I Prefer Paris

September Eye Need to Do's: Diana Krall, Gentry de Paris & Dita Von Teese, and Joan Mitchell

Diana Krall

Come hear the sassy, classy diva at the world famous Olympia. She'll be singing soothing tunes like Where or When, Walk on By, The Boy from Impanema, and How Can you Mend a Broken Heart from her latest CD Quiet Nights.

Sept. 15, 16, & 17
L'Olympia 28 Bd. des Capucines, 9th arr.
Metro: Opera
Click here to order tickets

 

The Gentry de Paris Revue 

Burlesque is making tasteful full frontal comeback thanks to Gentry Lane. The Ziegfield Folies style revue features the new Queen of Burlesque Dita Von Teese and 18 titillating striptease numbers.

Sept. 7-17
Casino de Paris
16 rue de Clichy, 9th arr.
Metro: Clichy
http://www.casinodeparis.fr/gentry-de-paris-revue-190.html

 

Joan Mitchell in Giverny
One of my favorite contemporary painters Joan Mitchell is having an important retrospective of over 30 paintings from 1950-52. She lived Vetheuil, very close to Giverny and was certainly influenced by Monet. A must see show.

Musée des impressionnismes Giverny
99 rue Claude Monet
27620 Giverny
02 32 51 94 65
Open 10AM-6PM everyday
till October 31
http://www.museedesimpressionnismesgiverny.com/

 

Fete de Jardins
See the most beautiful gardens in Paris, even some that are not usually open to the public, at the 13th annual Fete des Jardins,plus gardening and planting workshops, classes, and demonstrations.

Fete de Jardins
Sept. 26, 2PM-7PM, Sept. 27, 11AM-7PM
http://www.gerbeaud.com/actualite-jardin/200908-fete-des-jardins-de-paris.php

New! Eye Prefer Paris Cooking Classes
I am happy to announce the launch of Eye Prefer Paris Cooking Classes. Come take an ethnic culinary journey with me and chef and caterer Charlotte Puckette, author of the bestseller The Ethnic Paris Cookbook. First we will shop at a Paris green-market for the freshest ingredients and then return to Charlotte’s professional kitchen near the Eiffel Tower to cook a three-course lunch. After, we will indulge in the delicious feast we prepared along with hand-selected wines.

Cost: 185 euros per person (about $240)
Time: 9:30AM- 2PM (approximately 4 1/2 hours)
Location: We will meet by a metro station close to the market
Class days: Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday
Minimum of 3 students, maximum 6 students.

Click here to sign up for the next class or for more info.

I am pleased as punch to announce the launch of Eye Prefer Paris Tours, which are 3-hour walking tours I will personally be leading. The Eye Prefer Paris Tour includes many of the places I have written about such as small museums & galleries, restaurants, cafes & food markets, secret addresses, fashion & home boutiques, parks, and much more.

I look forward to meeting you on my tours and it will be my pleasure and delight to show you my insiders Paris.
Check it out at www.eyepreferparistours.com

Courtyard Week: 41 rue Jussieu & 28 bis rue Cardinal Lemoine

I wanted to show a courtyard in another part of the city besides the Marais. I ventured to the Ile St. Louis, pressing buzzer upon buzzer to gain entry to a courtyard but none of the doors opened. I ended up in the 5th arr. where I found two delightful courtyards to end my series.

The first was in a Haussmann Belle Epoque building constructed in the 1890s. I love the black iron entrance door with the curlicues (I almost saved it as a Door of the Month) and the limestone Corinthian columns in the lobby.I then walked through another even more fabulous ornate black iron and glass door to the courtyard where the centerpiece is a towering tree surrounded by a bed of red, white, and lavender impatiens and another bed of lovely impatiens in full bloom in each corner. The buildings around the courtyard are a soothing pink and beige stone and each have a handsome iron and glass portico canopy above the wood frame doors. 

 

 

 

 

The next courtyard was a around the corner and was once housing for students from the College du Cardinal Lemoine from the 16th century to the 18th century. Romantic is the first adjective I thought of with its rough cobblestone walls,rusted old lanterns and abundant greenery.The surprise of the ceramic urns angling out of the walls was so clever.

