Art Déco 🐟 Aquarium Tropical, Palais de la Porte Dorée

 

ON ETSY

I went out looking for Art Déco architecture on Tuesday

And came home obsessed with fish 🐟 

Fête du Ventre, Rouen

  

On Saturday, I returned to the FÊTE DU VENTRE,

Celebration 🎉 in ROUEN.

La Roseraie du Val-de-Marne, 3-Day 🌹Sale, Confiture Parisienne, Lancôme Cafe de la Rose

This past week was ROSE WEEK 🌹

Last Sunday I headed out to La Roseraie de Val-de-Marne to paint the roses 🌹 Take ligne 7 to last stop, Villejuif-LouisAragon end of the line. Then bus 172 (in front) for 10+ minutes to Sous-Prefecteur Eglise etc. It was windy, cold and looked about to rain any second. I got back on the 7train & came home 🏡 

My Last day in Nantes, La Cigale

My last day in Nantes.

Began with a 9:30 reservation 

Le Radis Fanatique

 

The French have a long history of deep attachment to le radis

It begins early, in the crib before they have teeth 🦷 

Tuesday in Paris, Cafe Verlet, Maison Plisson

 

How did they know? I was seated next to the lush pastries in the window at Cafe Verlet.

I only admired from a distance. Too early in the morning for sweets I thought…though someone else was intrepid and had an eclair for breakfast! All delights from Carl Marletti. 

Yesterday in Paris

 

Yesterday as I was leaving for the Piscine 🏊 Saint-Merri at noon, this French tour group was studying the back of my heritage building

Our building was designed by renown 17th century king’s architect Louis le Vau, creator of Chateau Vaux le Vicomte, l’Institut de France, Versailles, and a portion of the Louvre.

J-3 avant le Pari Fermier de Rambouillet !

“De nos fermes à vos paniers“  From our farms to your baskets”

One of the great joys of living in France 🇫🇷 is going to farmers markets held in and  outside Paris. 

Paris, Capitale de la Gastronomie/ La Conciergerie Part1

 

When I was visiting Sainte-Chapelle I saw this poster announcing the brand, new exhibition, Paris, Capital of Gastronomie at La Conciergerie.

The next day I wrote, called, begged them to let me attend the preview🙏. 

Du coq à l'âne

 

Everyday on the French news I hear the word ‘grisaille’

There is still one grisaille/Paris when it drizzles left in my shop in case you’re feeling the wintry-Paris greys.

Rendez-vous du carnet de voyage, Clermont-Ferrand

 

Best laid plans etc. You think you’ve figured out all the angles

I even did a test run yesterday to Paris-Bercy station on ligne 14, the fastest metro in Paris, because last time I went in 2019 to Rendez-vous du carnet de voyage in Clermont-Ferrand I got awfully lost in the pitch dark finding the station…the train always departs at 6:57 am (a 4 hour ride to the l’Auvergne). You miss it, you’re toast.

Queen of Jam / Queen of England

I started collecting Christine Ferber jams (miniatures only) in 2008.

It took me longer to taste the real jam. 

June = Fraises in Paris Letter

 

Les Fraises are in🍓 Even on the last day of June. The Paris Fraise map 💌 went out 📮Tuesday🤸‍♂️🍓I know I’ve been missing in action😳but there are worse things than 2 weeks of total strawberry immersion. 

The strawb producteurs at Ferm du Mont de Cuy at Marché Mutualité know me well. 

They top up my box with extra Cléry strawberries since I’ve been showing up 2X a week. The best berries 🍓 don’t last long. Eat immediately or same day. Supermarché berries hang around longer and look nicer, but are consistently tasteless.

If you run🏃‍♂️ to Samaritaine right now you can catch their Summer 🍓 berry beaded jewelry collection. 

I caught it yesterday after a strawberry gelato at Tea Salon Cova, next door.

Hope springs eternal. I bought a strawberry plant for map research at the Marché des Fleurs, after my visa rendezvous at the Prefecteur last week. Then I promptly forgot it on the bus. Either the heat or post-visa angst made me forget it. I am not a plant 🪴 person.

Speaking of plants, the rarest of the rare is fraise de bois or the tiny wild strawberries you can’t find anywhere except at Paris’ top glacier Berthillon in their famous ice cream (+.50 extra for the wild ones). 

Their ‘piece de resistance’ is the double coupe loaded with Chantilly whipped creme, tiny berries and their fraise de bois ice cream. I’ve imagined getting this coupe many times…it’s only in their tea salon, not for take-away. Some day…🍓🍓🍓

Next up the Charlotte d’Alsace berry varietié. 

To say I’ve devoted many hours of research to the confiture/ jams of Christine Ferber would be an understatement. 

Time spent simply browsing C.Ferber jam names could equal watching whole streaming series like The Queen. Without question, her strawberry confiture is the best on the planet. La Figaro agrees. More like strawberry soup, best eaten straight from the jar. Never to be shared or wasted on toast. 

Last but never least, a Paris ‘must-eat’ each Spring is the classic 🍓Fraisier. 

Fou de Patisserie 3 boutiques make it easy to taste many top chef’s creations. A one-stop shop for the créme de la créme of Parisian desserts. 

The vendeuse explains in detail the various layers of Maison Angelina’s fraisier (they recently added the ‘Maison’ title to stop confusion with the actress👏). 

FYI, Fou de Patisserie now has adorable antique, engraved silver spoons available if you buy a pricy (€25) jar of their jam.

🥂💋🎉 Please take a look in my shop so you can receive real Paris Letters💌 and watercolors in your mailbox📮 🇫🇷 Subscribe to ParisBreakfasts newsletter here.✏️✏️✏️❤️💋🍓

Paris Mon Amour | Galeries Lafayette

 

This is fun!

For those of us left in Paris for August, Galeries Lafayette has sent us an early valentine❤️

The a love ❤️ letter 💌full of all the good things ‘made in Paris’.

Hanging from the rafters inside, an Ace of hearts, which traditionally is the card of love, happiness and celebrations 🥂🍾

Lots of Eiffel Towers in the windows definitely works for me.

I saw the signs all over town and in the Metro, ‘Paris, Mon Amour’ and wondered what’s going on?

A call to buy Paris-made goodies is what’s going on.

Like these Confiture Parisienne. I got a pretty jar during my strawberry obsession.

I was going to call this post ‘Desserts, Mon Amour’ since most of you are happy 🤸🏾‍♀️to see more desserts…

Or ‘Framboise, Mon Amour’…

This week I went to a local boulangerie who usually has nice little blueberry/myrtille 🫐 tartes but they were out. I got the framboise version of Yan Couvreur’s piled high tarte but it did not look like this.

More like this…

I thought I should taste le vrai chose/the real thing. But Couvreur has moved on. He no longer makes his famous architecturally-arranged framboise tarte because everyone else is. Now he’s doing piled high blueberries/myrtille 🫐

Here’s a Galeries Lafayette funny version of the famous whipped creamy, Riviera tarte, ‘la tropezienne‘ but shaped like an Eiffel Tower.

Naturally there are Metro seats in Galeries Lafayette’s window…with Paris Opera reflections.

Naturally, our favorite Luxembourg chairs are in their windows.

I put together a new 6-pack of Eiffel Towers for you.

And a new bunch of delicious(I know. I ate em) berry 🫐 tarte watercolors to taste now in my etsy shop.

All ‘Made in Paris’! Please share with a friend 🐻🐝🫐

Bon Wednesday PBers XOXO❤️💋🇫🇷