I think it's fair to say that both Milo and me have put some weight around the middle since living in Paris.
Monday, July 12, 2010
How many kilos is that?
I think it's fair to say that both Milo and me have put some weight around the middle since living in Paris.
Sunday, July 11, 2010
French phrase of the day: j’ai une pêche
Def: I have a peach, literally. Colloquially, it means I have a really great thing.
This weekend, while not entirely conforming to the proper usage of the phrase, has been a really great thing.
After Friday night, I got up a little late and pushed myself out of the treehouse by noon. The destination: le Marché Batignolles. While Sunday morning’s Boulevard Raspail organic market gets all the buzz, I found this Saturday morning, in the 17th arrondisement organic market, which I’ve been wanting to check out for some times now, a little lovelier. Fewer baby strollers, fewer bottlenecks, plus most of the same stands as Raspail, and then some.
I was on a quest for lunch goodies to bring to Square de Batignolles for a solo picnic. When I finally chose my produce stand after making a couple leisurely rounds, and decided on a peach for my piece of fruit, a really cute girl served me —and then decided to give me the peach for free. I don’t know why, but needless to say, the gesture made my day.
I had also noticed a strand with dried pineapple—sauvage, even: no added sugar—which is something I can’t easily resist. Thank god I didn’t. I tasted it before I left the market and think I gasped out loud. It was perhaps the best dried pineapple I’ve ever eaten. Unlike the gummy texture of most—which, don’t get me wrong, I love—this was caramelized at the edges, so it tasted like pineapple upside down cake, without the cake. Heaven.
The peach, I finally ate in the park, after my onion tart. I gasped again. Perhaps the bloody best peach I’ve ever eaten in my life! Ah, the food in France…
The rest of the day was equally wonderful. I lounged in the park for a bit, before strolling around Montmartre. I did a bit of shopping and I took my time. At the end of the day I spontaneously called Sarah for a movie date as we’d been talking about seeing L’Illustionniste.
I love my Triplets of Belleville, but this movie was a peach as well. So bittersweet! Quel charm! It made me and Sarah grin and gush. A must see.
After the movies, it was still light out, and we found a terrace for a light dinner. Again, totally pleased with my food—a multicolored, perfectly composed salad of greens, potatoes, cauliflower, broccoli, beets, cucumbers, peas, yellow peppers. It was almost too pretty to eat. But I did and guess what? It was delicious.
Finally, in that long beautiful blue hour here in Paris, I Velib'ed home. I took left turns and right turns through the Marias, sometimes going in circles, just so I could prolong the ride in the quiet streets. Starlings screeched overhead, there were few people walking, and it was just the most serene and lovely ride home.
This weekend, while not entirely conforming to the proper usage of the phrase, has been a really great thing.
After Friday night, I got up a little late and pushed myself out of the treehouse by noon. The destination: le Marché Batignolles. While Sunday morning’s Boulevard Raspail organic market gets all the buzz, I found this Saturday morning, in the 17th arrondisement organic market, which I’ve been wanting to check out for some times now, a little lovelier. Fewer baby strollers, fewer bottlenecks, plus most of the same stands as Raspail, and then some.
I was on a quest for lunch goodies to bring to Square de Batignolles for a solo picnic. When I finally chose my produce stand after making a couple leisurely rounds, and decided on a peach for my piece of fruit, a really cute girl served me —and then decided to give me the peach for free. I don’t know why, but needless to say, the gesture made my day.
I had also noticed a strand with dried pineapple—sauvage, even: no added sugar—which is something I can’t easily resist. Thank god I didn’t. I tasted it before I left the market and think I gasped out loud. It was perhaps the best dried pineapple I’ve ever eaten. Unlike the gummy texture of most—which, don’t get me wrong, I love—this was caramelized at the edges, so it tasted like pineapple upside down cake, without the cake. Heaven.
The peach, I finally ate in the park, after my onion tart. I gasped again. Perhaps the bloody best peach I’ve ever eaten in my life! Ah, the food in France…
The rest of the day was equally wonderful. I lounged in the park for a bit, before strolling around Montmartre. I did a bit of shopping and I took my time. At the end of the day I spontaneously called Sarah for a movie date as we’d been talking about seeing L’Illustionniste.
I love my Triplets of Belleville, but this movie was a peach as well. So bittersweet! Quel charm! It made me and Sarah grin and gush. A must see.
After the movies, it was still light out, and we found a terrace for a light dinner. Again, totally pleased with my food—a multicolored, perfectly composed salad of greens, potatoes, cauliflower, broccoli, beets, cucumbers, peas, yellow peppers. It was almost too pretty to eat. But I did and guess what? It was delicious.
Finally, in that long beautiful blue hour here in Paris, I Velib'ed home. I took left turns and right turns through the Marias, sometimes going in circles, just so I could prolong the ride in the quiet streets. Starlings screeched overhead, there were few people walking, and it was just the most serene and lovely ride home.
Saturday, July 10, 2010
Friday night
Gotta change things up. I hate to say it, but I’ve been bored these past couple of months. As much as I love my City of Light and Dark Chocolate, it can be a little staid. Granted, it’s also been me. Aside from overeating and watching the World Cup, I have been doing little else except working.
So with the lovely summer weather has come beaucoup motivation to do something! Explore! Get on that Velib again and figure out what this town has to offer (besides cakes and macarons and Anglophone eats)!
