French Cannes Cannes

Is This Food?

2012-02-11T07:00:00.001+01:00

According to my hunter / fisherman brother - this is the nec plus ultra in breakfast food. Behold the almighty biscuits and gravy. With an extra side of bacon. Oh. Good. God.

Heart Attack On A Plate.

4 Baby Girls

2012-02-10T07:00:00.000+01:00

There's a baby boom in the land of FCC - in under two months, my friends from around the globe have given birth to FOUR baby girls.

1. 100% American couple from California gave birth to Lily in December.

2. 50% French, 50% American couple from New York gave birth to Mathilde on the same day.

3. 50% French, 50% English couple from Caen just gave birth to Joanna on February 3rd.

4. 100% French couple from Paris are due in two weeks with a yet-to-be-named baby girl.

Lily, Mathilde, Joanna and soon-to-be-born Baby Girl - crazy non?

Copain and I did some massive baby shopping at BHV on Saturday so that we could shower gifts on the new mamans and papas, which was of course followed by massive baby gift wrapping:

Our Frenchie friends (who live right down the the street!) also got some babysitting gift certificates :-)

It's so bizarre when your friends become parents ! It will be interesting to see how each little girl grows up with their various nationalities and homes in different parts of the world. Will the Americans know how to pronounce Mathilde? Will Joanna grow up speaking English too? It's fascinating don't you think?!

Here's to the four new healthy, happy baby girls that are now a part of our world...Félicitations mes amis!

30th

2012-02-09T07:00:00.000+01:00

Copain turns 30 today. The big 3-0. We're headed to Toulouse to celebrate with his parentals this weekend - a resto gastronomique is on the agenda, along with presents and lots of champagne (yes!).

He's been a bit stressed about this whole turning 30 thing - especially since it seems as though everyone is planning important 30th birthday events in our circle of friends. My colleague privatized a restaurant and offered a three course dinner to his group of friends, our other Frenchie friend is inviting a huge group to Marrakech for two nights in a fancy riad with a big birthday party, and another friend privatized a POOL in Paris for a gigantic pool party... the list goes on and on.

Somehow, the idea of planning anything makes me want to heave. So, needless to say, I understand his stress. While I toyed with the idea of planning a big bash for him, I just couldn't get it together - our friends live all over the world - not just in Paris. Instead, I planned a weekend away to a surprise destination, just the two of us. Normally I would feel that a weekend away is a great gift, but it's hard to see the silver lining when you compare it to all of these huge birthday events.

What is with the 30th birthday thing? Why didn't I get a memo five years ago that this was going to be a big deal?

30 Days of Lists is Back!

2012-02-08T07:00:00.001+01:00

Remember 30 Days of Lists?! Well, it's baaaaaaaaack - and this time I'm registered for the private blog and list prompts - yeseriebob!

It was created by Amy of Lemon and Raspberry and Kam of Campfire Chic - and if I'm not mistaken, this is the third round of 30 Days of Lists. While I can't quite get it together to make a notebook for my lists, I'll be blogging them here on French Cannes Cannes starting March 1st when the listing begins! I'm going to do my best to contribute to the Flickr group they've created as well - it will be my 2012, 30 Days of Lists Challenge. (Je suis tellement nulle pour ce genre de choses...)

If you're in a 30 Days of Lists mood, click here to register :-)

A bientôt Listers,

FCC

Malade

2012-02-07T12:54:00.000+01:00

The plethora of viruses running about Paris has finally caught up with me - bah oui, je suis malade.

Maybe it was the one time I took the metro last week, maybe it was when I kept closing the restaurant door to keep out the cold at brunch, maybe it was the brunch! (cough, cough, sneeze - gross!) Whatever, wherever, it hit me yesterday - at work. super nul.

It's a lovely little maladie that keeps you at home - lest you want to share in the pleasure of running to the bathroom every five seconds with your colleagues - it's what the French call...Le Gastro.

Ah, the almighty gastro - spreading around Parisians on shared metro poles, Velibs handles, through airborne bits of nasty - mutating into various strains that have actually KILLED two children this year. The gastro is not to be messed with; it disrupts your entire intestinal tract and basically works to clear you of anything and everything in your system, by whatever means necessary (I'll let you extrapolate on that - you know, in your head).

If I'd had a thermometer at work yesterday, I surely would have taken my temperature, seen that I had a fever, and hit the road. But I didn't notice my flushed face until the end of the day - the cherry on top of my aches, pains, and complete lack of appetite.

Thankfully, I don't think I have the killer gastro, just a mild one (nothing like poor Copain's bout back in November). But still, this little dirt-bag has kept me home from work today, in bed until 12pm with wonky sick dreams...

Dude.

Un Petit Merci

2012-02-04T11:03:00.000+01:00

Un petit merci to my newest follower - Nina Ballerina. Bonjour Nina!

Hibernation

2012-02-04T10:50:00.000+01:00

I promise I haven't gone into hibernation - but the idea is not far off. Le Grand Froid (The Big Cold!!) has hit France and it is FREEEEEEEZING.

All I want to do is throw fifteen blankets on top of myself and lie in bed all day.

Copain and I have had to s'équiper (equipe ourselves!) for an honest to goodness winter. Un vrai hiver...

Clément the Casque now goes over a tight-weave beanie for my ice cube ears, and I have to literally wrap a scarf around my face and tuck it under my glasses to make the Velib ride to work everyday - lest I risk losing my nose. I move my face around like a clown warming up for a performance as I ride up boulevard Beaumarchais - just trying to keep some blood flow to my face.

It's that cold, people. Like really, really cold.

The worst part of the Velib ride through the Parisian Arctic is trying to keep feeling in my fingers. Yesterday, I tried wearing two pairs of gloves, but it just made the situation worse and stopped feeling even faster than roughing it with one pair. I had to pull over and quickly remove the second pair in the hopes that a tiny bit of feeling would come back for the rest of the ride. As I stare longingly at the français in their heated voitures, I shake my arms and hands like a crazy lady at stop lights, in an attempt to keep from freezing.

Knowing that her son has a thing against heater-usage, Belle-Mère intervened and bought us an economical space heater, right before Le Grand Froid hit. Behold, my savoir:

Faker

2012-01-23T07:00:00.000+01:00

Saturday night was a girlfriend night - we tried out the restaurant Les P'tites Indécises - more on that later! In any case, it was one of those nights were you chat about everything and anything until, holy moly, it's 1:30 and if we don't peace out right this very minute, we are definitely going to miss the metro.

My copine cut her losses and jumped in a cab, where I risked the metro since I wasn't too far from my hood anyways. When I got home, Copain was already in bed, fast asleep. I read a few blogs to get sleepy and come down from my foodie high of foie gras, noix de saint-jacques and a café gourmand... ah the lovely goodness of a stellar French meal....

As LaLaLand was fast approaching, suddenly I was jolted awake by the sounds of what was surely a dying cat. I sat up in bed to see where the commotion was coming from, and there it was again - coming straight from the mouth of none other than - Copain.

He rolled over - aiiiieeeeeeeeeeeeee

He turned in head - owwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww

He stopped moving - eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

I thought perhaps his appendix was about to burst or his eye was popping out of his head, but it turns out that no, that extreme expression of pain was coming from....wait for it...

His back.

Herniated disc? dislocated vertebrae? broken bones? torn muscle?

No, no. Just your plain old, run of the mill, backache. AKA muscle pain.

aiiiiiiieeeeeeeeeeeee

owwwwwwwwwwwwww

eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

Needless to say, it was a bit, errrr, dramatic. And at five in the morning, my patience was wearing thin.

After an hour of not. sleeping. at. all I decided to take matters into my own hands. I got up, huffed to the medicine cabinet, took out 1000 milligrams of Doliprane and popped it directly into Copain's mouth. Unfortunately, I was not aware that Copain was still sleeping and so on top of his back pain, he was now very close to choking on a horse pill.

Fortunately, the water bottle flying towards his face woke him up (I may have splashed a little...) and approximately five minutes after ingesting My Favorite Medicine EVER, he finally stopped his attempts at Best Dramatic Performance and fell asleep.

It's no wonder women give birth.

Allez-y Belles Bananes!

2012-01-22T18:16:00.000+01:00

It was a marché morning for me and Copain.

4 kilos of pears

2 kilos of clementines

2 kilos of onions

Lots of potatoes

1 kilo of carrots

3 pineapples

6 zucchinis

3 persimmons (kaki!)

2 heads of lettuce

1 bunch of coriander

...and 5 belles bananes!!

The guy selling us all of our wonderful goodness kept yelling at the marché-goers...Allez-y belles bananes! Allez-y belles bananes! Come on! Beautiful bananas! Go ahead! Beautiful bananas! We tried to order our clementines with a straight face, but Copain couldn't take it anymore. He burst out laughing as we paid 2.50 for our marché loot. Then, for the entire marché morning, I got to listen to Copain's impression of the stand holder...

Allez-y! Belles Bananes!!

That guy should definitely go into marketing - we've been singing his jingle allllll day.

Paris Eats - Oh Mon Cake!

2012-01-18T07:00:00.000+01:00

In an effort to avoid the millions and millions of people taking advantage of les soldes on the rue de Rivoli, Copain and I took the rue Saint Honoré on our way to la Madeleine on Saturday (he got to pick up his new watch, a gift from his maman and papa for his 30th birthday).

I'd heard of the rue Saint Honoré, but never really paid attention to whether I was taking that particular street or not (sometimes I wander without paying much attention). Saturday, however, I was VERY aware that I was on the rue Saint Honoré - fur coats, designer It-bags, fancy cars - it was like the back street version of La Croisette - great for people watching even if you can't afford anything!

Just as I was starting to get a bit hungry, and just as I began planning my request to stop for a crêpe somewhere, I looked to my right and saw Oh Mon Cake! Did you just say cake? Um, yes, don't mind if I do! Thankfully, Copain was on board for a cake adventure, so we stopped in to try it out.

How cute is this place?

The minute I saw carrot cake in the window, I knew it had to be mine. Behold my (okay, our) carrot cake and latte:

Inspiration at the Parc Floral

2012-01-17T07:00:00.002+01:00

Despite my overwhelming desire to brave the soldes again on Sunday, Copain convinced me to hop on a bike and pedal our way down the the Bois de Vincennes. Initially, I was irritated - my life-changing coat was awaiting me at Comptoir des Cotonniers! But my bad attitude quickly dissipated when we arrived at the Parc Floral right next door and saw all of this goodness:

coucou L'oie!

