Oh boy, do I love the East to West time zone travel much more than West to East!
East to West is always a piece of cake. I love that I automatically get up super early in the morning. This morning I awoke after a solid 7 hours of sleep at 5am. It was the most sleep I have had in about a week and a half and it felt wonderful.
I made some amazing Kusmi Almond green tea and then I washed all the floors in the house and did laundry all before 7am! There is no better feeling in the world than a productive early morning.
I am going to try my best to stay on this early rising schedule because I love getting up early in the morning. I am my most productive in the early morning (as long as I can get to bed at a good time!) and I hope to stick to this schedule. Remember my Early Rising Challenge from a while back?
After cleaning, I opened my Gmail inbox for the first time in a week and almost shed a tear. I also printed my Glo Bar orders. It is going to take me at least a week to get caught up on things! I might have to whip out the coffee machine much earlier than planned. ;)
But for this post, back to lovely, delicious, Paris.
How I miss thee. You stole a piece of my heart.
We came across Paul Bakery while in a shopping mall called Les Quatre Temps buying some gifts and souvenirs. There was a HUGE line up wrapping around the entire bakery. We knew it must be amazing.
Item #4: Croissant
[For items 1-3 see this post]
You didn’t think I could go to Paris and not try a croissant did you? ;)
My mom, sister, and I were so excited we couldn’t contain ourselves.
They are a work of art.
If you are familiar with the process of baking croissants, they require many, many hours and many, many steps to make them. The outcome is spectacular though.
It was light, airy, flakey, and buttery. I took a bite and the croissant just melted on my tongue.
It was a moment I will remember forever.
The croissant was my favourite food item that I tried while in Paris by a landslide! Nothing could come close to it. My goal is to make a delicious vegan croissant some day. :)
Item #5: Strawberry Tart
The tart had a layer of vanilla custard on the bottom. I was never a huge fan of custard when I was young, so I was hesitant to try it. However, it was definitely the best custard I have ever tasted. The tart wasn’t my favourite dessert by any means, but it was still quite good.
I think it was OSGMOM’s favourite dessert of the entire trip! She is a huge custard fan. :)
For the main part of my lunch, I was absolutely delighted when I saw a huge Lentil salad and Tabbouleh Salad. The Lentil salad and juice below were from a cafe called Soup and Juice.
My body was so, so, so happy to see some vegan protein. I almost cried with joy…haha.
I devoured both of them.
My mom and sister had mini and large baguette ham and/or cheese sandwiches and they really loved them.
I also bought a carrot juice. It felt so good to drink fresh juice!
In my next post I will be recapping our last night in Paris as well as showing you some of the souvenirs and things I brought home!
Enjoy your day. :) I am off to play the catch up game.
Nothing beats a real Parisian croissants. All of the American imitations are just that- imitations!! Glad you had a wonderful end to your trip, welcome home!
Nothing beats a true croissant. Absolutely amazing…and you’re so right – melt in your mouth.
My mouth is watering at that little tart dessert! SOOO good!!!
I would be very interested in a vegan crossiant recipe. It seems like it would be impossible to make a crossiant without butter!
There is Earth Balance butter which cooks and bakes very similar to butter. I’m hoping it works as a sub!
Did you try Pierre herme macarons? they are soooo delicious…
No I didn’t but I did try Michel Cluizel macarons. Chocolate and strawberry were my top two!
I would loovee to try one of their croissants. Geez, if I love Walmart’s croissants I can only imagine how one of Paris’ would taste!!
welcome home, angela! thanks so much for sharing your paris trip with us…i have never been and i loved seeing your perspective!
yes, yes! aim to keep on the 5 a.m. wakeup! i was on a 5 a.m. wakeup schedule from january til july and LOVED how much i got done in a day. sadly, ever since my july vacation, i cannot get up that early – and i really miss it! for some reason i just can’t wake myself up now at that time!
my brother travels a lot and says east-west is sooo much easier, too!
will you let us know how eric got along while you were gone?! :)
haha will try to. He might post :)
Was that croissant very big? I remember when I went to Paris the croissants we had were so cute and small compared to the huge ones you can find here! But this was more than 10 years ago so maybe they grew in size there by now :P
They had mini ones and reg sized ones :)
Wow that croissant looks like the best ever- I love croissants anywhere so Parisian croissant is just that much better! It all looks amazing, how wonderful to be able to experience another culture’s cuisine :)
awww, im sad you had your croissant at paul! its just an overpriced chain bakery that’s found all over europe, not really special enough for your first croissant in paris! oh well, glad you still enjoyed it!
If you google vegan croissants you will get a couple of recipes. I’m sure they won’t compare to the ones from paris but it should cure the craving. I’m trying to convince myself the hard work will be worth it in the end but I have not made them yet.
I’m allergic to gluten but when I was in Paris I did NOT care at all. I devoured crepes, croissants, and other such delectables to my hearts content. My body could die later, but my soul had to live!
you are lucky you could do that. if i had eaten gluten i would have ruined the rest of my trip. i’m that allergic to it.
My friend recently went to Paris and she loved it!, she said everything is so fresh and organic that if I went I would never want to come back. Glad you got to enjoy the amazing food there :)
I went to Paris over Thanksgiving holiday in 2007 and ended up being sick the whole trip. Oh how I ache to go back after seeing your posts. I am so happy for you and your family enjoying the trip. I may need to start planning a return trip.
Dang it best list ever. I want to go to France and eat nothing but bread. I am gluten intolerant, but I’d make the sacrifice.
I really hope you tried the chocolate croissant! (‘Pain au chocolat’) – I lived an hour north of Paris for 5 months and all over France I knew I could get an amazing pastry just by muttering these three words. Either way, croissants are beautiful.
You just had to have a croissant and I’m glad it was amazing. A chocolate one would have been even better. :)
I LOVE Paul…I’ve actually only been to the ones in London, but I saw them while I was in Paris. They have this amazing sandwich that was so simple – I think maybe a couple slices of hardboiled egg, a basil dressing, lettuce, tomato (good for the non-meat eaters!). And their cafe viennese…oh I could go on…
Looks incredible. There’s something sacreds about a real french croissant. The strawberry tart looks great too.
both times i went to paris i was gluten-free. i can’t do gluten at all. but it kept it easier to be vegan since anything i wanted wasn’t gluten-free anyhow. i ate so many croissants as a child i have the memory of them ingrained in my head forever. i always got the chocolate. now i can still eat chocolate thank god. i doubt there will ever be a gluten-free vegan croissant recipe. probably impossible