Get Lost in the Streets - Thursday, 11 September

 

It's good for what ails ya!

You've Got Mail! - Thursday, 4 September

 

Just a little street scene for you today!  

The mail carriers (facteurs) here use sturdy square multi-pocketed rolling cases with four big wheels for their routes.  Since the deliveries are to shops on the ground level and to a bank of mailboxes just inside a digicode-accessed door for the apartments above, it's very efficient, and they can carry a lot in those cases, and the big wheels seem to make traversing the sidewalks and the paving stones and curbs a snap!  

As I was waiting for a taxi outside my apartment today, my facteur made her deliveries to my building.  So I snapped her photo!

Here are our mailboxes...they've been upgraded since my last trip here.  I see that my apartment is lucky #13!  

Cheering Up a Chilly and Soggy Afternoon! - Wednesday, 12 March

On this slightly chilly and soggy afternoon, a “coffee break” with a view of some school kids in their red safety vests taking a little walk past the twice-weekly open market at Place Baudoyer was just the ticket!

Landscape? Mural? Disappointment? - Saturday, 8 March

The scene outside my front door: an artist starting to paint what appears to be a cityscape or mural on some panels, accompanied by a couple of rappers! Must keep an eye on his work from my window.

OK, so not a cityscape!  An ad for a "spectacle" (show, concert, cabaret, whatever).  Sigh....

The Not-So-Beautiful View from My Window - Wednesday, 5 March

 

So, half of my street (rue François Miron) is torn up for some kind of public works project.  Not sure what it is, but deep holes have been dug, big pipes are sticking up, temporary housings cover some kind of monitoring equipment, etc. Sewer or gas?  It's certainly not an archeological dig (which actually could happen in this part of town!)!

Update:  a friend who knows about this kind of stuff tells me "the work is being done by Compagnie Parisienne de Chauffage Urbain.  That’s the Paris Central heating network - similar to what Saint Paul, New York and other large cities have."  It's so great to have friends in the know!!!   

A sign on the fence tells me to be patient because the concrete takes time to dry, the work is complex, etc.  Hmmm.  I'm guessing that they won't wrap it up during this stay.  Perhaps by my return in August?

A Lovely Day in the Neighborhood - Monday, 3 March

Hung around the 'hood today.  This was the view walking down my street (rue rue François Miron) after running some errands.  A lovely thing to feast my eyes on every day....

It almost looks like this drawing from Jean-Jacques Sempé!

Maybe Not So Charming! - Wednesday, 13 November

There's a really cute tile facade on a building a couple blocks from my apartment.  Its story and history might not be quite as charming!  

"The former horse butcher's shop at the crossroads of Vieille-du-Temple and Roi-de-Sicile streets has retained a remarkable mosaic façade. This red, orange and gold decoration, with a rearing horse motif, created between 1930 and 1946, corresponds to the colour code that specifically indicated horse butcher's shops, thus distinguishing them from traditional butcher's shops. The corner ground floor of the Hôtel de Vibraye is entirely covered with the vermilion fresco, executed using the so-called broken tile technique. The horse-eating business has now been replaced by a sock shop."

I might need to buy some socks "just because!"  

For more of the story, check out this website...it's in French, but on your browser you might have a "translate to English" function.  https://www.parisladouce.com/2021/05/ancienne-boucherie-chevaline-rue.html

When the Moon Hits your Eye.... - Monday, 11 November

It's a moonlit night, and rue François Miron is beautiful.  Here are a couple of views from my windows.  What a lucky duck I am!

   

Paris is on the 49th parallel north, about the same as Winnipeg Manitoba and the northernmost reaches of Lake of the Woods Minnesota, so it gets dark pretty early this time of year!

Far from the Madding Crowd - Saturday, 22 July

The Place des Vosges is the most gorgeous square in Paris … just ask anyone!  It’s also the oldest planned square, inaugurated in 1612.  Any time of year its perfect geometry, paths, fountain, grass, trees, symmetry, arches, red brick, cream stone, shops and restos lure tourists and residents alike.  