Cannes Cannes' Creations - Muffins with Coconut Oil

2012-01-16T07:00:00.003+01:00

I wanted to give you a coconut oil update! I just tried making muffins, and while I was a little concerned at first (can I microwave coconut oil to soften it?!), they turned out great!

Check it out:

It was really an improv recipe - some coconut oil, brown sugar, vanilla, salt, baking soda, 1 egg and some milk for the base; then I added raisins, softened pears, cinnamon, oats, flour and corn flour. Since I eat these for breakfast, I added various seeds on top for a little more va-va-voom to my morning (flax seed, sunflower seeds). Voila! I baked them until they looked done and then promptly taste-tested one.

FCC says: trop bon! They were fluffier than my normal muffins that I usually make with butter, but the taste was richer somehow. I'm so happy that my coconut oil adventure worked! Merci Alt-Mama!

Oh La La J'adore - How to Fake French

2012-01-15T10:00:00.002+01:00

I came across this video on Facebook - it's hilarious! How to Fake French gets two enthusiastic thumbs up from French Cannes Cannes!

Bien joué les filles! J'adore :-)

Les Soldes

2012-01-14T11:38:00.000+01:00

It's that special time of year in France when everyone's back from visiting family, the galette des rois graces the windows of every boulangerie, the New Year's resolutions are in full force, and les soldes begin to take over your life.

Les soldes are a semi-annual phenomenon in France when almost everything in almost every single store, goes on sale. The dates are set by the government and dérogations, or special requests have to be made to change the dates for your particular store or region due to extenuating circumstances. For example, one of the French regions close to Belgium requested a dérogation to change their soldes dates so that they could compete equally with the Belgium sale dates! This is serious, governmental stuff mes amis.

Some people live for the soldes. You'll often hear people saying, "Oh j'adore this coat - but I'll wait for les soldes." Copain is guilty of this on a regular basis. I, however, am not. My reasons are three-fold:

1. I want the coat now.

2. The coat is probably useful now and probably won't be when it's time for les soldes.

3. When the coat is en solde, let's be honest, are they really going to have the exact same one that I wanted two months ago, in my size, in perfect condition? Probably not.

And so, if I find it and love it (and can afford it), I buy it right then - not when it's les soldes.

On the other hand, if I simply happen to find a coat during les soldes that I do love, of course I buy it - les soldes are a great time to stock up! I'm just not the kind of person who can regulate my spending and love for clothing based on dates set by the French government.

Leave it to me to completely forget about les soldes this year. I was biking home from work on Tuesday night and all of the shopkeepers were outside, applying SOLDES stickers to their windows. Ah oui, les soldes... j'avais completement oublié!

Les soldes started on Wednesday, the 11th of January. By the time I got off work, the streets were full of beautiful people and their shopping bags - Gérard Darel, Biscotte, Zara, Les Petites, Muji, Jonak...I wanted those shopping bags. I wanted to shop. I needed to shop. Why was I on a Velib, on my way to the grocery store?! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

You see, this is what les soldes do to you. They get under your skin, they obsesses you, all you can think about is getting a great deal - even if it's something you didn't really need or want in the first place! You only have this amazing pair of boots in size 40? Well, I'm usually a 39, but I'm sure with an extra Dr Scholls shoe insert, they will fit perfectly!! See what I mean?

After spending your life savings on Christmas and Hanukkah gifts, les soldes make you spend more. It's completely impossible to avoid them - as I type this, Copain is at Zara for the second time this week and I am having withdrawals knowing that les soldes are going on and I am in my pjs, missing everything! It's a horrible, horrible cycle that clearly renders me helpless and feeds the relentless consumerism I so wish I was strong enough to avoid.

Damn you soldes.

Bah!

Cannes Cannes Curiosity - Coconut Oil?

2012-01-13T08:00:00.001+01:00

I was catching up on blogs earlier this week and found a very cool recipe for holiday spice cookies using coconut oil instead of butter from Alt-Mama. Just like my search for molasses, I was determined to find coconut oil in France and the organic grocery store biocoop did not disappoint!

Check it out:

Dans les Rues de Paris - Dancer Dreams

2012-01-12T10:00:00.001+01:00

On my way home from work, I glimpsed this lovely scene in the Repetto window. I had to stop and capture it in a photo. I have a bouquet of old pointe shoes at my parents house that I will never throw away... years of hours in the studio, so proud to finally be dancing en pointe. I wouldn't dream of putting on a pair today; I love the feeling of the wood floor under my feet. But at the time, those pointe shoes meant so much to my young dancer-self.

My 2011 Christmas Card**

2012-01-11T14:12:00.001+01:00

**sent to friends and family, printed and folded in my handmade holiday cards, with the inscription "Bonne Fêtes! Bonne année! Bises!".

An American Christmas

December 2011

Copain and I landed at LAX on December 17^th, stopped in at Yogurtland for some American frozen yogurt goodness and promptly hopped back on the congested LA freeway until we arrived in my Christmas-light bedazzled childhood neighborhood. Ah, to be home for the holidays!

My Dad had branched out from the usual single strand of red and green alternating lights, adding some lamp post décor and a lit up angel near the front porch. Now that’s what I call holiday spirit.

After treating our suitcases for any potential bed bugs picked up along our travels (you may think I’m crazy but read bedbugger.com and you’ll never want to be near a traveling suitcase again!), I was finally able to enjoy all that is Christmas at our cozy house - a gigantic illuminated Christmas tree, the decorations from my childhood (life-size Santa doll, the tie I accidentally cut while wrapping for my Dad, which has now become the annual piece de resistance on our Christmas tree, the little light-up snow igloo and peppermints in bowls all over the house…). But the part that I had forgotten was the American Christmas card.

My Mom had started collecting all of the 2011 cards that our family had already received in a large brass bowl. My brother and I took them out, one by one, and started reading about the people we grew up with, their kids, their kids’ kids and all that was going on in their lives. Copain sat next to us on the couch, utterly confused - what on earth were these narratives, printed on holiday paper and sent with a photo?! After spending every Christmas in France until 2011, I realized that he had so much to learn about the American holiday season - so much beyond the succinct French New Year’s Card which generally consists of the following:

Bonnes Fêtes! Bonne Année! Bises! (Happy Holidays, Happy New Years, Kisses)

I fully plan on filling Copain in on the following American amazingness (in no particular order):

Egg nog - leave it to us Americans to mix up raw eggs, dairy fat and spices and call it a holiday drink. It will be hard to explain this one to the vin-chaud drinking Frenchman, but I fully intend on doing it.

Christmas lights, Candy Cane Lane style - I’ve already told Copain about the most-decorated street in our neighborhood and about how we all drive around in a big circle admiring the lights. Copain has already expressed his disgust in the fact that this activity is a driving activity and has requested that we actually park, get out of the car, and walk. We are considering his request, but with this cold California winter we’re having, we may not make it outside for long…

Sees Candy- it’s a well-known fact that a home without Sees Candy over the holidays is Scrooge-ville - or is trying to make it through the holidays on Atkins. Thankfully, with my Dad’s police department hook up to the Sees Candy seconds store (the ugly chocolates that don’t make the cut!) there’s never a chocolate shortage Chez the FCC clan. So far, I’ve introduced Copain to Milk Chocolate Butter Creams, Scotch Mallows and Dark Chocolate Butter Chews. Perhaps if I’m feeling motivated, I’ll take him to the real live Sees Candy store for a free sample - the Frenchman in him, the part that wants anything for free five hundred times more than if he actually had to pay for it, even if it’s just a newspaper at the airport or the free socks on Air Tahiti Nui, will LOVE me for it.

Secret Santa - now this has been a very hard concept for Copain, but we’re trying to be patient with him. Lists, secrets, waiting for actual Christmas day to open a present? After 28 years of knowing his gift by December 10^th and having no one to buy presents for but Maman and Papa, this whole Secret Santa thing with the FCCs has thrown him for a loop. Wait until we make him put on red and green pjs on the 24^th - he won’t even know what hit him.

The Schedule - would you think any less of my family? Of course there is a Christmas day schedule! This is how it has been from the beginning of time, and this is how it will be until the end of time. It goes like this:

The first one to wake up runs around waking up everyone else. This used to be my little brother and sister, but now it’s the old farts who can’t sleep.
Make the coffee. You are not allowed to go into the Christmas Tree And Stocking Area until Mom has her coffee. This rule now also applies to all of the other coffee-addicts in the house.
Once coffee is running through our veins and Dad has turned on Nat King Cole and made a fire - even if it’s 80 degrees outside - we can open our stockings.
When stockings are done, it’s time for breakfast which always consists of: more coffee, orange juice, bacon, and Pillsbury cinnamon rolls from the can that makes the scary pop when you open it.
Fight about who gets the cinnamon roll in the middle of the pan with the most frosting.
Only when breakfast is over may we open presents - one by one- until there are no more presents to open. Dad gets a cheap thrill by filling up a trash bag with wrapping paper and ribbons.
Getting dressed is not an option. Pjs stay on for the rest of the day.

Christmas Movies - American Christmas 101 would not be complete without making Copain watch Elf, Christmas Vacation, and The Christmas Story. If he does not know the significance of “You’ll shoot your eye out!” by the end of the December, I will consider myself an utter failure.

So in true multi-cultural form - and in honor of our first Christmas in the U.S of A, we present to you the Franco-American holiday card:

We are loving our Parisian adventure in our mini-apartment, nestled in the 11^th arrondissement. Copain has begun his CPA training while he works as a financial auditor, and I continue to work (at my non-blog-able job) in the Marais. We spend our weekends testing out the endless Parisian restaurants (which I love writing about on my blog), buying fruits and veggies at the crazy Marche at Place d’Aligre - (where Copain loves bartering - everything for one euro!!), and exploring the nooks and crannies that make up the City of Light. We are avid bike riders and use the public bike system called Velib - FCC the American wears a helmet and Copain the Frenchie does not. Trying not to die is the goal as we ride alongside the crazy Parisian drivers. We zip up and down the Seine river and still have to pinch ourselves when we stop on the Pont Neuf bridge and look out over the beautiful ville de Paris.

