I Prefer Paris

Door(s) of the Month: Boulevard Saint Germain

After I shot my A Bite of Paris video with John Baxter in July, I walked home on the Boulevard Saint Germain, starting from Place Odeon, walking east and ending in the Latin Quarter. I passed a number of rich colored doors in jelly apple red, emerald green, electric blue, mint green, and pretty pink. The bright sun that day shone brilliantly, accentuating the already saturated door colors. 

I am happy to have the prolific author John Baxter as my guest on A Bite of Paris. John has written many books about Paris including The Most Beautiful Walk in World, We’ll Always Have Paris, and books about the neighborhoods of Paris. Montmartre, Saint Germain des Pres, and Montmartre. John has also written two books about food in France, The Perfect Meal and Eating Eternity. 

John and I had coffee outdoors at the pastry shop and café, Gerard Mulot, in Saint Germain des Pres. 

Please watch the video at this link. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SpPCLR-6ACg

For more about John and to purchase his books go to https://www.johnbaxterparis.com/

Please share this video and don’t forget to subscribe to my You Tube channel.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chez Bogato Marais

In 2010 I discovered the most adorable bakery/shop, Chez Bogato, in the 14^th arrondissement. A combination of sweet shop, candy store, party goods shop, and cookie and cake maker, Chez Bogato was just as sweet looking as their cookies and cakes tasted.

Last week I was walking down rue de Temple, after having lunch with a friend, I saw Chez Bogato written on a storefront. It took me a moment to remember it, and then I realized it was the same shop I visited in 2010. 

The new Marais branch had just opened, and it was just as cute and adorable as the store in the 14^th arrondissement, perhaps even more so, because it was on a bigger scale. 

The inviting windows of the store had colored balloons piled high, and a selection of enticing layer cakes, fruit tarts, and cupcakes along with bottles of wines and Champagne. Inside, is a cheerful, feel-good space, a happy-land of candy, cakes, pastries, party favors and decorations, games, toys, cake decorations, and balloons. 

The middle island has a refrigerated case with their whole and individual cakes, tarts, cupcakes and other specialties such as a Sweet Burger, a facsimile of a cheeseburger with a bun made of macarons, a caramel cupcake topped with a piece of caramel candy, a Cadeau, a Sacher-like cake with pecans and chocolate mousse wrapped with blue ribbon and a bow made of marzipan, and Teton de Venus, a cake with poppy seeds and strawberry mousse . I’m not sure where I got the willpower, but I refrained from the tantalizing tarts and cakes, and bought Vincent a sable with je t’aime embossed on it. 

In the back is a separate room, painted tomato red,  with a big disco ball hanging from the ceiling (I’m a sucker for any kind of disco ball) where you can order, design, and customize your cake.   

The Marais Chez Bogato also offers a cookie bar, where you customize your cookies, and cake and pastry making classes for adults and kids. 

Chez Bogato 

5 Rue Saint-Merri, 75004 Metro : Hotel de Ville 

https://chezbogato.fr/

Please read my latest article for Travel Awaits 5 Fabulous Day Trips Within Two Hours of Paris

https://www.travelawaits.com/2556999/best-day-trips-from-paris/?pv=related_list

Quick & Easy Guide About US Taxes for Expats in France

Here's an informative guest post about US taxes for expats in France 

Americans love living in France and several factors influence that decision. A great climate, beautiful countryside, exciting culture, and its rich culture are only a few of the positives. An interesting cuisine, economical cost of living, and affordable healthcare also draw in US expats. Interestingly, students also opt to study in French schools and universities. Even as you’re planning your move, one of the first things to find out in detail is about filing taxes as a US expat in France. 

US Expats Must File Returns with the IRS Back Home

Even though you’re a permanent resident of France and earning an income in the country, you’ll continue to pay taxes back home. As long as you remain a US citizen or hold a Green Card, the IRS expects you to declare income from all international sources in the tax return. That includes any assets you hold in foreign bank accounts. 

You’ll complete and submit the FinCEN Form 114, which is also called the Foreign Bank Account Report. Of course, as a resident of France, you’ll also comply with the tax obligations that your host country has for you.

You’ll Qualify as a Resident of France Based in 3 Criteria

Any individual must fulfill any one of the three main criteria if they wish to qualify as French residents for taxation purposes.

● Your primary residence is on French soil or your family has a permanent home in the country. If you spend more than 183 days out of a calendar year in France or spend more days here than in any other country, you’re considered a French resident.

