bonheur: July 2012

Paris Soldes!

When you see a white shopping bag in Paris with just the word 'soldes' on it you may be leaping for joy

Or running for cover.

Just TWO times a year for the big sales in Paris, though shops have found work-arounds for lesser sales throughout the year.

Today is the LAST DAY of the summer Soldes so you better hurry up!

I was fascinated by the variety of signage - a wonderfully witty kiddie's shop - Petit Pan, worth stopping in whether a sale is on or not.

Mona Lisait is a small chain whose books are already remaindered - art, cookbooks and books of general interest so a sale here would be a must.

Galeries Lafayette can be depended upon for exciting soldes adverts thanks to Jean- Paul Goude.

Another J-P Goude masterpiece - are these women fighting over the man or the shirt on sale? Qui sait? Le mec/guy doesn't mind a bit.

I didn't see anyone actually fighting over merchandise but the department stores were mayhem as soon as the clock struck 10 AM

You had to go a tad earlier to get any peace or space.

By the time I left prices were falling even further - final reductions were on the menu.

Sadly the only patisserie (and all-round foodie shop) to have sales was Fauchon. Go figure?

cartoon by Chimulus

Seen on blog rue89.

Bonne Faire les Course PBers!

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The Perfect Scoop

Paris may be the ice cream center of the world believe it or not.

A walk down rue Montorgueil(1st) offers you at least FOUR ice cream providers - Charles Chocolatier (shown), Deliziefolie , Maison Stohrer, Jeff de Bruges.

How to choose?

I picked the 1st glacier/ice cream maker I encountered, Charles Chocolatier. Plus the sound of flavor/parfum cocoa gingimbre appealed to me deeply.

Do you feel inclined to compare your cone/cornet with the standing model out front too?

I flirted with this issue of Gault Milhaut in the train station. You can read here the PDF on the top 45 ice cream makers in France.

Elle A Table magazine had their own story on the top 10 flavors of l'ete in Paris. I ripped it out on AirFrance going over and forgot about it. I just wandered and ate whatever was in front of me.

c'est la vie

Wearing 'ice cream' colors at this time in Paris could not be more de rigueur in case you're indecisive what to wear on your visit.

Fauchon has beautiful ice cream colored boxes. I tasted a pistache at their sidewalk ice cream freezer but forgot to shoot it.

Oh woe is moi.

Back on rue Montorgueil, Jeff de Bruges was dispensing soft serve ice cream, not my favorite so I didn't taste and I have some regrets. To call yourself a true ice cream connossieur you have to be willing to taste everything in my opinion.

Out of sheer curiosity I tasted Persian Saffron ice cream since I made it several times while visiting the chateau and Karen Wheeler/Biff. Honestly I think I like mine better.

I didn't taste Pierre Marcolini's cornet either sadly.

He was closed...

I missed out on Pierre Herme's ice creams - another tragic loss.

I raced inside to grab an Ispahan pastry, of which there were many it turned out. Plus the shop was empty!
Quelle surprise?

In no time it was jam-packed.

When I got outside and noticed the ice cream windows I wanted to go back in but the crowds discouraged me and I didn't want to injure my precious Ispahan in the process. You can't always get what you want they say...

You can easily make your own ice cream with David Lebovitz' delightful The Perfect Scoop and you don't have to own an ice cream maker to do so. It's one of the best secrets on the planet next to all the ice cream in Paris.

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Doodling in French

Ever walk into a shop

And say to yourself

'I'm home'.

That's how I felt when I wandered into EW because a certain well-known shop down the street was closed comme d'habitude. And boy am I glad.

EW - 21, rue St-Paul 'Le Marais' 75004

EW (Eduardo) on the phone talking away in Portuguese, looked up and said 'Bonjour'.

I responded, 'Tudo bom?'

He smiled and let me wander and poke around all the goodies to my heart's content.

Eduardo came to Paris 20 years ago to study architecture from Brazil. He opened his tiny closet-sized shop 12 years ago.

He told me,

'Whenever I get fed up with Paris, I just look out the window and I'm happy again'.

I was enthralled with the old French school goodies Eduardo has just like at Le Bonbon au Palais - several adorable watercolor boxes called out to me.

The sweet French china was hard to ignore as well...

But this old French how-to-draw notebook had my name on it.

Irresistible.

Doesn't it remind you of Anna Corba's Doodling in French?

If you walk into a Parisian patisserie and don't know how to say,

'Please wrap my macarons as a cadeau/gift'

now you can draw it for the vendeuse.

Anna shows you how to draw a pitcher too. In a restaurant you can 'ask' for a carafe d'eau/Paris tap by simply sketching it on a napkin, instead of spending $$ for a bottle of water.

It's a perfect gift for the French-obsessed.

Well I'm off 'home' today...

Do stop in at EW when you're wandering in Le Marais for a fun experience.

Bye Bye Paris!

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Summer In The City

Summertime has hit Paris enfin.

Where ever you look

Summer is suddenly ever present.

Anne Maisonneuve has FAB summery earrings. I bought the new tapestry tassle earring she was wearing. It's not just T-shirts you know.

Pots of delicious sorbet fill Arnaud Larhrer's vitrine. How is it every single patisserie and boulangerie in Paris is selling ice cream in one form or another? This is why I HAVE to move to Paris.