Our life is not all baguettes and cafes, we’ve also become pros at the art of living in small spaces and have resigned ourselves to the fact that we will never be homeowners in the fabulously expensive French capital. Perhaps that’s not such a bad thing, since most apartment windows are still from the 1800s and exploding pipes and the subsequent water damage that ensues, are de rigueur. We have thus invested in a super duper dehumidifier and are hoping that we both get Snuggies this Christmas - insulation is not our apartment‘s strong point.

In happier news, I got French nationality in November 2010 and Copain came back from 6 months of travel and study in the United States. Our new favorite hobby is to play “My country is better than yours“. Don’t worry, I usually win. Mostly because I can fight to the death and Copain would rather watch a French political satire show on his Ipad that continues to poke fun at the American political system and Americans in general. We are a happy home.

So as you gather with friends and family for the 2011 holiday season, we wish you all the strange American holiday goodness in the world and the good ol’ French standard:

Bonnes Fêtes! Bonne Année! Bises!

Love,

FCC and Copain (who thinks this card is really weird and way too long.)

Paris Eats - Chinese Style!

2012-01-09T08:00:00.002+01:00

For our first Parisian weekend in 2012, Copain and I decided to try a new restaurant that we've had on our radar since last year: l'Orient d'Or. We happened upon it when we were searching for a restaurant before a one-man show performance at Théâtre Trévise , but they were packed and we couldn't get a table. We promised ourselves that we would go back, and on Saturday night, we did.

This time, we made reservations so that we were sure to get a spot - I highly recommend reservations! I was impressed with the menu, which was actually a book - very hip, I say. Inside were stories about the chef and about the Hunan region. The traditional cooking style from Hunan is this particular restaurant's specialty.

Fancy menu

Grasse Matinée

2012-01-08T13:22:00.000+01:00

I had big plans to make big plans for Friday night. I would call a copine, we would get margaritas or kir or some other girly cocktail and talk, talk, talk about our holiday vacations. Then it would be getting late and we would be getting hungry, so we would go find yummy food and order une bouteille de vin and talk, talk, talk some more until it was time to call cabs and fall into bed. Copain had man-plans with Chinois (TV, beer, etc), so it was the perfect night for me to have girl-plans.

Ethel

2012-01-07T12:00:00.001+01:00

I became suspicious one day as I put on makeup in my teeny bathroom and saw a glimmer in the mirror. My suspicion grew when I was washing my hands at work and it caught my eye again. I tossed it off as a leftover blond highlight from September 2010. And then, it reared its ugly head...

This Christmas, Santa gave me A GRAY HAIR.

Just one. gray. hair.

He obviously did not get my memo about bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens. (preferably in brown paper packages tied up with strings...) Gray hairs aren't one of my favorite things... (is bursting into songs from musicals a sign of old age?)

a hem. As I was saying...a gray hair. on my head. in my bangs, to be precise. As soon as the reality of it all struck, I called down the hall, " MOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!!". She came running (probably worried I had fallen in the toilet or burned myself with a curling iron). I showed her Santa's version of coal for adults. And then, she laughed her buttocks off at me. My dad heard her laughing and came to see what the fuss was all about. Then he started laughing his buttocks off.

Then Copain told me that I need to start dying my hair again.

I still refuse to spend 100 euros every three months to cover just one gray hair. Ethel will be cleverly hidden under my other, melanin-rich hairs. And until Ethel makes friends, that is how things will remain.

In other news, I have switched to an anti-wrinkle day cream as a complement to my anti-wrinkle night cream.

Cannes Cannes' Creations - Rock A Bye Baby

2012-01-06T22:19:00.000+01:00

Behold! The completed baby blanket that I started all the way back in November! Funny story about this baby blanket...I was so busy before leaving for vacation that I decided that I would just work really hard on it during the 12 hour flight. This became even more necessary when my Copine called to tell me that she was going to be induced on Friday morning. I was flying out on Saturday and the blanket wasn't even half-finished! Yes, I would work on it during the flight and I'd be almost done by the time our Airbus landed at LAX. What I didn't think about was the fact that a crochet needle could be used as a weapon on a plane. You know, because they are so much pointier than pens...

Blog-cation

2012-01-05T18:36:00.000+01:00

I just got back from Christmas vacation chez The Parental Units in sunny southern California. My little getaway with Copain turned into an untintentional Blog-cation as well because A. My parents' computer is from the dark ages and B. I was having lots of family time and eating time and visiting friends time... and it seemed a shame to obsess about the blog during those precious moments at home. As a result, I feel completely out of the blog loop and have slowly but surely been catching up on my favorite peeps out there (those ones you see in the sidebar :-) ).

I have lots of updates that I'll fill you in on asap (it's almost the weekend which means lots of time for blogging!). To give you a taste until I can really get typing... my Copine gave birth to a beautiful baby girl and I was able to finish the blanket I started for her before leaving (pic on the way!). I even got to visit them in the hospital with Copain, which was very special since I never get to be home for big events now that I live on the other side of the world. Later during my vacation, I learned that another good friend (whose husband is a Frenchie!) also gave birth to a baby girl on the exact same day at the same hour - but in a different time zone. C'est fou non?! Two new sweet babies brought into the world...félicitations mes amies!

I'll see you this weekend my friends...photos and xmas cards and American wonderfulness coming your way!

Dans les Rues de Paris - Père Noël!!!

2011-12-16T18:39:00.000+01:00

Big shout out to My Very Parisian Friend for capturing this amazing photo!

Dans les Rues de Paris - Un Petit Coeur

2011-12-12T07:00:00.000+01:00

Cannes Cannes' Creations - Holiday Cards

2011-12-11T07:00:00.001+01:00

I've come to learn that the Christmas or Holiday card to the American is the New Years card to the French. Americans send holiday cards in December, the French send them in January. So I guess this means I will always be ahead of the game in my adopted country.

As much as I'd like to take a chill pill and just not send holiday cards (finding the card, buying the stamps, writing the cards, addressing them, going to the post office!) - I just can't. I love sending a card to the important people in my life each year. Even if we don't catch up much, even if I only see them at family events. It's a touchstone in the whirlwind that is each year.

This year, I decided that on top of all of the other stress in my life, I wanted to make a holiday card. At first I was going to go the easy route and design a photo that I would just have printed by Snapfish or Kodak Gallery (note to self: you are an idiot for not doing this!). But then, I just couldn't get it together to actually upload my design and order it. Here was one of my ideas:

Cannes Cannes' Creations - Crocheting for Baby Update

2011-12-10T11:24:00.001+01:00

I'm still chugging along with my baby blanket - my copine is due in just 7 days!! I'm not nearly as far along as I would like to be, but I figure I have a 10 hour flight to work on it as well...

My old granny crocheting bag...ps - I just discovered the store COS (I'm in love).

Oh La La J'adore - Sabrina

2011-12-05T07:00:00.002+01:00

How cute are these?

I met the owners of Sabrina last night, Anya and Michel (friends of friends), - and now I want the bag on the right!!

We all went out to dinner at my favorite Turkish restaurant and talked about their boutique on rue du Temple. Apparently this color was made specifically for their new bag collection and I'm loving it. I'll be taking a trip next week because, well, I'm just not sure that I can live without this bag. ps - Obviously I asked to see the insides of the bags - lots of pockets, perfect for metro passes and all of the other stuff we cannot live without. I also asked to try them on (duh!) and they indulged me (merci!).

In the mood for a new bag or wallet? (they do men's bags too). You can find them here - or you can order online!:

Sabrina

56 rue du Temple

75003 Paris

Tel: 01 48 87 28 91

Metro: Rambuteau (line 11) or Hotel de Ville (line 11 or line 1)

Oh La La J'adore - Un Weekend Parfait...

2011-12-04T08:00:00.000+01:00

Starts with this.

Strasbourg - Capitale de Noël

2011-12-03T12:19:00.000+01:00

I've got Christmas fever. All I want to do is watch Elf, make gingerbread and listen to Christmas tunes. It probably helps that it's raining outside and I hate walking in the rain. Plus, all the lights are up in Paris now and the place near our apartment is sporting a lovely decorated Christmas tree. Perfect combo for a holiday home extravaganza n'est pas?

It all started with our trip to Strasbourg - the self-declared "Capitale de Noël". As you know, we almost cancelled our weekend getaway because Copain was hit with the dreaded gastro the Thursday before we were supposed to leave. He decided that he wanted to power through (I'd like to think it's because it was our 7 year anniversary gift and that's how much he loves me, but it was probably because it was too late to cancel the hotel and the thought of giving away 100 euros was slowly killing him - even more than the gastro).

We got up bright and early on Saturday morning to catch our train at the Gare de l'Est. Copain was moving verrrrry slowly, so I planned an hour to get to the station despite the fact that we live 15 minutes away, with metro connections. This was good planning on my part because feeling nauseous and smelly metro travel do not mix. We got to the Gare with plenty of time to do some magazine perusing, and I indulged in a second cup of coffee for the road.

Homemade muffin, coffee, discount card for the under 30! Merci SNCF!

Dans les Rues de Paris - The French Burger

2011-12-01T07:00:00.000+01:00

I recently read this blog about bad French ads. Hilarious. I even saw the Williams gel ad over the weekend in Strasbourg - seriously??? is all that comes to mind.

On my way home today I saw this gem and immediately felt the need to document the "Whaaaaa???" feeling I got when I saw it. Granted, it's not on par with Williams boob man, but still... I don't get it.

I showed the photo to Copain, hoping for some insight. Maybe I just was looking past something. Is there some connection with the term French fries? Copain looked at me like I was stupid (maybe he was roasted?) and then proceeded to explain that Tony Parker is French but lives in the US, so when he comes to France, this is his French burger of choice. But wouldn't this only work if we called burgers, "American Burgers"? Change American to French for a little play on words / location / connection to a country? I'm at a loss. Maybe there's roquefort cheese and foie gras on that burger... making it unquestionably French?

Désolée Tony...je ne comprends pas.

Copain-isms - So Roasted!

2011-11-30T22:09:00.000+01:00

FCC: Hey, what did you guys end up doing last night?