● If your primary employment, self-employment, or other business, is in France, then you’re a resident. Conducting most of your professional activities out of France is a valid qualifier.

● If all of your economic activity is conducted in France, that makes you a resident.

You Won’t Have to Pay Dual Taxation

If you’re concerned about paying double taxes on the same income in two different countries, rest assured. The IRS has provisions so US expats pay tax only once. This gets complex, but you don’t have to be on US soil to benefit from a knowledgeable tax service. Online options are available. Residents of France will learn that they can take advantage of different kinds of exclusions. For instance:

● Foreign Earned Income Exclusion, where you can exclude up to $107,600 from your total US taxes from all international sources. You’ll pay taxes only on the balance income left over.

● Foreign tax Credit where you can claim credit for the taxes you pay to the French government in your IRS return. 

● Foreign Housing Exclusion where you can exclude any household expenses incurred during your stay in France from the US tax return.

Do keep in mind that even if you think you don’t owe the IRS any taxes, you’ll file returns as usual and declare all earned income. 

Understanding Income Tax Rates Applicable in France

The French government levies progressive tax rates according to your income level. These rates can change year to year, which is why you must consult an expert tax attorney who can guide you. For instance, all income earned in the year 2020 will be taxed in the year 2021 at these rates:

● Income of €9,964 and below - 0%

● Income of €9,964 to €25,405 - 11%

● Income of €25,405 to €72,643 - 30%

● Income of €72,643 to €156,244 - 41%

● Above €156,244 - 45%

 

In addition to understanding tax rates, you’ll also want to keep in mind that the fiscal year in the US and France are similar - from January 1st to December 31st. Remember to check for the applicable due dates and file your tax returns in time. 

 

France is a lovely country to explore. Stay compliant with your tax obligations and enjoy a fantastic life.

 

 

My Excellent Provence Adventure Planned By Julie Mautner- Part 2

On Saturday morning at 10am, Julie arranged a food tour around Saint Remy on electric bicycles. Jeff, a charming Frenchman  was my guide. We met at the Sun-E-Bike shop a few minutes before 10am, so we could get our bicycles. Sun-E-Bike shop was generous in supplying my bicycle rental free of charge. The studious and helpful staff made sure I knew everything I needed to know about how the bicycle operates and they let me take it for a short test spin before the tour to make sure I had the right bicycle. Our guide Jeff seemed to be a serious cycler with his helmet, pumped up bicycle, and other biking gear. 

It was a sunny, clear day, but there was a bit of a mistral, so I think it was a good thing to be riding an electric bicycle. We glided through the bucolic countryside with the breeze chasing us and at one point we took a narrow path alongside a brook, which was so peaceful and serene with just the sounds of nature in the air. I so appreciated the quiet because since March, I’ve been working from home, where the noise from my building and the street in front of my building has been unbearable. 

The first stop on the tour was Moulin de Calanquet, a five generation, family owned olive oil factory and grove. Joseph, an amiable young man, guided us through the step by step process of how the olives are made into oil. The olives are still handpicked but the pickers use a stick especially designed to grab olives easier from the tops of the trees. Much like wine, the olives are picked once a year, usually in September or October, depending on the weather from the summer, and there’s only about a 30-day window of opportunity to pick the olives before they are overripe. Next the olives are put through two machines to extract the oil and the oil is eventually stored in massive metal vats. Joseph told us that even though the process of turning the olives into olive oil was automated and done my machine, the quality and pureness was better than if the process was done by the old fashioned, press machines worked by hand. 

After the tour, we were offered tastings in the retail shop of the various oils, and Joseph explained in great detail, the subtleties of taste and texture for each oil. There were also tastings of their tapenades served on dried toast. The shop sells a superior line of jams, jellies, and preserves and I nearly swooned at the taste of the olive and lemon preserves. 

Moulin de Calanquet can ship to the U.S. and the shipping cost of a seven-bottle box, is 61€, which is still worth it for the exquisite oil. 

https://boutique-olives.moulinducalanquet.fr/en/

Our next stop was Le Nectar des Alpilles, where fresh honey is cultivated from their own beehives. The manufacturing area was in a hangar with a number of processing machines to convert the liquid from the honeycombs into actual honey, and then pour it into jars. Le Nectar des Alpilles maintains 250 beehives on a multi-acre farm next to the plant. Late March till the mid-June is the period when the queen bees are bred. The various plants and fauna on grounds and weather conditions will add to the taste of the honey, thus producing the different flavors. July is the big month, when most of the honey is produced. Le Nectar des Alpilles belongs to ANERCEA (association of queen breeders), which is dedicated to the continuation of beekeeping breeding, which is paramount for the industry to survive. I bought Vincent a small jar of rosemary scented honey, which he loved. 

