Champion du Monde de la Pâtisserie Quentin Bailly was in Taipei for a demo, and I had the opportunity to assist him with the preparation. A few days of incredible learning, to say the least!
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(Sorry, this post is in Chinese only! Hopefully I will get around to translating it sometime in the future…:)
花了點時間整理出2012年8月至2015年9月，在巴黎那三年多的微博 (id: sugared_n_spiced)。從原本打算小住，到因爲瘋狂愛上甜點所以年複一年地留下，這些精選出的小小里程碑和碎碎念記錄了有關我對于巴黎、甜點、工作、和生活的感想。回頭去看，都是一步一腳印。
– Prélude –
2012-8-3
Sugared & Spiced 要搬家去巴黎，月底就走。
2012-8-16
“Twenty years from now, you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones that you did. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”
– Mark Twain
2012-8-19
看完江口洋介和蒼井優主演的 “街角洋果子店”，感想 1：好吃的甜點的確能感動人心。感想 2：成爲甜點師傅的修業之路真是步步艱辛呀。
2012-8-22
收到朋友送的 Moleskine 巴黎城市筆記本。再過三天就要離開上海前往巴黎，一年的甜點學習生活即將展開，心情興奮之余，不免有些忐忑。
2012-8-27
前往巴黎。
– Paris, Enchantée –
2012-9-2
今天在家附近的周日市集買了我到巴黎後的第一根法棍麵包，莫名的成就感…
![[Taipei 台北] Officine Universelle Buly 1803](https://www.sugarednspiced.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/R1132033.jpg)
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Officine Universelle Buly 1803 Taipei
Add: No. 263, Section 1, Dunhua South Road, Taipei
Tel: 02 2703 1898
Hours: 11am – 9pm
Website: www.buly1803.com/en
Visited: Jun 2016
Not too far from where I lived in Paris is a beautiful shop called Officine Universelle Buly 1803. Upon entering by chance one day, I was immediately charmed by the soothing fragrance, vintage decorations, and gorgeous packaging of this French skincare brand. This time in Taiwan, I was delighted to find that the first Buly shop outside of Paris opened in Taipei. Needless to say, I went for a visit and came out with a few items…
我在巴黎6區租的公寓附近有家很美的店，叫做 Officine Universelle Buly 1803。推門而入時溫柔環繞上來的除了優雅香氛，還有店裏濃厚的古老靈魂：19世紀藥局的樣貌、古老木質櫥櫃、沈靜大理石，各種精凋細琢的細節令人著迷 － 好吧，先承認一下我在了解什麽 Buly 歷史、天然成份之前早已臣服于這家店複古美麗的裝潢和包裝，而這些品牌故事精神雲雲都是之後才查的。這次在台北驚喜的發現 Buly 全世界首家分店開在這裏，忍不住進去逛了一圈（當然也忍不住買了一些東西）。
The details start at the door, with the elegant logo being hand-painted on stroke by stroke, instead of using stickers typically seen on most shop windows.
除了産品本身的堅持之外，Buly 在裝潢上的細節也非常細膩 － 比如落地窗上古典優雅的金色 logo 不是常見的卡典西德轉貼，而是專業師傅一筆一畫手工繪制完成。
Stepping inside the shop is like entering another time period. To reconstruct the ambience from the Paris, materials and artisans were flown in from France to make sure that everything’s done properly à la française, though there are also a few intentional differences between the two boutiques – for example, the colors of the floor tiles have been changed to reflect the climate in Taiwan, and the Taipei boutique also boasts a beautiful painted ceiling, something that cannot be done in Paris due to the building structure itself.
踏入店裏，空氣中有沈靜的古典樂、天然蠟燭的芬芳、搭配著複古精致的裝潢，讓人有種時空錯置的感覺。爲了重現巴黎本店的氛圍，台北店所有板材都從法國空運，也專程請了原班法國工匠來施工，從組裝、上色、保養到打蠟都細心完成。不過我也發現台北店的一些不同，比如地磚的顔色，以及天花板上有著巴黎本店沒有的拱形彩繪（據說巴黎店礙於是老建築，所以天花板僅能維持原本的結構）。
![[Paris] The prettiest Bûche de Noël of 2015](https://www.sugarednspiced.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/lenotre.jpg)
Christmas is no doubt the busiest season for pastry chefs. I spent my past three Christmas in different pastry kitchens in Paris, and the most memorable was definitely at Fauchon where we made over 6000 cakes for the season. Imagine: a kitchen filled with pastry chefs in Santa hats working on Christmas cakes until late nights…yup, that was us. “Bûche de Noël” is literally a “Christmas log”, but of course nowadays pastry chefs are going above and beyond the log shape, using Christmas as the opportunity to showcase their creativity. Here are a few of my favorites from the 2015 Christmas cake collection, sharing them with you so we can drool together.
Lenôtre
Name: La bûche à trésors
Flavors: chocolate, yuzu, almond, citrus
Price: 130 €
Lenôtre works with a different brand every year to create their Christmas cake, and this year, it’s Hermes’ petit h. All these little items on the cake are sculpted from chocolate and almond paste, very pretty…too pretty, in fact, that I wouldn’t know where to cut!
Jean-Paul Hévin
Name: Bûche d’Enfer
Flavors: dark chocolate, nougat, buckwheat honey
Price: 36-77 €
A contrast of red and black, with flames and little demons…this is not your warm and fuzzy Christmas cake. The demons chocolate stand is optional for purchase, but I guess the cake wouldn’t be as interesting with only the red flames. In terms of flavor, it’s JPH’s specialty – chocolate.
