Paris Eats - Un Diner Presque Français

Copain and I were invited to a Franco-Américain dinner party last weekend entre amis.  It was a dinner of the potluck variety, which was hard for Copain to understand, but once we got there I think he got the idea.  We were asked to bring the apéritif, the hostess was in charge of the main course, another friend brought the accompagnement, another the dessert and so on. Everyone brought une bouteille de vin.  The theme for this particular repas was français or presque français since we Americanized the organization of it all! (potlucks are fun!). Check out our fabuleux French dinner...

Boeuf bourguignon, gratin dauphinois and vin rouge - Julia Child style!

Fromage!

Fromage that got too close to the stove...

Homemade éclair au chocolat (isn't this impressive of my copine??)

Un gateau fondant au chocolat... with perfect nappage chocolat

Close up on the éclairs

My very own slice of fondant -and no, I did not share, even when Copain asked me to.

Un petit café to complete a perfect meal (made in a French press no less! ha!)

Art Food at the Pomps

I love when visiting friends want to go to art expos while they're in Paris - I'm so bad at going on my own!  This is precisely why I took my copine up on her offer to visit the almighty Centre Pompidou modern art museum on Sunday afternoon.  The line to see the Edvard Munch expo was too long, so we took in the permanent collections instead (and I reveled in getting the young person discount without even asking. Even when I tell them that I'm almost 30, they don't believe me... thanks Pompidiou for the 3 Euros discount!)

I couldn't stop taking photos.  I think eating a little art food now and again is very necessary for the vitals...

There were crazy rooms to walk through...

And sad things to think about...

Simplicity to ponder... 

Messages to read...

Tea to be had on the 6th floor terrace...

Lines and reflections...

Long, skinny things with shadows...

Things in the distance to examine...

Furniture to plotz over...

Magical views to dream about...

I miss taking the time to let my mind wonder freely.  I took advantage of my four years of modern dance in college where I was encouraged to do this - in journals, with movement, with words.  My day at the Pomps made me want to dance through the halls with the white walls as my backdrop, maybe mix some paints and buy myself a canvas to fill.

I must serve myself up some art food more often.  It's so filling.

The Genius of... the Toilet Sink

I recently had a chocolat chaud with a friend who just bought an apartment (la rêve!).  Granted, she is just outside of Paris and therefore benefits from a bigger space (with parking!), but she still had to deal with the constraints of an apartment building and a co-propriété while re-doing the interior.

My friend loves her new apartment, but there was one thing that she was not willing to deal with in a place that she owned: she did not want a toilet room without a sink.

You see, in France, the toilet (or WC) is often separate from the bathroom (the salle de bains).  It's very convenient when someone needs to use the loo and someone else needs to shower, however the problem is that there isn't always a sink in the toilet room to wash your hands after you do your, uh, bidness.  Often you have to walk from the toilet to the salle de bains to wash your hands.  You do the toilet room door handle germ math. Guh-ross.

So, as I was saying, my friend didn't want a germy toilet room door handle and decided to take matters into her own hands!  Plumbing was already installed a certain way when they moved in and there was no reinstalling the pipes to connect a sink... so guess what my genius friend found?

That's right mes amis - a toilet with a sink on top! To top it all off, after washing your hands, the dirty waste water is used to flush the toilet! That's what I call ecological and economical... Not to mention, total. genius.

Joyeux Anniversaire to Ma Tante

Today is my Aunt's birthday - she's my rock and roll rebel Aunt - une dame super cool et voilà pourquoi:

