I Prefer Paris

Paris Fashion Week 2015: Snoopy & Belle at Palais de Tokyo

Paris Fashion Week 2015 kicked off last night with a Snoopy and Belle fashion show at Palais de Tokyo. In case you didn’t know I am a huge Snoopy fan, so I was in heaven. To celebrate the 65th birthday of Snoopy, 30 top fashion designers have created special outfits for the beloved beagle and his sister Belle. Calvin Klein, Dries Van Noten, Isabel Marant, Swarovski, Anna Sui and Lisa Perry, Chanel, Gucci, Kevin Cole, Ungaro,Karl Lagerfeld, Versace, Jean Paul Gaultier, Hermes, Diane Von Furstenberg, and Betsey Johnson have given Snoopy and Belle a glamorous fashion makeover. The show has already traveled to New York, Stocjholm, Amsterdam and Berlin.

There was also a fashion show with adult and children's models wearing Snoopy inspired and patterned clothes.

September 30 to October 1
Palais de Tokyo
13 Ave President Wilson, 75116
Metro: Iena
Open 12PM to 12AM

Eye Prefer Paris Postcards
I am thrilled to announce the launch of Eye Prefer Paris Postcards, a 6 or 12-month subscription service where the subscriber receives three physical postcards of my iconic Paris photos every month. Each month will have a specific theme, from architectural street scenes to romantic outdoor cafes to beautiful gardens to unique shots of iconic monuments. Each mailing will include two postcards in color and one in black & white or sepia, beautifully packaged in a special French Blue postcard holder with a custom designed seal.

Each 6” X 4.25” traditional size postcard is printed on thick matte coated card stock, similar to traditional vintage postcard stock that enhances the vibrancy of every image.

Only $60 for a 6 month subscription (plus shipping)or

$110 for a 12-month subscription (plus shipping)

My offer of a 12-month subscription with an extra month free is good until October 11, so remember to order now before the offer ends.

Click here to order a 12-month subscription from my Etsy store

Click here to order a 6-month subscription from my Etsy store

 

Come experience Eye Prefer Paris live with Eye Prefer Paris Tours, which are 3-hour walking tours I personally lead. Eye Prefer Paris Tours include many of the places I have written about such as small museums & galleries, restaurants, cafes, food markets, secret addresses, fashion & home boutiques, parks and gardens and much more.  In addition to my specialty Marais Tour, I also lead tours of Montmartre, St. Germain, Latin Quarter, in addition to Shopping Tours, Gay Tours, Girlfriend Tours, Food Tours, Flea Market Tours, Paris Highlights Tours, and Chocolate & Pastry tours.

Tours start at 225 euros for up to 3 people, and 75 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 

  Click here to watch a video of our famous Marais tour

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: 195 euros per person (about $210)
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,Friday, Saturday, and Sunday
Minimum of 2 students, maximum 6 students.

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

 

Lunch with Lynn/Under 20 Eats- La Verre a Pied

Lynn is back in Paris and wrote today's Lunch with Lynn.

How would you like to return to the days of the French Revolution while eating lunch--hear the horses galloping by, watch a blacksmith making horseshoes?  Le Verre a Pied (The Stem Glass), a tiny, very old world café/restaurant right on the narrow cobblestoned rue Mouffetard in the Latin Quarter can offer you that. Claude and Hendrika have owned the enchanted place since 1983, the two of them working as a solitary team to bring you marvelous French dishes, different daily. They bought it in 1983 from Madame Paulette who bought it in 1947 from her father who bought it in 1919. It became a café about 1870, during the French Commune, and before that (here comes the Revolution) it was a long passageway at the end of which was a forge, where the kitchen is now (time to use your imagination).

Richard and I and a Chicago friend, Michel Kurlander, had lunch there on my birthday two weeks ago (not a pivotal birthday but one that seemed appropriately symbolized by the French Revolution).  Hendrika makes the various plats each day –but no appetizer, simple fare is simple fare --and a variety of desserts that are so French you think you are having dinner with Parisian friends on a Sunday chez eux --and you really are. I had the rabbit in mustard sauce; Richard and Michel had the lamb stew. The rabbit and the lamb were deliciously tender and the sauces so divine your tongue can never forget, leading you back to the same dish over and over again.

