PARIS, FRANCE.

It’s sometimes hard for me to distinguish between memory and fantasy. Between a linear reality and a self-preservation tactic. I find memories like pennies on the ground. Tails-up, unlucky, not worth much until you have a pile of them. I leave it alone. I leave it there for somebody else. It might grow a patina and smell like a bloody lip, but I leave it alone all the same.

This trip was different. I remember every detail of Paris. How many cups of espresso we drank one morning and how many magazines we flipped through at night. I remember the roads there better than in my own hometown. It was magnified, every sense heightened to take it all in. We walked a lot, got blisters, fell asleep at three in the afternoon. We ate eggs every morning and stuttered our way through the menu, nodding in agreement with the waiter when words fumbled. The discounted shoes, knock-offs in the flea market alleys. The bright blue sky and the long shadows the buildings casted at sunset. How quiet it all was an hour before midnight, sometimes our cravings for the best of us and we went out for ice cream. It was all real, all lying before us in a vast cityscape of garbled conjugations and silent consonants. We only explored those things we knew from the internet, the whole rest of the world was in hiding, secrets we discovered together.

I will go back to Paris; I have to now. I want to celebrate another birthday sitting on a picnic blanket by the Eiffel Tower. There are still over 20 restaurants I want to try. I want to buy antiques and reclaim them as heirlooms. I want to spend a day reading, a day sleeping, and a day walking. But there’s never enough time and I am back to work now. Butfive days in Paris were perfect. I am sure these memories won’t escape me so soon.

Fig+Bleu's Guide to Paris!

Stay.

We stayed in the Marais, which was such a relaxed neighborhood. This was our AirBnB.

Eat.

• Merci
• Epicure
• Bistrot De Boucher
• Le Procope
• Buvette
• Le Eclair de Genie
• Chez Denise
• Mi-Va-Mi (Lily had recommended L'As Du Fallafel but they were closed for Rosh Hashanah!)
• Paris Picnic

Do.

• Have a picnic near the Eiffel Tower
• Spend 4 hours in the Louvre
• Faceswap with Picassos
• Buy Kinder bars at one in the morning at the local shop
• Buy some antiques at the flea market
• Spend $200 on linens at Merci's shop
• And $60 on kitchen wares at E. Dehillerin

MOLLY YEH WROTE A COOKBOOK: "Molly on the Range", Scallion Pancake Challah, and Paris

I went to Paris last week for my 25th birthday. I brought one bag with me. One suit, one coat, one pair of sunglasses, and one book that I had gotten in the mail a day before I left for BWI. Molly sent me her new book, Molly on the Range, and I flipped through it from my middle seat on my way to Iceland. I tucked it carefully in my bag while we tried to navigate through Charles de Gaulle. It sat on the coffee table and in the mornings when we sipped our espresso, I would read a recipe, excited to explore her story through food, to see inside her world a little more. Somehow, having her book there, it was like having a friend to greet me in this new city each day.

I’ve followed Molly’s blog (my name is yeh) for years now and I am constantly inspired by her balance of personality, wit, charm, and talent. Her blog has a way of never seeming voyeuristic; but, instead, always invitational, always friendly. It’s genuine, non-practiced. It’s heartfelt. It’s effervescent. It’s a damn good blog and the success she has gained is earned and deserved.  And this book, for all of its stories, mac-and-cheese flowcharts, anecdotes, and recipes, is just an extension of her blog and her amazing personality.  I know this book will be a staple in my kitchen, as her blog has been a staple of my weekly web browsing, and I am confident it can only add to your collection, too.

With that being said, pick up a copy of this book, share it with friends, give it out as a gift for the holidays—you won’t regret it. I know I didn’t when I smelled fresh challah in our AirBnB one morning and how much it felt like home in that rented flat in the Marais. How wholesome, eggy, and sharp the aroma was as it rested before I took my first bite. And how I found myself flipping through her book one more time on the long, long flight across the Atlantic.

Scallion Pancake Challah

This was my first time making challah and I was so excited to try Molly's recipe! Having brought this book to Paris with me, I was craving it hard by the time I was able to actually make it! A couple things to note: I had to make challah knots and not a big ol' challah due to my AirBnB host not having a suitable pan to use. Number 2--the flour I got was whole grain (my French wasn't good enough to notice the difference I guess!). But the recipe is so, so good and you'll just have to buy Molly's book to bake your way through her Midwestern Chinese-Jewish life! (Note: This recipe is copied from Molly with her permission and all rights go to her. Further note that this recipe references another one from her book, which I have left as is, in the hopes you will pick it up to make more challah!!!!!!!)

