I Prefer Paris

Parisian of the Month: Juan Osorio

I met Juan Osorio last month while enjoying lunch at La Marine with Lynn. I noticed Juan's really cool bicycle and struck up a conversation with him. He owns his own bicycle messenger service and I thought it would be interesting to get his unique perspective of the city via his bicycle. I also thought it would be a most appropriate interview because of the upcoming Tour de France, starting on Saturday July 3 and finishing in Paris Sunday July 25 on the Champs Elysees.

Where were you born and where did you grow up?

I was born in Mexico city in 1974, but grew up various places all over the world : Mexico City, Brasilia, El Salvador, Moscow, Tunisia... (my father was a Brazilian diplomat). Then, I studied in different places too like Montréal, Rio de Janeiro, Madrid...

 
When and why did you move to Paris?

I moved to Paris in 1995 to study (Spanish literature and Urbanism). Why ? Because I got married to a french girl.
 
 How did you start your company?

Studying for my post graduation (displacement in Paris), I contacted a bike messenger company in Paris. I just enjoyed it too much. I discovered a real life style : ride a bike hard and and get money at the same time. It was for me ! At the first occasion, I started Cycl'air with a partner.

Did you ever cycle professionally and/or compete in tournaments?

No, never, I just always liked biking.
 
What kind of bicycle do you ride and what do you recommend for people to buy to get around most quickly in Paris?

I ride a track bike (fixed gear) but it's a bike for people that already know how to ride in a big city. For those people, I recommend it. For others, they can start with a vélib !!
 
What tips do you have for people bicycling in Paris, especially safety tips?

To ride safe, you have to be careful with motorbikes and taxis.
 
What do you think about the Velib bicycle system and do you think it has affected bike sales in Paris?

I think that vélib is a revolutionary service. It has to be improved but it's a very good start from a car or a bike towards bicycling. Thanks to the vélib, people started to buy their own bikes, so I think it was a good thing for the bike sales in Paris.
 
What’s the top speed you ride at in Paris?

About 55 km/h on rue de Rivoli.
 
What’s the one thing we should know about what you do that we would never think of?

When you're a real bike messenger (riding real well and knowing the city perfectly), our job seems to us like a fun game. Just look at the smile on our face, despite the toughness of our work, we really enjoy it!

What’s the most difficult and/or unusual item you ever transported?

Diamonds to the Place Vendôme. 

Say I wanted to cycle from Montmartre to Montparnasse station. What would be the fastest route?

 If you start at Sacré Coeur : Rue Chevallier de P. Cottin,Rue  P. Albert, Rue Rosnard, Rue Sevestre, Bd Rochechourt, Rue de Dunkerke, Rue du Faubourg Poissonnière, Rue Poissonnière, Rue de Cléry, Rue du Louvre, Rue de l'Amm. de Colligny, Quai F. Mitterand, Pont des Arts, Quai Malaquais, Rue des Saint Pères, Rue de Sèvres, Bd Raspail, Rue de Rennes and Rue de l'Arrivée!

 What do you prefer about Paris?

It's endless nights... on a bike.. all over the city...

Juan's company is Cycl'air. www.cyclair.net

 

Thanks so much for all of your kind, generous, and encouraging emails and comments for my 4th anniversary.

Coming soon: Eye Prefer New York Tours

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, co-author of the bestseller The Ethnic Paris Cookbook (with Olivia Kiang-Snaije). 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: Tuesday,Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday
Minimum of 2 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.

Tours cost 195 euros for up to 3 people, and 65 euros for each additional person. 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

Lunch with Lynn/Under 20 Eats: La Marine

Lynn was going back to the U.S. for the summer-boo-hoo! - so we wanted to go someplace outside in the pleasant weather for our last hurrah before she abandoned me. (Yes, I have abandonment issues, doesn't everyone?). I remembered my favorite restaurant on the Canal St. Martin, La Marine, which had a good lunch deal for 14 euros for entree & plat or plat & dessert.