• As a teenager, my Aunt used to wear a beehive - she would roll her hair in soda cans, sleep on them and then wake up and tease the heck out of her bleached blond hair. A half-can of Aqua-net held it all in place!
• She had the cat-eye down pat.
• When I was eight years old, my Aunt bought me copper hair spray - it literally made copper streaks in my hair.  I'm sure my parents loved her for it. 
• When I was little, I used to think that the mall was the coolest place in the entire world. My Aunt used to take me there - we took photos in the photo booth and I got a new red wallet that I agonized over before spending the eight dollars it cost to buy it.
• My Aunt uses words like "cool", "awesome" and "wicked".
• She's crafty - she handmade dolls for my brother, sister and me when we were little. My doll was black and white with zebra stripes, just like my bedspread at the time.
• My Aunt's favorite color is blue.  She used to have a blue lazy-boy style chair that was her spot. She also had the squishiest blue pillows on her couch that I loved to plop my head on.
• She swore by lemon-flavored lip balm. I'm sure she's changed brands by now, but for me, the lemon-flavor will always equal my Aunt.
• She's very techie - she was emailing before any of us.
• When the big earthquake hit California (I was 12) and my parents were on vacation in the Caribbean, my Aunt drove to come and get us. Normally the drive would have taken 45 minutes, but because of the earthquake, it took her an entire day on the freeway.  And she did it - for us.
• When I would take a nap at her house, she would put on relaxing Native American tunes to help me relax.
• Now she is a Grammy to my little cousin - they do crafts together, read books and wear matching do-rags.
• She could peruse the aisles of CVS for days, product-lover that she is.  I totally feel her on this. CVS makes me happy.  You need a product for puffy eyes? My Aunt's your girl. Irritated skin? My Aunt knows what's up. She could be a product consultant. seriously.
• I could recognize her laugh in a crowd.
• Today is her birthday - and I'm thinking about her from my ragged couch in Paris.  I wish I had some cushy pillows, some copper hair spray and an instant photo booth - we could have such a good time. 

Oh La La! J'adore...

Copain and I have been choosing new fruits at the market and making tasty desserts after dinner - here is a shot of our figs and persimmons - AT I thought of you! (how funny that when I went to link to your blog, you had also posted your fave kaki! haha)

My Moom sent me an entire bag of candy corns (plus some amazing leggings!). Note that this is a VALUE BAG people - that means there's a lot :-) yes, my Moom is fabuleuse.

I was doing my grocery shopping a few nights ago and check out what I found! Speculoos pudding! (sadly, it was not as good as I thought it would be...but it was fun to find).

I decided to branch out in the grain department of life and bought a bag of barley, millet and buckwheat. Here is my attempt at barley "risotto" - not bad if I do say so myself! (I added onions and garlic for flavor and then did all of the normal risotto stuff. I wanted to add mushrooms, but I didn't have any :-(

I'd like to take a moment to thank the lovely people over at Revlon for making nail polish that lasts five days without chipping. Merci Revlon, you rock my world. 

Le Vous Me Tue*

Throughout this whole vous issue I've been dealing with, I've been thinking about a good point that my Moom brought up.  I was perusing the aisles of Picard, explaining my extreme honte to my mother when she said, "how are you going to teach this concept to your children if you don't even believe in it yourself."

Oh dear. My Moom is right - if the vous were a religion, I would only use it at Christmas and Easter.  I just can't get behind this archaic institution.


Apparently my parents tried to get me to say, "Hello Mrs. Smith" and "Thank you, Mr. Jones," but the relaxed 1980's California vibe just didn't jive with the 1950's world my parents grew up in.  No one did that anymore. My friends' parents would say, "oh just call me Sally" or " Just call me Margaret" - none of this Mr. and Mrs. junk or Sir and Ma'am.  Sure, I called my teachers Mrs. Collins and Mr. Miller, but aside from that, everyone was on a first name basis with everyone else.  And I liked it that way.

During my first couple of years in France, I babysat for a family with three children. They were great kids with involved parents, but I could tell from get go that une bonne éducation was a big priority for them. The maman would ask if they had finished their devoir (homework) and when they responded "oui", she would said "comment?" (what?). They would immediately stand up a little straighter and correct themselves with the sing-song response, " Oui, Maman" (Yes, Mom).