Copain: Oh, we went out to that place where we always go. Don't worry, I didn't get roasted.

FCC: You mean... toasted?

Cuisine de Cannes Cannes - Pain d'Epice Style!

2011-11-29T22:21:00.000+01:00

After our trip to Strasbourg this past weekend, passing by windows and windows like this:

I decided that I absolutely HAD to make pain d'épice - gingerbread! So I figured out how to make it myself in the teeny tiny cuisine de Cannes Cannes :-)

I've made gingerbread in France before, but I used honey because I couldn't figure out what molasses was called here, or where I could find it. This time, however, I went all out and consulted my good friend Google.fr. I found out that molasses is called mélasse in French and can be found in organic food stores, such as Naturalia. Check out my find:

I used a recipe that I found on the Allrecipes website - it's super easy and the gingerbread came out délicieux! Check out the link here - merci Charles! The mélasse from Naturalia worked perfectly. I made the gingerbread in muffin form because it's easier to take to work in the morning - I'm all about easy. I also added apples and dried cranberries for some added kick. We've already eaten three just tonight - it's totally Copain's fault.

Happy baking - they taste amazing hot out of the oven with a glass of cold milk - just like when you're five. Bon appétit!

ps - I made it through Strasbourg with no, errrr, unfortunate events - merci antibacterial gel!!!

Dans Les Rues de Paris - Hey There!

2011-11-28T21:41:00.000+01:00

Copain - Monsieur Malade

2011-11-25T21:34:00.000+01:00

Copain is malade. Super malade. Like had-to-come-home-from-work-and-has-been-on-the-couch-for-two-days malade.

What's worse: we have plans to go to Strasbourg for the Marché de Noël this weekend. Our train tickets are for tomorrow morning.

I asked him if he wanted to cancel, but he tells me that this bug he has should only last 24 hours. It's what the doctor said when she came to our house yesterday - right after he heaved his guts up all over Paris on his way home from work. Good times.

Cuisine de Cannes Cannes - Turkey Day à Paris!

2011-11-23T23:26:00.000+01:00

We're getting ready for Turkey day over here at French Cannes Cannes - the big celebration will take place tomorrow with a group of Frenchies and Americans all mixed together. Normally, Copain and I have a Thanksgiving party and I force our guests to wear headdresses and make turkey hands with construction paper. But since we live in the teeniest apartment of the century, the Turkey Day party chez nous is on hold and has been replaced with a beautiful sit-down dinner with friends - chez someone else.

For me, the importance is that we celebrate and that we uphold the tradition (though I will miss my creation of the Thanksgiving dinner cocktail I had in Cannes - turkey on a stick anyone?).

This year, I am in charge of pecan pie, cornbread and cranberry sauce. I got to work at about 8pm and just finished my soirée of cooking. Behold, my masterpieces:

Dans les Rues de Paris - Potato Sack Race!

2011-11-23T07:00:00.001+01:00

Potato sack / garbage bag - it's all still good fun

Où: Bois de Vincennes

Paris Eats - Sushi Style

2011-11-22T07:00:00.000+01:00

It's not often that I'm willing to trek to the 14th arrondissement for dinner out - but somehow, Copain convinced me that this sushi would be worth it. And you know what? He was RIGHT.

When we arrived, we checked out the menu in the window and tried to decide what we would order. A girl outside smoking a cigarette overheard our conversation and told us that the place "was excellent" and that we should definitely eat there. So... we did.

It was full, full, full, all the way to the back - we were lucky to get a seat at the sushi bar! The servers and the sushi chefs were the real thing - Japanese all the way (right down to the very cool pony tails they were sporting). Copain practiced his Japanese (learned from watching too many Mangas), while we waited for our food:

Our view of the goods

We got two platters - one sashimi and one sushi with the "superior" fish. Why go to sushi if you're not going for superior sushi?!

Close up on the sashimi

Close up on the sushi

The service was very friendly and the sushi, which was made right in front of us, didn't take long to be served. We were in sushi heaven. We also got some miso and rice to round out the meal.

If you are looking for a delish, authentic sushi experience, go to Toritcho!! (Also, make a reservation - we were super lucky to find a spot at the bar, but next time, we are going reservation style).

Toilet report: I was very impressed with the "Sani-siège" in the women's bathroom (a self-cleaning toilet seat!), but I didn't want to push the button to see if it worked. Toilet rating: thumbs up for Paris!

Toritcho

47 rue du Montparnasse

75014 Paris

Tel: 01 43 21 29 97

Metro: Gaïté (line 13), Montparnasse (lines 4, 6, 12, 13) or Edgar Quinet (line 6)

Cuisine de Cannes Cannes - Pumpkin Muffins

2011-11-21T07:00:00.003+01:00

I've been in love with baking muffins ever since it started getting cold in Paris. Basically, I make a muffin batter base, and then I add whatever sounds good in the moment (or whatever I have in the cupboard!): apples, figs, raisins, cranberries, bananas. One thing never changes: cinnamon is always included in my recipes; it's my absolute favorite spice.

My newest creation - pumpkin muffins! I take one to work with me every morning for breakfast and enjoy it with a cup of steaming hot coffee. It's my morning happiness and is delicious after my Velib adventure.

My solution to American pumpkin in a can - Merci Picard!

Ingredients:

1/2 box of frozen purée de potiron from Picard (if you double the recipe, you will use the entire box)

2 cups flour

1/2 tsp salt

1 1/2 tsp baking powder (if you use self-rising flour (farine pour des gateaux), then you can leave this ingredient out)

1 1/2 tsp cinnamon (or more if you are like me and LOVE cinnamon!)

1 tsp ginger

1/4 tsp allspice

4 tbsp softened unsalted butter

3-4 tbsp granulated sugar

1/3 cup brown sugar

1 large egg

1/ cup milk

1 tbsp vanilla extract

raisins, walnuts or dried oats are optional - I think this would also taste amazing with apples or dried cranberries!

My cookbook (and pumpkin in a bag :-)

Directions: (I've simplified here :-)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Cream together butter and sugars, then add the egg, pumpkin, vanilla and milk. Mix well. Add dry ingredients, saving the flour for last. Don't over-mix the batter. If you are using a silicon cupcake mold or cupcake paper cups, then there is no need to grease the pan. However, if you are using a regular cupcake tin, use butter to grease before putting batter into the tin. Bake 20-25 minutes. Yields 6 huge muffins (FCC style!) or 8 to 10 smaller muffins.

After 7 years in France, I still can't cook using the metric measurements! I have cups! If you'd like to switch to metric just go to this conversion chart.

All ready for the oven...

Bon Appétit!

Dans les Rues de Paris - Jump and Jive

2011-11-21T06:04:00.000+01:00

Où: Rue des Francs Bourgeois, on a nice little weekend walk....

7 Years of Beaujolais and Chocolate Cake

2011-11-19T11:59:00.000+01:00

Even though I have a pretty good memory for birthday and anniversaries, France throws me a bone every year. When I start to see this around town, I know that it's time to celebrate:

Classy people that we are, Copain and I met at the Beaujolais wine festival at the Place Saint Pierre in Toulouse when we were étudiants à la fac - so young we were! I'm happy to say that at the moment of meeting, I'd only had one glass - see, bringin' the classy back! Someone from his group of friends knew someone, who knew someone from my group of friends - got that? The most talkative (and enterprising!) member of the group, and Copain's all-time best friend in the whole wide world, made a comment about how we "should all hang out together". Group of French guys + group of American girls? um, okay! I think this is when Copain got the hint that his BFF was working his magic as the ultimate wingman, and since at least one person from each group needed to provide a phone number for our future get togethers, Copain asked me for mine.

Then his BFF tested it to make sure I wasn't lying.

When Copain called me to arrange for the groups to meet - after trying to understand what the heck he was saying to me in French- I rallied my girlfriends and we went to meet les français for sangria at Le Cube (a bar that has now been shut down in Toulouse (sad face). Only, much to our surprise, who awaited us at the table on the terrace? Copain and Wingman - and that's all. We (thankfully) made a perfect little group of five - Copain and his Wingman and me and my girls - and everyone made their best "secretive" efforts for me to sit next to Copain (like going to the bathroom and then choosing a new place to sit upon their return to the table - our friends are smart people, what can I say).

I guess Copain knew me well right from the beginning, because sooner rather than later, he invited me to his house for un gateau au chocolat (totally made by Belle Mère - merci!). Then I invited him to celebrate Thanksgiving at the American apartment in Toulouse. An American classmate offered him a peanut butter cookie (which he ate!) and I quickly learned about his peanut allergy. As he walked me home, wheezing the whole way, I slipped my arm through his, and the rest is history.

This year, we celebrated with two gateaux au chocolat, from Huré bakery.

I've finally accepted, after 7 years, that Copain hates red wine - especially the Beaujolais (I know, I know, I promise you he IS French). So this year, I got us a demi-bouteille de champagne instead.

We kept the classy that we are so famous for by drinking it out of whiskey glasses.

(Truth: we were too lazy to get the champagne glasses out of the boxes we keep them in!).

Happy septième anniversaire.

Les Casques - They're All the Rage

2011-11-18T07:34:00.000+01:00

Confession: When I first tried to use the Velib bike system in Paris, I was scared out of my mind.

Copain, Monsieur No Fear, zipped all over town, sans casque (without a helmet!!) and encouraged me to do the same (scary!!). He had gotten himself a yearly Navigo pass for trois fois rien (practically nothing), and all he had to do was swipe it on the bike stand, grab the bike and voilà. I was stuck at the machine typing in five thousand numbers from my carte bleue to check out a bike for 30 minutes and then riding in constant fear of death on the streets of Paris. Bah.

Then, for my birthday this year, Copain got me my own yearly Navigo pass and took me on Le (infamous) Tour de France. We bought a casque mid-ride at Décathalon, and Clément and I haven't left each others' sides since!

This month, I decided that instead of taking the metro to work, I would try to Velib everyday. I didn't pay for my monthly unlimited metro pass, and instead bought a carnet of 10 tickets just in case. My reasoning was threefold:
1. The monthly metro pass costs 64 Euros! (boooo)
2. You have to take the metro over twice a-day including weekends to amortize the cost. (which I'm pretty sure is not my case - I love walking home after work.)
3. The metro in the cold months is hot, sticky and cramped with a scarf, gloves and peacoat! (double booo).

