Rue Mouffetard & Saturday’s Lunch

A simple composed salad of tiny pears, bleu cheese, walnuts, honey, olive oil and fleur de sel from the Camargue all procurred at Saturday’s rue Mouffetard market. People from all over the world make their way to this colorful, food-vending street. Poissonneries, boulangeries, chocolateries, tea and wine merchants abound. Lucky me….I live on this foodie heaven street. I stumble out of my apartment (I live behind the brown door in the photo below) and that friendly wine seller knows exactly which bottle of Côtes du Rhône to have waiting for me. The fish sellers on the other side of the door put on their daily “show” of exotic seafood displayed so beautifully. Today there were street musicians adding to the ambiance.

An absolute must for all you foodies visiting Paris.

Métro Censier-Daubenton (Line 7).

Lingerie as Art

Le Bon Marche’s windows celebrating the opening of their new and improved lingerie department. Both Parisians and tourists were totally taken with these fabulously creative scenes. Only in Paris.

Shh….it’s a Ladurée Secret

http://c.brightcove.com/services/viewer/federated_f9?isVid=1&isUI=1

Hermés: Vintage and Today

These are just a few of the beautiful vintage Hermés scarves auctioned off here this past week. All of them, designs past and present, are complete works of art. A close friend has a closet filled with bright orange boxes, each one containing a gift either from someone or to herself and she uses them all. Clearly, I have scarf envy.

To take care of scarf envy, one need only head to the new Hermés store on rue de Sèvres in the 6th. A former indoor pool for Hôtel Lutetia right around the corner, this space has been magically transformed to hold not only beautiful silk scarves but home decor, clothing, a well curated book department, floral shop and tea salon. The children’s department, yes, there is one, was the only place I could perhaps afford something….a coloring book for a mere 100 euros. What I did actually walk away with was a beautifully forced hyacinth in a green glass container for about 20 euro. My tiny purchase makes me happy every time I come in contact with its heady fragrance.

Frivolously wonderful and worth a visit.

Additional Information:

Hermés

17, rue de Sèvres, 75006, Paris

Métro: Sevres-Babylon (line 10)

Lunch Hour

I used this photo as my facebook status yesterday to let my people know that lunch in Paris can be pretty darn sweet. I stopped by a boulangerie on rue Saint Dominique that offers a lunch “emporter” or take away lunch. In this case it was a sesame baguette with camembert and walnuts, a tarte abricot and a bottled water all for 6 euro. A short walk across avenue Bosquet and voilà, a mid-day meal at the foot of the Eiffel Tower.

For my money, it was the best table in Paris!

A Sunday in Paris

A Sunday in Paris…a day of complete and utter pleasure. No pressure here to do anything more complicated than to just enjoy the unfolding of the day. Hopefully that unfolding takes place with the special people in one’s life. Yesterday included brunch with my daughter at Le Pain Quotidien, a stroll through Luxembourg Gardens and dinner with good friends.

With the weather turning balmy and working hard to be springlike, it was a perfect in every way.

The Reading Room: Bel-Ami

The good news about coming home from a book store in my world is that generally, whatever I purchase will get read numerous times. The people in my immediate circle (read loving family) have similar tastes in our reading selections so our library has a number of dog-eared volumes that have been loved over and over. It does my heart good to see coffee stains, underlining or folded over corners in some of my favorite titles as I know they have been a source of inspiration and entertainment for others. And should I lend a book to someone, I let it go, not really expecting to get it back but hoping its journey is a good one wherever it ends up. Both my daughter and I just finished reading this latest classic discovery and have had numerous conversations about its message over glasses of wine these last few evenings while I fix dinner.

Bel-Ami by Guy de Maupassant, is the author’s second novel written in 1885. Obviously a social commentary on fin-de-siecle Paris, it follows the cavortings of Georges Duroy, an absolute cad with an insatiable thirst for upward mobility. Owning no sense of decency, the reader holds one’s breath throughout thinking Monsieur Duroy could not possibly sink lower….yet he never disappoints. Or should I say, he is a complete disappointment.

Contemporary politics and journalism are woven throughout only adding to the amount of deception that a society is capable of. Nothing that we don’t see on a daily basis in this day and age in cheesy tabloids or “news” sites splashed throughout the internet. Clearly, this stinging, but oh, so entertaining tale illustrates all that de Maupassant wrestled with and condemned in his current moment.

I have saved the best for last on this one. Being released this year is Bel-Ami, the movie with the lead being played by Robert Pattinson. He is perfectly cast as the lead in my mind with Christina Ricci and Uma Thurman helping things out. All good choices. Depending on how you feel about books being made into movies, you might want to enjoy all that this one holds before heading to the movie theater. For me, movies are always watered down versions after having read such rich text. Pick your poison on this one.

Waste No Time Becoming a Parisian

When one arrives in Paris, the need to blend in is strong yet difficult. The chic, hastily thrown together nonchalance that embodies a Parisian’s every movement, thought, conversation, fashion statement is not easy to duplicate. While we, meaning non-Parisians feel all out of sorts here….too uptight, too frumpy, too loud, too bright and want to fit in, the chances of becoming “French” overnight is impossible. Our fanny packs, white sneakers, shorts in the summer and vente “emporter” or to go cups from Starbucks are all dead giveaways that we are here for a weeklong immersion on foreign soil bringing all our wonderful habits from the states with us.

