or new- everything else is stuff you will always find in any other kitchen store. In fact, I probably own one (or two) of most things there. Yet I walk down each aisle and carefully study each shelf, making sure I don't miss anything. I guess this is how you identify an obsession- even the most mundane and repetitive aspects of something are fascinating.
So it's not surprising that out of the 8 full days we spent in Paris, I walked into Pierre Hermé four times. In my defense, the first time was to satisfy a personal craving, the second time we didn't purchase anything because they didn't have what we were looking for (macarons with foie gras in it!), and the last two times we were buying dinner party desserts. I guess it didn't help that we stayed only two blocks away from the the store on Rue Bonaparte. Coincidence? I'll let you decide.
Part of my obsession with Pierre Hermé stems from the fact that there is always something new to taste there. Although I don't always find the flavor combinations to be perfect, visually they're absolute perfection.
My favorite new bite was the dark chocolate yuzu macaron, I loved the combination of citrus and chocolate. There's always such balance that the two things seem to lend to each other. Here's what else is shown in the picture above.
Clockwise from top left:
- Émotion Sarah: créme brûlée aux fruits de la passion, marrons poêlés et marrons confits, gelée de marrons, gelée acidulée aux fruits de la passion, crème onctueuse au thé vert
(bottom layer to top) crême brûlée with passion fruit, puréed chestnuts with preserved chestnuts, chestnut jelly, passion fruit jelly, and green tea cream - Macarons: Caramel à la Fleur de Sel, Fruit de la Passion et Chocolat au Lait "Mogador," Chocolat et Yuzu "Azur"
caramel with fleur de sel salt, passion fruit ganache with milk chocolate, chocolate ganache and yuzu (East Asian citrus fruit) - Tarte Infiniment Vanille: fond de pâte sablée, ganache de chocolat blanc à la vanille
a bed of sweet tart pastry, white chocolate and vanilla ganache
Like I said, we went back a few times and tried some more of his new treats. I wish the French would have frequent buyer cards, as I'm sure I spent an obscene amount of money on pastries in Pierre Hermé. Oh well, it's not a bad obsession to have- I'd rather have tasty experiences that I can treasure over 100 garish shotglasses collecting dust on a shelf.
Bon Appètit!
ohhh, what an obsession to have. yummmmm
Posted by: mich | February 03, 2007 at 01:12 PM
Oh sweet jesus, I love the vanilla tart! Besides everything else! I think it's completely reasonable to go 5 times over an 8 day period. ;)
Posted by: Robyn | February 04, 2007 at 01:04 PM