Hence - VELO!

So far, so good mes amis! I've been a Velib-riding fool these past few weeks, and I've only used about 6 metro tickets for weekend outings at night. I love taking the Velib to work - it's so refreshing to ride a bike in the morning (with Clément the Casque bien sur!) I go from chez moi to the bureau in about 15 minutes depending on traffic (because, yes, I am a rule follower on the crazy streets of Paris). Now, when I have to take the metro, I get annoyed. What? No Velibs? Noooooooooo! (yeah, it happens sometimes). I've even started waking up earlier to insure that there are bikes for me to get to work. Insanity, I tell you. That's how much the Velib rocks my world.

I was reading Oh Happy Day awhile back and found this great post on the Velibs in Paris. The photos are gorgeous and the tips are spot on (merci Jordan!). Jordan explains that not many Velib-riders wear casques (which sadly, was the case!), however, but the times they are a-changin' in Paris - mais oui! I am happy to report that I am not the only casque-wearing dork dans les rues! On my way to work yesterday, I spotted four casques - five, including Clément. Copain still hasn't gotten on the band wagon, but it looks like the other Frenchies are. I feel like less of a huge nerd with my red and white head-protector and I might even take it one step further and wear a yellow reflective vest - that's what I call haute-couture.

Casques - they're all the rage.

Copain-isms - Red Lips

2011-11-17T07:00:00.001+01:00

Copain opened the front door, ready to leave for work. "A tout à l'heure, babe," he said, and he leaned in for a kiss.

"Oh, hey, you put on your chapstick," I said. (Copain loves the American brand Chapstick).

"Yep, I love this stuff! And you put on your..." he stopped to think..."red lips?"

"Lipstick," I corrected him.

"Oh right, lipstick."

And then he was out the door.

American Freak Flag - Starbucks Style

2011-11-16T07:00:00.005+01:00

I couldn't help myself. On Sunday, I totally flew my American freak flag and not only purchased Starbucks Christmas Blend coffee beans (happiness in a bag!), but also bought a tall latte and proceeded to walk around Paris drinking it. outside. in a to-go cup. La honte!

For you Americans this doesn't seem weird at all. But let me tell you how many Frenchies walk around with Starbucks to-go cups in hand: ZERO. Carrying a Starbucks cup is like wearing a neon sign that says, "Why hello there! I'm a foreigner!". Perhaps I should have just worn an American flag cape with sparkles on it, you know, to blend in a bit better.

Dans les Rues de Paris - I Looked Down and There it Was...

2011-11-15T07:00:00.000+01:00

Cannes Cannes' Creations - Crocheting for Baby

2011-11-14T07:00:00.001+01:00

I've told you about my lifelong copine who is pregnant with her first baby. She and her mari recently came to visit us in Paris and we had a great time running around in the rain and eating lots of amazing French food. It was so fun to show them where I've been living and what our lives are like way over here in France.

Now, I'm gearing up for my trip home for Christmas and guess what - she is due the day before I land! The timing couldn't be better, especially for someone like me, who generally misses the big family "life events" since I'm so far away. This copine is my first close American childhood friend to have a baby. So exciting! Since I missed the baby shower, I'm planning on showering her with gifts over Christmas and I already have one gift in the works...(don't worry, she doesn't even have Facebook, I doubt she's reading the blog!). I decided that I wanted to make her a baby blanket. Here is the tricky part - my friend is the pickiest person on the face of the planet. She is a self-declared picky person, so she won't mind that I'm telling you. The woman knows what she likes and that is that.

She is very set on "keeping with the color palette" of the baby's room - a room that includes only one pink thing. One. pink. thing. So, I dared not make a pink blanket - she hates the color pink. Instead, I went on the hunt for yarn in grays and blues to match the bed set she purchased at Dwell Studio. After a bit of Googling, I found a place that sells yarn at great prices (since I didn't know how many skeins I'd need and I also didn't know if I'd get it right the first time, I wanted to get something affordable but good quality and soft for baby).

I went to Cat'laine, 19 rue Saint Marc, 75002 Paris, metro Bourse or Richelieu Drouot. Let me tell you, it was THE place to be on Saturday - the place was packed! They had lots of fun colors and textures to choose from, but I went with something simple - gray and this light blue/turquoise that also has little flecks of gray weaved throughout.

My pelotes de laine from Cat'laine

I hadn't crocheted in a really long time, so I searched for a little "how to" guide on Youtube - wealth of knowledge I tell you! I got started with this video (thank you Knit Witch!) and then I learned how to do the basket weave pattern using this video (Thanks All Free Crochet!) - not bad if I do say so myself:

I think I'm going to do a stripe of gray and then a stripe of blue, but who knows, I claim artistic license :-) I'll keep you posted as I move along in my blanket creation. I've already messed up a bit - I made my initial crochet chain too long and now this baby blanket is going to be more like a toddler blanket. But hey, I guess that just means that she'll get more use out of it!

Crocheting baby blankets - it's a dying art, don't you think? I'm bringin' it back!

Copain-isms - Stucked

2011-11-12T12:45:00.001+01:00

Copain and I were recently shopping for a new vacuum. Such the Suzy homemakers we are...

In any case, the vacuum arrived, we opened it, used it to clean our 28.85 meters squared of apartment, and then Copain said:

"I'm stucked about our new vacuum!"

Stucked / stoked - potato / potahto...

Gaufres, Chocolat Chaud et.... MARSHMALLOWS!

2011-11-12T12:29:00.000+01:00

It was cold and cloudy yesterday, so when my good friends in Vincennes, AKA: Babyland, invited me over to make and then eat, gaufres (waffles), I was like, YES PLEASE!

I arrived just in time for the gouter at around 4pm and was greeted in the petit bois (the little woods), by 2-year-old M on his trotinette (scooter). We scooted over to the apartment where my friends' other little boy (only 5 months!) had just gone down for a nap. We got the waffle machine heated up and then on to waffle making!

I wasn't quite sure what to bring to a Gaufre-Making Extravaganza in France - whipped cream? speculoos spread? Nutella? So I went in another direction and decided to impart my American culture on them, whether they liked it or not. What's the best part about a cold day? Hot chocolate! What's the best part about hot chocolate when you're a kid? MARSHMALLOWS!!! Also, adding sugar to your friends' kid's diet is always greatly appreciated, especially when they are in the throws of potty training! Good times!

My Vincennes Friends humored me by giving me the extra-large American mug, just so that I could have extra marshmallows :-)

Our semi-sweet hot chocolate, made just right with pure-sugar marshmallows - or chamallows if you are of the French persuasion.

Home made gaufres with melted dark chocolate on top - oh the wonderfulness...

I highly recommend hopping up on sugar and then going into a food coma and/or playing with monster trucks and toy trains and then jumping on the trotinette and zipping around the living room until it's time to ahhhh run to the potty because, wow, this potty training stuff is hard and then, Maman, can I have another gaufre???!!!

Paris Eats - Bo Bun Nem Style!

2011-11-12T12:08:00.000+01:00

My Very Parisian Friend is a genius I say! Yesterday she suggested that we meet up for a Bo Bun over at Saveurs d'Asie in the 5th arrondissement - you see, it's her hood, la pauvre. We had been here together once before, but I hadn't taken photos or taken note for the ol' blog. When I got there, she was already one beer in while at the same time, sporting her super-chic St James sweater. I love her, I tell you.

Behold mesdames, messieurs - the amazingness of The Bo Bun Nems!

Yummy sauce, beef, vermicelles (rice noodles), mint, lemongrass, cucumber, salad, carrots, nems - and the clincher - peanuts on top!

Saveurs d'Asie is a funky little place, hidden down in a little niche on Place Maubert. You literally have to go down about 6 steps to get there. If you're lost, ask anyone who looks chic enough to live in the 5th arrondissement where to find the place with the best Pho soup or the best Bo Bun. I had to do this once and it totally worked! Everyone knows this place - it's that good people.

Besides the whole, hidden aspect of the restaurant, you should also know that there are two sides to it: one side (the left) is a "cantine" - low key, no ambiance, very tiny; the other side (the right, duh) is an actual restaurant. I've been to both and I'm not sure why, but for some reason, the cantine rocks it so much more than the restaurant. Go cantine all the way! Take note, however - the cantine is not open for dinner! Also note, if you need to use les toilettes, they are only located in the restaurant, so you may have to take a little trip next door.

My Very Parisian Friend and I both got the Bo Bun Nems for 11 Euros each - totally worth every euro. Then, for dessert, we got my favorite, which I have also tried to recreate at home. I can't for the life of me, remember the name of the dessert, but basically it is tapioca, bananas and coconut milk, sprinkled with peanuts and served hot. To Die For OMG. I only took a few bites because afterwards, I had big plans to eat waffles with my favorite kiddos in Paris! But wow, did I want an entire bowl for myself.

Tapioca yumminess at the top of the photo, my café crème at the bottom...

Feel like treating yourself to a Bo Bun? Here you go!

Saveurs d'Asie

29 Place Maubert

75005 Paris

Metro: Maubert Mutualité (line 10)

Three-Day Weekend - 0 Plans

2011-11-11T11:24:00.000+01:00

Copain is visiting Toulouse this weekend, which means that I am toute seule for three days. November 11th is a holiday in France as it marks the end of WWI. l'Armistice - signed between the Allies and Germany on the "eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month" takes an even greater meaning this year, 2011.

I would usually be excited for a three-day weekend- even one I spent alone- but you know what they say about too much of a good thing... last weekend Copain was in London AND though we didn't have a three-day weekend, we did have the first of November off of work. Let's just say I did a lot of blog reading and way too much eating at restaurants. My pocketbook is a leeetle bit triste these days (and my hip flexors hurt from too much sitting! That just can't be healthy.)

I vowed to myself that I would NOT spend this weekend the same way - that I would motivate myself to Get Off Thy Couch and Discover La Ville de Paris - but as you can see from this here blog post, I am typing. on my couch. in my pajamas. (with coffee!). I promise it's not as depressing as it sounds: I also have a home-made muffin.