Today I had lunch at Restaurant Anne, which is in the breathtaking courtyard of the Hôtel Pavillon de la Reine at 28, place des Vosges.  It has one Michelin star.  The kitchen is overseen by Mathieu Pacaud, son of Bertrand Pacaud, chef of the three-star L’Ambroisie, also on Place des Vosges.  No wonder the food was so good!  (BTW, I had the enormous good fortune of having my 60th birthday dinner at L’Ambroisie thanks to the generosity of my dear friends Dale Halladay and Mimi Haddad.  Story and photos here:  https://mariellen-musing.blogspot.com/2009/06/big-6-0-birthday-dinner-at-lambroisie.html )

The courtyard setting at Anne is absolutely stunning - ancient stones, hedges, trees, giant potted plants, sculpture (including a giant Calder-esque one), umbrellas, dappled sun, light breeze, muted conversations, silver clinking against porcelain - I could sit here all day (it was actually three hours, not bad!).  

I was going to skip an aperitif, but decided that that would just be foolish, so I went with a glass of Bollinger’s elegant Rosé (Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Meunier) - red fruits, tiny bubbles, wonderful aroma, barely sweet, a touch of spice - perfect with my first courses.

Everything on the menu was so tempting, but when I learned that the chef’s choice prix fixe menu contained most of the things I would have ordered anyway, I went with it!

My amuse bouche:

• A melt-in-your-mouth shortbread with avocado puree and herbed tomato concassé
• A thin brown sugar wafer cone with cauliflower puree and raspberry gel
• Fresh yellow tomato juice with sparkling water

(That white cylinder on the right is actually a piece of compressed cotton onto which my server poured some water, making it unfurl!  You eat the amuse bouche with your fingers, so this was for wiping them when you finished.  Practical and entertaining!)

Next, a terrific sweet prawn fried in tempura batter and served in a pool of just-over-room-temperature green pea and tarragon foam.  Purity of sea and land.

    Then, lobster tail covered with a melon aspic, with tiny croutons and dots of intense melon and watercress oils - wow, what a brilliant pairing of lobster and melon - who wouldda thunk?  With it, the claw meat in a ring of leek gelatin, topped with a razor-thin crouton (I removed it for this photo), and sitting in a pool of slightly cool lobster bisque.  Holy buckets.

With my next courses, a 2019 Château Le Pin Beausoleil (organic) Bordeaux (Merlot, Cab Franc, Cab Sauv) - powerful yet smooth -  blackberry, licorice, chocolate, pepper, a bit of minerality.

Up next, Pollock (a meaty white fish similar to cod) with a bread crust, served in a pool of frothed bouillabaisse.  On the side, saffron sabayon in a potato tube, tomato “caviar” (tiny balls of just the flesh), crispy roasted Pollock skin, and garlic flowers.  OK, I’m running out of adjectives. The way everything balances and enhances everything else is nothing short of genius.

Then, some Baltic black beef sirloin!  The chunks of beef were topped with Kalamata olives, which gave it all the saltiness it needed, then covered with breadcrumbs and broiled.  It sat in a pool of perfect beef demi-glace.  On the side was a really terrific sweet, herbaceous, peppery tomato aspic containing toothsome white beans - just marvelous!

Then, a cheese course before dessert, the height of civilization (in my humble, but outspoken, opinion!). From mild to piquant, from cows, goats, sheep.  The pristine greens barely dressed with a mustard vinaigrette were perfect with the cheeses.  And I got another of their terrific whole wheat seeded rolls.  Pro tip: spread plenty of salted butter on your bread before adding a chunk of cheese.  You will thank me!

Finally, desserts!  

Chunky strawberry and rhubarb compote topped with lemon sorbet and crème pâtissière in a pool of rhubarb, marigold and mint jus.  Refreshing and surprising and elegant!