I hope you enjoyed courtyard week and I had a ball finding and photographing them.I would love your feedback to see if you would like me to do Courtyard Week 2.

49 rue Jussieu, 5th arr.
28 bis rue Cardinal Lemoine, 5th arr.
Metro: Cardinal Lemoine

 

New! Eye Prefer Paris Cooking Classes
I am happy to announce the launch of Eye Prefer Paris Cooking Classes. Come take an ethnic culinary journey with me and chef and caterer Charlotte Puckette, author of the bestseller The Ethnic Paris Cookbook. First we will shop at a Paris green-market for the freshest ingredients and then return to Charlotte’s professional kitchen near the Eiffel Tower to cook a three-course lunch. After, we will indulge in the delicious feast we prepared along with hand-selected wines.

Cost: 185 euros per person (about $240)
Time: 9:30AM- 2PM (approximately 4 1/2 hours)
Location: We will meet by a metro station close to the market
Class days: Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday
Minimum of 3 students, maximum 6 students.

Click here to sign up for the next class or for more info.

I am pleased as punch to announce the launch of Eye Prefer Paris Tours, which are 3-hour walking tours I will personally be leading. The Eye Prefer Paris Tour includes many of the places I have written about such as small museums & galleries, restaurants, cafes & food markets, secret addresses, fashion & home boutiques, parks, and much more.

I look forward to meeting you on my tours and it will be my pleasure and delight to show you my insiders Paris.
Check it out at www.eyepreferparistours.com

Courtyard Week: Hotel Charpentier de Fourcy

Hotel Charpentier de Fourcy is an impressive former private mansion that I surprise my clients with on my Marais tours. From the street the entrance has two lacquered royal blue doors with a sign spelling MIJE. When I first walked by it I never knew what was beyond the doors with the intimidating sign in big block letters. One day the door was open and I decided to satisfy my long time curiosity.  I was delighted by the beauty and charm of the courtyard with its incredible beamed ceiling in the entrance hall, the well with the hanging geranium plant, white iron cafe tables and chairs, and pretty plants and trees. What I was most impressed with was the outdoor wooden bridges connecting two of the buildings. I can only imagine a medieval damsel in distress calling for her prince to rescue on one of these bridges.

Commissioned by Gilles Charpentier, the son of the king's advisor, and built in 1677, Hotel Charpentier de Fourcy was built as a private mansion.It was converted into MIJE hostel in 1978. MIJE is an non-profit organization that has three hostels in former aristocratic residences in the Marais all within in a block of each other. The rooms are clean and very well kept, with extremely reasonable rates, starting at 49 euros for a single and 30 euros a person for 4 or more in a shared room including breakfast. The Fourcy branch has a restaurant that serves a three course dinner for 10.50 euros. All rooms have showers but no towels, and toilets are down the hall. There is no age limit except for children under 6. 

MIJE
6 rue de Fourcy, 4th arr.
Metro: St. Paul
+33 1 42 74 23 45
http://www.mije.com/index_individuels_uk.asp

 

New! Eye Prefer Paris Cooking Classes
I am happy to announce the launch of Eye Prefer Paris Cooking Classes. Come take an ethnic culinary journey with me and chef and caterer Charlotte Puckette, author of the bestseller The Ethnic Paris Cookbook. First we will shop at a Paris green-market for the freshest ingredients and then return to Charlotte’s professional kitchen near the Eiffel Tower to cook a three-course lunch. After, we will indulge in the delicious feast we prepared along with hand-selected wines.

Cost: 185 euros per person (about $240)
Time: 9:30AM- 2PM (approximately 4 1/2 hours)
Location: We will meet by a metro station close to the market
Class days: Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday
Minimum of 3 students, maximum 6 students.

Click here to sign up for the next class or for more info.

I am pleased as punch to announce the launch of Eye Prefer Paris Tours, which are 3-hour walking tours I will personally be leading. The Eye Prefer Paris Tour includes many of the places I have written about such as small museums & galleries, restaurants, cafes & food markets, secret addresses, fashion & home boutiques, parks, and much more.