See, I'm pretty sure I know what my problem is: I hate to plan. I literally CANNOT stand it. My entire life has been planned, all the way to college. Not one minute of my time was just "free time" to do whatever my heart desired. Result: when I got to college, I said "no" to everything. The thought of being committed to anything freaked me out. What if I said yes and then didn't want to go the day of?! Oh the horror! The stress! So I just said, "no" or "perhaps" - you know, to be all vague-like. I still haven't managed to fix this problem. What makes matters worse is that I'm really good at planning - for things like my job, events, schedules. I can type you up an operations document with all the details, like wow. But ask me to do it for my own life - ahhhhhh, I run the other way. I can hardly make a dentist appointment people.

Yesterday, I gave myself two mental stars for making - wait for it- not only an eye appointment, but also a specialist appointment for my back. What I couldn't manage though, was planning something for this weekend. That was just waaaay to much to ask. I had ideas of grandeur - a girls weekend with a long lost copine! A weekend overnight somewhere new! But nope, nada. You're probably wondering why I didn't just go with Copain. Well, almost every time we see his parents, we both go together. I figured that it would be nice for them to spend time, just them. I know that sometimes I like to see my family alone - I can take walks with my Dad, have girl days with my Mom and Seester, and yell at my Bro for drinking milk straight out of the container. I can hang out with girlfriends, just us. So this is his time and then, we will spend Christmas together with my family in the states.

Obviously, I have some work to do - on myself. Suggestions on how to get over this horrible fear of planning??

------

Wow, thank goodness for good friends - this just in, texto-style (literally!) - I have plans for the day! (three cheers!). I'm off to eat Bo bun with My Very Parisian Friend and then make gaufres (waffles!) with kids for the gouter! Phew, I guess I just side-stepped the all-day couch land mine; you're welcome hip-flexors. Thank goodness for friends who can plan. Now for Saturday and Sunday...

American Marketing At Its Best

2011-11-07T07:30:00.000+01:00

I woke up this morning with an email from my Seester:

Subject: Undie Shopping With Mom

Good Muffin. Bad Muffin.

HAHAHAHA Oh the marketing in the good ol' US of A.

Subject: Undie Shopping With Mom part 2

Good wedge. Bad wedge.

I'm dying hahahahahaha

I love America. (merci Seester!)

For Copain - Tout à 1 Euro!!!!

2011-11-06T16:01:00.001+01:00

Copain is in London this weekend, so he put me in charge of doing our Sunday marché shopping (Bah!!). See, normally, while I sit on the couch with coffee and good blogs, he goes to the marché and then likes to show me how much food he got for only 15 Euros OMG can you believe it!

This morning, at 11am, I got a text from Copain:

Copain: You awake? What time did you go to bed? Try to get us some fruit please. You know how I love them :-)

Thankfully for him, I was awake. I responded, totally ignoring his request for fruit from the marché, just to see how long it would take for him to bring it up again:

FCC: Hey babe. How was the cheese club? (he had gone to a club in London called Club de Fromage...seriously)

Copain: It was so much fun there. Really liked the club. Only 80's and 90's music.

FCC: Oh cool:-) did you dance? (For the record, Copain has a "rhythm deficiency" - it's a very serious disorder.)

Copain: Haha A lot!

FCC: Hmmm, are you sure?

Copain: You have no idea. At the end, I was one with the music. Marché? (see how he just casually tosses the marché back into the text?? ps - I'm pretty sure that "one with the music" means "too many pints")

FCC: Yes yes, I'm going to go AFTER my coffee. (this is a non-negotiable)

Copain: Cool!!! (probably shocked that I was actually planning on getting off the couch)

FCC: Yes yes, I know, freak of French nature. (It had to be said)

By the time I finally got my bootay off the couch, into clothes that did not resemble pajamas and out the door, it was already 12:30 (a new record!). I hurried to the Marché d'Aligre just in time for the final mad scramble - the time when tout est à 1 Euro! (everything is just 1 Euro!).

Check out my loot:

Pamplemousse - 5 for 1 Euro!

Clementines, blette, navets, fenouil, carottes!

1 kilo of onions and 1 kilo of potatoes - all for 1 Euro!

Zucchini! Figs! Bananas!

2 kilos of apples for 2 Euros!

All of this for under 15 Euros OMG Copain would be so proud. Copain? Are you seeing this? I would like to state publicly, right here and now, that none of this will be used for Stella.

Dans les Rues de Paris - Bubbles!

2011-11-05T09:54:00.000+01:00

Paris Eats- Korean Style

2011-11-04T08:00:00.000+01:00

I was on my way to Higuma the other day when I came across an amazing Korean restaurant with my friend Sunny. The place was getting packed, the prices looked good and the smell was ah-mazing. We ditched the Higuma idea and went to Guibine instead - thankfully they had a table for two!

The menu looked not unlike the Bible.

We got lots of little veggie add ons to top our Korean barbecue, including Sunny's favorite, kimchi. (yum!)

Our beef and veggies arrived uncooked...and then our server turned on the heat and started mixing all of the deliciousness up for us.

Rice was served in this little bowl - kimchi makes an appearance in the upper left-hand corner.

Here is our beef and veggies all cooked and ready to be enjoyed.

I'm so excited to have another rue Sainte-Anne favorite! By the time we were done, a line was forming outside the restaurant, which leads me to believe that we found a hot ticket. The meal for both of us together was 37 Euros (we didn't get any drinks). I think that's pretty reasonable for a delicious meal cooked right in front of you.

The ambiance was cozy and the servers were definitely on top of it, despite the busy night. I will be back - c'est sur et certain.

Guibine
44 rue Sainte-Anne
75002 Paris
Tel: 01 40 20 45 83
Metro: Opera, Quatre-Septembre or Pyramides

Stella the Steamer

2011-11-03T08:00:00.002+01:00

Copain is generally on a tirade. First is was the "saving electricity by never heating the house" tirade, then it was the "don't put your cell phone near your head or you could get cancer" tirade, now it's the "let's steam our food because it's better for our health" tirade.

Confession: All of his tirade-ing makes me... tired.

It all started so innocently. He was looking on the C-discount website, searching for a new bag-less vacuum. Then I started receiving emails like this:

From: Copain
To: FCC

Hey babe, check out this link! Wouldn't this be so cool?!

When I didn't respond, I started getting text messages:

From: Copain
To: FCC

Did you check your email?

Then one day, I came home and there was a box on the floor. Copain opened the box, put our coffee-maker in the cabinet to make room on the kitchen counter, and with a grin on his face, unloaded the contents of the box.

This is Stella the Steamer - we are not friends:

Copain has declared that he will now be cooking for the household (apparently my cooking is too fatty and unhealthy, you know, because of the olive oil). He went straight to Picard and purchased salmon and veggies. He also went to the marché and bought three heads of broccoli (a first I believe). Then he asked me to help him cook dinner (did I miss something?).

He took special pains to show me how much water to put in Stella. Then he proudly displayed the fat trap and demonstrated how it works. Then he asked me to cut the broccoli.

Yesterday we had salmon, broccoli and rice. Today we had some kind of white fish, peas and carrots and broccoli. I insisted we make some soup because I couldn't take the repetition of fish and mushy vegetables. I also announced that I would be making dinner and that we would be having pizza.

Stella - I am the woman of the house! Just remember that...

Perks at the Pompidou

2011-11-02T08:00:00.000+01:00

I'm not sure if I've told you this before, but people tend to think I look much younger than I actually am. While I know that I shouldn't complain (I'm saving so much in wrinkle cream!), it can actually work against me in many arenas (work, authority etc). Because of this phenomenon, I tend to do what I can to look less like 23 and more like 29, but it's rough. It's especially rough on the weekend when I just can't make an effort to dress up.

Thankfully, last weekend this worked in my favor when the guy at the Pompidou ticket office would not believe that I wasn't over 25.

Don't believe me? Here's proof:

General entry is 12 Euros - students get in for 9 Euros. Yep, that's me, the 25 year-old.

Halloween in Paris

2011-11-01T16:31:00.000+01:00

I'm pretty sure this was for the expats in town...Marché des Enfants Rouge

Copain and I were invited to a Halloween party - bloody finger appetizers!

Monster Munch chips!

Very chic décor

A finger in the humus, complete with finger nail....spooky

October 31st, 6pm: Frenchies waiting in line at the only costume shop in the Marais...I'm assuming they'd never been taught how to create a costume from things at home (or to plan ahead).

You couldn't pay me to wait in this line!

Like I said... it was a very long line...

Now that I think about it, I should have sold them my bright (Halloween) ideas:

Black trash bag with arm holes cut out plus black leggings = raisin
White sheet with eye holes cut out = ghost
Leggings, men's underwear on top plus sheet cape plus aluminum arm bands = super hero

I guess I missed my calling this Halloween...

Paris Eats - Getting Brunchy With It!

2011-11-01T16:12:00.000+01:00

For my copine's 33rd anniversaire, I took her to a brunch at A Priori Thé located in the covered passageway, Galérie Vivienne. I had been there once before, but never for a brunch, and the whole package sounded fantastique.

Behold our lovely brunch:

The entrance to the passageway

We opted for inside seating, but you can also enjoy brunch on the terrace

This is what you see when you look up...

Even the floor is beautiful

Brunch first course: mini cornbread, scones and muffins, fromage blanc with raspberry coulis, tea (with milk for me!), freshly squeezed orange juice, butter and jams

Brunch second course: we both got zucchini stuffed with chèvre and pesto, tapenade with roasted noisette (hazelnuts) on top and fresh tomatoes

Brunch third course: I got the cheesecake with lemon zest, coconut and raspberry coulis; my copine got the double chocolate brownie....to die for.

The ambiance is cozy, service is friendly, food is delicious! Be sure to reserve - I've tried to pop in numerous times without one and it's not the way to go. Brunch was 30 Euros each and to be honest, we could have shared just one; afterwards we were sooo full. We were there from 12:30 to 3:45pm...in other words, give yourself lots of time to grub and digest!

A Priori Thé

35-37 Galerie Vivienne

75002 Paris

Tel: 01 42 97 48 75

Metro: Bourse or Palais Royal

ps - We took a walk through Palais Royal to ~~digest~~ take in the scenery...beautiful!

