Friday, April 26, 2013

Paris vs. New York 1

Facebook Postcard Swap, Sender: Terry
Sent: 20 July 2012, Sent from Sherwood, AR
Traveled ~12,288 km

I am taking Beth's lead and posting something edible for today's Postcard Friendship Friday.

This postcard is from the Paris versus New York Postcard Book by graphic artist Vahram Muratyan. The artist is French who later moved to New York. His Paris versus New York postcard set is a witty and genius visual comparison between the two great cities. It was based on his blog bearing the same title, with a welcome note that says: A friendly visual match between two cities told by a lover of Paris wandering through New York. Details, clichés, contradictions, this way please.

Here is the 'le pain' or bread comparison -- with the French's  baguette on the left and the New Yorker's bagel on the right. A similar graphic was posted on the artist's site on 22.10.10.

Baguette means stick or wand in French. It is a long thin loaf with crunchy crust made using lean dough. It basically contains flour, water, yeast, and salt. It actually came from Vienna, Austria but is very much considered a symbol of French culture. It can be eaten for breakfast with jam or chocolate/fruit preserve spread, usually torn or broken into pieces for serving. The 65 cm long le pain can also be cut in half and eaten as sandwich for any time of the day.

Bagel, the New York counterpart, is called cement doughnut. It is made from a pretzel-like dough recipe. Though it also comes as a ring-shaped roll like the doughnut, this bread is dense in the inside with a shiny and crispy crust. The texture is different because bagel is boiled first before it is baked. It is the only bread that is boiled before it is baked. It has similar ingredients with the French baguette but sometimes, eggs, milk, or butter is/are added to make the inside lighter. It is great served with cream cheese for breakfast (my favorite version of it, actually) and can also be made into a sandwich for snack.

Ok, that's it for now. I'm hungry and will proceed into preparing dinner after posting this. Happy Postcard Friendship Friday everyone!


~maria

8 comments:

  1. I love this book and hope to get more postcards :)

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  2. What fun! Paris vs NY ... I'll have to look at this book and blog! Happy PFF!

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  3. Hahaa...the person who sent you this postcard is from Sherwood, Oregon?! lol When I was a kid I went to a church in that town and as a young adult, I rented a room from an old couple who lived in the middle of Sherwood near the old theater. LOL Reading your blog made me hungry...think I need to go eat some breakfast!

    Happy National Pretzel Day and Happy PFF!

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    1. Yes, she's from Sherwood, OR and she offered to send me more cards from this series :)

      Happy National Pretzel Day and Happy PFF too!

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  4. I've heard a lot about these postcards but never yet received one. 'm just back from a week in France and can say there's something special about a baguette made in France. Nowhere else do they taste quite the same.

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    1. My boyfriend, who's French also thinks so. I thought he's partial cause he's French, but since you said it, I'm believing him now. ;-)

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  5. Great card. Alton Brown on his food show, boiled his pretzels to get that nice brown colour.

    http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/homemade-soft-pretzels-recipe/index.html

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