Living European With Dogs: Eating Local, Inspiration from Paris

 One of the reasons we started our How to Be a Tourist with Your Dog series was because we were planning on taking a summer vacation with our dogs. And we got a lot of amazing advice. But just as we were about to plan our trip, I happened upon one of those amazing airfare deals that are always too good to be true--but this time it really was true.
So we were lucky enough to spend the last 2 weeks traveling in Copenhagen, Paris and Italy.
While we had an amazing time exploring and trying to live like locals, I think the true value of traveling is recognizing something interesting and valuable about another culture and thinking about how to incorporate a similar experience into our everyday lives. So we've been inspired to recreate these experiences back home, and with our dogs.

 One of the things we really liked about Paris was the fresh food and how everybody bought locally. It seems everyone goes grocery shopping every day, which is super easy because all the stores are located next to eachother. Each couple of blocks there would be a clustering of a bakery, cheese store, butcher, fish store, fruit market and wine store.

We liked seeing how the locals seemed to have such a great relationship with their local vendors, and the idea of getting fresh food that is sustainable and helps support the local community.

We loved how it was so easy to pop in and grab a baguette, go next door to choose some cheeses, then go to the next shop for a battle of wine and head to the park for an impromptu picnic:

Since this was one of our favorite parts of our travels, we thought it would be fun to do this in Chicago with our dogs. It's also important to us to buy locally to support growth in our neighborhood. So we loaded up the pooches, Mr. B grabbed his backpack and we all headed out.

Our first stop was Butcher & Larder butcher shop. Butcher & Larder is locally sourced and cut to order. Sometimes they even throw in a knucklebone for the pooches. Here are the pooches trying to peer inside:

Our next stop was to pick up some wine at the wine store. We are lucky enough to have 2 neighborhood wine stores located quite close. Lush Wine & Spirits and The Noble Grape. We actually stopped in both stores, and both stores allowed the pooches to come in. Which may have been a bit overwhelming for Miss M, given her drinking problem. Both stores were quite helpful in describing and helping us choose a wine.

Next we headed over to our favorite local bakery La Farine. The owner has immersed himself in the art of bread baking and supplies bread for some of the top restaurants in Chicago. They make the most amazing ciabatta rolls. We also picked up a baguette because what can be more cartoon-stereotypical than a baguette sticking out of your grocery backpack?

Finally, we stopped by Hoosier Mama Pie Company.  They're this tiny little shop that serves amazing pie. They're so good they've been featured in Bon Appetit; plus, they have 'flights of pie slices' each Friday. Our all time favorite is the peanut butter pie with gingersnap crust and the chocolate creme pie.

On weekends we are even able to swing by the Farmer's Market to pick up fresh produce and some cheese and picnic in the park. The best part is that we are able to include our dogs, and Mr. B gets a 'job' by carrying the backpack. And this is something we can do on an everyday basis.