Galeries Lafayette - Gourmet Food Shopping Paradise

The French rage these days is macarons!  How

about these fabulous ones we had for breakfast

in a little shop called Angelina's around the corner

from our hotel.  They were filled with a little

raspberry jelly type filling surrounded by a bit

of frosting and then a row of raspberries.  On top

they were sprinkled with candied  violets and a touch

of edible silver - an edible piece of art.

Each bite popped with a fresh raspberry.  These

are quite a bit larger than most macarons we found

but I had no problem finishing this one off.

Look forward to a post where I try making these

fabulous treats.

I know two of my favorite cooks,

Joni at Red Couch Recipes 

and

Monique at La Table De Nana say they are

harder than they expected but they both

made beautiful macarons.

I had candied some of my own violets this spring 

but of course had to pick some up in Paris too. 

Theirs are quite different from mine.

There are no croissants like they have in France

and we had some of the best ever for breakfast every

morning.  We bought both of these treats and

then headed to the Tuileries to eat them on a park bench.

I certainly couldn't eat like this every day at home

but we were on vacation!  Look at how flakey

and tender these are.

Have you tried making homemade butter croissants?

I have and they have never turned out anything like this.

On my last visit to Paris I stumbled upon Galeries Lafayette's

Gourmet Food emporium.  This is a food lover's delight.

It is huge and has fresh foods,

 prepared foods, places to stop and eat and all kinds of

packaged foods.

I have dreamt of going back there and so I Googled it to find

it.  

(These are wonderful truffle oils that we had to bring home.)

(These are all kinds of sugar and chocolate decorations for

baking.  Of course I filled my cart with these fun and unusual

goodies.)

We didn't find it the first day (I had forgotten my Google

instructions in the hotel) so we went back another day and

it was more wonderful than I remembered.

Just look at these hanging prosciuttos; their meats are

unbelievable.  The meat can be bought

by the kilo or the gram.  Some of these meats

are several hundred euros for a kilo - you 

probably would just buy a few slices.

You can also buy sandwiches ready made.

It is really fun to purchase a picnic meal

from here and walk over to the Tuileries for your picnic.

There is a huge Oriental section of prepared foods too.

And of course, all kinds of unbelievable desserts and

pastries.  I found every pastry to be delightful.  I hate it

when a pastry looks great but tastes awful.

Beautiful, beautiful macarons.  I had never had one before

this trip.

No one minded me taking photos until we walked outside

of the actual store and saw this beautiful display of bulk

spices.  I just had to have a photo of it and immediately

I was told not to take photos!

We filled our baskets with truffle oil, chocolates, chocolate

dragees and candy decorations.  It was wonderful.

Of course I planned on this and brought an extra suitcase

for this - one for food and one for other purchases.

If you make it to Galeries Lafayette and you want to go here,

cross the street to the Men's store and it is on the 

far end of the building up one level.

One caution - you can bring home lots of the food but not

meat unless it is canned.  The US Custom's agent said they

will take it away even if it is vacuum packed, so enjoy it

there.  You also can't bring any fresh fruit or vegetables

but cheese are fine.  Of course if you live in Europe, 

you can bring anything home with you.

I will be posting this with 

Foodie Friday

Pink Saturday

Sweets For A Saturday

I apologize as I wanted to stay right on top

of our trip, but once we got to Italy, our internet

service wouldn't work on Blogger, I couldn't upload

pictures and I couldn't comment on anyone's posts,

so I will be busy catching you up and catching up with

you!