https://www.lenectardesalpilles.fr/ 

The last stop of the tour was my favorite, a visit to a goat cheese farm. Dani, short for Danielle owns a small farm that raises goats to produce goat cheese along with her partner and her 12 year old son. We were taken to grassy area where the adorable goats were grazing, and Dani spontaneously milked a goat in front of us and used a pitcher to store the milk. She then poured it into glasses and offered it to us. The milk was sweet and a tad warm. Her son affectionately cuddled and nuzzled the goats, and then held one in his arms for us to pet. I was smitten. 

We later entered the rooms where the cheese was made and Dani served us three different types of goat cheese, one, creamy, one medium, and the third, a firm one. They were all delicious and fresh and I had to be careful to not hog down too much, as the purity of the cheeses made them quite rich. 

A few moments later Dani took us out to a meadow on the farm, where she showed us her prized rescue bull. 

I bought three cheeses for the ridiculously low price of six euros. I was so excited when I got home to share them with Vincent, furiously scavenging by bag to find them, but finally realized I stupidly left them in the refrigerator of the apartment I was staying at in Saint Remy. Ouch! 

Well oiled, honeyed, and cheesed, we headed back into Saint Remy at about 1pm. My train was at 6pm, so I had a few hours left to explore the center of Saint Remy, with its quaint narrow streets, cool boutiques, and appealing restaurants and cafes. 

My last food stop was the award-winning Joel Durand chocolate shop. When I entered the small boutique, where the chocolate is also produced, the chocolate scent was so seductive, I could have bought out the store. I let it sink in for a moment and went about my business trying to select nine chocolates for a small box. Among the more unusual flavors, I chose cloves and lemons, Provence thyme, coffee and barley water, lavender, and tiramisu. 

I loved every minute of the tours Julie planned, so Bravo! Julie for doing a great job. 

You can view more info about Julie and her services at the two websites below

https://www.provenceposttravel.com

http://whattodoinprovence.com

Also check out her blog

http://provencepost.com/ 

Click here to read Part #1 of My Excellent Provence Adventure 

Julie keeps a large database of villas, townhomes and apartments for rent across Provence and loves to help her clients choose the perfect place.She connected me with Karen Stride, an Australian woman who has a three bedroom apartment rental in the center of Saint Remy. Karen was kind enough to put me up overnight. Karen, an interior decorator,  recently bought and renovated the apartment, and has done a beautiful job. The apartment is filled with high quality, locally purchased antiques and new furniture and objets in the Provencal style. I appreciated there was no sign of IKEA, as that’s usually the go to furniture used in rental apartments. Each bedroom had a full bathroom, each with a rain shower head. There's also a full kitchen, and air conditioning.  The apartment is centrally located on a narrow street, and it is exceptionally quiet. A cool feature is a rooftop deck where there are fabulous views of Saint Remy, and where I took the first and last photo in this blog.  Karen rents the apartment out by the night (two night minimum) and by the week. 

To learn more about booking Karen’s apartment, contact her at karenstrideprovence@yahoo.com. Or, contact Julie who will be happy to help.

Below are photos of Karen Stride's fab apartment 

Please watch my latest A Bite of Paris video, where I make and bake a Dark, Chocolate, Chestnut Cake.

Click here to watch the video.

 

My Excellent Provence Adventure Planned By Julie Mautner- Part One

When I was in the Luberon in late July, I met Julie Mautner for a coffee in Saint Remy. Julie is a transplanted American who has been living in Saint Remy for over 20 years. She creates custom-designed trips and experiences for the Provence area that can include villa rentals, tours, activities, hotel recommendations and bookings, transfers, and restaurant reservations. 

We had connected a number of years ago online, but we had never met so it was fortuitous that we finally met. Julie lived in NYC for a long time before she moved to Provence, and we discovered we had parallel backgrounds, as she was an editor and writer for a prestigious food magazine at the same time, I was a chef and caterer. We also have similar businesses here in France, plus we both write blogs, and we spoke in length about clients, business, tours, etc. She also told me how she worked with clients and about the various tours and activities she planned for her clients, which all sounded so appealing to me. 

I have only been to Saint Remy and the surrounding area of Provence once over 10 years ago, and I’ve always wanted to explore the area more. With Julie’s enticing description of her tours and the area, I wanted to return, and I asked her if she would organize some tours for me in October, so that I can also write about them here and perhaps for some other publications I write for. 