It was a warm, sunny day so we went early to secure a table outside. The restaurant overlooks the scenic canal with its deep green colored water but the drawback is that the tables are too tightly packed with the chairs touching one another to be able to sit comfortably for hours.

The 14 euro menu had many appetizing starters, almost too good to select one, although the starters were much more interesting than the plats. I've noticed a certain sameness on many menus lately: they have inventive starters but the buck stops there and the plats are very traditional, standard French fare. It was the same story at La Marine and I was hard pressed to find something that excited me, so I chose the half coquelet/baby-roasted chicken with potatoes and fresh arugula.

I started with a beautifully composed salad of circular stacked cantaloupe slices garnished with watermelon cubes and topped with a mound of prosciutto. The surprise was the drizzling of pesto sauce that gave the dish that savory zip to offset the sweetness of the two melons. I also liked that the portion was substantial, not just some taste teaser. A delightful summer dish. Lynn enjoyed a fresh Mozzarella and tomato salad with pesto and a big leaf of red lettuce. The coquelet was tender and juicy, the potatoes good but not exceptional, and the arugula was a wise garnish since I ate all of it. Lynn's seiche-cuttle fish- was sautéed with ginger, soy, and bean sprouts. She liked it but didn't love it and found the fish a bit rubbery and hard to chew. The service was attentive but the wait time in between courses was too long. It did become a bit noisy at times with the car traffic and the roar of the too often coming motorcycles but all in all we liked our experience and would go back there again. I have also dined inside and love the dark, cozy atmosphere with classic French bistro features including dark red banquettes, brushed steel lanterns (a modern touch), mosaic floor, and wood-framed mirrors.

I will miss Lynn and her quirky sense of humor and passion for food for sure and dining out this summer just won't be the same. Although there is no replacement for Lynn, would someone else want to join me for an under 20-euro lunch?

La Marine
55 Quai de Valmy, 10th arr.
Metro: Republique, Jacques Bonsergent
Open everyday
14 euro Formule Monday-Friday, lunch only
01 42 39 69 81‎

Mozzarella & tomato salad

Cantaloupe. proscuitto, and watermelon with pesto

Coquelet with roasted potatoes & arugula

The ever elusive Lynn

Coming soon: Eye Prefer New York Tours

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, co-author of the bestseller The Ethnic Paris Cookbook (with Olivia Kiang-Snaije). 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: Tuesday,Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday
Minimum of 2 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.

Tours cost 195 euros for up to 3 people, and 65 euros for each additional person. 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

Eye Prefer Paris Fourth Anniversary

 Saturday, June 26 was the fourth anniversary of Eye Prefer Paris. I went through my archives to look at my first post, which was an unofficial mission statement.

This blog is about how a native New Yorker dreamed of moving to Paris …… and what he discovered once he got there. Come live this Paris dream vicariously through the eyes(and ears) of Richard Nahem. He writes his blog from his 18th century apartment overlooking tree-lined Place St. Paul in the fashionable Marais district of Paris.

Four years later and 722 posts later, I am still discovering Paris and still writing my blog from my 18th century apartment overlooking tree-lined Place St. Paul in the fashionable Marais district of Paris.

The second sentence from that statement, I propose to my readers to see if I am fulfilling that: Do you feel as though you are living this Paris dream vicariously through the eyes(and ears) of Richard Nahem?

I would love to have your answer, so please put it in the comments section.

I want to thank all my loyal readers and my 3668 subscribers for taking the time out of your life to read Eye Prefer Paris and for your kind, generous, sometimes curious, and helpful comments and feedback. I had the delight of meeting some of you on my tours and on your visits here in the last year and look forward to meeting many more of you in the next year or seeing you again.

The next year will be chock full of your usual favorites including Door of the Month, Courtyard Week, Parisian of the Month, Meredith Mullins, Lunch with Lynn, Paris Pooches,Sweet Week,contests, and many new surprises. I can't wait to share them all with you.

