Lunch at Bagelstein Bastille

Packed and stacked with rows of different kinds of bagels and cookies, the window display of Bagelstein Café in the 11^th arrondissement certainly did its job in attracting this hungry customer. 

A quick glance at my options on the sandwich-board outside, or bagel-board in this context, and I’d found my lunch spot that Friday afternoon.

I’m always on the lookout for new lunch places to try in Paris and this newly opened café on Rue de la Roquette is one of them. It’s not a big place inside but what it lacks in space, it makes up in fun décor: the walls are plastered with framed magazine covers, newspaper front pages, signed celebrity headshots and small plaques of witty French quotes.

It smells warm and inviting inside and unlike the (albeit) tasty baguette sandwiches that crowd the display cases of nearly every boulangerie, Bagelstein’s creations, on freshly baked bagels, are made to order right in front of you.

I chose the Hypolite – roast chicken, honey mustard, cream cheese, lettuce, tomato and pickles - on a toasted Gratin (cheese) bagel. I chose my seat by a signed photo of Wonder Woman and munched on my tasty bagel lunch. I was at first unsure about the pairing of pickles and chicken (and yes, as a pregnant woman I’m aware of the irony of that!) but when mixed with the flavourful honey mustard and cream cheese, it worked for this sandwich.

The reasonably-priced menu has many options for all your bagel-cravings: smoked salmon, tuna, pastrami, vegetarian and build-your-own on your choice of bagel. There’s even a Bagel-of-the-Month meal, plus a mouth-watering selection of cookies, cheesecake, and muffins so you can eat your bagel and get your fix of French baked goods. And a big bonus - the location on Rue de la Roquette is open 7 days a week for your bagel devouring pleasure.

Paris-area sandwich lovers, on your next jaunt in the city, be check out one of the many locations of Bagelstein for a delicious, low-key lunch. Because even the most devoted baguette fan needs variety once and a while. 

For more menu info and other fun facts, check out Bagelstein's unique website:

http://www.bagelstein.com

Ciabatta Goodness

Can you pronounce ciabatta?

It’s a tricky one – the ‘ci’ is actually pronounced like ‘chi’, so to say the name of this lovely bread correctly, try ‘chi-batta’. I actually looked up how to pronounce it – thank you Macmillan Dictionary and your audio clips for pronunciation!

Fresh Ciabatta Goodness!

This sudden attention to the pronunciation of foreign words is a result of the intensive English Teacher training course I recently completed at the International Language Center in Paris. I can now apply for English teaching positions and the world is wide open to me once again!

During my course, I brought my lunch from home as much as possible. This was helpful to save money, since buying lunch everyday can be expensive, and to save time, especially on those afternoons when I was teaching. I often brought homemade sandwiches made with ciabatta bread and stuffed with my favorite sandwich innards: multiple types of meat and cheese, veggies and mustard.

Stacked and Packed!

I can get fresh ciabatta bread  at my local grocery store and one loaf can make multiple sandwiches, depending on the size of my appetite: 3 small or 2 large. Ciabatta is lovely bread, crusty on the outside, soft on the inside, with lots of nice little nooks and crannies to hold reserves of mustard. It’s a worthy alternative to the baguette and it makes some pretty amazing sandwiches, both fresh and toasted.

A medley of goodness and ingredients

Possible ingredients for some Ciabatta Goodness include:

Meat: Ham, salami, sausage, roast beef, roast chicken or turkey

Cheese: Emmental, gouda, camembert (so good!)

Veggies: Feuilles de chêne (salad greens), arugula, spinach, avocado, red pepper, tomato, etc.

Condiments: Butter, mustard (multiple kinds in the same sandwich!), mayo

Prep:

1-Cut a fresh ciabatta loaf in half, length wise.

2-Spread butter and/or mustard on the halves, alternating or combining as per your tastes.

3-Pile on your choice(s) of meat(s) and cheese(s).

4-Top with veggies.

5-Assemble the top half of the loaf.

6-Cut to your desired size and number of sandwiches.

7-Serve and enjoy!

One Ciabatta Loaf = Multiple Sandwiches!

