02 Sunday Dec 2012
Posted in Europe, Food & Drinks, France, Paris
Tags
Mr. Selfish and I ate a great deal of bread and pastries while in Paris. We searched long and hard for delicious baguettes and croissants in particular. However, the Eric Kayser bakeries were consistently good – not the best but always delicious.
01 Saturday Dec 2012
Posted in Europe, Food & Drinks, France, Paris
Other than being a mostly residential area, the 13th Arrondissement has the largest Chinatown in Paris. Mr. Selfish and I shopped at a grocery store in Chinatown during our first Sunday in Paris since all of the other grocery stores were closed at the time. Of course, we also sampled some Asian food in the area.
The most memorable meal we had was at Lao Lane Xang, which is primarily a Laotian restaurant. In fact, this restaurant is so good that there are two on the same street – right across the street from one another. Despite having two locations on the same street, we still waited for about 45 minutes for a table on a Thursday night.
27 Tuesday Nov 2012
Posted in Europe, Food & Drinks, France, Paris
Tags
10th Arrondissement, Church of Saint Vincent de Paul, France, Gare du Nord, Indian Food, Muniyandi Vilas, Paris, Petit Bombay, Saravanaa Bhavan, Sri Lankan Food
While our apartment in Paris was in the 18th Arrondissement, we were quite close to Gare du Nord in the 10th Arrondissement. We accordingly did lots of transfers from Gare du Nord and discovered the Church of Saint Vincent de Paul was nearby.
24 Saturday Nov 2012
Posted in Europe, Food & Drinks, France, Paris
Tags
10th Arrondissement, 2nd Arrondissement, 9th Arrondissement, A L’Etoile d’Or, France, G. Detou, L’Epicerie Anglaise, Paris
Mr. Selfish and I discovered three interesting specialty stores in the 2nd, 9th, and 10th Arrondissements.
The first was G. Detou, which is a specialty store for bakers and cooks. The name is a play-on-words meaning “I have everything”. It indeed looked to have most everything a cook or baker could want. Mr. Selfish and I purchased a kilo (2.2 lbs.) of dried strawberries and have been munching on them ever since. Our friend purchased pearl sugar to make liege waffles.
22 Thursday Nov 2012
Posted in Europe, Food & Drinks, France, Paris, Searching for the Best . . .
Mr. Selfish and I love macarons. We therefore decided to search for the best macarons in Paris. It was a hard task but someone has to do it.
First, we tried the macarons at Stohrer, which is supposedly the oldest bakery in Paris. Stohrer is near Les Halles and Saint Eustache. Stohrer only offered traditional flavors, so we purchased chocolate, vanilla, pistachio, and strawberry.
Verdict: The macarons were pretty good, but not much different from the macarons we had tasted in the States.
Score: 6.5
21 Wednesday Nov 2012
Posted in Europe, Food & Drinks, France, Paris
Mr. Selfish and I went all the way out to the Porte de Versailles Exhibition Center in the 15th Arrondissement to attend the Salon du Chocolat. It is billed as the largest chocolate event in the world. How could we resist?
It is an exhibition of all things chocolate. There were so many chocolate samples – lots and lots of samples. It was amazing. I never thought that I could get sick of chocolate but I actually did get a little sick of it toward the end.
19 Monday Nov 2012
Posted in Europe, Food & Drinks, France, Paris
Even aside from the Luxembourg Gardens, it is nice to just stroll around the 6th Arrondissement. Mr. Selfish and I enjoyed walking on the bridges and admiring the different views – particularly that of the Institut de France. It houses six different academies and was opened in 1795.
17 Saturday Nov 2012
Posted in Europe, Food & Drinks, France, Paris
Tags
9th Arrondissement, France, Higuma, Japanese Food in Paris, Kunitoraya, La Petit Tokyo, Opera, Palais Garnier, Paris, Ramen, Sapporo, Udon
The beautiful Palais Garnier is in the 9th Arrondissement of Paris. It is the opulent opera house of Paris. Mr. Selfish and I looked into going to an opera but the prices were outrageous. Instead, we just walked by and admired.
But, the main reason that we kept coming back to the 9th was because Le Petit Tokyo is there. When we were sick of French food, we ate ramen and udon to our heart’s content. We went to three restaurants in particular and found each of them to be respectable.
First, at Higuma, we enjoyed gyozas and the shio and syoyu ramen, which was called “lamen.” The broth was tasty, and it hit the spot since we were craving ramen. I also liked the demonstration kitchen because the chefs really seemed to enjoy their cooking stations.
