36 hours in Paris

Last week, I went to Paris with a friend.

We took the 08:30 train from London's St Pancras and arrived in Paris at noon. After a stressful run to the metro with our carnet in hand and a stifling journey, we made it to our hotel and dumped our bags. Then we hit the streets.

With our M&S lunches that we had bought in our country of origin we took the brief walk to the gardens beneath the Eiffel Tower and tried to get used to the idea that we had made it to Paris. We sat and ate in the glorious 25 degree sun, before getting up and having an aimless wander around.

In the process of our aimless wander we discovered "Les Invalides" and the army museum, which to be frank didn't interest us vastly, but nonetheless we went to see how much it would cost for us to see napolean's tomb which was supposed to be so impressive. After having to roughly translate what the lady behind the desk garbled in rapid french to us, we were handed our tickets for free!

So we wandered in to the church and we were met with this:

The biggest ass tomb I have ever seen, not that I have seen many tombs in my life but regardless this Napolean fellow clearly made a bigger impression than he was in size. 

Once we had decided that perhaps we had got the jist of the whole tomb thing we decided to check out "Le Pere Lachaise" Cemetery. Anyone else noticing a bit of a death theme to this day? So we hoped back on the metro and after a couple of rapid changes we arrived at the cemetery were Jim Morrison, Edith Piaf and Oscar Wilde are buried. It was impressive and strangely so.

After we had our death releated experiences, we thought we would check out Musee d'Orsay which has a lot of Degas' which I love and even though we researched it.... It was shut! So we sat out side the museum and soaked up the sun on the bank of the Seine. It was beautiful. 

We then decided to find something to eat and after sitting down in a cafe to be told that they weren't serving so after a couple of the most expensive Oranginas in the world we went to another cafe called Mucha Cafe. We ordered Omelette Complete which is basically a ham and cheese omelette and it was the biggest omelette I have ever eaten with probably 4 eggs in it and served with delicious chips. HEALTHY!

We then went back to the hotel for a little bit but we didn't stay there long as we wanted to see the Eiffel at night. After we had a couple of awful pictures taken of us by a Japanese family we were run at by a rat. A FAT BLACK RAT! It was disgusting. 

The next day we woke up early and as we didn't eat breakfast at the hotel we went to this lovely bakery and I had the nicest almond croissant that I have ever had. It was soft and sweet and almondy and delicious. 

We then headed back to the Eiffel tower to get on the Batobus but unfortunatly we were one hour early so we walked along the river in the baking morning sun. We passed lots of art and beautiful bridges and sculptures.

At the next Batobus station we were just in time and we got a day pass and got on the boat. Now, although the metro is considerably cheaper the boat is just a much more enjoyable experience. It takes you through the city rather than under it and with a day pass you can get on and off through out the day AND it stops at all the major attractions. Also in the sun and the heat with a breeze coming too it was were very nice. 

We got off the boat at the Notre Dame and before we looked at the actual cathedral we had a glance round the Shakespeare Book Company Shop which is basically a very nice old bookshop which sells English books in the centre of Paris. 

Then we moved over to the main reason you get off the boat then and that is of course the cathedral itself which we had a quick look round. We sat in the pews for a bit, listened to the choir and it was very relaxing.

We then walked over a lock bridge (not sure if it was the genuine article) and got back on the boat to take us to the Louvre.

Once we got to the Louvre we were told we could get in for free as we are under 18 EU citizens. So, WOOP WOOP! That was great and although neither of us were major art boffins we glanced around the gallery and looked at the Mona Lisa and decided we got the general idea. We also ate in the gallery cafe which was surprisingly affordable and not that busy. I had two mini salads and that was good enough for the 10 euros that I paid for them. 

So after the Louvre we walked up through the Jardins de Tulerries and made our way, very slowly with plenty of stops due to the heat, through the Champs Elysees and up to the Arc de Triomphe. 

We finished our long walk up to the arc and then got back on to the metro back to our hotel where we picked up our belongings and started our trip back to Gare de Nord. BUT, we had to make a quick stop over. 

A few years ago I went to Paris with school for the day and I discovered a chocolate shop which I had already seen in Barcelona and had loved, loved, loved, LOVED. So obviously, we had to go there as there are none, and I mean NONE, of these shops in the UK. 

The shop, La Cure Gourmande, is located at the bottom of the Sacre-Coeur on a very touristy shopping street even though the shop itself was not that busy. I am not ashamed to say that I bought three of their 100g Caramel chocolate bars for myself and then a few for my family. 