You get homemade desert with the formule plat/dessert, and we could choose chocolate cake, crème brulée, or fromage blanc with raspberry coulis. Which one do you think I chose?  Right!  Richard had crème brulée and Michel the fromage blanc. We waited a bit longer than usual until suddenly out of the kitchen/forge stepped Hendrika with my chocolate cake and one
lovely discreet candle (I heard the horses gallop by!) And it was a huge piece of cake, the size of a map, French obviously.

Magnificent. I made my wish, blew out the candle in one blow (sooo talented)  and voila!

The wish of course has come true.

If you are wandering down rue Mouffetard, the oldest market street in Paris, do stop in at Le Verre à Pied and step back in time. Say hello to Claude and Hendrika for us. Let’s all be part of  the food revolution. “Ah ! ça ira, ça ira, ça ira!”

La Verre a Pied
118 rue Mouffetard, 75005
Metro: Censier- Daubenton
Open Tuesday to Saturday 9AM-9PM
Sunday 9:30AM -4PM
Tel. +33 (1) 43 31 15 72

Eye Prefer Paris Postcards
I am thrilled to announce the launch of Eye Prefer Paris Postcards, a 6 or 12-month subscription service where the subscriber receives three physical postcards of my iconic Paris photos every month. Each month will have a specific theme, from architectural street scenes to romantic outdoor cafes to beautiful gardens to unique shots of iconic monuments. Each mailing will include two postcards in color and one in black & white or sepia, beautifully packaged in a special French Blue postcard holder with a custom designed seal.

Each 6” X 4.25” traditional size postcard is printed on thick matte coated card stock, similar to traditional vintage postcard stock that enhances the vibrancy of every image.

Only $60 for a 6 month subscription (plus shipping)or

$110 for a 12-month subscription (plus shipping)

My offer of a 12-month subscription with an extra month free is good until October 11, so remember to order now before the offer ends.

Click here to order a 12-month subscription from my Etsy store

Click here to order a 6-month subscription from my Etsy store

 

Come experience Eye Prefer Paris live with Eye Prefer Paris Tours, which are 3-hour walking tours I personally lead. Eye Prefer Paris Tours include many of the places I have written about such as small museums & galleries, restaurants, cafes, food markets, secret addresses, fashion & home boutiques, parks and gardens and much more.  In addition to my specialty Marais Tour, I also lead tours of Montmartre, St. Germain, Latin Quarter, in addition to Shopping Tours, Gay Tours, Girlfriend Tours, Food Tours, Flea Market Tours, Paris Highlights Tours, and Chocolate & Pastry tours.

Tours start at 225 euros for up to 3 people, and 75 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 

  Click here to watch a video of our famous Marais tour

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: 195 euros per person (about $210)
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,Friday, Saturday, and Sunday
Minimum of 2 students, maximum 6 students.

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

 

Parisian of the Month: Adrian Leeds

I am happy to have my friend Adrian Leeds as my Parisian of the Month. Her company Adrian Leeds Group provides comprehensive property search and after the sale services for living and investing in Paris and France, plus temporary Paris apartment rentals.

Where were you born and where did you grow up?
New Orleans and New Orleans.

When and why did you move to Paris?
I came to Paris 21 years ago with no future in mind. At the time, it was a whimsical idea to ‘test out’ life in Paris just to see what it was like. I came with a husband and a daughter…three years later I left the husband, but I didn’t leave Paris.

How did you get into the real estate business and buying apartments in Paris?
At the end of 2001, International Living recruited me to open their Paris office. Their readers wanted help to find property so I found a team of people who could provide it. That was the beginning of the real estate business. They needed mortgages. They need renovation. They needed management. That’s how the rental business started and everything happened rather organically. I worked with the resources I developed during the purchase of my own apartment and that opened up opportunities for me personally to purchase properties. I took several equity release loans and leveraged my holdings so that I had three rental properties and two residences, one here in Paris and one in New York. I have since sold two of the rental properties in Paris.

You live in the Marais. What was it like when you first moved here and how has it changed?
It was scruffy, but a fledgling quartier about to burst into stardom!
I actually preferred it when it wasn't so 'branché!" Although it's really got the kind of lifestyle I like best!

