The current adventure actually started ten years ago, when our friend Sylvia learned we were about to leave on a trip to Paris. She pressed $50 into my hand, begging, “You have to get me two kilos of vanille des îles at Thé Mariage Frères.” Sensing my hesitation at possibly transporting a couple of kilos of some unknown (controlled?) substance, she whispered, “Try some yourself, you’ll love it.”

Turned out my friend’s drug of choice was an intensely flavored black tea infused with incomparable vanilla from Madagascar. And to procure it, my family wandered the winding streets of the Marais district of Paris to a quaint teashop with an elegant tea salon that served swoon-worthy pastries. Our then 9-year old daughter, Lila, fell completely under the spell of Thé Mariage Frères, as did my husband and I.

Thanks to a recent work assignment of my husband’s, the three of us are back again in Paris for a week. But this time—because of Bay Area Bites—I have an appointment to interview Monsieur Loris Thibaud, the man in charge of Thè Mariage Frères, in my role as journaliste amèricaine, and 19-year old Lila (a college sophomore and art major) will be my photographer.

When we enter, the teashop is abuzz with last minute shoppers. The walls are lined with hundreds of large timeworn tins labeled with mysterious names like fleur de désir, thé des impressionnistes and rose de porcelaine, from which white-suited clerks scoop and weigh the aromatic mixtures on ancient scales.

Monsieur Thibaud greets us and leads us up the narrow staircase to the little museum where we can talk tea in relative quiet among antique pots, canisters and baskets. He shares a little history:

As the oldest beverage in the world, tea began its reign in China 5000 years ago and moved on to Japan, Persia, the Islamic world, Russia and then to Europe in the seventeenth century. In 1665, after King Louis XIV‘s doctors told him tea would benefit his digestion, the King sent brothers Nicholas and Peter Mariage to Persia and Madagascar, respectively, to sign trade agreements and gather up the magical stuff.

Several generations of Mariages stayed true to the trade of tea importing and finally in 1854, Henri and Edouard Mariage commenced wholesaling to the restaurants and hotels of Paris. But despite the venerable looking, colonial design of the tea counter, this charming retail shop only opened in 1984 and currently, there are no more Mariage family members in the business.

The French take their tea as they take their wine: quite seriously and Thè Mariage Frères prints up a list of essential rules to make their tea correctly, which might actually come in handy since their collection of teas include black, white and green varieties from over 30 countries. But their specialty is fragrant blends, created much like perfume, by combining aromas and tastes, selecting from hundreds of scents: including the leaves, flowers, bark, seeds, roots, leaf-oil and fruit of an entire arboretum of plants.

After a bit of a wait in line, Lila and I are seated in the elegant tea salon, with its custard yellow walls and potted plants, surrounded by stylish patrons and their tea-fueled chatter. We order sandwiches first: melted cheese with smoked salmon and a smoked chicken with creamy spread, both served on greenish matcha tea bread.

In fact, Mariage Frères has pioneered the art of cooking with tea and every dish on their menu incorporates some form of tea, from tea flavored jelly, to tea infused rice and vinaigrette to a tart topped with pears poached in hibiscus tea, and a chocolate cream pie featuring bergamot, the essence of Earl Grey.

Each table sports a few of their exclusively designed teapots, which encase the black or white porcelain in a silver shell to help keep the tea warm (without need for a British tea cozy). Over the years, I’ve enjoyed a number of their teas, (especially black teas with fruit, like peach, mango or black currant.) But today, Lila and I return to our first love, the intoxicating vanille des îles.

The next morning, we are up early, exploring vintage clothing shops in the cobblestoned Montmartre neighborhood where we are staying. Lila notices the welcoming window of an adorable tea spot called MILK, which stands for “Mum in her Little Kitchen.”

No way we’re going to pass that up. So we head in for a mid-morning tea and toast that eventually leads to a decadent pistachio and chocolate fondant. The table is set with pots of homemade jam in flavors like strawberry mint or spiced clementine, plus a banana, date and coconut spread. The cozy space feels exactly like we’re sitting in someone’s 1960s kitchen, with Formica dinette sets in crayola colors and flowered dishes. Owner, Deborah Habib makes all the goodies daily in her kitchen in the back of the room. Her father is our server. Habib also sells cute accessories, arranged in niches around the room, which include a motley collection of paisley aprons, mushroom magnets and kitchen elves. Luckily, Lila has her camera along to capture the photogenic bric-a-brac.

