This post will include adventures and shenanigans taking place in January and February.
Well, I finally did it. I tried a macaroon and I liked it. Andrew picked up a few for me on his way home from work one day. Since then, I have had others and I must say that my favorite flavors are framboise and café.
It is January 30th and it is snowing hardcore in Paris! None of the snow stuck around and it was a really wet snow with giant flakes. It was pretty cool to see and I got soaked walking from our apartment to Frame, even with the umbrella. Check out this video:
That same day, Feriel and I met for lunch at Frame. My favorite is dessert of course.
For the free museum day in February, Andrew and I visited the Château de Versailles. It was Andrew’s first trip there and my first time inside the château.
The day was pretty cold and rainy, but we also managed to walk through the garden and over to see The Grand Trianon, Marie Antoinette’s estate, and the Hameau de la Reine (The Queen’s Hamlet), built for Marie-Antoinette in the park of Trianon.
I’m excited to go back again someday and see the gardens in the summertime with Andrew.
Beignets are back!
I know that some people complain about beignets and say that they aren’t real doughnuts, and well they really aren’t the classic doughnuts we typically think of, but I think that they are delicious (even if they aren’t made onsite at this boulangerie). Framboise or chocolate, I don’t care, I will eat either.
On February 4th, I met Feriel at Jeu de Paume near Concorde for the Garry Winogrand photography exhibit.
The photographer was from New York and most of his photos were taken primarily in the New York area, but also a lot in Los Angeles, Dallas, and Houston. The photos ranged from the 1950s to the 1970s. The exhibition was very interesting and it was neat to see photos taken during that time period in US history. I wonder what it would have been like to grow up during that time. I also begin to wonder what it really takes to be an excellent photographer. Looking at Winogrand’s photos, they seem so simple, but they capture so much more at the same time. I also wonder what type of photos will represent us during this time in our history; will we look specific to a certain time period? Looking at the photos taken by Winogrand, I feel like they are really representative of the style and looks of each time period. Who knows?
The second weekend of February, the Scottish invaded Montmartre!
We also ate at the place Feriel worked at – finally! The restaurant is called MGRoad and it serves high end Indian food.
Later in February, I met up with Nohemi at Brewberry. Brewberry, was a bar on her list that she wanted to check out. Brewberry technically has two locations and they are right across the street from each other. We ended up eating at the location which was more like a restaurant since Nohemi couldn’t have alcohol that night. It was kind of a crummy time to check out a beer bar right? Don’t worry, she was able to go back later and try the beer. I thought the place was pretty cool, but maybe a bit expensive – with that said, I am no beer expert.
For our first Valentine’s Day in Paris, Andrew made me spicy mac-n-cheese for breakfast. It was delicious and really bad for my acid reflux, but I devoured it anyway.
Later that day, I visited Andrew at Frame. Technically, I was there to take some food pictures for him, so it wasn’t all romantic (we really aren’t much for the holiday anyway). They put out a pretty nice menu in my opinion! They did an anti-Valentine’s Day theme.
The public toilets can be gross – at least this one was…hopefully some of the others are better…sorry, mom.
Pro-tip for walking the streets of Paris: Remember that Rue Saint-Denis is full of prostitutes at any time of the day. Andrew and I had decided to take a walk after meeting some friends for coffee and ended up turning down Rue Saint-Denis. I knew that I recognized the name of the street, but didn’t remember anything about it. As we were walking, we noticed a lot of sex toy shops and a few strip clubs, but then I noticed the prostitutes. I had actually noticed a few women earlier that I thought might have been working girls, but I didn’t want to assume. Once I saw the other women, I started to remember what Saint-Denis was associated with! How could I have forgotten!! I had had my phone out, but hadn’t taken any photos of the women (I wouldn’t have dared). However, one of the women (dressed in a fur coat, what I can only describe as a pimp hat, and bra and panties under the coat) came up to me and asked me about my phone. I explained and showed her that I had no pictures, she thanked us and then we were on our way. What a day!
These signs crack me up…I have pictures of others too, but I cannot seem to locate them at the moment.
A hobbit door!
Has anyone seen the movie Amélie? If not, you should stop what you are doing right now and watch it! It is a really cute film and reminds me of Wes Anderson’s style. Anyways, I met Cathy for a drink at Café des 2 Moulins (it is from the movie!). I’m such a nerd for finding places where my favorite TV shows and movies have been filmed.
The weekend after Valentine’s Day, Andrew and I started a weekend long search for the best tacos in Paris! I think Andrew serves some pretty good tacos at Frame (look at the delicious taco below), but we had to see what everyone else was doing.
First up was Luz Verde. This was probably the classiest taco joint we went to all weekend. We tried 5 different tacos.
Our next stop was El Nopal. This location is up near the canal. There is no seating inside, so you just order at the front and then we opted to take our tacos to eat next to the canal. It was a little cold that day though, so it would be better to do this in the summer. The tacos were good and the cheapest of what we had all weekend.
Our last stop on the taco train was Candelaria. We had planned on going here at some point and were happy when our friend Feriel suggested it to us. She knew that we were looking for good Mexican food in Paris and she had heard about this restaurant. This was probably my favorite place out of all that we tried that weekend. The only drawback to this place is that it is a really tiny venue and gets packed fast! We were so lucky to get a place to sit that night.
République during Chinese New Year.
I am in love with Sugarplum Cake Shop. And yes, carrot cake is the answer!
I spotted this card in a shop! I love it!!
Our friend, Feriel, was leaving us to move to South Korea in a couple days. We met her for dinner at a Korean BBQ place. The food was so good and I know that I ate way too much!
I also went to Feriel’s going away party at her work the day before she left.
We walked from her work place across town all the way back to her apartment in the rain. We noticed a dog in a store window…hopefully the little guy made it okay through the night because we are pretty sure that no one was in the building to take him home. Before anyone gets upset, I’m sure the dog is okay.
We also stopped and bought a crêpe to eat – it was the most appropriate thing to do on her last night. We are going to miss this girl! I’m excited to see what she does in South Korea 🙂
I love snack time in Paris.
I still cannot believe that we live here. I feel so lucky.
Redness Adventures 