La Foire d'Automne

Yesterday a friend and I decided to head on over to La Foire d'Automne. We'd been considering going to the Salon du Chocolat but 1) I'm not a huge chocolate fan 2) 15€ is a lot for an entry ticket and 3) I had free tickets to the Foire.

We'd signed up to do a "Cocktails - Recettes Inédites" session, but were on the waiting list so I wasn't sure we'd get in. Turns out that didn't really matter, because only 2 of the 15 people who'd signed up were actually there, so we were able to participate.

The atelier was run by the guy who founded HomeCocktail - a sort of "rent-a-barman" service that also offers to teach you how to make your own cocktails.

Here's what our work station looked like:
We ended up making two different cocktails: the "Final de Rêve":Découpez en deux le citron vert puis en dés
Mettre quatre dés de citrons dans le verre puis pilez les en ajoutant du sucre blanc en poudre
Ajoutez de la glace pilée
Direct au verre :
Cachaça - Cointreau - Jus de citron - Sucre de canne
Crée en 1998 par Gibout Benoit en l’honneur de la finale de coupe du Monde France - Brésil

And the "Cupidon:
Au blender : Manzana - Crème de Pêche - Jus d’orange - Jus d’airelle
Direct au verre : Champagne
Cocktail à déguster à tout moment
Crée en 2002 par Gibout Patrick à l’occasion de la Saint-Valentin

After that, the plan was to try a few more things and then head home. We stopped by the Corsica cheese & sausage booth. I've always found these cheeses so pretty (if a cheese can be pretty):And then we needed some wine to go with our fromage & saussison, so we stopped at the next booth which just happened to be a Bordeaux stand. We ended up staying there until the place shut down. And I mean literally shut down- they actually turned the lights off. But the guy was just so chatty and he kept filling up our glasses. Between that, the cocktails and the free champagne we'd been offered earlier by another "friendly" guy, it ended up being quite the soirée. On the way out, one of the security guards asked us if we'd had a good time and what we'd seen, and I couldn't help but laugh - we actually only visited maybe 10% of the salon.

In case anyone else is interested in going, it's running through November 7 at the Porte de Versailles Expo Hall. The foire wasn't what I was expecting, but I'd recommend going if you've a few spare hours. There weren't very many people there at all, which meant that a lot of the vendors looked bored and were eager to talk and share with the passerbys, which I always prefer to the salons that are so packed that you can barely move.

The front of the hall is basically the equivalent of a "Home & Garden" show in the US - there were lots of different stands selling kitchens, furniture, and home decorations. The food & drinks were located in the back. Some of the other available ateliers include: home styling, wine classes, make-overs, flower arranging, personal coaching and Japanese cuisine.

FYI: You can get a free ticket to the foire on their website by signing up for any of the Ateliers - and don't be afraid to try to squeeze into one of them even if you're on the waiting list!