I look forward to meeting you on my tours and it will be my pleasure and delight to show you my insiders Paris.
Check it out at www.eyepreferparistours.com

Courtyard Week: Cour de Rohan

Whenever I take my clients on a St. Germain des Pres tour, I love to take them to the Passage Cour du Commerce St. Andre in between Blvd. St. Germain and rue St. Andre des Arts. It's a charming passage dating back to the 1600s where the oldest restaurant in Paris still stands, Le Procope, along with small shops selling toys and games, cards, and knick knacks. Off the passage is one of my favorite courtyards on the Cour de Rohan, a gated alleyway. It contains three connecting courtyards folding on to one another from the 14th century. Part of it is a piece of the remaining wall that King Louis Philippe had built to protect the city in 1200.

I love the wild ivy,the sprawling trees, the hue of the pink stone, the dark ancient wood doors and standing in a place where a certain world used to exist.

Passage Cour du Commerce St. Andre/ Cour de Rohan, 6th arr.
Entrance at 128 Blvd. St. Germain or on rue St. Andre des Arts
Metro: Odeon

New! Eye Prefer Paris Cooking Classes
I am happy to announce the launch of Eye Prefer Paris Cooking Classes. Come take an ethnic culinary journey with me and chef and caterer Charlotte Puckette, author of the bestseller The Ethnic Paris Cookbook. First we will shop at a Paris green-market for the freshest ingredients and then return to Charlotte’s professional kitchen near the Eiffel Tower to cook a three-course lunch. After, we will indulge in the delicious feast we prepared along with hand-selected wines.

Cost: 185 euros per person (about $240)
Time: 9:30AM- 2PM (approximately 4 1/2 hours)
Location: We will meet by a metro station close to the market
Class days: Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday
Minimum of 3 students, maximum 6 students.

Click here to sign up for the next class or for more info.

I am pleased as punch to announce the launch of Eye Prefer Paris Tours, which are 3-hour walking tours I will personally be leading. The Eye Prefer Paris Tour includes many of the places I have written about such as small museums & galleries, restaurants, cafes & food markets, secret addresses, fashion & home boutiques, parks, and much more.

I look forward to meeting you on my tours and it will be my pleasure and delight to show you my insiders Paris.
Check it out at www.eyepreferparistours.com

Courtyard Week: 4 & 6 rue de Jarente

As you know I have a penchant for courtyards. Some of my most cherished Paris moments have been spent discovering hidden courtyards and I love the surprise of finding an an astray door or iron gate that leads to an unexpected treat. Many have lush, full gardens and plants, cobblestones, ivy climbing up to the tops of the buildings, and little country cottages, making it feel like a bit of rural relief in the urban jungle.

I recently uncovered some new courtyards and decided to do a series called Courtyard Week.Today's courtyard is close to my house on the rue de Jarente, a typical, narrow, charming Marais street. These are photos of two courtyards next door to one another. Rarely are either of these open to the public, but on a lucky afternoon a few weeks ago, the gates and doors of both of them were open. I love the tall, overwhelming tree that fills the center along with the budding pink hydrangeas. Also the romantic tin roofed and timbered beam little house.

4 & 6 rue de Jarente, 4th arr.
Metro: St. Paul

 

 

New! Eye Prefer Paris Cooking Classes
I am happy to announce the launch of Eye Prefer Paris Cooking Classes. Come take an ethnic culinary journey with me and chef and caterer Charlotte Puckette, author of the bestseller The Ethnic Paris Cookbook. First we will shop at a Paris green-market for the freshest ingredients and then return to Charlotte’s professional kitchen near the Eiffel Tower to cook a three-course lunch. After, we will indulge in the delicious feast we prepared along with hand-selected wines.

Cost: 185 euros per person (about $240)
Time: 9:30AM- 2PM (approximately 4 1/2 hours)
Location: We will meet by a metro station close to the market
Class days: Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday
Minimum of 3 students, maximum 6 students.

Click here to sign up for the next class or for more info.