Ingredients:

• ½ recipe dough from Basic Challah (page 178), made through the first rising
• 1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
• 3 scallions, minced
• Kosher salt and black pepper
• Crushed red pepper
• Egg wash: 1 large egg yolk, beaten with 
• 1 tablespoon water
• Toasted sesame seeds

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 375°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. Divide the dough into 3 equal parts and roll each part into a 12-inch log. Gently flatten each log so that it is about 3 inches wide. Brush each with sesame oil and sprinkle with scallions, salt, black pepper, and crushed red pepper. Roll the logs up lengthwise like a jelly roll and pinch the seams to seal. Lay the logs seam side down next to one another and pinch them together at one end. Then braid the logs and pinch them at the other end. Place the loaf on the lined baking sheet. Cover and let rise for 30 minutes.
3. Brush the loaf with the egg wash and sprinkle with sesame seeds and black pepper.
4. Bake until the loaf is golden brown and has an internal temperature of 190ºF. Begin checking for doneness at 28 minutes. Let cool slightly and enjoy.

Congratulations again to Molly! I am so lucky to have gotten to know you this year and to witness your successes! #mollyontherange!!!!!

Nut Butter Eton Mess

In two days I leave for Paris, a city of coffee and kisses and catacombs of romance. Hand holding. Scarves. Fresh bread. Rain. I am excited; I haven’t been to Europe in six years. When I lost an uncle in the war and my best friend within a month of landing in Fiumicino. I’m excited in the way I cannot fully articulate. It’s a teetering point, a precipice. One English class called this feeling “the Sublime.” That Mary Shelley’s thematic approach to this concept  was the anxiety and thrill of peering at the edge of a cliff before jumping. This adventure feels that way, sublime and beautiful and a composite of a million memories that never fully formed, never fully alive. A chimera of emotion, rough-stitched together to make a whole. I run back to the only boy I’ve ever loved.

But I have things to do before I go. Emails to write, jeans to buy. I think I may have gained weight since February, but I’m not so sure. I think all of my clothes are neutral and dark and I wonder if I am more myself than ever, or less so. I pack flannel pajamas, the house we are staying at might be drafty. I pack my camera and print out a list of one hundred things to see in Paris before I die. I kiss Milo this morning and wonder if he’d like France. He can barely remember words in English, though; he’s always running around, as wild and undisciplined as moths he chases in the morning light. I have things to do before I go, like make coffee and smoke a cigarette. I have things to do before I go, like learn French and cut my hair.

But I take a moment for myself, a moment just for me, and I baked these Eton messes last night. They’re mashmallowy, sweet. They’re soft and chewy. They’re something to calm me before our 8 hours in the air. They’re something to center me before I become unhinged at my lust for a world I haven’t seen in far too long: a world where I am content again with the mess I have created for myself.

Nut Butter Eton Mess

Ingredients for Meringues:

• 4 egg whites, room temperature
• 1 TB pure vanilla extract
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup nut butter (I definitely loved using Beardy Boys’ Pecan Smash for this recipe)

Directions for Meringues:

1. Preheat oven to 250*F and prepare a baking sheet with parchment paper
2. In a stand mixer, fitted with a whisk attachment, beat your egg whites on medium-high until round peaks form
3. Add your vanilla and continue to beat
4. In a slow stream, add your sugar until your whites are thick, glossy, and hold a peak
5. Fold in your nut butter with a rubber spatula and transfer to a piping bag
6. Pipe onto your prepared pan—don’t worry too much about the shape, as you’ll be breaking these up (hence the “mess” part of this!)
7. Bake for 45-50 minutes until your meringues have a nice shell on them
8. Turn oven off, but keep meringues in for an additional two hours to dry out
9. Remove and use immediately for the recipe or store in an airtight container for a day or two

Ingredients for Whipped Cream:

• 1 cup heavy whipping cream
• ½ tablespoon pure vanilla extract
• ½ cup confectioner’s sugar

Directions for Whipped Cream:

1. In a stand mixer, fitted with a whisk attachment, beat your heavy cream on medium-high until round peaks form
2. Add your vanilla and continue to beat
3. In a slow stream, add your sugar until your whites are thick, glossy, and hold a peak
5. Turn mixer off and use immediately to assemble your Eton Mess

To assemble: In any container (I used 2 Ball jam jars, but a small trifle dish would work, or even a bowl) layer your meringue cookies, then more almond butter (will need approximately 1 cup additional for this recipe), then whipped cream. Keep layering until you fill your container. Sprinkle with cocoa powder and a little confectioner’s sugar and enjoy immediately or refrigerate for a couple hours before ready to eat.

This post was sponsored by my partners at Beard Boys, Inc. Their nut butters really are superb and provide a natural, delicate flavor in every spoonful of this dessert. Check them out on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram!