Mercredi Mashup

We take lots of photos. Beaucoup, as they say. At last count, our Flickr photostream contained over 6,000 items. Many of these photos appear on this blog. Some go the way of the dinosaur. Still others get set aside, hoping for recognition, holding their breath every time we browse for a blog-worthy photo. This post is dedicated to all the misfit photos out there . . . get ready for a whirlwind tour of photos that have nothing to do with one another, other than the fact that they are random, and we took them.

This Scooby Doo character and van was parked outside the Hôtel de Ville (City Hall). Many, many otherwise sane looking adults were waiting to have their picture taken with Scooby. I really don't get this. What's the attraction? Maybe it's a generational thing...

We had a coffee and used the toilet in this bar/restaurant with Katie and Darryl. A rugby game (England? Italy? who? what?) was playing on the telly. The Gaudì-inspired decor was super cool and super trashed. Too bad.

This dog was hanging out around the Jardin de Luxembourg. Thank goodness for that convenient opening.

Street art in Belleville. Awesome.

The latest performance art installation at the Louvre.

Maggie and Louis attempt to create art. Fail.

 

We saw this dog on the street, at night, and had to do a double-take. Doesn't he/she look just like Panda??

Good Eats, Good Prices

We never got around to describing a few of the excellent meals we enjoyed while my mom and Cathy were in town in early January, but hey, better late than never!

L'Astier is a traditional bistrot near Métro Oberkampf in the 11th arrondissement. (Traditional means red-checkered décor and no-frills, über-French food.) We went on a tip from the ever-reliable Jesse's List and were not disappointed. Although all the food was of relatively high quality - at least, what you expect for a 32-euro, 4-course menu - the highlight was definitely the cheese plate.

This plate made the rounds between tables, just like a ceramic vat of smoked herring and large jars of mustard, depending on what you ordered. That's the bistro spirit rearing its noble head - big portions, sharing between tables, take as much as you like! and then pass it on. If we were to go back, we might just get an entrée and the cheese course, which would be good both for our finances and our sense of well-being. Mmm, cheese . . .

Fast Forward a month and a half to Katie and Darryl's visit, when we finally tried out a Belleville restaurant that we've had our eyes on for a few months now. La Bouche is not a bistrot, boasting a keen design sense, a hip graffiti logo, and gastronomically-creative food. For instance, we were offered (quite unexpectedly) two amuses-bouche, just like at Le Cinq. First was orange-zest-infused hummus with bread, and second was a lamb soup with a dash of paprika.

There's also the matter of La Bouche's 28-euro, 3-course menu design. Your choice for entrée included an Andouille-sausage soup and an endive tatin; both were served with a goat-cheese mousse (the white-ish dollop on the left in the soup, and to the right of the green-smothered tatin).

For the plat, both the salmon (Maggie's choice) and the veal (my choice) came with a passion fruit dressing and a side of bacon-enhanced mixed-vegetables.

For the dessert, both the coconut milk/white chocolate soup and pistachio crumble came with citrus fruit kabobs. Unfortunately none of us got the soup, but the restaurant gets extra credit just for the plating of the pistachio crumble.

For the chef, it seemed to be about coming up with constraints - how to connect two dishes with a common element - and reacting creatively. We were impressed. And it's not like they sacrificed taste or presentation for this slightly cerebral conceit. No, La Bouche is the real deal, and thanks to their thoughtfulness, skill, and excellent service, they won over four new devotees who couldn't have been happier with their meal.

L'Astier

44 Rue Jean-Pierre Timbaud
75011 Paris, France
01 43 57 16 35

La Bouche
1 Rue d'Eupatoria
75020 paris, France
09 53 56 24 14

Chinese New Year Bis

Just wanted to add these videos to Maggie's excellent slide show of Sunday's Chinese New Year festivities. Together, they cover about 15 minutes of the parade that passed us on Rue Beaubourg on its way to the Hôtel de Ville. At the very beginning you can hear and see the firecrackers Maggie featured in her post.

Happy New Year!

For the approximately 1.3 billion Chinese living around the world, Sunday marked the beginning of a new year - the Year of the Tiger! If you're like most people, you learned the Chinese zodiac from the placemat at your local Chinese restaurant. (If you don't know your sign, you can figure it out - and learn your sign compatibility - here. Or, just purchase your own set of placemats here.)

According to this blogger the majority of the Chinese population living around Belleville hail from Wenzhou, a city in southeastern China (this explains why our favorite Chinese restaurant is called Salon de Thé Wen Zhou!).

The New Year's Day parade began in our neighborhood (Belleville) and made its way to the Hotel de Ville in the center of the city. We actually caught up with it just as it passed the Centre Pompidou (Paris's modern art museum). We could hear it coming because of the awesome pyrotechnics you see below (three or four of these guys walked at the head of the parade, each dragging a smoking, popping, sparking crowd-clearing delight!).

The dragons, traditional costumes, and children dressed as tigers were brightly colored and helped us get in a celebratory mood. After all, our friends Katie and Darryl just arrived, so there's lots to celebrate!

Oh, and in case you were wondering, I am a pig and Louis and Panda are both rats.