Dans les Rues de Paris - Beauty

2011-11-01T15:46:00.000+01:00

Paris Eats - Un Diner Presque Français

2011-10-26T08:00:00.000+02:00

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

2011-10-25T08:00:00.000+02:00

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

2011-10-24T21:23:00.000+02:00

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

2011-10-22T12:15:00.001+02:00

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...

2011-10-22T11:45:00.000+02:00

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*

2011-10-22T11:24:00.000+02:00

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

2011-10-19T23:54:00.000+02:00

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?

2011-10-18T19:04:00.000+02:00

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

2011-10-16T07:00:00.000+02:00

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

2011-10-15T12:40:00.000+02:00

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

2011-10-15T10:46:00.000+02:00

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

2011-10-13T07:00:00.000+02:00

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!

2011-10-12T21:50:00.000+02:00

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

2011-10-11T07:00:00.001+02:00

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

2011-10-10T21:09:00.001+02:00

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

2011-10-10T07:50:00.000+02:00

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

2011-10-09T07:00:00.000+02:00

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

2011-10-08T07:00:00.001+02:00

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

2011-10-07T23:40:00.000+02:00

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

2011-10-07T22:57:00.000+02:00

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

2011-10-05T20:12:00.000+02:00

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

2011-10-05T07:06:00.000+02:00

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

2011-10-04T07:49:00.000+02:00

Dr Pepper Does Paris

2011-10-03T16:58:00.000+02:00

Cruisin' along at Lafayette Maison, looking for a food steamer with Copain, when BAM! Check it out!

DR PEPPER in all its forms! Regular, Cherry, Diet...do they even make Cherry Dr Pepper in the states?

35 Ans Ensemble Aujourd'hui

2011-10-02T19:58:00.000+02:00

Today, October 2nd 2011, marks 35 years of marriage for mes parents. 35 years - whoooaaaa. (and that's not even counting the time they dated!)

I remember wanting to hear the story of my mom and dad when I was little, and at the time it all seemed so perfectly normal. Now that I am almost 30, I am baffled by the fact that my mom was only 23 and my dad was only 25 when they got married. While it was perfectly normal at the time, now I can't help but think how young they were!

My mom wore a light, summery dress with billowing sleeves - perfect for 1976. My dad wore a ginormous bow-tie and ruffled dress shirt, baby blue jacket and thick glasses. (He also had thick hair back then :-)

Their flowers were orange tones, probably for fall. My dad's brothers tied tin cans on the back of their car and wrote "Just Married" on the windows with white shoe polish. It was a wedding before weddings became the crazy events that they are today.

My mom's parents had been deceased for some time, and while both of my dad's parents were there, he wouldn't have his mother much longer after the wedding.

They bought a house and started to make it a home. My mom had a diamond added to her ring for each child they had together - three diamonds total - two girls and a boy. They raised the three kids together - soccer practice, dance lessons, football games, camping, snipe hunting, family traditions - stressed about three summer birthdays every year and sent all three to college. Now they support all three in starting their own lives. They are the parents they never had as adults...to us, their three adult children.

We know that we always have a place to call home, a place where mom and dad will be to give us a hug, make us our favorite dinners, share a cup of coffee in a the morning in our pjs. We are so lucky - they didn't have this themselves, and yet they've continually put in the effort so that we could.

We've been with them for most of their ups and downs - 35 years of dedication to each other and to the family they created together. Now that we've had relationships of our own, we know what an important achievement that is.

So, merci à vous deux et félicitations Moom et Papasan pour vos 35 ans de mariage!

35 years of dancing through life...

Autolib' à Paris: Roll in a Bluecar!

2011-10-01T09:18:00.001+02:00

I was walking around avenue Philippe Auguste today, when I saw this:

Autolib' coming soon to Paris! It's like a Velib - but with cars!

I'd heard this was coming to Paris, but I had no idea it would be so soon. After Googling "autolib' in Paris" I learned that 66 electric "Bluecars" and 33 stations will be available for use starting SUNDAY - with more on the way if the test run proves successful. C'est fou non?

I'm very interested in the logistique of this thing - I think it's a great concept, but I'm a little skeptical as to how it will actually work out. I'll keep you posted as I watch the construction (and usage) move forward. Didn't they already try it out in Germany? I guess if it worked for the Germans, it should work for us, right?

à voir...

ps - can we please talk about how they are calling them "Bluecars"... en anglais??? I'll bet the Académie Française is having a shit fit.

The Best Invention EVER: Le Café Gourmand

2011-09-30T23:06:00.001+02:00

I feel like I've probably talked about the splendor of le café gourmand in the past, but I'm compelled to write about it again. For the café gourmand truly provides the best of both worlds...

Normally, when you go to a restaurant, you are either disappointed because you didn't get the amazing-smelling coffee or you are disappointed because you didn't get the amazing-looking dessert (or you ordered the moelleux au chocolat and wished you had ordered the clafoutis de cerises). No matter which way you go, you're bummed out.

Enter le café gourmand - it never disappoints because you always get some of everything! An espresso and a miniature version of each dessert...perfection.

My Anglo peeps and I decided to take a stroll in the 18th last week. We got off at metro Abesses and made our way to a funky café - we only had one criteria: the café HAD to serve café gourmand. Thankfully, we had no trouble finding one and promptly ordered 4! (We had a fun Frenchie along for the ride).

When our order arrived, we were surprised to find that our mini crème brulées were literally en train de bruler - on fire! When we asked the waiter if it was normal, he took the opportunity to make fun of us...mais oui! c'est une crème...brulée! He then went on to say that a crème brulée on fire is truly "la classe américaine", which took some explaining for us Anglos to get. American class? ummm, ok...but isn't a crème brulée French? Thankfully, he went on to explain that la class américaine meant that something was super cool, but in an ironic way. I'll have to try using it in a sentence...

I tried to get a photo of our crème brulée en train de bruler but alas, the Iphone 3 wasn't up for the challenge:

Our café gourmand came with an espresso (but we requested a "noisette" - they add a little bit of milk!), a mini crème brulée and a mini panacotta with berries on top. Usually they come with a biscuit of some sort too, but we were happy with this. The crème brulée was ah-mazing. génial. fabuleuse. la class américaine, quoi.

Next time you are out for dinner or need a snack, just remember: Go café gourmand, or Go home!

Les Poux de Paris

2011-09-29T07:00:00.001+02:00

I've seen advertisements for poux treatments in every. single. pharmacy I've past by this week. Magnified bugs next to a fancy shampoo treatment.
My Very Parisian Friend knows someone who has poux this very moment.
I've been around kids lately.

These three things alone have lead me to feeling itchy for the past four days - so itchy that I made my colleague check my head - at work. Then I made Copain check my head again today as he watched re-runs of Kaamelott. He now thinks I'm slightly losing my mind. It didn't help that we'd just finished watching The Beaver, a film about mental illness.

Not only has my head been feeling itchy, but I've also had itchy arms, itchy legs, itchy back, itchy face. I'm just itchy all over. What. the. hell.

It makes me wonder how I will ever have kids - kids who at some point in their lives will have poux. Poux that I will have to deal with...in my home. Oh dear mother of poux. It takes me back to being 10 years old, Peggy the custodian using popsicle sticks to sift through each and every fifth-grader's hair. My sister got them, my brother got them, and I made fun of them...until I got them too. Then my poor mother stayed up until 3am giving me poux shampoos and picking nits out of my waist-length hair.

Like I said, I may never have kids for sheer terror of poux.

My colleague tried to comfort me by relaying her grandmother's tried and true remedy of putting mayonnaise in your hair and then sleeping with your head wrapped in plastic wrap. Maybe she didn't know how I felt about mayonnaise...

I'm wondering if there aren't any preventative measures I can take...like shaving my head, investing in some kind of mayonnaise spray or googling poux protective gear for tight situations, like the Parisian metro. Ok, that's it - I just googled poux - somebody stop me.

Hipsta-Cannes Cannes

2011-09-28T12:30:00.000+02:00

I think I may be the last person on the planet to download the Hipstamatic application on my Iphone...

A little fun was to be had at the Caen train station after my weekend in Normandy...

I'm so hip now. Fabuleux.

Paris Eats - Le Bar à Soupes

2011-09-28T12:23:00.000+02:00

My Anglo peeps were in Paris last week and on top of using expressions like "who needs to use the loo?" and "that's brilliant!", we also got to eat a delicious déjeuner d'automne...

It was one of those days when fall is in air but it's not too chilly yet. We'd also eaten a huge dinner the night before and something simple and warm sounded just right. What better than a bowl of soupe?

I'd seen a soup place, called Le Bar à Soupes, in my neighborhood but had never been, so we decided to stop in and see how it looked. One look at the pots of piping hot soup (about 4-5 hot and 2 cold to choose from) and we were sold!

Brit from the Lake District got lentilles epinards (lentil and spinach soup):

Brit from the town of Devon got provençal (tomato and veggie, provencal style soup):

And the American (moi!) got potimarron (a kind of squash/pumpkin soup):

We all got petit pain to eat along with our soup and I decided to also get fromage:

It was exactly what the doctor ordered, and while my meal was more expensive with the yummy cheese and iced tea (about 9 Euros), my friends ate for under 6 Euros each. We were full and happy after our little soup adventure too. The staff was incredibly kind and bilingual and happy to see us! Score for everyone!

(also, the bathroom was clean and nice - parfait)

I know that the weather is warm in Paris this week but when it starts to get colder and you need to warm up, go to Le Bar à Soupes! (They do eat in and take away!)

Le Bar à Soupes
33 rue de Charonne
75011 Paris
Tel: 01 43 57 53 79
info@lebarasoupes.com
web: www.lebarasoupes.com

Dans les Rues de Paris

2011-09-26T18:11:00.000+02:00

If only I could truly master la langue de Molière...

Bon Weekend! I'll be in Normandy...

2011-09-24T10:54:00.001+02:00

I'm off to Caen, in the north of France, for un mariage franco-britannique! It will be my first trip to Normandy and it's sure to be a fun weekend entre copines....

photo credit

Camembert, here I come!

Bon weekend à vous tous!

Be Careful What You Ask For...