I am pleased as punch to announce the launch of Eye Prefer Paris Tours, which are 3-hour walking tours I will personally be leading. The Eye Prefer Paris Tour includes many of the places I have written about such as small museums & galleries, restaurants, cafes & food markets, secret addresses, fashion & home boutiques, parks, and much more.

I look forward to meeting you on my tours and it will be my pleasure and delight to show you my insiders Paris.
Check it out at www.eyepreferparistours.com

Best of 2009: Sweet Week Finale: Le Jules Verne

I'm taking a summer blogging break for two weeks. Enjoy my selection of the Best of 2009 posts.

Here's the grand finale to sweet week and what a finale it was.

My two cousins from New York, Pamela and Arlene have been visiting and we've been painting the town from the Palais Royal to the Marais to Montmartre all week. As a thank you to the fabulous time we've been having, they invited Vincent and I for lunch at Le Jules Verne restaurant in the Eiffel Tower. I have never been and neither have my cousins, so I thought what more festive and Parisian way to celebrate their trip to Paris. 

The restaurant was completely refurbished to the tune of 10 million euros about a year ago and is now owned by master chef Alain Ducasse. It was a not so cold gray day and we were whisked in the private elevator up to the restaurant. The sleek interior of smoky gray and tan was a combination of retro seventies modern and futuristic Jetsons. It was surprisingly quiet with only three or four tables full, considering it's one of the hardest reservations to get in town.

The lunch was excellent but I will skip what we had and cut to the dessert chase since this is sweet week. The girls ordered bittersweet chocolate souffle with Bourbon vanilla ice cream,Vincent, light wild strawberry and coconut cake with lime-coconut sorbet, and moi, Tower bolt, dark chocolate praline, and hazelnut ice cream. Right before the desserts were served, a tray of petit fours including macarons, almond financiers, a lemon & chocolate concoction, a bowl of marshmallows, and petit cubes of chocolate truffles were put on the table. I guess they were the appetizer desserts. Then came the main course desserts and we just stared in awe at this cavalcade of unbelievable desserts and confections. That moment of awe didn't last long as we chowed down on this dessert orgy. In between the oh-my-god's, ummm's,  and uhhh's, the girls said it was the best chocolate souffle they ever had and with the sweetest expression on her face, Arlene said she had dreamed for a long time about having a chocolate souffle in the Eiffel Tower. My chocolate dream was so rich and intense I couldn't finish it. The wild strawberries and coconut in Vincent's dessert were light and refreshing and the coconut cake sublime.We all agreed the desserts were the best part of the meal and a sweet, divine send off before the girls leave today.

Arlene's dream come true of having a chocolate souffle at the Eiffel Tower

Pretty Pamela enjoying her almond financier

Vincent seriously enjoying his dessert in black & white

I couldn't think of a better way to end sweet week. Now I am on a strict no sugar regime for a while but it doesn't mean I will stop my eternal quest to bring you the latest and greatest sweet shops and dessert updates in Paris. Until the next sweet week.

http://www.lejulesverne-paris.com/

New! Eye Prefer Paris Cooking Classes
I am happy to announce the launch of Eye Prefer Paris Cooking Classes. Come take an ethnic culinary journey with me and chef and caterer Charlotte Puckette, author of the bestseller The Ethnic Paris Cookbook. First we will shop at a Paris green-market for the freshest ingredients and then return to Charlotte’s professional kitchen near the Eiffel Tower to cook a three-course lunch. After, we will indulge in the delicious feast we prepared along with hand-selected wines.

Cost: 185 euros per person (about $240)
Time: 9:30AM- 2PM (approximately 4 1/2 hours)
Location: We will meet by a metro station close to the market
Class days: Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday
Minimum of 3 students, maximum 6 students.

Click here to sign up for the next class or for more info.

I am pleased as punch to announce the launch of Eye Prefer Paris Tours, which are 3-hour walking tours I will personally be leading. The Eye Prefer Paris Tour includes many of the places I have written about such as small museums & galleries, restaurants, cafes & food markets, secret addresses, fashion & home boutiques, parks, and much more.