I thought this story was just going to be about Mariage Frères, but it seems to be expanding. So I tell Lila, “If we’re going do more than one tea salon, we need to do three or four.” Tea parties have actually been a recurrent theme in our lives. A china cabinet holding my grandmother’s collection of English bone china teacups and saucers resides in a treasured corner of my dining room. When she was little, Lila loved giving tea parties, first for her teddy bears and then for her friends. Sometimes, in the more turbulent teen years, a shared cup of tea from a flowery teapot could call a momentary truce on eye-rolling or nagging. Now that she is away at college in Canada most of the year, our tea sharing opportunities have dwindled. What could be better than a mutual quest for unique Parisian tea salons?

Lana, a Paris native and family friend, who is the same age as Lila, suggests our next destination, La Fourmi Ailée. The robin’s egg-blue exterior of this intimate restaurant stands out amidst the historic buildings nestled in the shadow of Nôtre Dame. Its interior resembles something out of a fairy tale, with a whimsical painted ceiling of clouds, plenty of book-lined shelves, and a row of pre-loved teapots along the windowsill. Although a full lunch menu is available, we arrive after the kitchen has closed. The tea is good, but I find the pastries a bit odd: apple streudel with mushrooms?! It’s a sweet, funky place to sit and sip tea, especially if you are in your twenties, but my taste in Parisian tea salons runs more to gracious elegance.

We end the week in style, with a visit to a glorious tea salon in the spacious dining room of a 19th century mansion that is now a museum—Musée Jacquemart-André. Nélie Jacquemart and Edouard André were avid Italian art collectors as well as husband and wife. The opulent rooms of their former residence, filled with exquisite paintings, sculptures and furnishings, provide an intimate opportunity for visitors to engage with the works of art.

In their former dining room, the walls are hung with tapestries and the space is dotted by huge flower-filled, burgundy vases, that match the floor-length drapery and thick carpet. When we are seated, the tea service is polite and refined.

I pick a luscious wedge of plum pie and Lila chooses a decadent raspberry cream tart. We drink Ceylon tea, perfumed with aromas of strawberry, cherry, raspberry and redcurrant. Outside the windows, massive stone lions guard the manicured garden. The tea is fragrant, the pastry perfect. Lila and I sigh contentedly. This is a moment to savor.

(All photos, except this one, by Lila Volkas)

Almonds

Choice. We love it. And these days, there seems to be an abundance of it in the dairy case. Now, in addition to your standard cow's milk choices (organic, low fat, fat-free, lactose–free), there is a slew of alternatives that aren't even dairy at all: soy milk, almond milk, rice milk, oat milk, coconut milk, even hemp milk. (Really, people? Hemp milk? Maybe I need to open up my chakras a little, but the idea of dunking my Oreos in a tall glass of hemp milk is about as appealing as chewing on some hippie's patchouli-scented dreadlocks.)

I like my vanilla soy latte as much as the next girl, but I'd never use soy milk as an everyday milk substitute. Too much aftertaste, not enough creaminess. Almond milk, though, the new darling of health foods, is another story. It has a pleasant neutral milky taste to it, with just a hint of nuttiness. And, the texture is full and thick, mimicking the feel of whole milk pretty well.

Almond Breeze almond milk

Almond milk is made from ground almonds that are mixed with water, plus vitamins, stabilizers, and in some cases, a sweetener like evaporated cane juice. You can make your own homemade almond milk by soaking almonds overnight, then blending with water and straining the solids, but that can get expensive and probably isn't worth all the effort.

Before converting, I decided to do a little research to see what the fuss was all about. Is almond milk really that much better for you? What are the problems with it that no one is talking about? Here's the DL on almond milk:

The Health Benefits
• It's full of nutrients and good stuff. Almonds are a rich source of protein, Vitamin E, magnesium, potassium, selenium, manganese, and iron. This means strong bones and muscles, antioxidant protection, healthy skin, high energy levels, good metabolism, and other health benefits. Also, commercially made almond milk is often fortified with calcium (A good tip: give the carton a good shake before drinking, because calcium can settle at the bottom). Almond milk contains no cholesterol, and has actually been shown to lower levels of LDL cholesterol (due to good monounsaturated fats in almonds) as well as protect against heart disease (almond skins contain flavonoids which help to protect the heart).