Those kids were taught to say Oui Maman, Non merci Papa, Excusez-moi Madame, Bonjour Monsieur, Merci Madame, Aurevoir Monsieur. Never just - Yes, No, Excuse me, Hello, Thank you, Good Bye.  Without following the response by addressing the person to whom you are talking, you are clearly, mal-élévé with une mauvaise éducation. Basically, no one taught you any manners.

I certainly do not want my kids to be rude - I will always teach them to be polite and considerate of others. But, is all this formality really necessary? And what if someone with who they should normally use the "vous" (a teacher or elder, for example), talks to them badly - should they really have to maintain a certain respect level just because it's the done thing? How will I ever get a handle on this French way of interacting? If I think it's silly, how will that not rub off on my poor Franco-American (unborn) children? (I realize I am fretting over kids that are not even In Utero, but just hear me out :-)

My first response to my Moom was, "Well, that will be Copain's job." But then I thought again... of course there will be times when I am in public with my kids and Copain is not there. Though I will only speak in English with them, they will speak in French with those around them, and surely I will need to correct their levels of politesse - in French. Génial.  This means I had better figure out how I feel about all this stuff - it almost feels as important as religion - what values do you impart on your enfants? Do you both agree on the important stuff? Can I explain to my kids that to me it is a game?

Maybe they just need to learn how to be good players in both countries... whether they are bluffing or not.

*The Vous Kills Me

La Victoire

At the end of my physical therapy session today, my kiné slapped her hand on her forehead and said, "oh la la! We were supposed to use the "tu!".  (insert return of the awkward feeling here- why does she keep doing this?!)  I once again reiterated the fact that ce n'était pas grave - it wasn't a big deal.  I told her that after 7 years in France, I just still couldn't quite get the hang of this tu/vous business.  She told me that she still hadn't gotten the hang of it after 33 years... then, like music to my ears, she said, " Tu as ta carte vitale?".

That's what I like to call victory ladies and gents.

Tu Veux Un Update?

After my terrible, horrible, no good, very bad experience with Le Vous at my physical therapist's office, I was absolutely DREADING my RDV last Thursday.  I gave myself a pep talk before going in her office and I basically pretended like nothing had gone wrong last time ...no I had not inappropriately told her that she could tutoyer me, no there had not been a million awkward moments that followed.


She gave me a bizarre "Bonjour" as she walked through the waiting room to wash her hands and we didn't mention it once during my therapy session - so far, so good.

Then Monday happened.

We were doing the electrodes whilst she gave me the mini-massage (so that we would have time for "exercise"), when she said, "On s'est dit qu'on aller se tutoyer, non?" (We said we were going to use the tu, didn't we?).  Oh. Dear. God. Why does this happen to me?

Then, just to up the awkward ante a little more, I said, "Oh yes, we did, but last time I felt like maybe you didn't feel comfortable with that.  And you're right, it is hard to switch.".

Then we used the vous. For the entire rest of the session.

Paris Eats - Salon de Thé Style

I had plans to meet for un café with my Dancer Friend from Cali on Friday afternoon - I needed girl time, stat. Dancer Friend wanted to go someplace "fancy" and "girly", so I threw out the old staples as ideas: Angelina, LaDurée, Mariage Frères, A Priori Thé. And then I got smart and asked My Very Parisian Friend for her suggestions...

She sent us to La Jacobine on rue Saint André des Arts, near Odéon, for a very 6ème arrondissement approach to café entre copines. 


While we had a bit of trouble finding it - probably because we were gabbing instead of looking for addresses, and also because I had forgotten that it was located in a covered passageway (so charming!), it was worth the search!

We both ordered the same dessert - crumble poire, bananes et chocolat (a pear, banana and chocolate crumble!) - and then threw a slight variation on the coffees: I got a café crème and she got the fancier cappuccino with a little shake of chocolate powder on top. When were were served, we knew we'd made the right choice - the crumble smell was trop, trop bon!

Big ol' crumble with a little bowl of crème fraiche

Mine stuck together a bit more - both were délicieux!