I look forward to meeting you on my tours and it will be my pleasure and delight to show you my insiders Paris.
Check it out at www.eyepreferparistours.com

Best of 2009: Sweet Week: Jacques Genin

I'm taking a summer blogging break for two weeks. Enjoy my selection of the Best of 2009 posts.

In case I wasn't high enough on chocolate and caramel from visiting l'Etoile D'Or, I got wind of a brand new chocolate & pastry shop/cafe in the Marais and had to visit the same day.

I walked to the northernmost tip of rue de Turenne to the last store on the street and came upon a gleaming white stucco building with a series of elaborate Christmas decorations festooned across the top and windows that had bold white block letters spelling out nougat, chocolat, caramel, and eclair. I already knew I was in trouble.

If there was ever an official Temple of chocolate and pastry, Jacques Genin would be it. It truly is one of the most beautiful, pristine spaces devoted to the art of chocolate and pastry I have ever been in, and believe me I've seen them all. Even before I tasted anything I was knocked out by the stunning interior of blond hardwood floors, handsome elephant gray leather armchairs, milk glass vases filled with impeccable orchid arrangements, a white stone archway dating back from the 9th century, rose stems embedded in the walls and most striking of all, the spectacular winding steel staircase.

Once I absorbed the gorgeous interior, I got down to the business of the chocolate and pastries. The first case had a stainless steel tray with flawless pastries including a pecan tart, Paris Brest with chocolate cream, and seven layer chocolate cake. Next up were the chocolates which were small squares prettily embossed with delicate patterns and colors of orange, mint green,mango, pink, and raspberry. The affable man behind the counter asked if I wanted to sample a chocolate and I emphatically said OUI! He described the exotic flavor combinations in detail which included Tiarei, a ganache with Tahitian vanilla, Tonka Teck, another ganache with tonka beans, Bergame, with bergamot, Passionement, with passion fruit, and Thé Toi, with Wu long tea. I chose the Hesperides, milk chocolate with grapefruit. It was light and refreshing but still solid chocolate. I bought yet another chocolate stocking stuffer for Vincent and purchased an assortment that came in a smart brushed steel square tin, which I knew he would love since he's a packaging nut.

At one point I was introduced to Jacques Genin, the chef and the architect Guilluame Leclerc and I congratulated them on their beautiful shop, wishing them much success.Guillame asked me if I wanted to see the kitchen upstairs.I learned Jacques was one of the best chocolatiers in Paris but never had a storefront before. I was thrilled beyond belief and we climbed the stairway to heaven to see where they made the glorious goodies. Just as we entered one room a man was stirring hazelnuts into a bowl of caramel and I then watched him pour the hot,molten liquid it into a tray to cool. I can't even describe the smell but let's say it was enough to make me almost faint. Another room which was temperature controlled was the ganache room. I think every house should now have one. I was offered a sample from every room we visited, never wanting this dream to end.

Seeming to have fulfilled a chocoholics dream day I went home with a big smile on my face and my sweet tooth never happier.

Jacques Genin
133 rue de Turenne, 3 arr.
Metro: Files Calvaire
Tel. 01 45 77 29 01
Open daily 11AM-7PM except Monday
New! Eye Prefer Paris Cooking Classes
I am happy to announce the launch of Eye Prefer Paris Cooking Classes. Come take an ethnic culinary journey with me and chef and caterer Charlotte Puckette, author of the bestseller The Ethnic Paris Cookbook. First we will shop at a Paris green-market for the freshest ingredients and then return to Charlotte’s professional kitchen near the Eiffel Tower to cook a three-course lunch. After, we will indulge in the delicious feast we prepared along with hand-selected wines.

Cost: 185 euros per person (about $240)
Time: 9:30AM- 2PM (approximately 4 1/2 hours)
Location: We will meet by a metro station close to the market
Class days: Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday
Minimum of 3 students, maximum 6 students.

Click here to sign up for the next class or for more info.

