Chez Casimir

Two nights ago, I had one of the best meals of my life.  Each course was taken in slowly and adored with eyes rolling into the back of the head sort of motions...maybe even audible noises coming from our table in the corner.

This seems to be a normal meal in Paris.  Four courses of mind blowingly good food, savored over the course of many hours.  

It's not five stars, and it's not excessively expensive.  This is their normal, solid restaurant - and it's freakin spectacular.  

Chez Casimir - a few blocks from Gare Du Nord Metro tucked away behind a church.  

Seafood soup - tasted like it was started with a seafood stock and then thickened with some sort of puree.  Then they added back pieces of winter vegetables and shaved parmesan.  To make it even better, they brought us an entire tureen of it.  The smoothest and best tasting soup either of us have ever had.

Herbed goat cheese on toast with mixed greens and a balsalmic and honey reduction.  It was maybe the best part of the entire meal - if that's even possible to decide.

 Au Gratin potatoes.  These would probably make Paula Deen cry.

 Grilled flank steak with wine and parsley.  Cooked perfectly.

 Veal stew with winter vegetables.  The meat fell apart when you touched it with a fork.

 The cheese course in France is serious business.  The star for me was the goat cheese with raisins.  Alex loved the cheese so soft that it has to be kept in a bowl.  I'm not sure i'm on board with the excessive mold in a few of these cheese, but I did try it.  I'll work up to it...

 Sort of an accidental order because of my mangled attempts at French.  Passion fruit creme brulee - it stole the show.

 Pastry shell filled with chocolate ganache and paired with caramel ice cream with mint.  Yes, it was as good as it looks.

 Have to finish it up with some coffee.

Now there are two restaurants in the "best meal of my life" category.  #1 - Trattoria Anita in Florence.  #2 - Chez Casimir.  If you're ever in Paris, check it out...you'll be so glad you did!

A Perfect Day in Paris

In terms of cities, some seem to sparkle just a bit more than others.   

And Paris, well...it may as well be the Hope Diamond.  

Thousands of people have loved Paris, written about Paris, and lusted after Paris.  Just the word itself conjures up images of romance and Marie Antoinette style decadence.  

For me, Paris has always looked like a black and white snapshot of a cafe at night or a couple kissing in front of the Eiffel Tower.  It's classic.  And honestly, if Audrey Hepburn says that "Paris is always a good idea," then it must be a good idea.  

And you know what's crazy?  Paris really does look like those images we all have floating around in our heads.  The food is beautiful, the buildings are stunning, and the night walking is unparalleled (unless you're in Pigalle (see stripper district) - in which case you're gonna get a whole different kind of night walking...).  The whole place is a walking history book.  

The problem - there's WAY too much to do if you only have a few days.  It's easy to get overly ambitious and try to see everything.  Which brings me to our perfect day, and what we did...which was actually fairly little.  

We spent the morning at Musee L'Orangerie followed by a long picnic lunch and sun nap in the gardens next to the museum.  

All in, the gathering of the lunch and the naps following lasted about three hours.  The sun nap was followed by browsing in antique stores near The Louvre (we didn't even pretend to go in - long lines, no thanks), macaroons, and a long walk around central Paris.  This walk led us home to a long and very decadent afternoon nap.  

After this late afternoon nap, we headed out for a late and very long dinner at Chez Casimir (so insanely good it needs its own post tomorrow).  The long dinner was four courses over almost four hours.  The French have this dining thing down solid.

Full and tired, I somehow convinced Alex to round out our perfect day with a midnight trip to the Trocadero, the absolute best place to photograph the Eiffel Tower at night.

As it turns out, the key to Paris was not to do too much and not to move too fast.  During this perfect day, I think we accomplished both perfectly.  

Paris Countdown

Today is another blustery and cold day in London, so I'm spending it meeting up with an old friend inside a warm coffee shop. Tonight we're planning on visiting Gordon's Wine Bar and checkin out a local Thai gem, Rosas (rec courtesy of the wonderful Alyna).

Only 3 days til Paris. Any recommendations? Place to stay is all sorted out, and it is lovely. Croissants and fresh orange juice delivered to our door every morning? Why yes, that sounds perfect. Can't wait!