souvenirs:savory

I haven’t shopped the O&CO U.S. locations (I think there is one in SF) but I found myself in one or two during our Paris trip. The stores were so inviting, I wandered in every time we saw one. The basil olive oil is really nice, by the way. I’m not one for flavored oils, but this is so fresh and intense. I’ve used it in one of our favorite salads: arugula, avocado, cherry tomatoes, fresh basil and balsamic vinegar/olive oil. The extra spike of basil works incredibly well. It also makes a beautiful, flavorful drizzle in chilled tomato soups. I picked up the white truffle and tomato salts at O&CO, too, and have found many uses for them since April. The roasted Yukon Gold potatoes with truffle salt were devoured in about 5 minutes at our 2010 sangria party and Tate likes the zest of the tomato salt on bread with olive oil.

The other olive oil, Premiere Pression Provence, is from a new store in Paris; I read about it on the hipparis blog and stopped in during one of our daily walks. (http://hipparis.com/2010/04/09/premiere-pression-provence-the-new-parisian-mecca-for-fine-olive-oil/)  These oils are very fruity and delicious. Sadly, we are on our last of the 3 bottles I bought.

The Poilâne grey sea salt bag was relatively heavy but I wanted to bring back a souvenir that would last longer than a 5+lb loaf of their famous bread (gone in record time). If you live nearby and want some for your own use, contact me… we have plenty! If you are a bread lover and find yourself in Paris, head over to the main Poilâne store in the 6th arrondisement – you won’t be sorry (especially if they have an open basket of crispy cookies to sample – seriously yummy!).

That’s all from Paris…à bientôt!