To create a tasty toasted ciabatta sandwich, place both halves of the bread (after the meat and cheese are in place, but before adding the veggies) in the oven under the broiler for 2-3 minutes. Remove from heat, top with veggies, cut and serve!

Tasty and Toasty Ciabatta Sandwich

This sandwich was a conversation starter among my new classmates during my course and it was extremely filling to eat for lunch. It also works well at sandwich parties or potlucks, where there are lot of fun ingredient combinations to play with. We brought some ciabatta to a recent gathering of sandwich lovers (friends) and they were a big hit there too.

So give it a try with your favorite ingredients and when someone asks you about your sandwich, because they will, tell them it’s all in the ciabatta bread and help them pronounce it correctly.

Just don’t talk with your mouth full!

Upside-down Ciabatta Goodness.

Paris Picnics

Paris: the City of Lights and of Beautiful Picnic Places.

In the first month of living here, the weather’s been lovely (sorry, Alberta!), the grass and the trees are still green, and I’ve been exploring as much as possible. It’s a rookie move to explore on an empty stomach and it’s so easy to just grab a baguette or a croissant on the way to the metro station and eat on route to the next museum or monument. Why not? Like I said in my previous post, carrying around French bread is a true stereotype here!

But another stereotype with some truth to it is how the Parisians don’t like to rush their meals, even during the work week. This explains their long lunch-hours and how the cafés are always packed in the middle of the day. While the city is bustling, the people like to take their time. That’s something I’m trying to remind myself – I don’t need to rush to places that have been there for hundreds of years! I can relax and enjoy the journey. And thankfully, there’s no shortage of amazing places to visit in this grand city, and lots of delicious food to keep me going.

So picnics are the way to go! They’re the perfect blend of the Parisian way of taking one’s time to enjoy the food and to take in the moment, which is what I did on three separate occasions at the Eiffel Tower, the Luxembourg Gardens and the Tuileries.

Eiffel Tower Picnic:

One of my husband’s coworkers and his fiancée chose their temporary apartment to be less than 500 meters from the Eiffel Tower. So naturally, that’s where we went for our first Paris Picnic!

Their apartment is also above a bakery. I know – it’s a hard-knock life! – but it made getting picnic provisions very simple. For this kind of picnic, (which anyone who doesn’t live less than 500 meters from the Eiffel Tower could pull off) we gathered the following:

Simple, eat-with-your-hands picnic food.

-a demi-baguette and a few pains aux chocolat from the bakery

-some cheese (Laughing Cow or La Vache qui Rit worked well since we didn’t have any utensils; Baby Bel or some pre-sliced cheese works too.)

-some fruit, specifically grapes and strawberries

This food is simple and ready to eat with one’s hands. Just rip off a piece of baguette, ‘sandwich’ a piece of cheese inside and voila! A perfect picnic snack and the view is unbelievable -the Eiffel Tower is truly amazing!

The amazing Eiffel Tower! 

When Mike and I visited Paris two years ago, he told me I wouldn’t fully appreciate how huge it is until I was there and he was right. It’s enormous! I also have a hard time believing it only took a little over two years to be built (it was finished in 1889 to mark the 100 anniversary of the French Revolution) and it was supposed to be a temporary structure for the World’s Fair. Thankfully, it stayed. Can anyone imagine Paris without it?

While I love going to the Eiffel Tower, a dark side to its appeal is how it’s hot-spot for pickpockets and scam artists. We didn’t let that stop us from enjoying ourselves though; we just kept our bags close and were watchful of the crowd.

It was a bit overcast and we felt a few raindrops but otherwise, sitting on the grass, at the base of one of the world’s most iconic structures and eating our delicious lunch was a great first Paris Picnic!

I had to practically lay down to get this shot!

Luxembourg Gardens:

I joined another Canadian friend and her two little ones on a beautiful sunny day at the Luxembourg Gardens. This place is one of my favorite green spaces in Paris. Green grass, immaculate flower beds and trees, ornate sculptures, gorgeous fountains – it’s a lovely sanctuary in the middle of a crazy metropolis.

