Graffitiart

There is graffiti and then there is graffiti.

Season's end

 Today ends the holiday season in France.

Above: decorations in the Marais district last night

Bark with bite

Looking back on the holidays there was much activity in our small Paris kitchen.

Above: candied ginger, sea salt, pistachio, hazelnut, almond, fennel seed dark chocolate bark; milk chocolate bark w/sea salt, sesame seeds, fennel seeds and Lapsang souchong (smoked) tea leaves

 

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Some of the sweeter highlights:

 

Several varieties of homemade chocolate bark were paired with after-dinner espresso or turned into gifts.

Vanillekipferl, Austrian hazelnut vanilla butter crescents (below), a family recipe, disappeared as fast as I could make them.

 

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French chocolate: what makes it so good
February newsletter

Reading for pleasure

Paris' kiosks remain a mainstay of urban life despite the internet and go hand-in-hand with its café culture.

Above: a weekly news magazine issue devoted "to the pleasure of women"

À la Bastille

In Paris, everyone has their favorite cafés, and this is one of mine.

Café de la Bastille

8 Place de la Bastille 75011

 

A Christmas table

 

 

 In France, the holiday season officially ends January 31st. Until then, decorations and crèches de noël in churches and homes are left up, cartes de voeux sent out, galettes des rois consumed. Wishing shopkeepers and anyone else you run into a Bonne Année won't be considered unusual and, as the month wanes, "It's still January!" ("C'est encore janvier!") might be added. Like now.

Christmas Day with its sumptuous sit-down lunch is bigger than New Year's Day or even La Fête des Rois, January 6th. Celebrated mostly among family, it's an occasion to dust off that wedding gift or heirloom china, crystal, and silver, and when the pre-lunch apéritif is taken into account, it can easily stretch into five hours. At the end of the meal, a digestif (to help digestion, as its name implies) will also get its own glass. - BPJ

Above: multiple courses mean several plates and glasses per setting, w/each course requiring its own wine

See: En famille

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  - L'art de la table dans la tradition française -

Where to find it:

Marché aux Puces de Saint-Ouen

 
Europe's biggest flea market
rue des Rosiers 93400 Saint-Ouen
[best Saturday or Sunday; try to avoid lunch time 12:30-2:30 p.m.]

Upscale antique shops for glassware, tableware, crystal, silver on

 rue des Saints-Pères

[start at the river and zig-zag up the street until you arrive at rue Jacob]

A Sunday breakfast

A steamy cafè au lait and custard-filled croissant aux amandes.