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The white truffle macaron, immortalized


Stuffed mushrooms de Paris


Mind-altering boeuf


Pineapple cake w/ basil gelato

Two things have been happening for the past couple days. One, I have been visiting the Parisian universities and meeting with advisors to pick courses and discuss my schedule. It looks like I will be studying some interesting topics with some wonderful people, but all has yet to be set in stone.

However, the second activity I have been doing is of MUCH more importance. I have been eating. Beaucoup. Actually, on my official school form when I was asked my interest for future activities, I wrote "food." I'm understanding how it was all Julia Child thought about, as my passion for this cuisine is the only thing that comes even close to my interest in style. Yes, I know. I see the irony.

But what could possibly be more beautiful than the white truffle/hazelnut macarons at Pierre Hermé with their silvery little shells? They taste like the earth in the best way possible. Before, I never even thought of using truffle in dessert— now I can't live without it. Since I've been making a macaron run several days in a row, I'm not sure if the shop people are amused or horrified. I do think I detect an empathetic gleam in their eyes though, as if to say, "Yes, we know that you belong to them now and cannot live without it." As if to make our love affair even more poetic, the white truffle flavor is being discontinued in a week. So this is what it is to be broken.

Tonight, some friends and I had a dinner at la Ferrandaise. Totally convivial, we enjoyed a great bottle of 2006 Bordeaux, which we picked out with help and our combined (re: limited) wine knowledge. I had local mushrooms stuffed with pork, chestnuts and prunes, then wrapped in bacon and glazed. Then we shared a huge pot of boeuf bourguignon and mashed potatoes. Only one thing can be said: the rich, meaty wine sauce basically changed my life. Dessert, pineapple cake with fruit and basil gelato, was probably the most beautiful, but left me unsatisfied next to my entree. What I really wanted was to drink the rest of the beef's cooking liquid.