Once I had spent pretty much all of the rest of my money on very expensive (but delicious) chocolate we went and had a look around the Sacre-Coeur. It is at the top of the biggest hill in the world which is actually in the film Amelie and once we were at the top we didn't really wander round it but we just sat and absorbed the atmosphere which was very nice. 

As we had some time to kill before our train we sat on the hill in the sunshine before heading to find some food and although we had to avoid being sold beer, bracelets and Eiffel Tower key-rings by aggressive sales people it was nice to look over Paris in the afternoon sun. 

Finally, we went to the bottom of the same road as the chocolate shop and went in to a little cafe where we had crepes, because to be honest you should be legally obligated to have one when in France, with a side of pomme frites. No salad with that one.... oh well. 

Then we got back on the metro, just like to say that we are now queens of the metro, and got through security and then sat in the departure lounge watching "Julie and Julia" while we waited for our train. 

It was such a great trip and I really want to go back as I feel like we didn't see everything we could have done. Thank you Susy for putting up with me! Haha!

Anyway I know this isn't my normal blog post but it did feature food and I am trying to diversify the things I put on here. Let me know if you enjoyed reading about my adventures and back to a normal post next time. 

Grace x

Cupcakes, tarts and meringues for 50

Last weekend with an emergency gazebo purchased and two vats of curry on the hob, we threw a little party with over 50 guests in our garden. 

As it had been due to rain, my father made a quick fire dash to Argos and purchased a very fetching forest green gazebo with white detailing... ooooh stylish. But typically, once you spend £40 to protect your guests from rain it doesn't so now we are left with a glorified tent taking up valuable cupboard space... great!

Anyway the main point of this was that for the party I whipped up 70 custard and strawberry tarts and 55 cupcakes designed to look like "99" ice creams, along with a few dozen meringues. 

Strawberry Custard Tarts

These tarts are made up of rich shortcrust pastry which is baked blind which are then filled with custard and topped with sugar dusted strawberries. 

Rich Shortcrust Pastry
1 egg
125g caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
250g plain flour
125g salted butter

Whisk the egg, extract and sugar together until the sugar is dissolved.

Stir the flour in to the mixture until it has an almost sandy texture.

Add the butter in cubes so that the dough can come together easiliy and knead gently for a few seconds.

Refrigerate for as long as possible, I left mine for about 24 hours and the pastry was considerably better for it! 

Roll out in to small discs and place in the buttered molds, cover the mold with grease proof paper and fill with baking beans or rice. Then bake for about 15 mins.

Once the pastry cases are done fill with the custard....

Custard

4 egg yolks
125g caster sugar
40g cornflour
500ml milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
25g butter

Whisk the egg yolks and caster sugar in a mixing bowl until the mixture is slightly paler in colour. Add the cornflour and whisk well making sure that there are no lumps remaining.

Then heat the milk and the vanilla extract until the milk is on the point of boiling. Mix half the milk into the egg bowl, whisking continuously until the milk is well combined. Then pour this mixture into the rest of the milk on the heat and whisk constantly until the custard is thick enough to cover the back of a spoon.

Remove from the heat and stir for another minute before adding the butter. Stir until the butter is melted.

Pour until a bowl and let it cool a little bit before covering the bowl with cling film until you are ready to use it.

End
Scoop a spoonful of custard in to each pastry case and add one or two sugar dusted strawberries as decoration.

Summer Cupcakes

Sponge

• 125g caster sugar

• 125g soft unsalted butter

• 2 large eggs

• ½ teaspoon vanilla extract

125g self-raising flour

• 1 tablespoon milk

Icing 

140g butter

280g icing sugar

Some "Flakes" and sprinkles

Cream the butter and sugar together then slowly add the eggs, extract and half the flour in an alternating pattern. 

Fold in the remainder of the flour and if the mixture is still stiff, add the milk and mix.

Dollop a spoonful of mixture into each cupcake case and bake for about 12 minutes. Once out of the oven, leave to cool while you make the icing. 

For the icing, whisk the butter so it is smoother and slightly paler. Once it has reached this point slowly add the icing sugar until there are no lumps of butter. 

Put the icing into a piping bag fitter with a medium star shaped nozzle and pipe in a circular motion on to the cupcake. 

Cut up each "flake" into thirds and place in the icing of each cupcake. Then cover with some sprinkles.

I then used the egg whites left over from the custard to make meringues....which you can find a recipe for here...  http://girlbaking.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/perfect-meringue-recipe.html

For chocolate ones, add a tablespoonful of cocoa powder to the mixture at the end and then dust before baking. 

All these recipes make considerably less than I actually made but as a general guideline, I hope they are good! 

Enjoy and happy summer!