Shake Shack: Fait Maison

Here's a short post to share a wonderful dining experience.   Back in May, Ali and I were craving Shake Shack.  If you know us, you know it's pretty normal for us to have strange cravings for specific foods from New York.  Anyway, since there's obviously no Shake Shack in Paris, we were in a bit of a bind.  Thanks to this newfangled thing called the internet, however, we were able to find the recipe for the infamous shack burger on a food blog.  God I love modern technology!  After a Saturday morning demonstration we picked up the necessary ingredients and got to work.  What a feast!

Shack sauce.

3 cuts of meat required for the perfect shack burger. 

Hand chopped.

Wonderfully ripe plum tomatoes. 

Scorching hot pan. 

Art. 

Boom!

Craving satisfied?  Oui, Chef!

A Weekend En Provence

Friday morning I woke up, grabbed my bags and hopped the metro to Gare de Lyon to catch the train to Aix-en-Provence.  I was invited to spend the weekend at my friend Marie's grandfather's house in Ansouis, along with 12 of my friends.  Although I had no idea what to expect - I had never heard of Ansouis, and had certainly never been invited to someone's house in Provence - I was VERY excited.

I ran onto the train with 1 minute left before its departure, only to learn that I had gotten on the wrong car and wouldn't be able to get to my seat.  I ended up having to sit on the floor next to the toilet across from a 15 year old couple who couldn't stop making out with and fondling each other.  Did I care?  No sir! I was headed to Provence!  Emma and Pauline were sitting in the car above my toilet class seat and Emma brought me some croissants for breakfast- what a gem!

Three hours later we arrived in Aix.  Lee and Marie were waiting for us in two tiny cars, ready to drive the 40 minutes to Marie's house.  Of course, food was needed, and as the good culinary students we are, Ali, Lee, Dani and I offered to do the shopping.  Letting loose 4 giddy americans in a french countryside supermarket? Maybe not the best idea.

Our tiny car full of A LOT of food. 

Lee also stopped to buy peaches at the side of the road. Yum!

After purchasing a ton of food and what turned out to be excellent boxed wine, we headed back to Marie's.  We prepared a snack - an omelet with onions and tomatoes, some bread and cheese, and wine (of course!).  It was the perfect start to the weekend. After a few verre's of vin, Ali and I went for a stroll in town.  It was incredible.  Every direction we turned was more beatiful than the last.  I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.

Lunch 

Lavender 

Ansouis

Beautiful old shudders.

Strolling through Ansouis

Later that evening we prepared an American feast for our french friends.  Hamburgers, hot dogs, and roasted potatoes.  The french may know how to prepare a duck, but let me tell you- we ameriCANS sure can make a burger.  The feast was such a success that no one had room left for the s'mores I had brought from home.  We decided to save them for the next night.  Again, I'll let the pictures speak for themselves...

On to Saturday - French breakfast of bread, butter and jam.  The weather was cloudy so we decided to have a darty (day party) in side.  We all put on our costumes.  (I forgot to share that french people LOVE theme parties.  No matter what the occasion or venue, they absolutely love to have a dress up theme.  The theme for this weekend was Cowboys and Indians.)  After a few hours of dartying, we strolled through town (still in costume) and definitely alarmed some of the townsfolk.  Then off to the pool for some outdoor napping, and later, a change back into normal clothes to go explore Aix-en-Provence.  What a gorgeous city! As soon as we arrived the sun came out and we enjoyed a few hours of perfect strolling through town.  

 We returned to the house to eat the four hundreth meal of the weekend.  Chicken and vegetable kebabs with a variety of salads.  Once again, starting the fire took a bit longer than we had hoped, but dinner was delicious just the same.  After this light meal everyone had room for some more, so we had s'mores! I had a tutorial on how to make one and was surprised by what a hit they were!  The french really do love their sweets...

Sunday started with a morning stroll through Ansouis and a trip to the market.  Although the market was a bit small, the morning walk was well worth getting up early for.  Ansouis on a Sunday morning reminded me of the town in Beauty and the Beast at the beginning of the movie when Belle is walking around with her book.  If I could, I'd sing the song in this wall post because I know every word.  Either way, the walk was magical and I even channeled Belle by walking around with my "nose in a book."  Cool, I know.  

Marie's house had grapes growing by the entrance.  Amazing

Finally, as if the weekend hadn't been dreamlike enough, we went to the nearby lake for a swim.  Never in my life have I seen a lake like this.  Surrounded by provencal mountains, the lake's water was the color of the carribean ocean!  It was unreal.  We went for a dip and then had to come back to change for our journey home.  

What an incredible weekend.  One I'll definitely not forget.  Of course, we couldn't let everyone get on a 3 hour train ride without something to eat!  So Ali and I prepared steak and vegetable sandwiches for everyone to take home.  My jewish mother would be so proud...

Back to Paris: Big Girl Birthday

Last week I returned to Paris after a visit home.  Being in New York was great - minus the swealtering temperatures - but I couldn't wait to get back to the city of light.  I even missed my bright red couch.  Whodathunk...

I landed in Paris on Monday and would turn the big 2-5 on Tuesday.  My dad was here and met me at my aptartment with the ingredients for a good old fashioned american breakfast - eggs, and... well I guess more of a french-american fusion breakfast- baguette and cheese.  It was great to be back!  We immediately set out to do french things such as sip cafes at a cafe and shop for fashionable french birthday presents.

Later we ventured out for an early dinner at Relais L'Entrecote for what are, in my humble opinion, the best steak frites in Paris. I headed home after dinner with a belly full of frites and was greated by my friends for some tarte au framboise et champagne rose!  It was the perfect start to my 25th birthday.  The rest of the parisian installment of this glorious holiday was marked by dinner and a karaoke fest with my friends.  Emma, a native parisian, suggested a bar called Rive Droit near my house that was one of the few in Paris to offer karaoke on a weeknight.  The rest of the customers took things a bit more seriously than we did- belting ballads, and performing dramatic solos - but we had a great time nonetheless.  Plus, I got to sing "Au Champs Elysees" with my french friends, so I was happy!

More food focused posts to come.  Oui Chef!