And explore le Canal de St. Martin:
As mentioned earlier, one of my roommates while in Paris happens to be an excellent cook. She and her daughter made these lovely chocolate muffins filled with pears. While the taste of the muffins was delicious, I was more impressed with the silicon muffin containers! I had never seen these before …
I knew my trip in Paris was coming to a close and that Belgium was around the corner for my visit to the monasteries connected to the liturgical movement. Since I knew I would be heading in this direction, I followed up with a contact in Brussels, (I will discuss this further later in the section ‘Bruxelles’) who gave me more contacts in Paris and at Mont César Abbey/ Abdij Keizersberg.
One contact led to another, with God’s providence I believe leading the way, and this resulted in me having three very important meetings while in Paris. These meetings greatly enriched my reflection on the project, resources to inform it, and future opportunities for collaboration on an international level. I met with the director of the French review on the liturgy and sacraments, la Maison-Dieu, who helped me to think more about researching within the areas of liturgy and ethics and engaged me in a conversation regarding a particular sacrament. I was then connected to the Dean of l’Institut Catholique de Paris who gave me resources within the area of liturgy and ethics, furthered my reflection on the project, and connected me to a contact and work being done in the Archdiocese of Paris pertaining to families and relationships. This final meeting in Puteaux was providential in that I see it as an opportunity for future collaboration, solidarity, and supporting similar work in such a difficult area in need of a lot of apostolate/ministry. It is exciting to know such work is happening that will help so many souls and families. Bravo Paris!
Overall, I am thankful for these meetings and the generosity of time and knowledge and networking these priests provided With Mercy and Justice – may God reward them.
Here are two pâtisseries I bought in Puteaux for my last meeting.
After touring l’Institut Catholique de Paris’ beautiful and quaint campus, I explored again le Quartier Latin stopping at a bistrot for lunch and a hat store … pretending I was participating in the festivities of the Kentucky Derby.
I wrapped the day with going to a contemporary art museum who was show casing an up-and-coming, Japanese artist. I liked the humor of many of his pieces and his ability to take everyday articles and turn them into something completely different. For example, an exotic flower was turned into a penguin. I was able to wrap up with Paris eating at my favorite French restaurant, La Maison de Verlaine. Family-run for over twenty years, it is at the tail end of la Rue Mouffetard serving traditional, French cuisine. The owners were all about making us comfortable and their food was so delicious. My dessert was pâte choux avec du glace et chocolat (puff pastry with ice cream and chocolate).
One of the best desserts I had, I was also able to observe in its creative process. This was one of two pâtisseries I was able to observe, and only strictly observe, in the pâtisserie process due to the French laws.
As the days in Paris were coming to a close, my last Wednesday in Paris I visited the Marais and enjoyed La Maison européenne de la Photographie (the European House of Photography), which houses 4 levels of contemporary photography. This evening I tasted foie gras and my first baba au rhum pâtisserie … yum!
Just when I thought my pâtisserie lessons were over … turns out one of my neighbors makes des gateaux chocolats (chocolate cakes)! So, that Thursday, we baked a chocolate cake together … merci Sandrine pour votre générosité … that I brought to the Benedictine sisters of le Sacre Coeur – as I was going on retreat that night.
Throughout my stay in Paris, I had attempted several times to be in contact with women religious communities. Unfortunately, the reception was not there, which was discouraging and probably the only disappointment during my stay. So I was very excited when the Benedictine Sisters suggested I do a retreat with them. I think deep down all I really wanted was to be able to pray with a community.
My retreat was great and my room basic. The sisters were so happy to receive the cake Sandrine and I had made … chocolat has that effect! While registering, I signed up for a time to be with our Lord during exposition of the Blessed Sacrament. What a wonderful blessing to wake up to! Followed by mass, Laudes, a delicious breakfast in Montmartre, and then confession! A grace-filled day and blessed with beautiful weather – God is so good.
After my retreat at the Sacre Coeur, I jumped on a train to Solesmes! Yes, it was a crazy day … as I realized I would not have time to visit Solesmes since the following day I had my cooking classes.
The trip was good, quick, and appropriate in the time that was allotted. When I got to Le Mans from Paris, I was frustrated that I just missed the next train from Le Mans to Solesmes. But God knew better and in the time that passed, I came across a pâtisserie where I ate the BEST éclair café, which helped me understand why the French love éclairs!
Once I arrived to the appropriate train station, I didn’t know how to get to the monastery. Luckily, I saw a Dominican and asked him if he knew about the public transportation to the abbey, and he ended up giving me a ride. He was so generous, I thought he was going in that direction but it turns out he wasn’t and was only driving there for me. God is so good.I was able to visit the church alone as the rest of the monastery is closed to the public. I was just happy to have made the trek to the location of where Dom Prosper Guéranger had lived and where liturgical works on the liturgical year and Gregorian chant flourished -- it was a blessing.
Why did I decide to visit monasteries from the liturgical movement, as this was the first of the many to follow … ? One of the first things the Director of the Liturgical Institute told me when I started the program was that there was a history of work in our church that was similar to the work I was trying to do and that I should research further in the Liturgical Movement. I think when he first said this I realized my knowledge of church history was not so great; but even as he mentioned names of those involved in the liturgical movement in Europe and in the US, I realized I really did not know anything. Who was Virgil Michel? Dom Guéranger? Why were people continuously mentioning Dorothy Day’s name? Admittedly, history is not my strength but only because I have not studied it. Nevertheless, I recognize the value of learning from history and not repeating where mistakes were had (if at all possible) and drawing from the lessons learned. And I’m not into reinventing the wheel; it is wise to connect the project to work that has already been done and working from it where possible. I am grateful for this advice.
So since I had the offer to be sent to Paris for pâtisseries, I thought … why not visit the monasteries since they are practically next door?!
My last full day in Paris I took two classes learning 4 recipes: une tarte citron meringue, une tarte tatin, 2 types des macarons. The first was next to l’Hôtel de Ville at La Cuisine and the second with L’Atelier des Chefs. I really enjoyed my class with La Cuisine. Turns out one of the owners is a Chicagoan, the other is French! Hooray for Chicago … we are making waves abroad! My class was in their new location. Overall, this was one of the best cooking courses I took because the class size was small, the technique was explained in English, and the recipes were delicious. I also came late because I got lost en route to the class, and they were more than happy to show me what I had missed after the class finished. Both the owners and instructors wanted to make sure I was comfortable with the recipes; it was a great experience and had I stayed longer in Paris … I would have taken more classes! The last thing you want to deal with when taking a class in pastries is to not understand what is going on, but this was not the case with La Cuisine.
