Palais Royal

Do you feel like this today?
Don't you think a walk in the park would do you good?
Especially if it is the Palais Royal park in Paris?
Did you taste everyone's dessert last night like I did? I shared with two others...Ahem
A stroll around this esplanade would be perfect for me...
Next best choice - I'm headed to the pool to work off that carmelized apple tart...
These fabulous sculptures are by Vana Xenou, a Greek artist obsessed with ancient mythology - I wish I knew more...

Promenading around through the colonades is another option at the Palais Royal. Anything to work off that full feeling from yesterday's Thanksgiving dinner...

I found Serge Lutens' shop here. I wish I'd had the nerve to go inside. I needed support from PB readers!

You enter and exit the Palais Royal through these narrow alley ways - the better to surprise you when you arrive inside...

Here's where I ate too much last night - at David Burke & Donatella on the upper East Side. I think their Thanksgiving menu could be a little more apropo don't you? But the restaurant was festive, the service great and the food wimsical, plentiful and delicious.
The lighting was not the greatest for tableshots - you can get a better view of my turkey here.
And that not-to-be-missed carmelized apple tart!
I'm off to the pool now :)

Happy Thanksgiving!

I wished Marie-Noelle in France a HAPPY THANKS GIVING and she emailed back this perfect turkey still life by Pieter Claesz from the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. See! The French are on top of everything! HTG!

Dessert Alert!

Are you bringing dessert to your Thanksgiving dinner destination? Bad things happen to good desserts when they are in transit.
I took these 3 desserts to Barbara Bleu. The trip was too much for these fragile beauties.Here's a lovely example of red and green harmony from Pierre Herme.

Not so lovely result after a trip on the Paris Metro. It went slip sliding away, because I did not treat it with kid gloves.
c'est la vie

My 1st day in Paris I made a B-line for Pierre Herme and bought this lovely creation plus 2 others, thinking I'd have painting material for a while.

I made the fatal error of entering the Metro at rush hour.
Quelle idiot moi!
I know why French women snack on Pierre Herme's fabulous desserts in the street.

Tragedie struck!

Plus I did not request these three to be packed seperately.
Live and learn.
It would be wise to reserve a hotel close to your favorite patisserie. Hotel Bonaparte is exactly across from Pierre Herme.

Sometimes you will be sold les macarons sans /without a box top! Quelle sacriledge et tragedie!

Listen when the sales person asks if your dessert is "pour emporte?" Take-away and eat immediately?
Tell her it's un cadeau/gift. You need une boite /box.
Or there may be an unhappy surprise when you get back to your room to feast.

Paul Boulangerie

This last trip I visited beaucoup de boulangeries.Maybe 5-6 plus one in Marseilles.Paul Boulangerie has their still life set ups in their windows.
Paris croissants — Paul BoulangerieThey make a gazillion croissants everyday.Here's another Paul boulangerie nature morte/still life.

A petit dejeuner still life menu...

Bon Breakfast!

Chez Clement Montparnasse

I met Sarah in the JFK waiting lounge enroute to Paris. Sarah has lived in Paris for 20 years and runs acting classes for the French at F.A.C.T.

Sarah invited M. and I to join her for dinner at Chez Clement, a chain all over Paris (sadly now closed). You can read their menu outside.The thing about Chez Clement that grabbed my attention was not their food (quite delicious) but their decor 🥄 SPOONS everywhere at Chez Clement!Why they don't call this Chez Cuillère or Chez du Cuillères or Les Cuillères?Plus there are a ton of copper pots hanging all over - some might call it,
Chez Pot de Cuivre.More pot de cuivre hanging at the entrance.

They proudly announce on the vitrines - their mashed potatoes have butter.

Pot de cuivre door handles

Step inside and you are greeted by an ARDOISE! announcing special of the day. M. & I got the special which included dessert

MORE SPOONS 🥄 I love throwing a spoon into a watercolor.

Spoons direct the eye 👁️ and add dimension to a picture.

I was in love with this restaurant.

M. and Sarah chastised me to stop taking pictures and EAT.

We shared a dessert of profiteroles...
Our spoons went to town on this one.

Very YUM ⭐️ ⭐️⭐️⭐️