2011-09-23T10:43:00.001+02:00

My friend recently celebrated his 30th birthday and invited his peeps for a fête à Paris. He had privatized a restaurant in the 9th arrondissement and had asked the restaurant owners to decorate the tables with a "clin d'oeil franco-américain" (a little franco-american touch)

In addition to the red, white and blue balloons and napkins, they also ordered a cake from the local boulangerie:

BAM! How's that for clin d'oeil?

Dans les Rues de Paris

2011-09-22T10:40:00.000+02:00

Les Pommes

2011-09-21T22:34:00.000+02:00

I love love love love love l'automne! It's by far my favorite season - boots, trench coats, butternut squash, baking, cosy pjs, scarves, movies, homemade soups, my hot tapioca banana dessert, thé au lait, school supplies, new haircuts, dark nail polish and cinnamon-scented candles...ah j'adore!

There's just one thing about autumn that I hate: les pommes (apples)

I can tell that l'automne has arrived when the marché starts to fill with apples. Green apples, red apples, pink lady apples, red delicious apples, blah blah blah. Don't get me wrong, sometimes a nice, crisp apple is the best - but not an entire season of nothing. but. apples.

Copain went to the marché last Sunday and I asked him to get figs, bananas and lots and lots of veggies. Instead, he got pears, bananas (yeah!) leeks, pineapple, zucchini and....des pommes. Lots and lots of pommes.

So far I've made leek and zucchini soup and leak and zucchini quiche, eaten three pears, 2 bananas (in the tapioca dessert!), and...1 pomme. errrrgggggg. J'en ai déjà marre des pommes!

How will I get through autumn without wanting to throw an apple out the window? I can just see it coming - apple sauce, apple slices, apple and cheese, apples and cinnamon...oh merde.

Why can't nectarines just be a year-round fruit?

What fruits do you eat in the winter? Any great apple recipes out there?

A Very Rude Thing - So Says Copain

2011-09-18T18:35:00.000+02:00

After almost seven years together, Copain and I know each other pretty well. However, it does happen, as it did today, that we experience the cultural clash that is bound to happen when a Frenchie and an American decide to create a life together.

I was coming home from my Lai Thai massage, when I saw Copain fly by on a Velib and park it in front of our apartment. I was sure that he hadn't seen me so I yelled out his last name. He didn't turn around, so I did it again, this time louder. Nothing. Finally, I yelled out his first name - Copain! And this time, he turned around and said, "What did you just call me?!". He was clearly very pissed off.

My excitement to see him dissipated as he told me how rude I had just been to call him by his last name and how much he HATES to be called by his last name.

Wait - what?

When we finally got over being mad at each other - him for me calling him by his last name, and me for him being mad about something so stupid - we sat down to talk it out.

Copain tried to explain that in France, calling someone by their last name is a Very Rude Thing to do. Then I tried to explain to him that in America, it's definitely not a Very Rude Thing to do. Even as I type this, I'm having a hard time comprehending that calling someone by their last name can be considered rude. In the states, when I was in college, it was almost like a fun nickname we gave to people. And still, today, I call my good friend over at My Riviera Wedding by her last name! She usually joins right in and calls me by my last name...

So, I need help from any Frenchie readers out there - is this really a Very Rude Thing in the land of wine and cheese? Have I been a rude American for the past seven years without even knowing it? Help!

Lai Thai - Sunday Zen-day

2011-09-18T18:04:00.000+02:00

For Noël last year (my first Noël with Copain), my Belle Mère and Beau Père offered me a Smartbox with the theme "Bien Etre" (Well Being). I guess I seriously needed it because I didn't find time in my life to use it until today. Sheesh.

Let's admit it - I'm also crap at making rendez-vous. I've spent so much of my life planning - for myself and for others - that I CANNOT STAND making plans. I absolutely hate it. Unfortunately, most important things require planning...it's irritating.

Anyways, back to my massage.

Lai Thai was able to take me at the last minute (normally they ask for a week's notice!). I arrived a full-on American in my work out pants and Nikes. Thankfully it was Sunday, when Parisians are a bit more forgiving of the frumpy outfit. Upon arrival, you take off your shoes and they lead you downstairs to the massage areas. You put on your super-chic slip jetable (disposable underwear) and then voila - one hour of relaxation in la-la-land.

My favorite part was the stretching at the end - just like partner stretching in dance class (ah, how I miss it!) and the hot towel that they use on your face, chest and back to finish the massage. Finally, to wrap up the experience, you get this adorable little Thai fruit plate and thé vert (green tea).

As I was eating my fruit plate, one of the other clients was putting on her shoes. The receptionist commented on her flexibility and the client told her that she was a contemporary dancer - she came to get a massage for all her sore muscles. I soooo wanted to ask her where she danced, with who, could I come?

But I didn't. That would have been very American of me. sigh.

Feeling like you need a zen moment?

Lai Thai

20 passage de la Bonne Graine

75011 Paris

Tel: 01 45 77 72 06

Metro: Ledru Rollin (line 8)

Rockeuse Parisienne

2011-09-18T09:43:00.000+02:00

I never paint my nails - because when I do, this is what happens:

Copain, who digs the painted nail look, told me, "Ce n'est pas grave, ça fait rock star." No biggie, makes you look like a rock star.

That's me, mes amis, la rockeuse parisienne.

Pierre le Plombier

2011-09-17T11:33:00.001+02:00

Yesterday, to help out a friend, I agreed to meet with the plumber who was to fix a leak under her kitchen sink. I was running late (comme d'hab), and arrived at 9:10 in front of the porte d'entrée. I pulled out my cell phone and saw that the plombier had already tried to call me. I called right back and learned that bien sur, he was inside the building, waiting in front of the apartment door. Et merde.

I shook his hand and he introduced himself as Pierre, Pierre le plombier. Bonjour Pierre - and I let him inside the apartment.He began his work and then, as I stuffed my Gerblé breakfast biscuits in my mouth, Pierre le plombier asked the question that people always ask when they hear my accent: Vous êtes d'où? (where are you from?)

"Je suis Américaine." He looked at me like he needed more information, so I continued, "Je suis née en Californie et ça fait 7 ans maintenant que je suis en France." (I was born in California and I've been in France for 7 years). Well, messieurs-dames, that was all it took for Pierre le plombier to start his (what I think must be daily) session of over-sharing:

Oh moi je suis de Bourgogne - vous connaissez? (I'm from Burgundy, do you know it?) Je viens en train tous les jours - il faut 1 heure, mais après j'ai que du boulot à Paris (I come by train everyday, it takes about an hour. But once I'm in Paris - nothing but work!) In Bourgogne I live in a huge apartment and pay only 535 Euros a month including gas, water AND electricity. I barely even see my neighbors, that's how calm and relaxing it is. I'm divorced, so I work on the weekends which pays for my vacations. Yesterday I worked 11 hours! I don't count my hours like most French people - nope, not me!

(I nod and crunch in approval - wow, a Frenchie who doesn't count his hours...)

Yeah, in Paris work is non-stop. I have clients from all over - even in the 16th - nothing but rich people. Just because they're rich doesn't mean they give good tips though.

(I write myself a mental note not to tip Pierre le plombier purely on principal.)

I have another American client who's a psychologist. She keeps telling me that my talents would be appreciated in the United States and that I should go work there. But my English isn't very good - I mean, I can get by, but technical plumbing words would be difficult. Really though, I used to work in the military and my work ethic is unbeatable. Plus, I can do pretty much anything and I charge less than everyone else. A job for 4000 - I say 2000. I'm able to make beaucoup d'argent that way. When I meet someone, I'll buy a big house and re-do everything myself! Just give me a roof and four walls! The problem is that I work so much that I don't have time to go out - so basically all that's left is the internet.

(At this point in the conversation, I started to get worried - what exactly did he mean by "internet"???)

Right now I'm on Meetic, (oh phew!) but really, all those women want are one-night stands. They say it's the guys who aren't looking for something serious, but I think it's the women.

I continue to nod in sympathy, then added something about having friends who met life partners on Meetic blah blah blah...

Oh la la! This siphon is shot! Finally, Pierre le plombier brought it back to the task at hand. He was missing a piece and would have to go back to the shop and come back later to complete the repair.

Old-school siphon from a Parisian apartment

"Well, when do you think I should meet you back here," I asked.

"Oh, no later than 2pm - I always finish my work days at 4:30pm," he answered. (hmm, a Frenchie who counts his hours...)

"Here, let me give me you my personal numéro de portable, just in case." "It's Pierre. Pierre le plombier."

Jessica Simpson in Paris

2011-09-15T20:22:00.000+02:00

Remember how I was planning on buying these?

Yeah well, then I bought my plane ticket home for Noel (Air Tahiti Nui here I come!) and soon I'll be paying for the taxe d'habitation (French renter's tax!). Long story short - the Hirica ballerines will have to wait. Sad Cannes Cannes.

I decided that instead of wallowing about the Hirica that never were, I would try to "wear my closet" and bust out those items that never see the light of day. And this mes amies, is what leads me to Jessica Simpson in Paris:

I'm almost embarrassed to say that I'm wearing Jessica Simpson shoes, but not so embarrassed that I'm not giving a full disclosure on French Cannes Cannes I guess! I have to say, they are pretty comfortable and have survived the Velib two days in a row. They don't have Ze French Touch, but hey, they were brand new, sitting in the shoe box for two years...it was time for Jessica to visit Paris (and for FCC to save a Euro or two).

Merci Jess, you're the best.

Sac de Parisienne

2011-09-14T15:24:00.001+02:00

As you know I've been dreaming of un nouveau sac for awhile now...my very own sac de parisienne. A sac that can brave the metro, the Velib (remember how I'm a Femme de Fer??) and the streets of Paris, all while keeping my back from breaking with my sad little disc problème.

While walking along the rue des Francs Bourgeois yesterday, I happened upon this lovely number at the store Biscotte:

Soft leather - and black bien sur...goes with everything right?

A long "bandolière" strap so that I can be hands free on my Velib

little pocket, perfect for a Navigo metro pass (plus I love the lining!)

A funky pocket in the flap - plus there is a zipper into the main part...pickpocket proof!

Eh oui, I bought it...a gift from my Maman for la rentrée! Maybe this time around I won't stick out as the unprepared Américaine amongst a sea of chic françaises...

Sad Croissant

2011-09-14T11:03:00.002+02:00