Events

Are you going to be in Paris on Tuesday, November 22?

If so, please come and have a drink with us from 7pm to 9pm at Artisan, a small cocktail bar I love in the Pigalle neighborhood! They serve well-crafted cocktails, natural wines, craft beers, and, if you’re hungry, a short seasonal selection of small plates.

I will be there between 7pm and 9pm; feel free to come whenever you like. It will be our chance to meet in real life, and chat about our shared passions. (I will also have a pen with me if you want any of my books signed. Don’t be shy. :)

So, will you join us? Please say yes!

Artisan, 14 rue Bochart de Saron, 75009 Paris, métro Anvers ou Pigalle (Facebook / Instagram).

Will you be in Paris sometime between February 12 and 14? Because that’s when Taste of Paris 2016 will be held, inside the amazing exhibition hall of the Grand Palais. This festival aims to showcase the best of French gastronomy, with demos and tastings allowing you to discover some of the most exciting chefs and producers in the country.

French bean-to-bar* chocolatier Chapon will be there with his chocolate mousse bar (what’s not to like?) and has offered to give away two tickets for one session from Friday Feb 12 to Sunday Feb 14, at the time and date of your choosing (subject to availability).

The lucky winner will also be able to pick up a little goodie bag containing the newest Chapon products, to be retrieved from the Bar à Mousse.

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The 2013 edition of the Omnivore Food Festival (officially called Omnivore World Tour now that it’s a traveling festival) was held at Paris’s Palais de la Mutualité last week. I spent two days out of time in a dark auditorium, watching chefs cook on stage and jotting down notes in a handwriting that looks considerably more pulled together, I’ve only recently found out, if I use felt-tip rather than ball-point pens.

Every year a few common themes or ingredients emerge, and this time we saw a lot of oysters, cabbages, onions, and vegetables cooked to the point of being charred.

Aside from the excitement of climbing into a chef’s brain, seeing him (overwhelmingly more than her, regrettably) do his thing, and listening to him talk about his craft, what I love about those sessions is being inspired by details, pairings, or techniques that I can take away and perhaps rig into my own cooking sometime.

Looking through my notes a few days later, I thought I would wring out a list of these ideas to share with you, in the hope that they may inspire you, too.

From Guillaume Foucault, formerly at L’Artémise in Uzès, soon to open Pertica in Vendôme, in the Perche region:

– A pork belly, cooked for 30 minutes in the skillet, then soaked for 1 1/2 hours at warm room temperature in nuoc mam infused with star anise, cinnamon, and clove (pictured below).

– Talauma, a Vietnamese spice that you grate (a bit like nutmeg), pairs well with game meats.

– Fresh, uncooked green beans layered with coarse salt and meadowsweet flowers in a barrel and left to rest for a while. He then cuts the beans in small slices and uses them as a condiment or seasoning, especially with fresh cheese.

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The Omnivore World Tour — formerly known as the Omnivore Food Festival — is an inspiring event during which an audience of pros and enthusiasts watch live demos by up-and-coming chefs.

The French edition will be held in Paris (rather than Deauville*) this year, from Sunday, March 11 to Tuesday, March 13, and I will be hosting the chocolate masterclasses, a series of chocolate-centric demos and discussions with pastry chefs and chocolatiers.

If you’d like to join in the fun, the tickets are available for purchase online. I hope to meet some of you there!

* See my post about the chicken in a bread crust to read about my experience last year.