back in the saddle again.

After passing within 1km of the Eiffel Tower yesterday during a brief layover in Paris, I have now returned to Moep Centraal, and I must say it was just in time: the wear and tear on my linguistic and gastrointestinal systems had reached its limits....in fact, my tummy is still recovering. So much so that I am currently unable to appreciate the booty which I lugged back with me:

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Butter with Smoked Sea Salt from Jean-Yves Bordier:

















Bordier has been referred to as "the butter darling of the French gastronomic scene", but frankly I didn't actually realize how well known this butter was until after I brought it home: all I knew was that the butter I'd been eating in Brittany was the best butter ever, and Bordier's shop was supposed to be the place to get it.

I didn't want to get too much of it because I had a 12-hour day of travel ahead of me, and wasn't quite sure how I was going to get it home without it melting (luckily I had a MacGyver moment and concocted a Butter Transport Device out of two bags of frozen french fries, it worked perfectly).

Haven't really had an opportunity to taste it yet because of stomach rebellion. France Magazine has a detailed article about this butter here.

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Beurre d'huitres de Cancale from La Cancalaise.






















As I mentioned earlier, the most impressive things I ate in Brittany were Cancale oysters and butter. This combines both of them, basically "oyster butter". This line of products comes from a chef in Cancale named Daniel Ledoult, more info if I dig some up. I also bought his Rilettes of Mackerel with Calvados.


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Tartare d'algues from Bord & Bord.

I picked this up at Bordier's shop, it's basically a seaweed tapenade or relish? Designed to be spread on bread with butter or drizzled over fish. More on this to come, but here's the product page in French.


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Confit de Mirabelles a l'Edelzwicker et au Cumin.


This is also from Bordier's shop, made by a company called L'Epicurien, it's kind of like a chutney made from Mirabelle plums designed specifically to be eaten with a seriously stinky Muenster cheese. Edelzwicker is a white wine from Alsace. Looking forward to this very much.