Thanksgiving in Paris
If you want Thanksgiving dinner with all the trimmings but without the fuss and dirty dishes, here is a partial list of American style dining options:
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Categories: Paris France Tags: American cuisine, Canadian cuisine, EUR, Food and drink, Hospitality/Recreation, Joe Allen, Meals, Paris, Pecan pie, Thanksgiving, Thanksgiving dinner
Update on an Indispensible Guide
Superb restaurant critic Alec Lobrano has updated his bestselling book Hungry for Paris.
Hungry for Paris was first published in 2008 to rave reviews and has become an indispensable source for avid foodies combing the city for the best restaurants.
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Categories: Paris France Tags: Alec Lobrano, Bistro, food, Foodie, French cuisine, Hospitality/Recreation, Paris
Beaujolais Nouveau Arrives
Tomorrow (18th November) is another Beaujolais Nouveau day.
Categories: Events, Paris France Tags: Beaujolais, Beaujolais nouveau, Cru, French wines, Hospitality/Recreation, Nouveau, Rhône, Saône-et-Loire, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, wine, Wine tasting
British Style Bouffe
If France and England have a tense history, you wouldn’t know it after eating at Le Bal Café, a new spot where lines of Parisians seem more than happy to scarf down scones, kippers and kedgeree.
Hidden at a tiny impasse near place de Clichy, Le Bal is an exhibition space housed in a former bordello and ballroom (thus le bal). The café has been open since September.
Whether you come for the art and stay for the food or vice versa doesn’t matter: there’s no shame in either. Two alumnae of Rose Bakery are running the kitchen, and the menu is an appealing assemblage of cross-channel specialties.
Start brunch or afternoon tea with the aforementioned scones, flaky and not too sweet.
Consider the Welsh rarebit or kippers (smoked herring) on toast.
I kept it simple with an English breakfast of fried eggs, seriously good bacon, roasted tomatoes and toast, and was not disappointed; this is not the sloppy hash-slinging you find at many brunches, but thoughtful cooking with plenty of fresh touches.
Categories: Paris France Tags: Breakfast, Breakfast foods, British cuisine, Brunch, Food and drink, France, Full breakfast, Gastronomy, Hospitality/Recreation, Kipper, Le Bal, Le Bal Café, Meals, Scone, United Kingdom, Welsh rarebit
The Grass Is Greener…
Before arriving in Paris, most of us had been dreaming about it for a while.
All of our fantasies and hopes and desires were all wrapped up in the amazing possibilities that were to come of the experience of Paris : the life changing experience of the city of lights.
Paris was our fairy godmother who would transform us into special, beautiful, classy, cultivated, smart, sassy, suave and swanky ladies (or gentlemen…but I have observed that it’s the ladies who come with the most expectations and fantasies and not the men). And then we arrive here, and our heart races, it’s like being in love! Oh LOVE!
There is the initial starry-eyed sweep around the city where we are dazzled by the sparkling tower, and in awe of the enormous Louvre monument, and in tears at the view from the top of Notre Dame; we think how amazing the French are because they “invented the macaron (actually it was the Italians), and we rave about the sophistication of these creatures that seem to be everywhere primmed to perfection in every way.
We are in gracious awe of how the people can stand up and fight for their rights and applaud the protests (with only a semi-understanding of what they are for).
We rave gloriously about the efficiency of the transportation system and the health system and the small commerces and boutiques that remain a part of that quaint Paris we had always dreamed of (but then we proceed to shop at the Galleries Lafayette…how ironic). And then…[cue the death metal music…] the blisters arrive from wearing heels to often and walking our bloated feet over cobblestone.
Then the strikes hit hard and we are faced with the dilemma of how to get from point A to point B.
Then we have to wait an hour (or four) to see a doctor because we went to the hospital for a broken pinky toe on a Saturday evening.