A dome of raspberry and yuzu “jello!”  White chocolate mousse dribbled with an herby sauce.  A meringue dome containing some raspberry gel on a shortbread cookie.  Whipped cream.  Tuilles.  One perfect raspberry.  All on a pool of intense, very sweet raspberry sauce.  I might have fainted.  

Then, an espresso with a tiny chocolate tart and a lemon cream.  A perfect finale.

The bustle of tourists and locals just outside in the Square is wonderful to see and join, but I felt that I was far from the madding crowd for a few hours with this wonderful food & drink in this wonderful enclave.  What a gift!

Restaurant Anne - 28, place des Vosges https://www.pavillon-de-la-reine.com/restaurant-bar

Michelin’s writeup: https://guide.michelin.com/en/ile-de-france/paris/restaurant/anne

A New Dog Park! - Wednesday, 1 February

So, after lunch I decided to head over to some of my former haunts around rue Montorgueil to pick up a couple supplies and to see if there was something I just had to get from E.Dehillerin, A.Simon, G.Detou, La Bovida and/or M.O.R.A!  (They're all cookware and culinary supply shops.)  And I needed to walk off some calories!

And what did I encounter, but a little doggy park at Les Halles, just outside E.Dehillerin!  The dogs were so cute and they were moving fast!  I should have thought to take a video, but sorry, you'll just have to live with a snapshot.

And oh, ya, I did manage to find a few little things that I "needed" at the cookware shops!

Watch for me in a Major Motion Picture Some Day. Maybe. - Tuesday, 31 January

I couldn’t tell what they were filming, but they did have this intersection blocked a couple blocks from home, and a bunch of “extras” were hanging around. I went ahead and sauntered through the intersection. Who knows, I might show up in a major motion picture some day. Sure. Maybe. Could happen.

A Little Piece of Home.... - Tuesday, 24 January

Electronic devices occasionally need a little extra "oomph," and some days one's brain is just a bit foggier than usual, so I travel with this little pouch to help in either eventuality.  It's just the right size for an external battery (for when my phone is on the verge of going limp), and to remind me of where I'm from!  

It can also be a handy prop when someone asks me about my non-Paris residence!

The Blessings of Technology and Midnight Work - Tuesday, 11 October

One of the true blessings to come out of the Pandemic, in my opinion, was the adoption of technologies like Zoom which allowed people to still work, gather, hang out, meet, celebrate, connect, support, and entertain from home or "wherever."  I'm on a few nonprofit Boards, and I can tell ya, we've been much more efficient working together over Zoom than we were in person, and meeting attendance has been better!  Hopefully we've more effective too, although the absence of the in-person connection has left a gap.  And we haven't been able to enjoy treats together!

Another blessing: midnight work and its aftermath!  Tonight I had a Minnesota Chorale Board meeting at 5:15pm Central U.S. (midnight:15 Paris time).  After doing a few wrap-up tasks at 2am, I took a look out my window and saw the gorgeous full moon, the Hunter Moon (also, apparently, called the Travel Moon - how appropriate!).

A Lovely Day in the Neighborhood - Sunday, 9 October

 

Another spectacular day here - I’ve been lucky - it’s in the high 60s with glorious high blue cloudless skies!  

Impromptu concerts along the river and on the bridge between l’île Saint-Louis and l'île de la Cité.  Sunday hanging-out on the former expressway Voie Georges Pompidou, now pedestrianized.  

The usual lazily cruising river tour boats.  

My 11th day in Paris and my first Confit de Canard!  EEK!  I’m slipping!  I had it in tourist central at Le Flore en l'île on the tip of l’île Saint-Louis, but was pretty decent!  

And two scoops of Berthillon ice cream (salted caramel and dark chocolate) with an almond tuile topped off lunch beautifully!  The main Berthillon shop is just a couple blocks away, so you know that the ice cream was fresh!  Also, everyone and their niece were buying cones at the nearby cart.  