Love from Paris

Richard

 

Coming soon: Eye Prefer New York Tours

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, co-author of the bestseller The Ethnic Paris Cookbook (with Olivia Kiang-Snaije). 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: Tuesday,Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday
Minimum of 2 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.

Tours cost 195 euros for up to 3 people, and 65 euros for each additional person. 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

Fire Engines on rue Sevigne

I was walking past the fire station on rue Sevigne a few weeks ago on a brilliant sunny day and all the fire trucks were parked outside on the street. The sun was glistening on the trucks and fire engine red never looked truer.

 

Coming soon: Eye Prefer New York Tours

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, co-author of the bestseller The Ethnic Paris Cookbook (with Olivia Kiang-Snaije). 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: Tuesday,Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday
Minimum of 2 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.

Tours cost 195 euros for up to 3 people, and 65 euros for each additional person. 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

Square Felix Desruelles

Across the street from my Door of the Month yesterday, is a lovely square in front of the St. Germain des Pres Church. On the far end of Square Felix Desruelles (French sculptor,1865-1943), is a massive wall with the most exquisite ceramic work. It was built for the Universal Exposition of 1900 by Manufacture de Sevres, the prestigious porcelain company created in 1740 with the support of Louis XV and Madame de Pompadour.

Square Felix Desruelles
Blvd. St. Germain, in front of St. Germain Church, 6th arr.
Metro: St. Germain des Pres 

Coming soon: Eye Prefer New York Tours

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, co-author of the bestseller The Ethnic Paris Cookbook (with Olivia Kiang-Snaije). 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: Tuesday,Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday
Minimum of 2 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.

Tours cost 195 euros for up to 3 people, and 65 euros for each additional person. 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

Door of the Month: 147 Blvd. St. Germain

This door across the street from the Cafe Deux Magots in the heart of St. Germain des Pres,  is a double treat because not only is the detailing on the wood door itself beautiful but the stone cornice above has a handsome statue of a woman's delicate face. I also like the lion's heads on both sides. I believe this is a late Haussmannanian style building probably built in the 1880s or 1890s.

147 Blvd. St. Germain, 6th arr.

Metro: St. Germain des Pres

Coming soon: Eye Prefer New York Tours

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, co-author of the bestseller The Ethnic Paris Cookbook (with Olivia Kiang-Snaije). 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: Tuesday,Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday
Minimum of 2 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.

Tours cost 195 euros for up to 3 people, and 65 euros for each additional person. 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

Meredith Mullins: Dervish Groupie

 It started out as a simple getaway to someplace exotic. Then, the forces of adventure converged, and the journey took on its own destiny. First, a volcano erupted. After days of false starts and ash-filled skies, my small Turkish internet airline managed to rally a plane. When I finally landed in Istanbul, my shuttle bus driver was taken away by the police. And on my very first night, a mysterious stranger brushed past and whispered “Pssst, wanna see some dervishes?”
 
Ever since my first visit to Turkey years ago, visions of whirling dervishes have danced in my head. And so it was meant to be. And for the next 10 days, I was in a whirlwind of whirling. I became a dervish groupie. I came to know the sema ceremony by heart and fell into my own trance each night as the dervishes danced. Murat, Serhat, and Kadir were mesmerizing and showed me a graceful path to Rumi’s hope that we all learn to “take a step without feet.”

Meredith Mullins is an internationally exhibited American photographer and writer who currently lives in Paris. She is a recent winner of the 2010 Px3 competition, a 2009 winner of the Grand Concours Photo sur Paris, author of the award-winning book, In A Paris Moment (click here to order), and contributor to Paris Magazine and Browntrout travel calendars. Visit www.meredithmullins.artspan.com to see more of her images. Original photographs are available directly through the artist.

Meredith will be teaching a Paris photography workshop for teenagers the week of July 12. She is also available for private photography instruction/exploration in Paris. Sign up for an information-filled, creative half-day lesson! Contact: [email protected] 

Coming soon: Eye Prefer New York Tours

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, co-author of the bestseller The Ethnic Paris Cookbook (with Olivia Kiang-Snaije). 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: Tuesday,Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday
Minimum of 2 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.