Beautiful Luxembourg Gardens

Some interesting history to note is Luxembourg Palace was the residence of Marie de’Medici, the widow of King Henry IV. The gardens were designed to resemble parts of her native Florence, Italy. Today, the French Senate meets in the Palace and the gardens are full each day of people relaxing on the grass, strolling through the grounds, exercising and generally just enjoying its beautiful sights and scents. 

For this picnic, we bought our food on route on Rue Daguerre, a really fun market street. Since it’s a bit of a walk to the Gardens, I suggest checking out somewhere on your way to get what you need. Our picnic consisted of:

Baguette, salami and pickles: all this delicious sandwich needs

-baguette sandwiches (jambon et fromage, salami)

-croissants and pains aux chocolat (fresh and still warm from the bakery! I just love their buttery, flakey, melt-in-your-mouth texture!) 

My sandwich was salami and pickles, which surprised but delighted me. So simple, so good! That day was also a historic moment for my friend as she had never had a pain au chocolat before – a rectangular croissant with thin strips of chocolate baked inside. Needless to say, she loved it! Picnic-ing at Luxembourg Gardens is great for families because kids can run and play on the grass and enjoy the ducks and fish in the fountains. It doesn’t feel as commercial/touristy as the Eiffel Tower; it’s just beautiful there.

Tuileries: What's that sticking up in the left over there?

Tuileries: 

This was another day spent strolling around a huge garden in the middle of the city. The Tuileries is a huge expense of land that runs from the Arc de Triomphe to the Louvre and through the Place de la Concorde. 

L'Arc de Triomphe du Carrosel, the gateway from the Tuileries
to the Louvre

From my chair in the shade of some nearby trees, I could see the impressive Arc de Triomphe du Carrosel, in front of the Louvre and the Eiffel Tower was poking up behind the hedges.

My friend and I met there at the Tuileries metro station on line 1 and went looking for a quiet place to eat and catch up with each other. It was really sunny that day and I think that was the day after the snow hit back home. It was hard to imagine that while wearing shorts. Again, sorry Alberta!

The picnic was small and simple, yet still so tasty and filling. I brought with me to share:

-a simple sandwich of baguette, butter and gruyere cheese

-strawberries from the fruit stand near our apartment (so sweet and ripe!)

-pains aux chocolat (there goes our pact to only eat them on the weekends!)

Another simple picnic lunch, this time at the Tuileries

-Cherry Coke (which you can’t find in North America anymore, unless it’s at Dadeo’s in Edmonton) 

While we ate, we caught up each other on our respective housing situations (we’re both waiting for paperwork to go through on our permanent places) and shared our plans for other places to explore. We checked out the many statues around the grounds and we also cooled off by the Fountain of River Commerce and Navigation at La Place de la Concorde.

I'm looking forward to this view in the fall!

I’m still getting used to the history attached to these statues and places. It’s amazing to be able to stand, here in 2014, in these places that have existed for hundreds of years and that hold so much history. Back home, an old building is 50 years old – here, that’s practically brand new!

I’m learning more about my new city every day and I’m thankful for the time I get to explore and the people I explore it with. It’s easy to get swept up in the flurry of activity that surrounds these popular places but I’m learning to pace myself.

How will the City of Lights and Picnic Places look in fall colours? I’m excited to find out.

3 Parts Mustard/2 Parts Pickles/1 Part Ham

3 kinds of mustard, 2 kinds of pickles...that's how I remade an otherwise ordinary ham and cheese sandwich.  

The experimental process

With lots of traveling over the Christmas holidays and getting the house back to its pre-holidays mess, cooking a nice, grown-up dinner just wasn't in the cards last night.  Thankfully, there was lots of leftover baked ham (sent home with us in a huge care-package from the farm from my amazing mother-in-law!), half a loaf of homemade bread, some veggies and lots of condiments in the fridge to work with. 

Since ham and cheese is pretty basic, I tried experimenting with combinations of mustard and pickles to dress things up.  What I discovered was a hot and savory mix! 