You are frequently on House Hunters International. How did that opportunity come about and what has it been like since you started appearing on the show?
I did the first show in 2006 -- the producers were looking for 'agents' and they found me. Since then, I've done 21 shows. A 22nd is about to air and there are 2 we are working on right now. I also filmed an FYI Tiny House Nation with my daughter and niece that will air very soon.

Has there been an increase in apartment sales now that the dollar is much stronger against the euro in 2015?
There is an increase in desire, but the Paris rental laws and rent control laws and increases in taxes have put a damper on the return on investment and therefore hurt sales for the middle-class buyer.

What area of Paris do you think has the best value now in terms of buying an apartment?
That depends on what your goals are. For rental purposes and ultimately low risk investment, nothing is better than central Paris. The Marais will always be the Marais. St. Germain des Prés will always be St. Germain des Prés. In these areas you cannot go wrong. 
If you want to really get big appreciation and have a long time to wait, then buy in the outer districts that are the least expensive, like the 18th-20th, but it will be another 10 years before it will make a serious difference.

What are the three top tips you have for people buying an apartment in Paris?
1. Don't do it without professional advice and assistance. (Don't trust a real estate agency to be that professional.)


2. Location, location, location...is always the #1 rule to success.


3. Think in the long term, not the short term, to maximize your investment potential.

What do you prefer about Paris?
I like that we Parisians really live in the city among other Parisians and not in 'a bubble' -- in our cars, in our homes, in our suburbs, etc. It's a lifestyle that is not achievable anywhere in the U.S. -- even New York City.

http://adrianleeds.com/

Eye Prefer Paris Postcards
I am thrilled to announce the launch of Eye Prefer Paris Postcards, a 6 or 12-month subscription service where the subscriber receives three physical postcards of my iconic Paris photos every month. Each month will have a specific theme, from architectural street scenes to romantic outdoor cafes to beautiful gardens to unique shots of iconic monuments. Each mailing will include two postcards in color and one in black & white or sepia, beautifully packaged in a special French Blue postcard holder with a custom designed seal.

Each 6” X 4.25” traditional size postcard is printed on thick matte coated card stock, similar to traditional vintage postcard stock that enhances the vibrancy of every image.

Only $60 for a 6 month subscription (plus shipping)or

$110 for a 12-month subscription (plus shipping)

My offer of a 12-month subscription with an extra month free is good until October 11, so remember to order now before the offer ends.

Click here to order a 12-month subscription from my Etsy store

Click here to order a 6-month subscription from my Etsy store

 

Come experience Eye Prefer Paris live with Eye Prefer Paris Tours, which are 3-hour walking tours I personally lead. Eye Prefer Paris Tours include many of the places I have written about such as small museums & galleries, restaurants, cafes, food markets, secret addresses, fashion & home boutiques, parks and gardens and much more.  In addition to my specialty Marais Tour, I also lead tours of Montmartre, St. Germain, Latin Quarter, in addition to Shopping Tours, Gay Tours, Girlfriend Tours, Food Tours, Flea Market Tours, Paris Highlights Tours, and Chocolate & Pastry tours.

Tours start at 225 euros for up to 3 people, and 75 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 

  Click here to watch a video of our famous Marais tour

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: 195 euros per person (about $210)
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,Friday, Saturday, and Sunday
Minimum of 2 students, maximum 6 students.

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

 

Eye Prefer Paris Postcards Official Launch

I am thrilled to announce the official launch today of Eye Prefer Paris Postcards, my way of offering you Paris by mail every month.

Eye Prefer Paris Postcards is a 6 or 12-month subscription service where the subscriber receives three physical postcards of my iconic Paris photos every month. Each month will have a specific theme, from architectural street scenes to romantic outdoor cafes to beautiful gardens to unique shots of iconic monuments. Each mailing includes two postcards in color and one in black & white or sepia, beautifully packaged in a special French Blue postcard holder with a custom designed seal.

Each postcard is printed on thick matte coated card stock, similar to traditional vintage postcard stock that enhances the vibrancy of every image. Eye Prefer Paris Postcards are available in traditional postcard size 6” X 4.25”, a perfect size for collecting or to send a Paris postcard to someone special.

 Only $60 for a 6 month subscription (plus shipping)
or $110 for a 12-month subscription (plus shipping)

 

 My offer of a 12-month subscription with an extra month free is good until October 11, so remember to order now before the offer ends.

