May 6, 2005
And today, I bought salt.
...but not just any salt: Maldon sea salt, after so many sources conspired (and most recently the much-linked Slate article and its tempting dandruff analogy) to make me cave in and buy salt at 17.80€ a kilo (4.45€ for the 250g box).
Yesterday was a holiday in France ("l'Ascension", which marks the day on which Jesus returned to God: we sure have a lot of religious holidays for a laic country, not that I'm complaining or anything) and I had Friday off too -- this is called faire le pont, literally "to make the bridge".
Amongst other things, my day was spent running a few indispensable errands -- a white trenchcoat, two scarves to go with the white trenchcoat (oh I know it's white but you can't just wear any old thing with white, you need a brown silk scarf with turquoise blue flowers: turquoise blue is the new pink, didn't you know?) and a new pair of sneakers in khaki and pink (I can't give up pink that easily).
And so, while I was in the Grands Magasins area, I dropped by Lafayette Gourmet, tore myself away from Eric Kayser's bread corner and Sadaharu Aoki's pastry corner, picked up a package of Maldon sea salt as planned, and, unable to resist, added a jar of Christine Ferber jam, scanning all the flavors and choosing Pêches de vigne d'Alsace (vine peaches).
New coat, new salt, new shoes, new jam -- this was a good day for shopping!
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Maldon - I can't live without it. I even carry a little in my handbag for when I dine out in a restaurant. Clotilde - soon you will too, I'm sure!
I know what you mean about those little jars with their polka dot hats! They just lure you in...I finally caved into buying Christine Ferber jams when I was at the Grande Epicerie the other day after all of your posts which left my mouth watering. I chose kumquat and I highly recommend it! (I also bought cerises noires and mirabelles d'alsace as potential "gifts", we'll see if they ever make it into someone else's home!)
Ooh, good salt, you can't live without it! I buy the Maldon too, after the first taste I was a total salt addict... There are other great salts too, soon you'll be salt shopping
17.80 a kg? wow! it's almost half here in Barcelona, about 5 EUR per 1/2 kg.
I love flaky salt. In Australia we get some really nice flaky land salt http://prairieharvest.com/products/salt.html it not only taste's great but is good for the environment too :)
A box of Maldon salt was once but a 20 minute walk away..alas the shop has closed :-((((((( however the path to the salt is never far!
Clotilde it would seem you had much fun on the bridge!
:( the best salt I can find here is some sea salt which costs 2 bucks a box and it's not very much different from regular salt. I did find Fleur de Sel once though, at an organic fair at 12 bucks a jar, but the fair shut down. Maldon looks interestingly...flaky. And wow, 17.80 euros. Ouch.
mmmm....white trench coat. The salt sounds good, too. :)
Aoki's link mistakenly refers to Kayser...
I'm developing a worrying tendency to pop a flake of Maldon salt on my tongue and let it dissolve whenever I'm cooking with it. Can't be good for me, but it tastes good.
Maldon's good for the top of a roasting chicken. Salty fatty crunchy goodness.
Maldon...any relation to sel guérande?
I can't believe it!
Guess where I was Friday?
At the food hall in the Gallerie de Lafayette trying to chose which "parfum" of Ferber's jam to lug home to the U.S.
I decided on the the raspberries with violets.
It is as wonderful as I've been led to believe and I will NOT share it with my family.
Sorry I missed you!
catching up part 1:
I love this photo!