I am pleased as punch to announce the launch of Eye Prefer Paris Tours, which are 3-hour walking tours I will personally be leading. The Eye Prefer Paris Tour includes many of the places I have written about such as small museums & galleries, restaurants, cafes & food markets, secret addresses, fashion & home boutiques, parks, and much more.

I look forward to meeting you on my tours and it will be my pleasure and delight to show you my insiders Paris.
Check it out at www.eyepreferparistours.com

Best of 2009: Sweet Week: A l'Etoile d'Or

I'm taking a summer blogging break for two weeks. Enjoy my selection of the Best of 2009 posts.

My good friend Elizabeth Topper from Los Angeles arrived in Paris in mid December to stay for a month. The first thing she wanted to do was to go to a chocolate shop in Pigalle she read about that was the only shop outside of Lyon that sold a particular kind of chocolate bar. It takes alot for me to schlep to Pigalle with my legs weary from non-stop touring for weeks, but suddenly my legs felt light and nimble enough to discover a new chocolate shop.

We arrived about 2PM and the outside of A l'Etoile d'Or looked like a typical old fashioned candy shop. Once inside we unearthed the treasures Elizabeth pined for: a table filled with over a dozen varieties of some very serious looking chocolate bars named Bernachon with a hefty price tag: 10 euros each. Just like the cupcake store,I had the torturous task of disciplining myself to only pick one but once I decided to buy it as a stocking stuffer for Vincent instead or myself, it was double torture. Agonizing between flavors of Fondant Nature, Super amer, Fondant amer, Orange, Aveline, Noisette, Créole, Nougat, Canelle, Café, Pépito, Amandine, Brésilien, Mendiant, Nougatine, Antillais, and Pacha, I chose the Cafe. I knew it would be another two weeks until I would get a taste, so I looked to see what would satisfy my sweet tooth at that moment. Madame Acabo, the owner of the shop, a middle aged woman looking  like a naughty school girl sporting blond pigtails, Tartan plaid tie with matching skirt, and black V-neck sweater said we must try the Leroux caramels from Britanny. Even though the caramels came in so many enticing flavors including orange/ginger, tarte tatin, tea, and pineapple, Madame Acabo wisely advised the salted butter flavor and we were not disappointed. The sweet, smoky smooth taste assaulted our taste buds in an amazing way and the salty aftertaste brought the experience to an orgasmic level.

Madam Acabo showed us some of the other treats in the store and grinning proudly,she showed off  her scrap book of magazine articles and cookbooks that her shop had been featured in. We took our time to explore every chocolate nook and candy cranny so we wouldn't miss a thing. Bergamot flavored hard candy from Nancy in red picturesque tins, nougat blocks in gold foil looking like they belonged in Fort Knox, a huge bowl of marron glace(candied chestnuts) squares, and gold ceramic baby shoes stuffed with sucking candy were all fighting to get my attention, screaming "Buy me! Taste me!".

Madame Acabo proudly showing off her rave reviews

When I calmed down from my mental and physical sweet rush, I noticed how quaint and colorful the shop was with ornate Belle Epoque style wood counters,marvelous mosaic floors of teal, rose, and citron colored tiles, and white marble counter tops. All the candy and chocolates looked so festive packaged in red and gold foil, red and hunter green satin ribbons, and pewter ballotins.

After about an hour of being sweet heaven, we forced ourselves to leave, even though we seriously thought of hiding somewhere in the store so we could be locked in overnight. I could just see it now, Madame Acabo would find us passed out on the floor in a sugar coma with chocolate dripping from the sides of our mouths and a chocolate bar that the paramedics couldn't pry from our fingers.

P.S. Vincent loved the cafe chocolate bar and of course I got a taste. Sinsational!

A L'Etoile d'Or
30 rue Fontaine, 9th arr.
Metro: Blanche
Tel. 01 4 74 59 55
Open daily except Sunday and sometimes Monday morning

New! Eye Prefer Paris Cooking Classes
I am happy to announce the launch of Eye Prefer Paris Cooking Classes. Come take an ethnic culinary journey with me and chef and caterer Charlotte Puckette, author of the bestseller The Ethnic Paris Cookbook. First we will shop at a Paris green-market for the freshest ingredients and then return to Charlotte’s professional kitchen near the Eiffel Tower to cook a three-course lunch. After, we will indulge in the delicious feast we prepared along with hand-selected wines.