Click here to order a 12-month subscription from my Etsy store

Click here to order a 6-month subscription from my Etsy store.

Bring a bit of Paris into your home and enjoy the magic of the city every month delivered directly to you.

Below are some sample images of the postcards.

Come experience Eye Prefer Paris live with Eye Prefer Paris Tours, which are 3-hour walking tours I personally lead. Eye Prefer Paris Tours include many of the places I have written about such as small museums & galleries, restaurants, cafes, food markets, secret addresses, fashion & home boutiques, parks and gardens and much more.  In addition to my specialty Marais Tour, I also lead tours of Montmartre, St. Germain, Latin Quarter, in addition to Shopping Tours, Gay Tours, Girlfriend Tours, Food Tours, Flea Market Tours, Paris Highlights Tours, and Chocolate & Pastry tours.

Tours start at 225 euros for up to 3 people, and 75 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 

  Click here to watch a video of our famous Marais tour

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: 195 euros per person (about $210)
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,Friday, Saturday, and Sunday
Minimum of 2 students, maximum 6 students.

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

 

Meredith Mullins: Storytelling Through the Faces of the World

The world is full of unfolding stories. In plain view ... as well as layered just beneath the obvious, when you have to know where and how to look. In ways that challenge your explorer fortitude and your patience. With familiar subjects or new characters so interesting you can't turn away.

You don't need a camera to see. But if you want to have memories that last a little longer or if you want to share what you see, a camera is a useful tool.

For me, traveling with a camera sharpens my senses. I know that I see more. And when I feel a connection—with a person, a rhythm, or a pattern of light—it is a moment to remember.
As I prepared for my presentation for a Storytelling Evening this coming Sunday in Paris, I journeyed through photographs that conjured powerful memories from my travels to Afghanistan, Turkey, India, China, Senegal, France, Kyrgyzstan, and Hungary.

I was reminded how rewarding it is to make a connection and earn the trust of strangers, often without the benefit of a mutual language.

These faces of the world confirm a traveler truth—it is the people who are the stories. And it is the connection—that sharing of a moment in time in some far-flung land—that stays with you long after you leave.

Meredith Mullins is an internationally exhibited photographer, photo instructor for WICE, and author of the award-winning book "In A Paris Moment." Her work can be seen at www.meredithmullins.artspan.com. Contact her at [email protected].

Storytelling Through the Faces of the World is Sunday evening, September 27 at Bernadette Martin's Storytelling Evening. An international dinner (and wines!) will accompany Meredith's presentation of stories and photos from around the world. To reserve a spot, click here.

PARIS BY POST
Pre-launch of Eye Prefer Paris Postcards, a 6 or 12 month subscription service where you receive three physical postcards of my iconic Paris images every month.
SPECIAL PRE LAUNCH OFFER: Order a 12 month subscription & receive a month free
Click link below to order
https://www.etsy.com/…/242817796/eye-prefer-paris-postcards…

Come experience Eye Prefer Paris live with Eye Prefer Paris Tours, which are 3-hour walking tours I personally lead. Eye Prefer Paris Tours include many of the places I have written about such as small museums & galleries, restaurants, cafes, food markets, secret addresses, fashion & home boutiques, parks and gardens and much more.  In addition to my specialty Marais Tour, I also lead tours of Montmartre, St. Germain, Latin Quarter, in addition to Shopping Tours, Gay Tours, Girlfriend Tours, Food Tours, Flea Market Tours, Paris Highlights Tours, and Chocolate & Pastry tours.

Tours start at 225 euros for up to 3 people, and 75 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 

  Click here to watch a video of our famous Marais tour

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: 195 euros per person (about $210)
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,Friday, Saturday, and Sunday
Minimum of 2 students, maximum 6 students.

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

 

Door of the Month: Emilia-Romagna, Italy

You are in store for a big treat this month as there are oodles of doors in this post, not just one as usual.

I got some great photos of doors all around the Emilia-Romagna area of Italy, when I visited my friends Laurie and Blair last month. Visiting the larger cities of Bologna and Modena and smaller towns Guiglia, Montecrone, Castelloserravalle and Zocca, the dramatic doors were mostly wood with elaborate carvings and frames.

