Happy Bastille Day!

Or La Fete Nationale!

Today is the remembrance and celebration of the storming of the Bastille in Paris during the French Revolution. You can read the Wiki article here.

To celebrate Bastille Day here on Le Blog De Ree, I've included a few of my photos from our trip to Paris in 2006. Enjoy!

Where the Bastille used to be. Now there's residential, shopping, restaurants, markets...

La Tour de Eiffel!

Looking up into the Arc de Triomphe with the French flag

Left-Over Wednesdays: Espresso Pots de Creme

Espresso Pots de Creme

Ooo lala! Little heavenly, creamy, pots of chocolately goodness...I first had a pot de creme at Chez Lulu, my absolute favouite restaurant in Birmingham. This is pronounced, "po [long o] de crem". Good way to practice your French accent. This is basically a cream custard, baked in the traditional water bath, served chilled. I like to accent with a couple of strawberry slices and fresh whipped cream. The recipe is simple, just be careful when incorporating the eggs, or they will curdle and you'll end up with lumpy pots. Nobody wants that! This recipe is adapted from gourmetleauth.com. Photos here are my own.

2 cups heavy whipping cream, chilled

1 1/2 tablespoons strong brewed coffee or espresso

5 oz. bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, broken into pieces

6 large egg yolks, room temperature

2 tablespoon granulated sugar

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

pinch salt

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Position oven rack to the center.

2. Heat the cream in a sauce pan over medium heat to just scalding. Add coffee and stir well. Remove from heat and add chocolate pieces, stirring occasionally with a whisk to incorporate chocolate with cream until completely smooth.

3. In a large bowl, whisk egg yolks, sugar, vanilla and salt, until well blended.

4. Temper the egg mixture with about 1/4 cup of the chocolate mixture, whisking the chocolate very slowly into the eggs. Gradually add all of the chocolate to the eggs.

5. Place 6 small, oven-proof cups in a large roasting pan (souffle cups, ramekins, etc. As you see in my photos I use small espresso cups) that hold approximately 3/4 cup each. Divide the mixture evenly in the small cups, keeping the edges clean. Pour hot water into roasting pan so that the water comes at least half-way up the side of the small cups. Tent foil over the entire pan and place in oven.

6. Bake approximately 25 minutes, or until custard is set around the edges, and the middle is not very jiggly. Remove cups from pan and let chill in refrigerator for at least 2 hours before serving.

7. Serve with whipped cream and sliced strawberries.

Francophile Post #2

This is for the second day of RhondaMum's Love of All Things French Day! I work in a doctor's office in a little cubicle, so I made the most of my surroundings and decorated the boring old cube! I chose a black,white and red colour scheme, Eiffel Towers (of course!), and my own black and white photos from our trip to Europe.

So, here's a look at my cozy little cube a la Francais!

The walls of my cube are an awful eggplant purple, so I brought this scrap of Eiffel Tower toile to "wallpaper" one wall of my cube. The picture is one I took at the Louvre, hung with paper clips and red ribbon. (Those office supplies are handy!)

Here's the other picture, opposite of the previous on the "wallpapered" cube wall, same method with the paper clips and ribbon. Between the photos on my desk top I have an organizer for my pens and such that is black with hounds tooth accents.

Nice close-up of my Eiffel toile! I love this print!

Shot in Macro mode, close-up of London photo with ribbon in foreground, toile in background.

This is the other wall of my cube, to my right. I covered my cork board with crushed red velvet material I had at home. I had bought this velvet for a home decor project that I never did, but now I get to enjoy it everyday at work! It is upholstery weight fabric, so surprisingly it holds up to the push pin holes quite well!

Close up of the crushed red velvet. I love the texture!

I work under florescent lights that kill my eyesight, so I brought a lamp from home! The black base and little crystal accents go perfectly! Behind the lamp is a magazine holder I use to hold daily work projects and paperwork, as well as my small mirror hung on the cube wall.

This is actually a decorative paper clip in the shape of an Eiffel Tower! So cute! I hug it on my computer monitor by red ribbon and strategically placed double-sided tape! It's my little Paris reminder that literally is in my line of sight all day long!

J'aime Tout Ce Qui est Francais! (I Love All Things French!)

Most of you reading thins are thinking "Duh Ann Marie...geez". However, this post is to participate in Rhondamum's French Day! I stumbled on her blog somehow last week, and she seems a kindred French spirit!

My collection of French things is varied, and so I have included a few of my favorite things I have collected and a few of my favorite things about France!

One of my truly prized possessions is an autographed copy of Mastering The Art of French Cooking, signed by both Julia and Paul Childs! I scored this jewel in my grandmother's antique store, probably about 10 years ago. I might have paid $10 for it. Shown here is my beloved trio of Julia's French cooking masterpieces: Mastering The Art of French cooking Volumes 1 and 2, and The French Chef Cookbook, taken from her TV show by the same name. While Julia herself was not French, she did indeed master the art, and science, of French cuisine and paved the way for women chefs!

Whoever Ruth Engles was was lucky indeed to have met the Childs! I so wish I could've met Julia before she passed!



This is still one of my favourite photos of Scott and I! I cannot tell you how excited I was to see the Eiffel Tower for the first time! I was giddy like a little girl! We went to the top at night, so we could see the entire city shining below us. This picture was taken the morning we left Paris. Before we caught the Eurostar back to London, I just had to go back! It was one of those classic, misty, drizzly, Paris mornings. The kind of look that I thought only existed in films. Perfect.

While in Paris, we visited the Louvre, fairly running through exhibits to see the highlights. Next time, we will build in a week to visit just the Louvre! My favourite in the vast collection was the Winged Victory of Samothrace. Though she is headless and armless, she bears what I consider the perfect female form, graceful and flowing, even in marble. She was created by an unknown sculptor during the Hellenistic period.