• It's low in calories. Based on a recent comparison published in The Wall Street Journal, a one-cup serving of almond milk comes in at 60 calories, compared to coconut milk (80 calories), soy milk (90 calories), rice milk (120 calories), and 2% cow's milk (130 calories).

• It's lactose free. An estimated 30 to 50 million Americans (about 25% of the United States population) are affected by lactose intolerance, meaning they have difficulty digesting the sugar found in cow's milk.

• It's antibiotic and growth hormone free. While many dairy farmers have made strides to ensure that their cows are rBGH-free, the practice of injecting dairy cows with growth hormones and antibiotics has not been completely eradicated.

• It's an alternate alternative. Soy milk got some bad PR not long ago thanks to Jeremy Piven's man boobs. Unless you're consuming a gallon of soy milk a day though, studies have shown that soy-induced man boobs aren't a real concern. However, there is an ongoing debate on the effect of soy foods on women. Soy foods are rich in isoflavones/phytoestrogens, which can mimic the effects of estrogen. It is currently unclear whether soy foods affect breast cancer risk or recovery…reading the studies and articles on this topic can easily spin you around with all the seemingly contradictory findings. It appears that the conclusion most widely agreed upon is to consume soy in moderation, along with a healthy and balanced diet. Thanks, Captain Obvious.

The Concerns
• It can cause problems for those at risk for low thyroid function. Almonds are a goitrogenic food, meaning, when consumed in large quantities, they can suppress the function of the thyroid gland by interfering with iodine uptake, causing an enlargement of the thyroid. While goitrogenic foods (such as soy, cabbage, kale, flax, broccoli, and almonds) can be harmful for those with thyroid problems, they are beneficial for people who have healthy thyroid function. So, if you have a thyroid problem, avoid almond milk. Otherwise, your almond milk mustache is good to go.

• It has added sugar. Flavored almond milk like Vanilla and Chocolate can have 15-22 grams of sugar per cup. To avoid all that extra sugar, opt for Original (7 grams sugar) or Unsweetened (0 grams sugar) flavors, both offered by Almond Breeze and Silk PureAlmond.

Now, don't get me wrong, almond milk will never replace real dairy for me. I love my cheese and butter and ice cream too much. For goodness sake, I was happily raised on bottles of fresh whole milk from our local dairy farm. But, as a healthy alternative, I can get behind using almond milk in my morning smoothies, eating my granola with it, even making some sauces and soups with it. What's your take on almond milk? Friend or Foe?

Ingredients for Vanilla-Date Smoothie

Vanilla-Date Smoothie
Adapted from the Bon Appétit Test Kitchen

This sweet and creamy smoothie taste too good to be good for you…but it is! Love the hit of fragrant vanilla, the bits of caramelly dates, and the blended ice with the almond milk makes a great icy milky consistency.

Serves: 2

Ingredients:
1 ½ cups almond milk (Original flavor)
4 pitted Medjool dates
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
10-12 ice cubes (a few big handfuls)
Sprinkle of cinnamon (optional)

Preparation:
Blend everything together until smooth.

The other day, I heard someone utter a little children's rhyme:

Milk, milk, lemonade.

Round the corner, fudge is made.

Instantly, I had an uncontrollable urge for fudge. Imagine that. Here it is the beginning of summer, and I am craving an ultra-fatty confection that I typically associate with the Holidays.

Is this what is meant by Christmas in July? Highly doubtful, but it's an excuse for fudge, isn't it? Taking the old rhyme to heart, I popped around the corner to see where the fudge was made.

Sadly, whoever made up that charming little bit of nonsense does not live in my neighborhood. There isn't any fudge being made for public consumption within a mile of my apartment. If these alleged fudge-makers were perhaps making it in the privacy of their own homes, I was uncertain as to which doors I should knock upon.

Asking total strangers for fudge just seems a bit of an imposition in my book, so I decided to just go ahead and whip up a batch myself.

Hazelnut Fantasy Fudge

This is an adaptation of Elise Bauer's father's favorite fudge recipe. Now, I know neither Ms. Bauer nor her father, so I don't think they would be too upset if I changed things up a little, since it is highly unlikely that they will be consuming any of it. Rather than the traditional walnuts, I've instead added hazelnuts, since they are my current nut-of-choice. And I have halved the recipe, since the idea of having three pounds of fudge on my hands gave me a phantom sugar headache.

