Throwback Thursday

 Stretching the limits.

Above: pink limo, pink champagne, a gourmet pique-nique basket, a celebration

Below: a special gift from a special friend

 

  à mon mari

💖

(A comment: "For Barbie I think!")

Table Tuesday

 Duck Duck Go:

Canard cravers are in for a treat at this everything-duck concept restaurant planted in the historic Passage des Panoramas which dates to 1799. Housed in a former 19th century chocolate shop, the restaurant exudes old-fashioned elegance.

 

Canard & Champagne

57 Passage des Panoramas 75002

 

 

 

 Above: delectable duck foie gras starter followed by juicy magret de canard (duck breast) accompanied by what else, champagne

 

 

Below: mural from famous dancing waiters scene, film Le Grand Restaurant (1966) 

Sipping Saturday

 Champagne for two on a sunny Montmartre terrace.

***

 "I only drink champagne on two occasions: when I am in love and when I am not." - Coco Chanel

 

Wine Wednesday

With the Olympics in town a placard outside a wine shop vouches for their champagnes.

 

 

Wine Wednesday

 

Champagne, wine, beer and other refreshments set out for an evening screening at one of the many small arthouse cinémas that dot the Latin Quarter.

***

Years ago, while living in Spain I’d treat myself to weekend movie marathons in those tucked-away arthouse theaters on Paris’ Left Bank back streets - unassuming small venues that championed obscure international indie films and emerging filmmakers.

The moment I'd arrive in Paris, my ritual began: straight to the nearest kiosk for the latest Pariscope or L'Officiel des Spectacles, those pocket-sized weekly bibles that listed every screening across the city. Over breakfast, pencil in hand, I’d scour the pages, plotting the perfect itinerary, circling titles and noting showtimes - what to see, in what order, at which cinemas - creating the optimal sequence without wasting a single reel.

These were films from everywhere - U.S., U.K., Germany, Japan, Italy, and beyond, and they had to be in their original languages, marked VO (version originale). I (mostly) went for French films and off-the-radar indies. In Barcelona, most mainstream films were dubbed into Spanish or burdened with clumsy subtitles that flattened nuance and stole focus. Paris delivered actors’ real voices, unadulterated, and as so many of the titles were English-language anyway, the French subtitles stayed discreetly at the bottom, never stealing the show. - BPJ

Below: some surviving cinémas

Latin Quarter / Quartier Latin:

Cinéma Le Champo

Cinéma Saint-André-des-Arts

Christine Cinéma Club

Le Reflet Médicis

La Filmothèque du Quartier Latin

Studio Galande

(besides a roster of independent films, "The Rocky Horror Picture Show” in VO w/performances every Friday and Saturday night. Bring a bottle of water and rice

Montmartre:

Studio 28

(must-see interior by Jean Cocteau w/bar / charming tea salon / courtyard area)

 

 

Bonne Année

 

The evening began with an intimate champagne apèro.

- Bonne Année / Happy New Year 2024 -

 

🎉

 

 

 

 

Wine Wednesday

 

 

Rue des Martyrs in SoPi (South Pigalle) has been renamed Rue des Bulles, Street of Bubbles, through Sunday, December 31st. Celebrations, live music, Père Noël....

 

- See Nouveautés for more -

 

***

 

"All Champagne is sparkling wine, but not all sparkling wine is Champagne"

 

Champagne Nicolas Feuillatte

 🍾🍾🍾

 

 

 

Wine Wednesday

 

A bartender concentrates as he pours with precision.

 

Fromage Friday

   

A platter of AOC raw milk cheeses.

- Morbier, Rouelle du Tarn, Saint-Nectaire, Bleu des Causses, Brie Truffé -

 

Le Cellier de la Butte - Caviste

113 rue Caulaincourt 75018

***

 🎈 A Joyous Bastille Day 🎈

 

 

 

Quiche crave

A spinach ricotta quiche makes a light lunch on a sunny Montmartre patio.

Above: a surprise visitor to the table

Below: fresh from the oven; bubbly prosecco to accompany

Bubble Street

 

 

Rue des Canettes transformed into a street of bubbles to launch Champagne Nicolas Feuillatte.

🎉🎉🎉

 Ends December 26, 2021

                                                                

French toasting

 With bars, cafés, and restaurants still closed the tendance for small gatherings to meet for apéros at private homes more than ever before continues.

V-Day

 

 

Flashback Friday: a cocktail maison on Valentine's Day.

Champagne on the side

At a local café a waiter serves up an espresso, dessert du jour, and champagne.

Country cool

Yesterday began a week of canicule, when temperatures soar and Parisians flee to cooler climes.

Above: apéro table from a celebration in the countryside

Santé!

"Santé!" (to your health...), the standard toast in French, has never seemed so apt.

Above: setting up for Sunday night's multi-time-zone zoom session when everyone raised a glass

***

The grissini is Mario Fongo's whole wheat hand-rolled grissini integrali at Eataly Paris (online), many Italian specialty shops, at La Grande Épicerie and other épiceries. Call first.

Morning toast

A pink Champagne "Welcome To Paris" toast from the window of a Montmartre apartment.

New Year's Eve table

With ongoing strikes many stayed close to home on New Year's Eve.

Below: a healthy spread of Swedish gravlax, baba ganoush (secret recipe), caviar canapés, creative salads, 3 desserts (not shown). And champagne 

 ***

Recipes: January newsletter

Sharing

 

 

Canapé seating (pun intended) both inside and on the terrace, it's in Montmartre, it has a fun vibe and street view, and all of the wines are from Burgundy.

Where is it?

Above: our two planches mixtes were plenty for four

October newsletter

A farewell to summer

Breathtaking sunset and city views from friends' terrace at an au revoir l'été get-together in Montmartre.

 Below: the Eiffel Tower as seen from apéritifs table

More in September newsletter