Café crème - with a mini speculoos poking out on the left

Fancy cappuccino

The servers were kind, the ambiance was cosy and the music was just right...we thoroughly enjoyed our crumbles and I will certainly be back.  The prices were in line with the neighborhood norms - so, slightly high if you're just a girl from the 11ème, like me.  But it was worth it!  Crumbles - 8.50 Euros each (we could have shared though), and coffees - 4.50 Euros each.

Want to try out La Jacobine - it comes recommended by My Very Parisian Friend!

59-61 rue Saint André des Arts

75006 Paris

Tel: 01 46 34 15 95

Sidenote - I didn't test out les toilettes, but if it's in the 6ème, I'm thinking they probably pass the test!

Copain-isms - When You're Triste

I've been having a blah week - maybe it's  La Crève, maybe it's my run-in with Le Vous, maybe it's just being almost 30 and thinking too much about My Life.  In any case, Copain caught on to my feeling a bit triste about la vie and asked me...

Cannes Cannes, what's wrong?  Are you blue? 


This morning he told me, chin up babe, because right now, your chin is down.

Gotta love that Frenchie.

Dans les Rues de Paris - Literally

Où: Place de Vosges

Quand: approximately 6:30pm

Qui: the world may never know, but we suspect a sneaky art gallery curator - you know those curators

Pourquoi: because how else are you going to hold a parking spot? Obviously a chair and an old wooden box are the only answer. Voilà.

Hipster Heaven

I found this link on another one of the blogs I love (thank you Amy!) - you have to have to have to go and check out Verbal Vomit by Hannah Hillam, especially the posts on How to Be a Hipster -chapters 1, 2 and 3 - HILARIOUS.

After reading Hannah's post, I took a walk through the Marais, holy hipsters batman! The Marais = Hipster Heaven.  It's ah-mazing. I can't NOT see them now.

I think this is what the French would call a Bobo - bourgeois/bohemian - the kind of folks who manage to spend 80 Euros on a shirt that looks like it came from the Goodwill (or rather, Emmaüs, if you are français). This New York Times article sums it up well, and even though it was published in the year 2000, the Bobos are still a thriving breed here in gay Pareee. They've even started affecting the real estate market in France according to this article...

Merci Hannah, spectacular posts.

The Socialists and the Tu!

After my super embarrassing moment at the kiné this week, I've been riled up about le vous - or rather, the vouvoiement.  However, I feel a slight sense of victory this evening as I watch the Socialist primaries à la télévision.  Martine Aubry and François Hollande, the left candidates for the upcoming French presidential elections, ARE USING THE "TU" WITH EACH OTHER!!!

This may not seem like a big deal - they obviously know each other, they are equals and are even a part of the same political party. However, French tradition shows us that candidates never use the "tu" during televised debates.  Candidates formally "vouvoyer" each other as they heatedly discuss the economy, unemployment and the debt! Perhaps this is because Martine and François are from the same party - perhaps they would use the "vous" with Nicholas Sarkozy (who is from the right).

Watch Ségolène Royal and Nicholas Sarkozy use the almighty "vous" in this debate from 2007.  Such good actors they are!

I think I will be forever baffled by the tu, the vous and François Hollande's make up.

Les Vendanges de Montmartre

Copain and I took a tour of Les Vendanges de Montmartre on Saturday for some village-y fun in the heart of Paris' 18th arrondissement...vin chaud, street performers, parades...!

A tap dancing juggler with a fish bowl on his head!

A tiny spectator in the window...

Le Vous - A Tale of Embarrassment

I've been seeing my physical therapist, my kinésithérapeute, for about two months now. 10 half-hour sessions of mini-massages and chatting about anything and everything: my back injury, good restaurants in the area, my job, how she became a kiné etc etc etc.  Bien sur, we vouvoyer each other - in other words, we use the formal "you": Le "vous".

The vous form of "you" shows respect, distance and formality. You use it with elders, people who you don't know, clients, bosses, and people who are further up the hierarchy in general.  Sometimes (often actually) even people of the same family use the vous, or for example, a doctor and a patient.  It's the done thing - ça se fait comme ça.