Tours cost 195 euros for up to 3 people, and 65 euros for each additional person. 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

Paris Graffiti

As all of you know I am very drawn to the graffiti and street art in Paris. Below are some recent examples of how bare walls  and other surfaces become public works of art to be appreciated by everyone.

The first three were the panels of a delivery truck I saw unloading the other day in the Marais. I love the portrait on the back doors (pictured above).

The fourth photo is of a life-sized rhinoceros in the Marais.

The last set of photos was a long mural next door to École Spéciale d'Architecture on the Blvd. Raspail. It looks like some workers for freedom campaign and the words seem to be in Russian. Yuriy, can you help me out here? Is this Russian or some other language you know and if it is Russian, can you translate?

Coming soon: Eye Prefer New York Tours

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, co-author of the bestseller The Ethnic Paris Cookbook (with Olivia Kiang-Snaije). 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: Tuesday,Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday
Minimum of 2 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.

Tours cost 195 euros for up to 3 people, and 65 euros for each additional person. 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

Lunch with Yuriy and Katya

Yuriy and Katya are big fans of Eye Prefer Paris and in fact I have made Yuriy my official historian. Every time I am stumped for historical details, Yuriy seems to have the answer in spades with usually very detailed and lengthy information that I couldn't find myself.  Even when I don't ask, he always finds something extra about things and I have learned a lot from him.

Yuriy and Katya came to Paris a few weeks ago and they were so sweet to invite me to lunch. They said the restaurant would be my choice and didn't have to be under 20 euros, so I'm thinking the Ritz, Tour d'Argent, Taillevent, but I went easy on them and we went to Maitre Albert, the more casual restaurant by the big deal chef Guy Savoy.

We met in front of my apartment because they were staying close to me in the Marais and we hugged like old friends even though we had never met before. We chatted, chatted, chatted about our lives on the way to the restaurant and I learned that Yuriy and Katya moved from Moscow to the U.S. in 1998 and settled in central New Jersey. They both work in the medical profession and have two children, one in high school and one in college. Over lunch we compared stories about how we both adjusted to living in new places  and what the biggest challenges were. They were used to living in a big city and now live in a small community and they said it was sometimes hard to cope with small town mentality, for example, many people don't understand why they like coming to Paris so much. I shared my dilemmas with the French and we found we were very much on the same wavelength about our sensibilities, what we were passionate about, and of course, why we preferred Paris. Lunch was delicious and quite a steal for 3 courses for only 28 euros. We said our goodbyes after our wonderful lunch, hugging again, and Yuriy and Katya were off to the Pantheon.

It's always such a treat to meet my blog readers in person and the icing on the cake is knowing who they are in the world, plus knowing the faces behind the emails and comments they send.

Atelier Maître Albert
1, rue Maître Albert, 5th arr.

http://www.ateliermaitrealbert.com

 

Dessert- grapefruit terrine with tea sauce 

Dark chocolate fondant, crispy praliné, cacao sorbet and custard cream

Coming soon: Eye Prefer New York Tours

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, co-author of the bestseller The Ethnic Paris Cookbook (with Olivia Kiang-Snaije). 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: Tuesday,Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday
Minimum of 2 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.

Tours cost 195 euros for up to 3 people, and 65 euros for each additional person. 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

Rosebushes by Notre Dame

There is nothing quite as beautiful as the rosebushes in full bloom in Paris in the springtime. I spotted these sumptuous rosebushes sprouting their flowers in the most breathtaking shades of pink I have ever seen, in the park behind Notre Dame. The bottom three photos of the orange roses are from Square Georges Cain in the Marais on the rue Payenne.

Coming soon: Eye Prefer New York Tours

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, co-author of the bestseller The Ethnic Paris Cookbook (with Olivia Kiang-Snaije). 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: Tuesday,Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday
Minimum of 2 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.

Tours cost 195 euros for up to 3 people, and 65 euros for each additional person. 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