Then we find ourselves enjoying the sparkling Eiffel tower amongst a pushy crowd of hundreds of tourists and foreigners and are devastated to find out wallet has been stolen in the mean-time.
Categories: Paris France Tags: Grass, Greener
La Fête au Bois | Paris
The traditional Autumn Fair which opens on 28th August 2010 until 17th October in the Bois de Boulogne, is now called the Party in the Woods.
The event, previously known as la Fête à Neu-Neu has been renamed on the occasion of the move from the lawn of Mortemart (behind the Hippodrome Auteuil). Some 100 day rides in the Bois now find themselves on the lawn of La Muette, near the Sixteenth District and along the peripheral .
“We asked the mayor of Paris can get this new site … for economic reasons,” says Marcel Campion, head of the carnival environment, which dominates the festivities of Paris (Tuileries, Foire du Trone, at the Feast Wood). “The previous site was becoming increasingly difficult to reach,” he says.
The cause: l’opération Paris respire (operation Paris breathes), forcing the closure of roads to cars in the Bois de Boulogne on the weekend. Decline in attendance during this operation, visitors to the festival in Neu-Neu were forced to go to the fair and walk back in the evening through the wood, which deterred deter many customers.
A spokesman for the fairground said that Paris respire had strangled the fair; which show steep declines in attendance since the introduction of the programme. According to their organization, the number of visitors dropped from 1.5 million in 2005 to just 300,000 last year.
The transfer of the carnival on the lawn of La Muette has been welcomed by all showmen, particularly as it is now close to transport links:
Metro : Rue de la Pompe
RER : Avenue Henri Martin
Bus : No. 63
Categories: Events, Paris France Tags: 16th arrondissement of Paris, Autumn Fair, Bois, Bois de Boulogne, La Muette, Paris, Rue de la Pompe
Disneyland Resort Paris
Disneyland Resort Paris was built to give a creative joy and entertaining experience for children and family. It should bring happiness and excitement with sensual pleasure and opportunities to explore. A magical place that is filled with amusement, magic and personal memories. From the smallest child to the biggest kids of all ages, Disneyland Resort Paris has been turning dreams into reality for the last fifteen years.
The Paris resort is the biggest of the four theme parks in Florida, Tokyo and California. There are a number of original additions and features that make Disney Paris a must visit amusement park of all times. It has been designed a little like the California Park where the little paths and corners are concerned but some of the shows and features are completely new. The rides are more exciting, the most popular being the “Pirates of the Caribbean”.
Categories: France Holiday, Paris France Tags: Aeroport, Animation, Big Thunder Mountain, California, California Park, Caribbean, Cars, Channel Tunnel, Charles de Gaulle airport, Chessy station, Davy Crockett Ranch, Disney, Disneyland Hotel, Disneyland Park, Explorers Hotel, Florida, France, Île-de-France, Japan, Paris, Space Mountain, Studios park, the 15th anniversary of the resort, The Walt Disney Company, Tokyo, Toon Studio, Tower of Terror, Twilight Zone Tower of Terror, United Kingdom, United States, Walt Disney Studios
Paris in Black
Paris, the city of fashion. Particularly if fashion is defined by wearing black. Parisians love to wear black; black trousers, black shoes, black coats, you name it.
Parisian women are peculiarly fond of black clothes. It is well recognized that “le noir, ça mincit”. Parisian women having a cool obsession with looking slender, black is their best friend.
But besides its superb fat-erasing skills, black is a priceless social colour in Paris. With black, you go unobserved.
Categories: Fashion, Paris France Tags: clothes, Fashion, Île-de-France, Paris, shoes, Smurf
Having theories
Thinking differently in Paris does not imply radical or in-depth questionings. Thinking differently simply implies appearing to be thinking differently. In Paris, this takes the form of having theories.
Categories: Paris France Tags: 9/11 conspiracy theories, Conspiracy theory, Île-de-France, Paris, Philosophy of science, Politics, Scientific method, Theory