I've always had a respect problem - just ask my mom and dad. I was the kid, who at 12 years old, talked about how adults need to earn respect and how just because they were older didn't mean I had to respect them.  No one is due respect, it always has to be earned. I guess I still agree with 12 year-old me, and I still have trouble with the French institutions of respect.  I find them nul, studpide, archaïque and above all, hypocrite.

You can despise someone with all your might and still have to use the vous with them. To make matters worse, they may be allowed to use the tu - the informal you- with you, and depending on the situation, you may still have to use the vous with them! Ridicule, I know.

In any case, I have a huge bone to pick with the vous - I'm sure it's a futile bone, but I just can't help but be unnerved by the whole thing.  Which brings me back to my kiné session this evening...

I was lying on the table while my kiné stuck electrodes on my back. We started talking about my general practitioner, then about back surgery, and then, out of nowhere, I said: "vous savez, vous pouvez me tutoyer, si vous voulez" -"you know, you can use the tu with me, if you'd like."

I immediately wished I hadn't offered at all. She was visibly embarrassed that I had suggested it and told me that it was hard for her to use the tu with her patients.  I told her that I understood and that it was no big deal if she preferred to use the vous, but that if it was easier for her, I just wanted her to know that I was okay with it.  You see, here is the other thing about the vous - it is always the person in the position of power who can suggest that you drop the act and use the tu.  For example: an elder can tell a young person that  it's okay to use tu / a teacher can tell a student it's okay / a boss can tell an employee - but never the other way around.  I knew that since I was the patient,  the client, if you will, that it was up to me to tell her that it was okay. I didn't suggest that I would then use the tu back to her - but it is usually implied that when one person offers, both people use the tu. 


She told me that she could try but that it would be difficult and that she was "touchée" - touched- that I would offer.  I reiterated that it really was not a problem if she preferred not to, but then I also explained that I felt pretty ridiculous using the vous with her, seeing as how we are both young women who are pretty much the same age - it felt like a false air of formality that really wasn't necessary.

We'll see how my next session on Thursday goes; I'll be obligated to use the vous with her until she lets go of her obligation to French forms of respect and realizes that it's cool, she can use the tu with me and I won't think any less of her or think that we are close friends or lose any level of respect for her expertise.  She can still be the kiné and I can still be la patiente and we can use the freakin tu for goodness sakes.

For my Frenchie readers - did I completely cross the line? Was it weird to offer to use the tu seeing as how I see her twice a week and we are the same age?!  Au secours!

In Honor of Fall - Partie II

I just can't kick the cooking bug when the weather gets cool...

Since I'm still fighting La Crève and since Copain is probably going to be next, we decided to stay in on Saturday night and warm ourselves up with hot soup and cookies.

My strange soup creation - fèves (fava beans), carrots and onion with parmesan on top

Snickerdoodles with with a twist - apples inside! (A great way to use the apples I hate to eat!)

And of course, Sunday morning I thoroughly enjoyed my banana bread and coffee - le bonheur total :-)

In Honor of Fall

I know we all thought that Fall had arrived a few weeks ago - you remember - right before the temperature started hitting 28°C and all the Parisiennes busted out the maxi dresses again? Well, mes amis, I think that Fall is back and is here to stay!

In honor of scarves, beige trench coats and the season of adding cinnamon to everything, I decided to make my first banana bread de l'automne:

I used my Momma's recipe but halved the sugar for French taste buds and instead of chocolate chips (which I didn't have) added cut up dried figs to the batter.  I already ate two pieces (shhhh) but what I'm really looking forward to is my morning cup of coffee, a thick slice warmed up with a thick pad of butter on top! Trop bon...

American Fridays with Gertrude and Alice

Oh la la, I did it again - I had an American Friday at Starbucks.  Only this time, I got all intellectual and stuff.  I blame the new lunettes.

It was a rainy day in Paris yesterday - the perfect kind of day for a hot mug of something and a good book...