PARIS BY POST
Pre-launch of Eye Prefer Paris Postcards, a 6 or 12 month subscription service where you receive three physical postcards of my iconic Paris images every month.
SPECIAL PRE LAUNCH OFFER: Order a 12 month subscription & receive a month free
Click link below to order
https://www.etsy.com/…/242817796/eye-prefer-paris-postcards…

Come experience Eye Prefer Paris live with Eye Prefer Paris Tours, which are 3-hour walking tours I personally lead. Eye Prefer Paris Tours include many of the places I have written about such as small museums & galleries, restaurants, cafes, food markets, secret addresses, fashion & home boutiques, parks and gardens and much more.  In addition to my specialty Marais Tour, I also lead tours of Montmartre, St. Germain, Latin Quarter, in addition to Shopping Tours, Gay Tours, Girlfriend Tours, Food Tours, Flea Market Tours, Paris Highlights Tours, and Chocolate & Pastry tours.

Tours start at 225 euros for up to 3 people, and 75 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 

  Click here to watch a video of our famous Marais tour

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: 195 euros per person (about $210)
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,Friday, Saturday, and Sunday
Minimum of 2 students, maximum 6 students.

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

 

Eye Prefer Paris Postcards Pre-Launch

You have all read in the last few weeks about Eye Prefer Paris Postcards Coming Soon on the bottom of my posts.

I am going to officially launch Eye Prefer Paris Postcards next Thursday, September 24 but I decided to let the cat out of the bag a week earlier with a Pre-Launch offer. So many of you have commented on how much you enjoy my photos, which I am so thankful for, and I wanted you to have a alternate way of receiving my images other than electronically.

Eye Prefer Paris Postcards is a 6 or 12-month subscription service where the subscriber receives three physical postcards of my iconic Paris photos every month. Each month will have a specific theme, from architectural street scenes to romantic outdoor cafes to beautiful gardens to unique shots of iconic monuments.

Mailings will include two postcards in color and one in black & white or sepia, all carefully packaged in a special French Blue postcard holder with a custom designed seal.

Each postcard is printed on thick matte coated card stock, similar to traditional vintage postcard stock that enhances the vibrancy of every image. Eye Prefer Paris Postcards are initially available in traditional postcard size 6” X 4.25” perfect for collecting or to send a Paris postcard to someone special.

A 6-month subscription costs $60 plus shipping and a 12-month subscription costs $110 plus shipping.

When you purchase a 12-month subscription between now and September 24, you will receive an extra month free.

Click Here to order a 12-month subscription from my Etsy store

Click Here to order a 6-month subscription from my Etsy store.

Below are some sample images of the postcards.

Come experience Eye Prefer Paris live with Eye Prefer Paris Tours, which are 3-hour walking tours I personally lead. Eye Prefer Paris Tours include many of the places I have written about such as small museums & galleries, restaurants, cafes, food markets, secret addresses, fashion & home boutiques, parks and gardens and much more.  In addition to my specialty Marais Tour, I also lead tours of Montmartre, St. Germain, Latin Quarter, in addition to Shopping Tours, Gay Tours, Girlfriend Tours, Food Tours, Flea Market Tours, Paris Highlights Tours, and Chocolate & Pastry tours.

Tours start at 225 euros for up to 3 people, and 75 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 

  Click here to watch a video of our famous Marais tour

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: 195 euros per person (about $210)
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,Friday, Saturday, and Sunday
Minimum of 2 students, maximum 6 students.

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

 

Paris Cocktails by Doni Belau

Doni Belau, the creator of the very successful website Girls Guide to Paris has just written Paris Cocktails, an elegant collection of over 100 recipes inspired by the City of Light.  

I ran into Doni earlier this year at a bar where I was interviewing Forest Collins of the blog 52 Martinis and she told me she was doing research for her new book. She later invited me to come to Paris Soirees with Patricia Laplante Collins where she demonstrated and shared some cocktail recipes, a preamble to the book.

Many months and cocktails plus 50 bars later, the finished product is impressive, even to a mostly non-cocktail drinker. First, I love the clever and elegant cover, cherry red with a cutout of a martini glass with a map of Paris behind it. The information in the book is not only entertaining but also useful with listings for 100 bars, soiree planning themes (including a Midnight in Paris Party), insights into mixologists and bartenders,shopping lists, and enticing photos.

