Four Free Days in Paris: A Feeding Frenzy

After the conclusion of fish week we had a four day weekend.  (That's almost enough time to rid oneself of a week's worth of fish stench.) I had originally planned to go to Berlin with Alex and Ali, but due to our lack of organization we ended up staying in Paris.  Not exactly a tragedy.  With four days free in Paris there was plenty of eating and exploring to do.


Friday Ali and I ventured to the Marche des Enfants-Rouges.  This is a small covered market in the Marais with a legendary sandwich man.  Dani read about this sandwich man in a blog that has since become somewhat of a culinary bible.  As soon as he told us about it, Ali and I had to go.  We met at my apartment and began the trek up Rue du Temple to the Marche.  It wasn't exactly a long walk, but we certainly worked up an appetite.  As soon as we turned left into the market, we spotted him!  THE sandwich man, or as I like to think of him, Paris' version of the soup nazi.


We waited on a pretty significant line and I rehearsed my order in my head.  "Je voudrais un cornet vegetarien, sans miel." Of course, as soon as it was my turn to order I got nervous and stumbled over every word.  "Pas, de miel?!?!  Mais, porquoi!" exclaimed the sandwich man.  "Desole, chef.  Mais je n'aime pas de miel."  Now I had really pissed him off.  (And did I really just call him "chef"?!)


Ultimately, he was quite nice and made my delicious vegetarien crepe sans miel, just as I wanted.  He even gave us a free pain au chocolat!  Ali and I strolled to a nearby park, plopped down on a bench, and devoured the goodness.  It was an amazing blend of fresh vegetables - something really hard to come by in french cuisine - goat cheese (yum!), avocado (yum, yum, yum!) and olive oil.

We finished our day by roaming the Marais, weaving in and out of stores, and feeling tres french.  It was the perfect way to start a long weekend in Paris.

On to Saturday when Dani dragged us to an arab market by the Barbes metro.  I say "dragged," but I was pretty excited.  I figured there would be hummus and other yummy middle eastern spreads, and anyone who knows me knows I love all things hummus related.  Unfortunately the market turned out to be over crowded with sad-looking produce and an alarming lack of spreads and spices. However, being the foodies we are, we found an amazing middle eastern lunch spot where we proceeded to stuff our faces.  We told the waiter to bring us their specialities.  What we ended up with was a feast for forty.  Don't worry- we finished it all!  Marinated peppers, chicken with rice, beef with couscous and kebabs.  I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.

Saturday night we went out in the 5th to Paris's version of a speak easy, called Curio Parlor.  They got it almost right except for the lack of air conditioning which led to an overwhelming smell of body odor.  If french people aren't going to shower before going out, they should at least go to air conditioned bars.  It was so intolerable that I even went outside to stand with the smokers for a breath of "fresh" air.  

Sunday falafels at L'as: a standard.  Followed by a lazy day and, later on, my first crepe of my time here. Nutella and bananas: delicious.  

Monday.  Monday was rather glorious.  The temperature was in the mid 50's, the sun was shining, I was in Paris, and I didn't have school!  I spent the morning drinking coffee and reading outside a Place des Vosges, and the afternoon roaming around with Ali and Alex.  Four day weekends in Paris?  Oui, chef!