The addition of marshmallow-- specifically marshmallow creme-- even more specifically Kraft® Marshmallow Creme-- makes this particular style of fudge "Fantasy Fudge." Apart from, say, Chuck Berry, I can't think of a single person who would ever entertain fudge fantasies, but there you have it. Fantasy Fudge it is, and Fantasy Fudge it will remain.

Sort of. Not only is there a paucity of fudge makers in my neighborhood, but hunting down a jar of marshmallow creme turned out to be a royal pain in the place 'round the corner, too. So, for this recipe, I made my own "creme" by melting down marshmallows gently over the steaming heat of a double boiler. It worked very well. If you cannot find marshmallow creme, I suggest you do the same.

Makes about 1 1/2 pounds of delicious fudge. You can more than likely squeeze about 40 chunks out, if you cut them into little, bit-sized squares.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups sugar

6 tablespoons of unsalted butter

1/3 cup evaporated milk

A pinch of salt

1/2 pound semi-sweet chocolate, chopped or in chip form, if you're into that kind of thing

4 oz marshmallow creme (about one half a jar)

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup of chopped, toasted hazelnuts

Preparation:

1. Line an 8 x 8 inch baking pan. Butter the pan to prevent future sticking. Make certain you have everything chopped, measured, and ready to go. You really don't want to be caught with your pants down when making fudge, believe me.

2. In a heavy-bottomed saucepan (3 qt. is excellent), bring sugar, milk, salt, and butter to a boil over medium heat, stirring constantly. Let the mixture come to a boil, stirring all the while to prevent burning. When it reaches the much-desired temperature of 234°F, remove from the heat and immediately stir in chocolate and marshmallow creme. Incorporate all ingredients until uniform in color, then add vanilla and hazelnuts. Fold in nuts.

3. Pour hot fudge into your prepared pan and spread evenly with a spatula. Refrigerate for about two hours before serving. Or let set at room temperature for much, much longer than that. Your call.

4. When the fudge has a nice, firm texture, run a sharp knife around the edges of the pan, invert onto a cutting board and cut into desired pieces.

5. To serve, pick up a small piece and raise it to mouth level. Open mouth, insert fudge, close mouth, and chew. It's really that easy.

If you do not trust yourself with so much fudge around the house, I suggest you pack some for your friends. They'll thank you for it later, believe me.

Photos and Photoshop by Wendy Goodfriend

Last week I was introduced to something I didn't even know existed: cat cheese. Known to cheese mongers as Fromage de Chat (or often just chat fromage), this cheese has become the new "it" food in the culinary world.

So what is cat cheese? As you may suspect, it's simply cheese made from the milk of a feline. According to Cheesemonger's Weblog, it's quite popular in Eastern Europe, which makes sense as the Siberian cat has particularly rich milk and there's really not a lot to eat in that part of the world. But cat cheese has been a staple in many cultures since the pharaohs began demanding it at their dinner tables thousands of years ago to honor Mafdet, the lion goddess. According to historical records, cats were first tamed by Egyptians to help control their diets and thus shape the milk's taste. Although some people seemed to enjoy the natural flavors of wild cat's milk, the pharaohs wanted their cheese to taste more like river fish than mongoose and rats, and so the domesticated cat was born.

Cat cheese is currently made mostly in small urban farms. Each city seems to have its own purveyor. In the Bay Area, Freyja Jones, a 70-year old woman who lives in Montclair, is the resident cat dairy woman. Living in an old hunting cabin near a local swimming and tennis club, Freyja has over 200 cats on her property. And while that may seem like a lot of animals to put in a 1500 square foot house, Freyja's operation is a smooth running machine and she says she wouldn't mind having millions of cats. At the moment, there are Siamese in the master bedroom, Angoras in the den, calicos in the living room, and then mixed breeds everywhere else. For a while, Freyja toyed with using hairless cats, but found their milk to be a bit anemic and so offered them up for adoption.

During my visit, I was honored to be included in the milking process. Freyja and her 40-year old daughter Dinah milk each cat by hand. For a while they used an invention by Dinah called The Pussy Milker, but decided it was more difficult to place the cats in a harness than it was to actually milk them in their laps, so gave up on it. While I looked on as Freya and Dinah laid cats on their laps for milking, Freyja looked up at me and yelled above the din of meowing "Don't forget to wear your gloves!" as a large Angora batted a paw full of sharp claws at her.

