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Showing posts with label bistros. Show all posts
Showing posts with label bistros. Show all posts
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
What do YOU do your first day in Paris? It could be anywhere you love to visit really...
Do you rent a Velib and go cruising around town?
What makes you feel immediatement at home in a place you've visited before?
A stop at your favorite patisserie per chance, like SECCO?
Do you plan on cooking a meal (if you rented an apartment) and go off to your favorite marche?
Buy a few fleurs for your room, say at La Nom de la Rose, even if you're staying in a hotel..?
GO SHOE SHOPPING!
Or browse in a wine shop..?
Do you get all sportive and need to take a jog in the Luxembourg Jardin to feel homie?
How about buying a bunch of French magazines at a presse kiosk even though your French is rather rusty or non-existent?
Then you head for your favorite cafe where they even remember you from the last time, like Le Select...
Must-haves = box of macarons!
Some French chocolate!
Bread or those cookies by Poilane bien sur.
A quickie run into a department store to catch up on the latest tendances/trends like Le Bon Marche?
Do you take a Metro or a mini tour on a Paris bus like the No.95 that goes everywhere you want to go..?
Do you stand in the rue studying the ardoise/menus pretending you're going to eat there..?
Did you book a table ahead at your favorite resto?
Is visiting the Eiffel Tower an absolute must-see for you first day?
Do you also keep an eye out for something special to bring home to remember your trip?
My first day in Paris, I try to pretend it's my last day so I can remember to appreciate every single nanon second of it. But usually I forget. I get caught up in the visual buffet and forget to remember until it is The Last Day...Tell me what YOU do first day in Paris.
BONJOUR PARIS!
Monday, April 26, 2010
Today's post is not about Parisien perfectly messy hair... 
Nor is it about the joys of attending a Paris fashion show...
But it is about beauty with a capitol B. I love the way Paris beautifies its buildings when they are in a state of la restauration/repair or under construction. Like this witty wall poster covering Prada's new store-to-be that makes walkers on rue Saint-Honore appear to be on a catwalk!
Shot upside-down yet then turned right-side up. It makes you think a bit...
Hermés is the master of the street face-lift with this Punch and Judy window
Take a closer look and you see delightfully casual sketches with a dash of watercolor on a corner on rue Saint-Honore...
The Paris Opera has gone for something much grander-almost an abstract artwork in their coverup while under construction...
It's true you'll see plain old construction signs now and then in Paris...
Hasn't this happened to you?
You tell a friend,
Hermés is the master of the street face-lift with this Punch and Judy window 
Take a closer look and you see delightfully casual sketches with a dash of watercolor on a corner on rue Saint-Honore... 
The Paris Opera has gone for something much grander-almost an abstract artwork in their coverup while under construction... 
It's true you'll see plain old construction signs now and then in Paris... 
Hasn't this happened to you?You tell a friend,
"You have GOT to see this gorgeous old bistro/cafe/or whatever."
You get there and the %$#@ thing is completely covered in scaffolding!
Why is that?
Because Paris preserves it's beauty.
It does not (well only rarely- Cojean how could you do that to Cador Patisserie?) throw them away.
Passing the New York Public Library, I was sad to see no terrific Parisien-style witty skrim or faux wall while the library is under construction...
Back in Paris, along the Seine, this building shows all the workers of Paris while being repaired...
There is a guide to all the figures and their travaille/work placed on the bridge...
Hermés again has a big mural of sketches of shoppers on rue de Sevres...
Reflecting the actual shoppers rushing by...
Here's an Older French Girl or OFG wearing a bit of red walzing by a lovely big under-construction sign...
Because Paris preserves it's beauty.It does not (well only rarely- Cojean how could you do that to Cador Patisserie?) throw them away.
It takes care of it's treasures, unlike some cities.
And does it with wit and charm to boot. I took Barry Lewis' brilliant course on New York architectural history at Cooper Union this Spring. I've taken it before and will again. Barry is a NYC monument himself of endless, fascinating information on the city. One thing I heard Barry say over and over again,"In America, we throw things away. We get tired of them after 10 years and into the ashcan they go."
I would walk up 5th avenue after Barry's class with my head in the sky like any visiting tourist...
I would walk up 5th avenue after Barry's class with my head in the sky like any visiting tourist...
Passing the New York Public Library, I was sad to see no terrific Parisien-style witty skrim or faux wall while the library is under construction... 
Back in Paris, along the Seine, this building shows all the workers of Paris while being repaired... 
There is a guide to all the figures and their travaille/work placed on the bridge... 
Hermés again has a big mural of sketches of shoppers on rue de Sevres...
Reflecting the actual shoppers rushing by... 
Here's an Older French Girl or OFG wearing a bit of red walzing by a lovely big under-construction sign... 
I'm trying to post earlier...ahem
BONJOUR PARIS RESTAURATIONS!
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Bear spent Sunday in recovery from Saturday's mad-marathon Jour Du Macarons. But now it is time to step out on the town again in search of a sharp knife to cut and dissect all those macarons he won. The absolute best place to go, where all top Parisien chefs go, is of course Dehillerin (pronounced"Day-ler-ran")
Bear drools over the essential Kitchen Aide if he is ever going to make macarons on his own...Miam...miam
Inside Dehillerin it's an Aladdin's cave of copper treasures. Bear politely asks if they have a very sharp knife to cut through fragile macarons. They show him a serrated steak knife! Non, I want one of those German chef knives like Wursthof svp. We do not carry German knives they say. Oh...We do have Sabatier. That will do nicely :)
Nearby Bear spies old charmant bistro, L'Epi D'or on 25 Rue Jean-Jacques Rousseau 75001.
Christian Louboutin frequents this joint! Bear would love to drop in for cote d'ageau etc.
But Carolg, who is fearless in a pastry shop, is a total wimp when it comes to bistros and cafes :(
Louboutin's FAB shoe shop is practically nextdoor-no wonder!
Whilst Carolg browses the deluxe pricey LB shoes...
Bear chats up Louboutin's bear in the passage."Bonjour M. ours"
Together they happily browse patisserie Au Delice de Manon on rue St. Honore.
Browsing the terribly chic Frenchies, Bear thinks he sees MARC JACOBS!
Gold earring - check
Burburry scarf - check
5 O'clock shadow - check
Looking a tad rough about the edges - check
Baggy jeans? A non, non
What do YOU think?
Is that you Marc?
Carolg wants to take a bite out of the Boucheron macaron rings which go for many thousands of $$$. A girl can dream can't she?
Meanwhile everyone and their mother is sunning themselves on any spare chair at any cafe available. SPRING has finally arrived in Paris!
At 4 pm Carolg & Bear go to Toraya tea salon at 10, Rue St-Florentin, 75001
To meetup with fellow bloggeurs, Rebecca of Fleur de Paris and D'arcy of Chicsetera. Both live in Paris FULL TIME! They talk blogger talk a mile a minute...
The wheels are turning crazily inside Bear's head. He's furiously taking mental notes.
Just maybe he will start HIS OWN BLOG. Hello?
Later as night falls they meet French Girl and shoot the Paris vitrines/windows...
Paris at night! Does it get any better than this?
Especially Hediard's vitrine full of Easter chocolates.
It's a coup de foudre/instant love for bear...sigh
More Paris night at Opera Garnier...more sighs
At home the very sharp Sabatier knife does the job and cuts cleanly through the Pierre Herme macaron. BRAVO! The perfect end to a perfect day.BONJOUR DEHILLERAN!!
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