Someone was celebrating their birthday at Le Flore en l'île, and the waiters started singing and clapping, and everyone in the resto joined in (well, joined the clapping at least) while the waiter delivered a dessert with a fireworks-type candle.  (It’s a little hard to see in this photo - I didn’t grab my camera fast enough - the flame is in front of the guy in the red t-shirt.)

There is still scaffolding all around Notre Dame.  Here are a couple photos from the back side.  

from a bit of a distance

closer up

The London Times ran an interesting article about the restoration effort, now expected to be completed for Christmas 2024.  I PDF’d it - here’s a link to a copy in my Dropbox:   https://www.dropbox.com/s/tocxsilram7hpfs/Notre%20Dame%20set%20for%20a%20dazzling%20resurrection%20-%20London%20Times%202022-09-20.pdf?dl=0

And what kind of a lazy day would it be without a little afternoon cocktail at a café terrace?  This «Le Secret» - Rhum, St Germain, citron, gingembre, vanille, menthe.  Tasty! 

Yemen, the French Great West, England, and Corsica - all in One Meal - Tuesday, 4 October, 2022

Back in 2009 a cool little resto, with just about 20 seats, opened on the almost derelict rue de Nil of the 2nd arrondissement.  It was called Frenchie.  Read about my first visit to Frenchie just a few months after it opened:  http://mariellen-musing.blogspot.com/2009/11/frenchie-saturday-14-november.html

I’ve been lucky enough to eat there a few times, but these days it’s almost impossible to get a reservation.

Just yesterday their new outpost, Frenchie Pigalle, opened in Montmartre.  I was able to get a reservation for lunch today.  It is quite a bit larger than the original (I believe that it’s attached to a hotel), but you’d better get here soon, before it too becomes impossible to get in!  https://www.frenchie-pigalle.com/

For my first course, a Yemenite Tostada.  A thick cornmeal tostada (sort of like an arepa) was topped with peppery sundried (or oven dried) cherry tomatoes, mixed salad greens, mint & dill (brilliant!), and a creamy (sour cream?) dressing containing just enough harissa to wake up your palate without blasting the top of your head off.  There was something sweet in the toppings as well - perhaps just a touch of chopped golden raisins? - in any case, it added a fascinating dimension.

For my main course, slices of perfectly roasted pork, served with a lovely sauce made from puréed roasted sweet red bell peppers and cream, and tiny dried purple plums that almost tasted like figs, and finely chopped spicy hazelnuts, and freshly brined cucumber ribbons.  Deelicious and so beautifully balanced.

For my dessert, Stilton with sweet cherries in heavy syrup.  The texture and flavor of the cherries suggested that they were dried before they were cooked in the syrup - dense, but not leathery, intensely flavored.  And the Stilton, well, just classic.  Delightful!

I ordered a glass of the Corsican Sant'Armettu Rosumarinu Red 2020.  It was gorgeous - dry, with beautiful fruit (hints of currant, a bit of cherry and apricot), licorice/anise, flint.  Made from the Sciaccarellu grape.  The waitress said it came from the southwest part of the island.  

• Its flintiness was refreshing with the heat of the peppery first course.  
• The fruitiness absolutely exploded with the sweetness of the main course.  
• And the licorice/anise character was dominant with the cheese and cherries.  

Amazing!

I think they like Chartreuse!

Today G7’s network was down when I tried to order a taxi to the resto.  Happily, Uber worked, but I was reminded that Uber, because they are private cars, cannot use the bus lanes (whereas taxis can), making the trip in the whacky traffic pretty slow.  But it was a gorgeous day and the slower pace allowed more observation of the steetscapes!  

On the way home we drove through the Louvre.  Good golly, I don't remember ever seeing so many tour buses and so many tourists in the courtyard.  It's a little hard to see from my taxi-window snapshot, but even my driver had a few choice comments on the situation!