After trying a few varieties, I've found that cat cheese has many unique flavors. Siamese milk has an underlying sardine taste, which makes it perfect for using as the base in hard cheeses, while Angora milk has a more musky flavor best used for ash-covered cheeses. The standard house cat, however, produces the creamiest milk of all, which is then used to make a tangy mozzarella de gatto.

Freyja mentioned that while she specializes is small domestic cats, there is also a growing movement to collect milk from large wild cats. Apparently the milk of both mountain lions and panthers is so rich and creamy that cheese mongers and yogurt makers alike will pay a very high price for it. But don't worry, those big cats aren't harmed in any way by this growing industry. Shot with tranquilizer pellets, the hunters simply milk the cats while they sleep and then carry off the milk before the cats awake in a type of milk and dash operation. From what I hear, mountain lion milk fetches up to $1,000 a gallon.

Fromage de Chat has also become quite popular in celebrity circles. Because most cat dairies use abandoned cats (thereby saving them from being killed in shelters), cat cheese has become the new celebrity food craze. According to a reliable source, it's the only cheese Bob Barker will eat and Pamela Anderson has even invested in a cat dairy in Calabasas Hills.

So the next time you're browsing the cheese section of your local cheese shop, keep an eye out for Fromage de Chat. You'll find yourself purring at the taste.

I grew up in Southern California. I lived there until I was 25, and inherited most of my food prowess from my mother. She is great at seeking out hole-in-the-wall restaurants with divine food, and we had very few bad meals during my childhood. After moving to San Francisco, my food obsessions became a little more focused, and I often have a list of new places that I'd like to try in Los Angeles. Combine my careful research with mom's, and we spend most of our time tasting our way through my days in Southern California.

Small tangent here, but our family has another...hobby...that you may find strange. We love to check out old cemeteries. We appreciate the history that can be found in cemeteries and, of late, have become quite enamored of a cemetery in Los Angeles where many, many movie stars are buried: Hollywood Forever. The history of this cemetery would take more time than I have right now, but I truly believe it should be on the "must see" list for anyone visiting Los Angeles.

I spent the holiday weekend in Southern California with family, and on Friday we had a couple of out-of-towners who wanted to see Los Angeles. Mom and I put together a fun trip. It was by no means a comprehensive look at Los Angeles, but it provided the guests with an overview of things that we find interesting and tasty.

Stop #1: Westwood Cemetery.

This tiny cemetery in Westwood is one of my favorites. I used to work at the building next door, and we would eat lunch in the cemetery among the graves of Marilyn Monroe, Natalie Wood, Dominique Dunne, and others. New tenants include Merv Griffin, Rodney Dangerfield, Jack Lemmon, and Peggy Lee. Though our guests found it initially strange that we would be visiting cemeteries, this first stop chipped through their pre-conceptions and they were ready for the rest of the day.

Stop #2: Milk Restaurant.

After a drive through Beverly Hills and some of the Westside, we stopped at Milk for a sweet treat. I learned about Milk last year through an interview on Good Food. Bret Thompson, the owner, is making handmade sweet treats such as ice cream bon bons, drumsticks, red velvet cake, cookies and sorbets. I have only been here for sweets -- they are delicious and worth a stop. The crew ordered a drumstick, a root beer float, some ice creams and an ice cream bar as our first tastes of the day. It's fun to take out-of-towners here -- the restaurant is right next to CBS studios and has the vibe of the entertainment industry. Even if you don't recognize stars, you will hear lots of conversations about scripts, pilots, shows and other stars.

Stop #3: Grauman's Chinese Theatre.

A quick stop at Grauman's Chinese Theatre was necessary to see the kitschy part of Los Angeles. We stayed a very short time until one guest said, "I get it, this is kind of like taking tourists to Fisherman's Wharf, isn't it." An apt analogy, as locals never tour through Mann's Chinese Theatre, but tourists always want to see it. After watching tourists laying down next to George Clooney's handprints, we quickly left.

Next week, I will tell you about the rest of our Los Angeles Tour. It includes potato tacos, and one of my favorite Japanese meals in Southern California.

Milk Restaurant
7290 Beverly Blvd. (at Pointsettia) [ Map ]
Los Angeles, CA 90036
323.939.6455