For my 3 Parts Mustard/2 Parts Pickles/1 Part Ham creation, I used:

French's Original Dijon

Sensations' Whole Grain Dijon (I love its grainy texture)

French's Class Yellow Mustard 

Unico Pickled Hot Pepper Rings

Bick's Sandwich Saver Dill Pickles

Baked Ham, sliced

Mayo

Baby Spinach

Plum Tomatoes, sliced

Marble Cheese slices

Brown Bread

Fresh Ground Pepper

Cast photo! Missing the Grainy Dijon, which was finished off.

Tips:

1. Combine the Original Dijon and Grainy Dijon on the same bread slice to make a Super-Dijon Mustard! 
2. Spread the mayo and the Classic Yellow on the other bread slice to balance it all out. (For an even bigger kick, I dare you to try Keen's Mustard instead of the Classic Yellow; it's my favorite hot mustard and it would bring this sandwich to a whole new level!)
3. Pile on the other ingredients and don't skimp on the spinach and hot peppers!
4. Add some fresh ground pepper before fully assembling.
5. Enjoy!

Spicy and grainy mustard combined with hot and garlicky pickles really rebooted this sandwich, which proves that having fun with the classics is all about the condiments.  

What's your favorite condiment combo? Leave me a comment and let me know!

When in Montreal...gorge yourself on a Jumbo Smoked Meat Sandwich!

Bonjour and greetings from Montreal!  What can you do while waiting for your (delayed flight) in this snowy winter city?

Why, seek out the famous Montreal Smoked Meat Sandwich, of course!!

They did not feed us on our flight from Edmonton, so it was with an extreme combination of gratitude and anticipation that we settled ourselves down at Moe's Deli and Bar for a late dinner.  I immediately scanned the bilingual menu for the sandwich section and there it was: Viande Fumee Jumbo! 

And then - voila! - there it was in front of me:  at least three inches thick of juicy, gleaming meat barely contained by the two slices of rye bread, with a giant pickle and a pile of fries on the side!  As a Smoked Meat Rookie, I knew I was in for a challenge...

I applied a small layer of mustard under one of the rye slices and took my first bite. Sharp...slippery...smokey...pungent...but all in a good way!  Move over Ketchup, this was Mustard's show!  The thin layer of mustard disappeared rapidly after the first few bites, so I resorted to squeezing a sizable portion onto my plate for dipping.  So good!  Then somehow, the first half was gone!  More or less inhaled in only a few bites; I guess was more hungry than I thought...

I dug into the second half but as Joey from Friends once said: "Here come the meat sweats..."

They were mild ones, thank goodness, and I wish I could say I was able to rally and devour the second half as nimbly and quickly as the first, but alas, the Jumbo Smoked Meat of Montreal proved too much for me.  But I have no regrets about getting only 3/4 way through a ginormous pile of pure meat - I was bested by a worthy foe and it was a noble defeat.

So next time you find yourself waiting for a plane in Montreal, go on a Smoked Meat Quest of your own.  You won't regret it and maybe you'll be able to finish what you start.  And don't forget the mustard.

Joyeux Noel!

Epic Sandwiches 101

One of the great things about sandwiches is how easy it is to create a great tasting sandwich with whatever's in the fridge at a given moment.  The standard combination of meat, cheese, vegetables and condiments is pretty hard to mess up and can be huge time-saver when it comes to making a quick snack or lunch on the fly.

But there is something to be said about making a sandwich with true care and deliberation.  The extra special planning that goes into selecting, purchasing and combining the ingredients is what can turn an ordinary sandwich into an Epic Sandwich.

There is nothing random about the creation of an Epic Sandwich.  Consideration must be taken when assembling the following components:

1- Bread
2- Vegetables
3- Cheese
4- Meat
5- Condiments

When you mix and match, play and experiment with these elements, the results can be amazing.  The sandwich below is a lovely combination of  toasted Dempster's 100% Whole Wheat Bread (a basic grocery store bread), mixed greens (lettuce, baby spinach and arugula), tomato, red pepper, spicy banana peppers, smoked turkey breast and for something special, although not particularly healthy, some juicy bacon.  For condiments, I used classic mayo and some spicy Dijon mustard to give it some kick.  It may seem basic but I chose each item carefully and I was extremely satisfied with the result: a delicious Epic Sandwich.

I'll be exploring the elements of Epic Sandwiches, some of my favorite picks, and much, much more in later posts.