Enter Olivier Giraud. A handsome, talented comedian, and Parisian resident, Monsieur Giraud has very cleverly brought all the idiosyncrasies of his fellow countrymen together for a one hour session on how to master the ways of the Parisian. He pokes fun at their crazy ways and in so doing, empowers out-of-towners to feel confident in the ways of behaving properly in a cab, grabbing the attention of a haughty café waiter (good luck with that) and helping the elderly or pregnant women in the métro (they get to sit). All of this is done in English with a comic force that will leave you laughing at our faux pas and feeling much better about our crazy ways!

Make one of his shows first on your list of things to do once you arrive in Paris and your stay will become that much easier. Or at the very least, the frustrating ways of the Parisians will become….enjoyable

Additional information:

Théatre de la main d’or

15 Passage de la main d’or, 75011, Paris

Métro: Ledru Rollin

06 98 57 45 98

Website:

Olivier Giraud

Le Cigale Récamier

My first group of friends coming from the states for a visit arrived yesterday which was actually a reunion of sorts. Sisters who babysat for my newborn twins (who are now 24) way back when are here for a few days with their mom. We hadn’t seen each other for at least 15 years. I met them in the lobby of their hotel, Le Lutetia, and for the next few hours became total boss of them.

The first day of a trip overseas (at least for me) is so disorienting. You have sort of been up for 24 hours and land at 8:00am which is the middle of the night as far as your body is concerned. I always feel slightly hung-over when I arrive (which occasionally happens in my world) but usually not on a transatlantic flight. All the travel leaves me shaky and dehydrated and head-achey like too many cocktails can do….just not as much fun. I check into my apartment, sleep for no more than two hours, shower, head out the door and promise myself I will not fall asleep before 10pm.

Those were the orders I gave my friends and they were most obedient. We met in the lobby at 2:00 and I took them for their first meal in Paris which I hope was memorable as it was quintessentially French.

Le Cigale Récamier, located just around the corner from where they were staying in the 6th is a restaurant that has been around for about 30 years and is not anywhere a tourist would necessarily rush to go which makes it perfect. It is filled with locals who “do” lunch in this fashionable part of town. The menu is simple….small salad and a few selections for starters and then the most delicious souffles for lunch. Savory things filled with seafood, cavier d’aubergines or spinach. A bottle of house wine that was delicious and while we passed on dessert, all the ones that went by…..the French don’t pass on dessert too often, were little works of art on a plate.

Be sure to bookmark Le Récamier to experience authentic Parisian dining.

The Eres Phenomenon and P.S.

Last Friday, a friend of mine and I found ourselves in Eres, a lingerie and swimwear company that has few equals. Or, as I quickly discovered, few here in Paris. They had just marked down their 2010 swimwear collection and the line to get into the shop wound itself around the block. Two guards let 4 or 5 women in at a time and there were no complaints as to how long the process was taking. I now understand why.

These bathing suits are beautiful, simple and well made. Each season, they bring out similar styles in new colors or new styles in similar colors so that you can mix and match tops and bottoms. The price tags for these teeny weeny pieces of fabric are about 180 euro/each. That’s 180 for the top and 180 for the bottom. Rules are, you have to buy one of each. So on a non-soldes day, you’re dropping a big chunk of change for a little something. Friday, everything was 40% off which still….I was not in the market for a swimsuit but my friend was. With the crowds and grabbing and clutching of sizes and styles I opted to wait downstairs by the cash register which was quite the education in the psyche of the French woman.

Every single size, shape, age, and socioeconomic group was represented. Women carrying Hermés handbags at $10,000 a shot and women with boho fabric bags walked in. Large sized, small sized, women in their 70’s and 14 year old girls with their mom’s walked through the doors and headed upstairs. And guess what? Not one of them left without a swimsuit. NOT A ONE. And they were dropping no less than $200 each. One young girl looked as though she might work an administrative job in the states, her outfit simple…maybe a few things from H&M took home a bright turquoise two piece. The woman checking out after her spent 1800 euros….four suits and a sarong. She was treating herself and her daughters to new suits. The 14 year old girl was getting an explanation from mom about why you spend 60 euro for a pair of lavender colored panties. Crazy.

There was this part of me that in the moment felt very tiny, as though this was something I needed to see. I’m not one that needs to spend that kind of money on myself and I don’t think it really is about the money. It felt as though it was about valuing quality over quantity and passing that idea down from generation to generation. Nurturing the value of self. The value of womanhood. You don’t need a $200 bathing suit to feel good about yourself, I get that. There are some days though when it helps. It can make one sort of go….ahhh, this is nice and I deserve this!! No matter what the item is. Making those kinds of decisions where small luxuries are a part of one’s daily life is what goes on here. If that is superficial then, I guess, sign me up.

Occasionally, it’s all about the….ahhh.

P.S. The hair vitamins = amazing.

photo credit: vi.sualize.us