I told Julie I wanted to spend two full days and a night in Provence, and she sent me an email asking what types of activities and tours I was interested in, and areas of interest such as food, history, hiking, biking, sightseeing, etc. I told her I was interested in food, culture, and historical sites in the area and she followed up with within 24 hours with a suggested itinerary, and it was spot on in terms of what I was interested in. We exchanged a few more emails just to iron out the details and I was now excited about the trip. 

Arriving on Friday morning at about 11am at Avignon TGV station, my guide Marlene Boyer, who Julie booked for me, met me at the station with her car and we drove to Avignon for the first part of the tour. Marlene, who is French and speaks English with a lovely  French lilt, was warm, friendly and enthusiastic, the right combination of qualities you look for in a guide. 

Our first stop was the Les Halles indoor food market in the center of Avignon for lunch at Cuisine Centr'Halles, a café, cooking school, and catering company, owned by chef Jon Chiri from California, another Provence transplant who has been living in the area for over 20 years. It was a few minutes before 12pm, so Jon was prepping lunch. He invited me into the open kitchen and offered me a taste of some tapenade and other spreads he was making for lunch and a glass of wine. Jon  was friendly and generous, and we shared about our experiences in the food world, since I was a chef and caterer in NYC before I moved here. Lunch wasn’t going to be ready for about another 20 minutes, so Marlene took me around the market and introduced me to the various food stall vendors she knew and explained in great detail about their products and backgrounds. 

Lunch started with a continuation of the four spreads I had tasted before, and I now appreciated them more since Jon told me what was in them. My plat was sliced duck (Jon made it a point that the duck was carved from a whole duck rather than a magret) cooked rosé or medium rare, with lavender, roasted potatoes, and ratatouille. The duck was tender and flavorful, and a real treat since I hadn’t had duck in ages. Jon totally spoiled us with two desserts, a super moist honey and spice cake with figs, followed by a tarte Tatin, literally straight out of the oven. 

Happy and stuffed, we made our way back to the car to continue our tour. Next was Les Antiques de Glanum in the Alpilles mountain range, the site of two, well preserved artifacts from the Roman city of Glanum from 200BC, The Mausoleum of the Julii, and the triumphal arch of Glanum. An archeological excavation was led by Pierre de Brun in 1921, which uncovered a good part of the ancient city. 

Van Gogh has long been associated with Saint Remy, and the next stop was the Saint Paul Asylum where Van Gogh self-admitted himself and spent a year in 1889. Van Gogh prolifically painted dozens of canvases from his room which looked out on to fields and from his walks on and nearby the property of the asylum, of olive trees, wheat fields, cypress trees, and lilacs and irises in the gardens. Even though I have extensively studied and read about Van Gogh, since I sometimes lead tours of Auvers-sur-Oise, the last place Van Gogh lived and painted before he died, Marlene shared many new facts I did not know. We toured the church, and I especially  loved the courtyard garden, and the garden field.

 Stimulated by the spirit of Van Gogh, Marlene drove me through the foothills and windy roads of the Alpilles mountains where I was awe inspired by the rugged rock formations of gray stone, and the incredible views of the ancient village of Les Baux de Provence. 

Marlene parked the car just below the center of Les Baux, and we climbed up the hill and through the quaint village. Although Les Baux is a village from the Middle Ages, its foundations date from 6,000 B.C. At one point, Marlene escorted me to an almost hidden perch, where clients can set up a picnic lunch with wine, so they could marvel at the breathtaking view below. 

After Les Baux, Marlene dropped me off to Carrieres de Lumieres, a former quarry which now hosts the incredible light and laser shows, similar to the Atelier de Lumieres in Paris. The current show is about Dali, and the images of Dali’s surrealist works looked great on the massive stone surfaces. 

After the show, Julie picked me up and we had dinner at a popular bistro in Saint Remy. 

I thoroughly enjoyed my day with Marlene and thank you Julie for arranging such a pleasant experience. 

Stay tuned until Thursday, when I write about my fabulous food tour on My Excellent Provence Adventure Planned By Julie Mautner- Part Two. 

Jon Chiri/ Cuisine Centr'Halles  https://www.jonathanchiri.com/

You can view more info about Julie and her services at the two websites below

https://www.provenceposttravel.com

http://whattodoinprovence.com 

Also check out her blog

http://provencepost.com/

Please watch my latest A Bite of Paris video, where I make and bake a Dark, Chocolate, Chestnut Cake.

Click here to watch the video.