In the first chapter, Doni writes about how when she came to Paris in the late 80s it was near impossible to get a mixed drink anywhere, even though there was a history of the cocktail culture in Paris dating back to the 1800s, and how the cocktail made a big comeback in 2007 with the opening of the first modern day cocktail lounge The Experimental Cocktail Club.

Excellent coverage of the Paris bar scene includes a broad range of cocktail venues, from dive bars to elegant hotel bars to trendy craft bars making artisanal cocktails to wine bars to outdoor cafes.

I also love the names of some of the cocktails and the appetizing ingredients: Amour a la Francaise, Suze and Soda, Rosé Salty Dog, Tijuana sizzle, Oh My Dog, 100% Winter Vitamin, Baron of Brooklyn, and Sade’s Taboo.

And yes Martha, you can make these delish cocktails at home.

Click here to order a copy of Paris Cocktails by Doni Belau

Photo courtesy of Paris Cocktails

Photo courtesy of Bespoke Bar

Photo courtesy of Paris Cocktails

 

Come experience Eye Prefer Paris live with Eye Prefer Paris Tours, which are 3-hour walking tours I personally lead. Eye Prefer Paris Tours include many of the places I have written about such as small museums & galleries, restaurants, cafes, food markets, secret addresses, fashion & home boutiques, parks and gardens and much more.  In addition to my specialty Marais Tour, I also lead tours of Montmartre, St. Germain, Latin Quarter, in addition to Shopping Tours, Gay Tours, Girlfriend Tours, Food Tours, Flea Market Tours, Paris Highlights Tours, and Chocolate & Pastry tours.

Tours start at 225 euros for up to 3 people, and 75 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 

  Click here to watch a video of our famous Marais tour

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: 195 euros per person (about $210)
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,Friday, Saturday, and Sunday
Minimum of 2 students, maximum 6 students.

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

 

Trip to Italy: Rocca Malatina

Laurie and Blair live in Rocca Malatina, a small town with about a population of 3,000. They live on the main road but their house is set back on a few acres. The house was built in the 1910 and typical of the region in the Early Liberty style with a central tower in the middle. The sprawling house has a spacious bedroom on the main floor where I stayed, formal dining room, eat-in kitchen and living room. The second floor has a library with old, handsomely bound leather books in glass cabinets. There were many 19th century oil portraits of what appeared to be nobility or aristocrats proudly hung throughout the house.

The house is on a grassy hill and the surrounding property has roosters and hens. Blair bought me some freshly laid eggs for breakfast every morning. The supposed quiet of the countryside came to a rude halt with the sound of roosters crowing, and the innocent notion of a rooster crowing cock-a-doodle-doo is one of the rudest sounds I ever heard. I guess this city slicker prefers the sirens of Paris to the constant cock-a-doodle-doo.

Rocca Malatina boasts a fresh pasta shop, gelato shop, and a down to earth café where the locals hangout and where you can get a fairly decent cappuccino for only 1.50 euro. On the weekend there is some serious card playing among the men. It is also a summer resort for the Bolognese to escape the heat. There is the Sassi National Park, known for its natural rock formations behind the house. We drove up to the park twice to a café overlooking the spectacular view. Cycling is also popular in the region and we spotted cyclists climbing the steep hills in overly colorful spandex outfits.

One of the good things about Rocca Malatina is the central location: It’s 2-2.5 hours to Milan, Venice, and Lake Como. Although we were tempted to visit one of them, we decided against it and to explore the small mountain top villages close by.

We did short day trips to charming places such as Guiglia, Montecrone, and Castelloserravalle; Zocca had an Alpine festival with bright flags festooned over the town center and people were dressed in climbing gear. There was also a food fair with local products.

Another day we went to Vignola and the centerpiece of the city is the 15th century fortress. I climbed up the tower and got a birds-eye of the region and the main floor had beautifully hand painted ceilings.

We stopped in a quaint pasticerria and caffe for an iced coffee. But this was not a Starbucks ice coffee in a plastic cup: it was a shakearato. The bartender took a martini glass filled with coffee and then took a tin cup of ice to cover the glass and vigorously shook it, much like a martini. (Shaken not stirred, a la Mr. Bond). The result: a smooth delicious iced coffee, better than most I’ve had before.

