The Food Jewelry Shop

Of course I hadn't yet eaten, which, as I've said before, is my 3rd favorite thing in the world. So on the way to the Louvre, I had to make a stop. And I already knew exactly where...

My tour guide from the day before, Gianny, had given us some great meal suggestions while we were in Paris. While I would not be able to try them all, less I return home 100 lbs (45 kilos) heavier, I was determined to sample something.

Gianny had described these shops, these "food jewelry shops", as he called them, and said they were the best place to try Parisian cooking on the cheap. I found one just outside of the Madeleine metro station (that name is more for me than for you, in 2 minutes you'll understand why I want to remember this place for my next visit to Paris).

The reason for Gianny's colorful phrase became quite apparent when I saw this place. All of the sumptuous delicacies glistened in the glass display like sparkling diamonds, sapphires, and emeralds of culinary perfection. (Sad that I get the most poetic about food... :) )


Fortunately (for all parties involved), the lady behind the counter spoke English quite well. She was able to translate some of the words in the display. Jambon sounds so much lovelier than "ham". Of course at the very mention of pork, my mind had been made up. Essentially it was a ham and cheese sandwich. But I wish it were that simple. The sheer assortment of cheeses and breads in this city is astounding. I won't pretend to know exactly what I ate, and unfortunately the picture isn't clear enough to read the label in the display. But yeah, I got a ham and cheese sandwich. But that's not all... No, I knew that wouldn't be enough (evil grin), so I had to try one of the sultry confections in the display as well. My mind was made up well before my education of the french word for "ham". There was a strawberry tart that had my name on it.



Much like my experience in London, it was quite a bit more expensive to eat these foods at the place I bought them; so I carried them to the closest park bench and took a couple of hurried photos.

The sandwich, amazing. I mean, what tricked me up was the fact that it was a ham and cheese sandwich. I mean, come on. Ham and cheese ain't supposed to taste like this.

My fever was apparently quite hungry, because I made short work of the sandwich. I ate it slowly enough to enjoy, but my mind was on the strawberry tart waiting in the bag.

I had a worried thought as a tried the tart. I thought my fever had truly taken hold of me, and I'd died and was in Heaven. I will never love another strawberry again the way I enjoyed this tart. It was amazing. In between the strawberries on top and the shortcake-esque breading on the bottom was this amazing custard. It was the perfect levels of sweet and flavorful. Here it is, like 10 days after the fact, and I can still remember every detail of the taste.

Apparently there are some really impressive macaroons in Paris that I unfortunately didn't try, but I'm not too worried. I will have another chance one day, because I will be back in France to try more foods (and grab another tart) in the foreseeable future.