Cost: 185 euros per person (about $240)
Time: 9:30AM- 2PM (approximately 4 1/2 hours)
Location: We will meet by a metro station close to the market
Class days: Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday
Minimum of 3 students, maximum 6 students.

Click here to sign up for the next class or for more info.

I am pleased as punch to announce the launch of Eye Prefer Paris Tours, which are 3-hour walking tours I will personally be leading. The Eye Prefer Paris Tour includes many of the places I have written about such as small museums & galleries, restaurants, cafes & food markets, secret addresses, fashion & home boutiques, parks, and much more.

I look forward to meeting you on my tours and it will be my pleasure and delight to show you my insiders Paris.
Check it out at www.eyepreferparistours.com

Best of 2009: Sweet Week: Berko

I'm taking a summer blogging break for two weeks. Enjoy my selection of the Best of 2009 posts.

I know everybody is on some kind of diet after the gluttony of holiday eating. Well, just when you thought it was safe to go back to eating cottage cheese & jello and not be tempted by mouthwatering desserts, I'm going to make it dangerous. After all, you are probably in a little bit of the January doldrums already with holidays being over, and nothing too exciting on your food horizon except celery sticks staring you in the face.

I thought I would give your neglected sweet-tooth a boost this week by making it Sweet Week. I recently discovered three incredible sweet outlets and have been dying to share them with you.

Cupcakes have been the craze in the states in the last few years and in New York I used to frequent Cupcake Cafe and Magnolia bakery. With all the fantastic pastry in Paris I never missed them but when I was walking down rue Rambuteau last month, I stopped dead in my tracks. There was a new pastry shop named Berko and through the window I saw a metal cupcake tree on the counter inside. I busted through the door brimming with excitement that my favorite childhood and adulthood treat had finally arrived. With my nose pressed against the glass and trying not to drool on it, I intensely studied the 15 fabulous flavors in the case including traditional vanilla and chocolate dressed up with silver and gold beads, welcome nifty newcomers caramel, carrot cake,Oreo,coffee, and white chocolate, and some oddities that I'm not sure worked like lavender, mandarin, and pistachio.

Choosing as carefully as a death row inmate deciding on their last meal, I chose the caramel. The icing was creamy, buttery, and not too sweet and the cake moist.It was rich and satisfying and I didn't crave another one afterwards.

Smacking my lips after after my cupcake rush, I looked to see what else the shop offered and found some interesting choices. Chocolate Moelleux came in a small black pot so that you can heat it up at home. In case you didn't know what chocolate Moelleux was, it's a cake that's hard and cake like on the outside and gooey in the inside. Individual cakes of lemon meringue, caramba bar, white chocolate & raspberry, and cappuccino looked beautiful and mouthwatering.

The handsome dark wood that's on the floors and continues up to the cases make the minimalist interior feel warm and welcoming. The friendly, helpful staff was ever so patient when I was making my monumental cupcake flavor choice.
 
I'm so happy I finally found a cupcake haven in Paris.
Chocolate Moelleux



Berko
23 rue Rambuteau, 3d arr.
Metro:Rambuteau
Tel. 01 40 29 02 44
Open Tuesday- Sunday 10AM to 8PM

New! Eye Prefer Paris Cooking Classes
I am happy to announce the launch of Eye Prefer Paris Cooking Classes. Come take an ethnic culinary journey with me and chef and caterer Charlotte Puckette, author of the bestseller The Ethnic Paris Cookbook. First we will shop at a Paris green-market for the freshest ingredients and then return to Charlotte’s professional kitchen near the Eiffel Tower to cook a three-course lunch. After, we will indulge in the delicious feast we prepared along with hand-selected wines.

Cost: 185 euros per person (about $240)
Time: 9:30AM- 2PM (approximately 4 1/2 hours)
Location: We will meet by a metro station close to the market
Class days: Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday
Minimum of 3 students, maximum 6 students.