Laurie and Blair are now conducting outdoor painting workshops in Rocca Malatina. Click here to learn more about the workshops.

More next week about our other adventures. Ciao for now!

Noisy roosters

Shakarado- shaken but not stirred, of course!

 

 

Come experience Eye Prefer Paris live with Eye Prefer Paris Tours, which are 3-hour walking tours I personally lead. Eye Prefer Paris Tours include many of the places I have written about such as small museums & galleries, restaurants, cafes, food markets, secret addresses, fashion & home boutiques, parks and gardens and much more.  In addition to my specialty Marais Tour, I also lead tours of Montmartre, St. Germain, Latin Quarter, in addition to Shopping Tours, Gay Tours, Girlfriend Tours, Food Tours, Flea Market Tours, Paris Highlights Tours, and Chocolate & Pastry tours.

Tours start at 225 euros for up to 3 people, and 75 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 

  Click here to watch a video of our famous Marais tour

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: 195 euros per person (about $210)
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,Friday, Saturday, and Sunday
Minimum of 2 students, maximum 6 students.

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

 

Trip to Italy: Bologna

My good friends Laurie and Blair, who have lived in Paris on and off for the past twenty years, suddenly decided to leave Paris last May and move to a small town in the hills of the Emilia –Romagna region in northern Italy. Although they talked many times about leaving Paris in the past few years, it still came as a big surprise when they told me the news.

Laurie and Blair are en plein air/outdoor painters and they also ran a successful business of giving en plein air painting lessons around Paris and environs for many years. They traded a 50 metre apartment in Paris and big city life for a grand house with three floors and five bedrooms in the quiet  countryside in a town with a population of less than 3,000.

Missing our weekly dinners and playing cards together, I went to visit them in mid-August. I flew to Bologna, which is the nearest large city with an airport, about 50 minutes from where they live.

They met me at the airport and when I hugged them hello, I could immediately see how happy and relaxed they were. Even though they were still settling in and having many issues to deal with and taking care of numerous details, they seemed content and that the move was the right decision at this point in their lives.

We drove into downtown Bologna and parked outside the old part of the city; I discovered that in most cities in the region you have to park outside the city as the historic center is mostly for pedestrians.

One of the first things I noticed were the many covered walkways on the streets and Blair told me Bologna had more loggias (covered walkways) than any other city. The day started off hot and sunny and the glare of the sunshine made the rich earthy colors of terracotta, marigold, pink, pistachio, and deep red standout.

We stopped for a long, lazy lunch under the shade of a loggia, having a typical Italian lunch, a vegetable starter and a plate of pasta. I had to have pasta Bolognese, as it is where the famed sauce originated and while I was eating it, I remembered how good the pasta can be in Italy. Laurie had an odd type of pasta, one we had never had before, tagliatelle with chopped ham, melon, and mint. It was quite refreshing for the summer day and Laurie recreated the dish for lunch a few days later.

After lunch we roamed the historic streets of Bologna, discovering squares, churches, more churches, forts, piazzas, and towers. Bologna is a major university city but we didn’t see many students, as it was the summer holiday.

Feeling weary walking in the heat, we went to an old fashioned coffee bar and cooled off with a combo drink of ice cream and espresso.

I spent a delightful week with Laurie and Blair and will write more about our adventures in subsequent posts tomorrow and in the next few weeks.

Laurie & Blair

Pasta with ham, melon, and mint

 

Come experience Eye Prefer Paris live with Eye Prefer Paris Tours, which are 3-hour walking tours I personally lead. Eye Prefer Paris Tours include many of the places I have written about such as small museums & galleries, restaurants, cafes, food markets, secret addresses, fashion & home boutiques, parks and gardens and much more.  In addition to my specialty Marais Tour, I also lead tours of Montmartre, St. Germain, Latin Quarter, in addition to Shopping Tours, Gay Tours, Girlfriend Tours, Food Tours, Flea Market Tours, Paris Highlights Tours, and Chocolate & Pastry tours.

Tours start at 225 euros for up to 3 people, and 75 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 

  Click here to watch a video of our famous Marais tour

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: 195 euros per person (about $210)
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,Friday, Saturday, and Sunday
Minimum of 2 students, maximum 6 students.

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