Fauchon
Name: Houx Là Là
Flavors: Bergamot, lemon, milk chocolate, vanilla, raspberry
Price: 100 €
All I want to say is that this cake looks very complicated to assemble…to my colleagues who are still there, good luck. I wonder if this year they are also going to churn out 6000 Christmas cakes?
![[Paris] Cafe Oberkampf](https://www.sugarednspiced.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/L1140130.jpg)
Cafe Oberkampf
Add: 3 rue Neuve Popincourt, 75012 Paris
Tel: 01 43 55 60 10
Hours: [Mon-Fri] 8:30am-5:30pm [Sat-Sun] 9:30am-6:30pm
Price: [coffee] €2.4-5 [food] €4-12
Visited: Aug 2015
A new addition to the Paris cafe scene. Great coffee, friendly service, banana bread served with salted butter, and freshly assembled sandwiches toasted to order. What’s not to love?
![[Paris] PNY Paris New York](https://www.sugarednspiced.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/L1133831.jpg)
Paris New York
Add: 1 Rue Perrée, 75003 Paris
Hours: 12-3pm, 7-11pm (open daily)
Website: www.pny-hamburgers.fr
Price: [burgers] €11.60 [sides] €3.40-4.60
Visited: Jul 2015
PNY doesn’t serve the best burger I’ve had, but it’s definitely the most stylish burger joint I’ve been to. Their first shop opened back in 2012 in the 10th arrondissement, followed by a second one in the 11th, and the third in the 3rd. The decor for each location is different, and I’d say that the newest addition to the family is quite a stunner. See it for yourself.
“Morning California” (€11.60): Le Ponclet beef patty, 9-month cheddar, fresh avocado, secret sauce.
Loaded fries (€4.60): skinny fries topped with 18-month cheddar and bacon.
Continue Reading "[Paris] PNY Paris New York"![[Paris] Ob-La-Di](https://www.sugarednspiced.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/L1134363.jpg)
Ob-La-Di
Add: 54 Rue de Saintonge, 75003 Paris
Tel: N/A
Hours: [Tue-Sat] 8am-6pm [Sun] 9am-6pm (closed on Mon)
Price: [coffee] €2.50-6 [food] €4-12
Visited: Aug 2015
When Ob-La-Di opened in June 2015, it immediately became the new hot spot in Paris. Named after the popular Beatles song “Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da”, this tiny shoebox of a cafe is styled with all the right decor – funky blue floor tiles, bare concrete wall, marble counter top, fresh flowers, the cutest coffee spoons (so tempted to steal one each time I come)…but most importantly, manning the Marzocco machine is Lloyd (previous at Boot Cafe), and that, my friends, means good coffee.
![[Paris] Steel Cyclewear & Coffeeshop](https://www.sugarednspiced.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/L1132713.jpg)
Steel Cyclewear & Coffeeshop
Add: 58 Rue de la Fontaine au Roi, 75011 Paris
Tel: 06 47 58 32 46
Hours: [Tue-Fri] 8:30am-6:30pm [Sat] 9am-7pm
Website: shop.steelmagazine.fr
Price: €2.5-4/coffee, €2.5-6/pastry
Visited: May 2015
Steel Cyclewear & Coffeeshop, the newest addition to Paris’ cafe scene. Exactly as the name suggests, it combines cyclewear and coffee under one roof – a place for bike lovers to meet over good coffee, basically. I mean, why not?
Cafe creme (€4), beans from Belleville Brûlerie.
![[Paris] Le Comptoir Général](https://www.sugarednspiced.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/L1129017.jpg)
Le Comptoir Général
Add: 80 Quai de Jemmapes, 75010 Paris
Tel: 01 44 88 24 48
Hours: 11am-2am (open daily)
Website: www.lecomptoirgeneral.com
Price: free entrance, coffee €2-5
Visited: Mar 2015
Discovered Le Comptoir Général last week, and what a space it is. An art museum dedicated to ghetto culture, Le Comptoir Général showcases the creativity that springs up in poor or marginalized places all over the world, especially in Africa. There are movie production and screening, exhibitions, themed attractions, a record label and a radio, shops (record shop, second hand store, library, toy shop), events, workshops, shootings…With ample sunshine flowing in from the skylight, this place is almost dream-like. Explore the two-floor space, linger for a cup of coffee, or come for drinks and music after dark.
![[Ferrandi] Week 10: Macarons](https://www.sugarednspiced.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/R0051571.jpg)
We took a break from entremets to learn something all of us had been looking forward to for a long time – macarons. The recipes we used are apparently from Pierre Hermé, who has previously taught some classes at Ferrandi. There were a dozen flavors to choose from, and I set my heart on olive oil.
The first step is to make the macaron batter. Part one is a mixture of almond powder, icing sugar, and egg whites, which is quite tough to stir because the batter is very stiff, but it’s important to whisk until the mixture becomes homogenous. Do not forget to sift the almond powder and icing sugar before mixing, otherwise the result will not be as smooth. Part two is an Italian meringue, which is done by pouring cooked sugar (117°C) to whipped egg whites. Continue to whip the egg whites until it cools to about 50°C, and add food coloring to the meringue if desired.
Combine part 1 and part 2 delicately, and beat the mixture with a wooden spatula to remove some air from the batter. The result should be slightly liquidy, but not so liquidy that it spreads out too thinly when piped on the baking sheet. It’s a little hard to explain the exact texture – to perfectly judge if a batter is ready, you just need to do this a few times to accumulate experience. To pipe the macarons, we used these boards with pre-drawn circles to make sure that the sizes are correct – this is unnecessary course for those who already can pipe very regularly.
