We’ve got some boo-tiful hand-crafted, spooky Halloween cards for sale at Paris-Madrid Grocery. Pick out a card (find them in front of the cash register) and create a personal trick-or-treat bag for a special person. We’ve got many tasty, small confections for around $1.00 each from France, Spain and Mexico. If your bag is for an adult, consider “sophisticating” it by slipping in a 375 ml bottle of sticky wine, such as Sauternes or port. Other tasty treats to consider for the bag: Lakritsfabriken (Swedish salty licorice) which just arrived, small or large chocolate bars, including new Akesson’s single plantation chocolates with pepper, made in France. Individually wrapped cookies are a delightful choice as are Rabitos (chocolate covered figs filled with brandy ganache) and Anis de Flavigny hard mints.
A new shipment of Pre de Provence French soaps have arrived. These make excellent and welcome gifts for relatives, friends or yourself! Choose from Lavendar or Rose Petal, Sage, Olive Oil or Spiced Balsam. There is a perfect scent for everyone.
A new pallet of Spanish essentials arrived today. We now have these favorites back in stock: Mojama (cured tuna), Chorizo Riojana, Fuet Catalan-style salami, Idiazabal Basque cheese, Cabrales blue cheese, Goat cheese coated with Rosemary, Tetilla cow milk cheese, Spanish potato chips, Bacalou (salt cod) from Canada. Also, we received a limited bottling of early harvest Oleostepa EVOO, from Estepa, Spain. Use this early harvest oil when you want a fresh, intensely flavored and spicy oil.
New Koulouraki Greek cookies – Traditional Greek cookies made from a family recipe. What we like about these cookies is they are not very sweet, so they can be enjoyed guilt-free as an afternoon snack with tea or coffee. The butter cookies would be great with a salty cheese and the cinnamon cookies perfect with ice cream. The butter cookies are packaged in a 2 piece pouch; the cinnamon cookies are Vegan and come in a 6.3 oz box.
Our bean selection is fully stocked for soup and stew making. We carry heirloom beans and lentils grown in Idaho, special heritage and D.O. protected beans from Spain and France including authentic Tarbais beans for cassoulet, along with nutty black garbanzo beans from Montana. We just received Fabes de Asturias, the traditional beans for making Fabada Asturianas and also have the meat assortment needed for this dish. And don’t miss the French Flageolet beans cooked in goose fat in jars. These beans can be heated and served as a side dish or cooked with the sausage of your choice for a hearty and quick dinner.
WINE CORNER
Chanudet Fleurie La Madone 2018, Beaujolais ($21.99) This vibrant and fruity Fleurie has the character and flair worthy of service in the top bistros of France. It offers enticing aromas of ripe red fruit with tobacco leaf and notes of mushroom. Lively, very dry and with a silky texture and depth of fruit flavors. Shows great balance with a touch of grip on the lengthy finish. The wine undergoes partial carbonic in an open top fermenter, with indigenous yeast. No additives are used except sulfur at bottling. Pair La Madone with duck confit or tartiflette (potatoes with bacon, butter and reblochon cheese) and feel like you’re in Paris.
Maria Cruz Garcia Navarra 2019 ($15.99) Offering up freshness and concentrated, lively red fruit, Garcia Navarra shows character and a sense of place. Well-structured with a firm backbone, ripe tannins and a mineral-laden finish, this wine is a spectacular value! Bottled with a low amount of sulphur. Maria Cruz Garcia & husband Carlos Aligra own the winery, are the viticulturists and enologists on their 80-hectare farm which has been in the family for generations. Grapes are sustainably grown, fermented with native yeasts and aged in stainless steel. The fruit grows on terraces in a windy, desert climate which eliminates mildew and disease, and the need for treatments. Give this tasty wine a try!
Torres Mas La Plana, Penedès 2015 ($94.00) Very little Cabernet Sauvignon is grown in Spain, possibly because none can come close to the impressive Mas La Plana. “This red is firm, balanced and graceful. Currant and blackberry flavors mingle with smoke, loamy earth and mineral notes. The muscular tannins are well-integrated, the racy acidity lively. Restrained in style, but harmonious.” 100% Cab Sauv from a single vineyard over 40 years old, aged 18 months in French oak. 93 points Wine Spectator