Despite my best efforts at reading an actual book, I was over this one before I even finished my latte (in a for-here mug I must point out! - so eco, that Cannes Cannes).  Gertrude Stein tries to make the book read how Alice B. Toklas actually spoke.  I just have to say right here and now, I could never have been friends with Alice! The woman can't finish a thought to save her life. 

I contemplated leaving the book in Starbucks, but then didn't want a good samaritan to come running after me with "the book I forgot".  As I walked around Les Halles later that day, I couldn't help but look around for spots to "donate" my book.  Then I thought that might be considered littering and thought better of it...

The book is now with me here in my mini-appartement taking up precious space, which in all honesty, makes me even more irritated at Gertrude. Not only did I have to lug a book I'll never read around Les Halles, but now Ms Stein's writing is using up part of my 28.85 meters squared.  Merde. 

Cannes Cannes and La Crève

When your throat starts to hurt, your nose starts to run, and overall you feel like a pile of doggy merde, the French know that you have La Crève. 


If you go to work and tell your co-workers that you have La Crève, not only will they immediately sympathize with you, but they will also mention that you should se couvrir (cover up!), mettre une echarpe (put on a scarf!) and eviter les courants d'air (avoid drafts of air!).

All French people know that not covering up, not wearing a scarf, all while standing in the middle of a draft of air, will immediately bring on La Crève.

This will then call for such medication as Lysopaïne (some kind of sugar-free vitamin-looking tablet thing that is supposed to make your throat feel better), Physiodose (sea water spray that you shoot up your nose and then blow out) and the tried and true Doliprane, Nurofen and Actifed Rhume. (Note from the pharmacienne: Actifed ne sert à rien - isn't worth taking- unless you are also shooting Physiodose up your nose on a daily basis...good to know.)

Lucky Cannes Cannes got La Crève last Saturday - 250 thousand billion trillion million kleenexes and nasty coughs later, and I now look like Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer's long lost American cousin.  To all of my Frenchie friends,  please note that I am diligently covering myself, wearing my scarf and avoiding drafts of air, all while sucking on Lysopaïne, shooting salt water up my nose and timing when I can take my next Actifed.

My Mom's Russian massage therapist would be appalled. Her advice when the going gets tough: Garlic, Vicks and Vodka - or as she likes to tell me (as she digs her Russian thumbs into my back), Wicks and Wodka! Then you feel better!


Why do the French make things so complicated?

Lunettes for Cannes Cannes

After seven years in France and seven years of French health insurance, I finally threw in the towel and got some French prescription glasses.

Every year before 2011, I've gone to Costco during my trips home and gotten a brand new pair of lunettes for under 100 dollars (yes! only 100 dollars people!) - guess how much these new puppies were? Yeah, well, let's just say it used up my entire insurance coverage for glasses this year...

Good ol' Fabrice at Les Opticiens du Marais hooked me up with my new and improved specs! Check them out:

They are made by Cutler and Gross of London (ok, ok, I got English glasses...) and they look nothing like any prescription glasses I've had before...and also strangely a lot like the faux glasses I requested for Christmas '92 and then wore all Christmas morning while opening my presents.  hmmm

Fabrice, my opticien bff suggested them, and after about 10 minutes of pondering my face in the mirror, I went with it.  Copain was on board too. Voila - the new (non-Costco lunette-faced) me! 

I feel ever so Parisienne with my new specs...

Un Après-Midi Parfait à Paris

I'm a little embarrassed to admit this, but last Friday, after my swimming session at la piscine, I bought Elle, got a latte and a cinnamon roll, and parked it on la terrasse...trop bien.  Sometimes I just have to own being American, and Friday was that day :-)

French Riviera Fashion Report Does Paris - Pompidou Style

When you're out by the Pomps, you gotta rock your artistic side in style...

High-water purple corduroys, brown corduroy hat, black vest, blue tennies, big cigar - voila!

Dans Les Rues de Paris - Street Art Style