Last night was a good example of the rewards and delights to be discovered. Jo, Olivier, Sarah, Michael and I decided to head to Batofar—one of, what we discovered, were many riverfront cafes and restaurants that attract a mix of Parisians and suburbanites (with just a titch of riff raff to keep things interesting).
We kicked back in innertube “chairs” before dinner, happy as clams to be outside in the setting sun.
And after dinner (rotisserie chicken with maybe the best potatoes I’ve eaten in my life), Michael regaled us with his crazy stories, as he’s wont to do.
The gang split up around midnight, with Michael and I hopping on Veibs to head to Curio Parlor.
But first, we made a pit-stop to watch the tango dancers.
Too cool to see the dancers moving en masse, with the glimmering river in the background. (See?? This city does have cool stuff to offer, Amy…)
Curio Parlor offered delicious cocktails and a tres gay fashion crowd; music and flirtation and suddenly it was 3 a.m.
But wait! Before truly calling it a night, we popped into a fabulously happening bar in the Marais. I didn’t take names or photos, but I am too excited to go back. After a night of such unusual and intriguing discoveries, Paris is mine again.
So with the lovely summer weather has come beaucoup motivation to do something! Explore! Get on that Velib again and figure out what this town has to offer (besides cakes and macarons and Anglophone eats)!
Last night was a good example of the rewards and delights to be discovered. Jo, Olivier, Sarah, Michael and I decided to head to Batofar—one of, what we discovered, were many riverfront cafes and restaurants that attract a mix of Parisians and suburbanites (with just a titch of riff raff to keep things interesting).
We kicked back in innertube “chairs” before dinner, happy as clams to be outside in the setting sun.
And after dinner (rotisserie chicken with maybe the best potatoes I’ve eaten in my life), Michael regaled us with his crazy stories, as he’s wont to do.
The gang split up around midnight, with Michael and I hopping on Veibs to head to Curio Parlor.
But first, we made a pit-stop to watch the tango dancers.
Too cool to see the dancers moving en masse, with the glimmering river in the background. (See?? This city does have cool stuff to offer, Amy…)
Curio Parlor offered delicious cocktails and a tres gay fashion crowd; music and flirtation and suddenly it was 3 a.m.
But wait! Before truly calling it a night, we popped into a fabulously happening bar in the Marais. I didn’t take names or photos, but I am too excited to go back. After a night of such unusual and intriguing discoveries, Paris is mine again.
Friday, July 9, 2010
Thursday, July 8, 2010
Je reste à Paris
Sometimes it rains. Really, really hard. And other times, life is beyond beautiful.
The past couple months were really tough; really trying. I have been lonely and homesick and ready to pack it up. My contract was up at the end of June, and my plan was to go back home, into the arms of my friends and family, and my beloved New York. Back to a life that made sense and felt comfortable and was good to me.
And yet.
And yet I couldn’t quite leave. I rather like Paris, after all. I’ve come to really enjoy my work. And if Ogilvy could extend just one more contract, and I could finish this Vuitton project, and maybe meet more people and learn more of the language and travel more and find that joy again that sustained and lifted me for months upon months last year… well then, pourquoi pas?
If only the decision had been that easy. It was excruciating, thanks in no small part to my introverted, belabored ways of overthinking things. But a little over a month ago, I was biking through Place de la Concorde, and this was the light I saw.
Really! I saw the light!
And I knew at that moment that I was staying. If only for another six months.
And even though it has taken me weeks to admit it and say it out loud, I am staying. I will remain in Paris through the end of the year. Best of all, I feel good about my decision. I feel positive and hopeful and confident, which, after months of feeling shaky and unsure, is a huge relief.
And, my god, I am in Paris. I am staying for another six months. It is summer, I have friends, I am fulfilled, and I have so many things to look forward to and everything seems to (finally!) be falling into place.
I am staying in Paris, and I am again a happy girl.
The past couple months were really tough; really trying. I have been lonely and homesick and ready to pack it up. My contract was up at the end of June, and my plan was to go back home, into the arms of my friends and family, and my beloved New York. Back to a life that made sense and felt comfortable and was good to me.
And yet.
And yet I couldn’t quite leave. I rather like Paris, after all. I’ve come to really enjoy my work. And if Ogilvy could extend just one more contract, and I could finish this Vuitton project, and maybe meet more people and learn more of the language and travel more and find that joy again that sustained and lifted me for months upon months last year… well then, pourquoi pas?
If only the decision had been that easy. It was excruciating, thanks in no small part to my introverted, belabored ways of overthinking things. But a little over a month ago, I was biking through Place de la Concorde, and this was the light I saw.
Really! I saw the light!
And I knew at that moment that I was staying. If only for another six months.
And even though it has taken me weeks to admit it and say it out loud, I am staying. I will remain in Paris through the end of the year. Best of all, I feel good about my decision. I feel positive and hopeful and confident, which, after months of feeling shaky and unsure, is a huge relief.
And, my god, I am in Paris. I am staying for another six months. It is summer, I have friends, I am fulfilled, and I have so many things to look forward to and everything seems to (finally!) be falling into place.
I am staying in Paris, and I am again a happy girl.
Weather check: as it should be
It's gonna get hot today. Nowhere near as prolonged and steamy as it's been in New York, I'm sure, but a good sweaty summer day nonetheless. Vive l'été!
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