Click here to sign up for the next class or for more info.

I am pleased as punch to announce the launch of Eye Prefer Paris Tours, which are 3-hour walking tours I will personally be leading. The Eye Prefer Paris Tour includes many of the places I have written about such as small museums & galleries, restaurants, cafes & food markets, secret addresses, fashion & home boutiques, parks, and much more.

I look forward to meeting you on my tours and it will be my pleasure and delight to show you my insiders Paris.
Check it out at www.eyepreferparistours.com

Best of 2009:My Night at Salon d' Agriculture

I'm taking a summer blogging break for two weeks. Enjoy my selection of the Best of 2009 posts.

What has 600,000 visitors, 1,000 exhibitors from 17 countries and 22 French regions, 700 producers from France plus more than 4500 animals including 2,000 dogs, 650 goats, billy goats, sheep, rams & ewes, 610 rabbits, 600 cows & bulls, 100 horses ponies and donkeys, and 60 pigs? The amazing, incredible, humongous, taste-bud tantalizing, overwhelming, dizzying, Salon d'Agriculture.

I was invited to attend by a new friend who I met through a mutual friend via email , David Jaggard, who I technically didn't meet till that night. It turns out that David writes about food for my friend Heidi Ellison's excellent Paris info website Paris Update and we met up with Heidi and some of her other writers.
 

The Salon d'Agriculture is held at the Porte de Versailles, one of the largest exhibition spaces in Paris with seven massive hangars. Since I'm such a city slicker like Eva Gabor in Green Acres, I wanted to see the farm animals first. We went to the cow and sheep pavilion and I was taken by the sweet cows, gentle sheep, and rambunctious baby pigs. Next we went to the food halls and I was amazed by the endless rows of food stalls, wine stands, and make shift restaurants with food from so many different regions. We sampled our way through the maze of aisles tasting cheeses, foie gras, many types of ham, pastries, chocolate, bread, oils and vinegars and so many more things I can' t remember, because my mouth went on automatic pilot after a certain point. One stand, which had cooked foie gras sandwiches on baguettes had a long line so we figured it must be good. Heidi generously bought us a bunch of them and we savored the delicious, rich taste of the foie gras which practically melted in our mouths. David found a fresh oyster stand from Bretagne and feasted on a plateful.

As you know, I am not much of a wine person but when I was told the wine vendors were freely offering tastes of 135 euros a bottle I became very interested. We sampled some dry whites and robust reds and the vendors aggressively courted us to buy.



Exhausted and full from my many, many tastings, my last stop was the horse pavilion, where I saw an entertaining horse show where a young man gracefully straddled two horses while standing up.

I will for sure return next year and in fact will be organizing tours to visit the Salon d'Agriculture, so if you plan on coming to Paris next year, reserve your tickets for the end of February and we will pig out together.

http://www.salon-agriculture.com/

New! Eye Prefer Paris Cooking Classes
I am happy to announce the launch of Eye Prefer Paris Cooking Classes. Come take an ethnic culinary journey with me and chef and caterer Charlotte Puckette, author of the bestseller The Ethnic Paris Cookbook. First we will shop at a Paris green-market for the freshest ingredients and then return to Charlotte’s professional kitchen near the Eiffel Tower to cook a three-course lunch. After, we will indulge in the delicious feast we prepared along with hand-selected wines.

Cost: 185 euros per person (about $240)
Time: 9:30AM- 2PM (approximately 4 1/2 hours)
Location: We will meet by a metro station close to the market
Class days: Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday
Minimum of 3 students, maximum 6 students.

Click here to sign up for the next class or for more info.

I am pleased as punch to announce the launch of Eye Prefer Paris Tours, which are 3-hour walking tours I will personally be leading. The Eye Prefer Paris Tour includes many of the places I have written about such as small museums & galleries, restaurants, cafes & food markets, secret addresses, fashion & home boutiques, parks, and much more.

I look forward to meeting you on my tours and it will be my pleasure and delight to show you my insiders Paris.
Check it out at www.eyepreferparistours.com