15 Thursday Nov 2012
Posted in Europe, Food & Drinks, France, Paris
Tags
18th Arrondissement, France, Montmartre, Moulin Rouge, Museum of Eroticism, Paris, Red Light District, Sex Museum
Mr. Selfish and I lived only two metro stops away from the red light district of Paris in Montmartre. Of course, we walked around to enjoy the ambiance. Moulin Rouge also happens to be one of my favorite movies of all times. I still love the elaborate singing and dancing sequences with the shaky cam feel.
13 Tuesday Nov 2012
Posted in Europe, Food & Drinks, France, Paris
Tags
19th Arrondissement, Cité de la Musique, Django, Django Reinhardt, France, Gypsy Jazz, Jazz, Paris
While we wandering all over Paris, Mr. Selfish and I kept seeing ads for a Django Reinhardt exhibit. Since Mr. Selfish loves gypsy jazz, I tracked it down online and discovered that the exhibit was in the Cité de la Musique, which is in the 19th Arrondissement. Since there isn’t much going on in the 19th, I figured we would check out the exhibit. Plus, on Friday and Saturday evenings, there is live jazz.
The Django Reinhardt exhibit was very interesting. It chronicled his life and set up sound booths whereby you could listen to the music that Django created during that era. We also enjoyed the live jazz session.
10 Saturday Nov 2012
Posted in Europe, Food & Drinks, France, Paris
Tags
6th Arrondissement, Église St.-Sulpice, France, Luxembourg Gardens, Luxembourg Palace, Paris, Zadkine Museum
Mr. Selfish and I enjoy wandering around the 6th Arrondissement, particularly the lovely Luxembourg Gardens. The park is in the garden of the Senate, which is actually located in the Luxembourg Palace. We found a day when it wasn’t raining and headed over to the gardens.
08 Thursday Nov 2012
Posted in Europe, Food & Drinks, France, Paris
Tags
5th Arrondissement, Arènes de Lutèce, France, Jardin des Plantes, Latin Quarter, Paris, St. Michel
Other than the Panthéon, Mr. Selfish and I decided to check out the other areas in the 5th Arrondissement. First, we went to the Jardin des Plantes, which is the main botanical garden in Paris. There are several museums and a small zoo, but mostly we just wandered around and enjoyed the great weather.
05 Monday Nov 2012
Posted in Europe, Food & Drinks, France, Paris
Prior to taking this trip, I started following David Lebovitz’s blog. He is a renowned pastry chef, who worked with Alice Waters and has published several dessert books. Mr. Selfish and I have taken to heart many of his recommendations. I also read his book “The Sweet Life in Paris,” and discovered that he lives in the Bastille area in the 11th Arrondissenment.
When Mr. Selfish and I decided to explore Bastille, I secretly hoped that we would run into him at the market perusing the fresh veggies. We had no such luck, but I still enjoyed the Bastille area. Of course, the Opera Bastille and the iconic Bastille memorial is in the 11th Arrondissement. The selection at the Bastille market was also quite diverse.
03 Saturday Nov 2012
Posted in Europe, Food & Drinks, France, Paris
Since 1934, Montmartre has held an annual Wine Harvest Festival at which wineries from all over France showcase their wines. Vendors also sell a variety of delicious food. Mr. Selfish and I knew that we had to attend this festival that was just outside our front door.
We learned a neat piece of trivia – Montmartre only has one functional winery left. It is a small winery that only produces about 2,000 bottles of wine a year and is only about 1,500 m2 (around 5,000 square feet) in size. Nevertheless, this winery is sufficient to warrant a four-day festival and a firework show. Due to the fireworks being set off right in front of Montmarte, the front entrance was blocked off, and everyone was forced to walk on the right-side steps.
27 Saturday Oct 2012
Posted in Europe, Food & Drinks, France, Paris
Mr. Selfish and I have been frequenting the 4th Arrondissement. Not only is the beautiful Notre Dame located there but there is also lots of good and cheap food in this arrondissement.
First, we absolutely adore the falafels from L’As Du Fallafel. They are cheap and delicious! The falafels themselves are plentiful and tasty. Plus, the julienne veggies and the thick chunks of eggplant give the wrap a delicious flavor. They also make them spicy, which pleases my palette. If you’re looking for a cheap and fast eat in this area, you can’t go wrong with L’As Du Fallafel – after all, the sign states that Lenny Kravitz recommends it!
The Selfish Years 