Tag Archives: Paris

India –here I come!

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Apologies for the unusual blog silence. My Emirates flight (380 of course!) to Delhi, India leaves in a few hours’ time. Been busy packing and taking care of things that require attention during the month of April when I am not in Paris.traveling to India

I will spend the first week with my parents pretty much along that same route that I have recently been writing about in my blog (Delhi, Agra, Rajasthan). It is a new travel concept to me (to take my parents to such an exotic destination) and I am even contemplating on adding a new tag word “traveling with parents”. Do you think it would be interesting?

My husbands joins us exactly one week from now and all of us will spend few days together probably at the Neemrana hotel I also already wrote about. After my parents leave, my husband and I hit the road from Delhi toward Varanasi. From Varanasi we will fly to the South India for the rest of the time I think. Free birds go where the wind takes them!

PS Unfortunately I did not have time to finish my India series that I have been writing about (missing posts are about Jodhpur, Pushkar and Udaipur), but I promise to complete the series in May. Meanwhile, I hope you will enjoy this new India trip with me!

 

Franco-Italian cheese platter

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Eating cheese in France is a true geographic journey! Every region has its own specialties and in total there are more than 500 types of cheese in France. One will never know all 500 types. But this –at least to me– is part of the fun. We go and buy cheese and every time there is so much to discover! No two cheese plates are alike. And in order not to be too nationalistic, we try to add one or two cheese from abroad.

Our last cheese experimentation created this kind of a platter: Cheese platter

  • Bethmale: French cow-milk cheese from the region of Midi-Pyrénées near the Pyrenees mountains
  • Banon: goat cheese from the region of Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur in the southern part of France
  • Ossau-Iraty: sheep-milk cheese from the Basque country (French side)
  • Gorgonzola: Italian blue cheese from the northern part of the country, near Milan
  • Pecorino with Black Peppers: Tuscany, Italy

To complete the dinner, we also had dried beef (Noix de Bœuf Séchée) and a green salad with avocados.  Not the lightest and healthiest dinner, but once in a while just perfect!

Note: For the sake of comparative studies, this was our precious cheese platter: Cheese platter

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PS Do you stick to the same old cheese all the time or do you prefer changing? If yes to the last question, then what is your latest discovery…?

Fish eggs for breakfast anyone?

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I live in Paris where bakeries are full of richly buttered croissants, but to be brutally honest, I eat a croissant approximately once a year! Shocking, isn’t it.

Originally, I come from Finland, which is a country of savory breakfasts, but I don’t eat typical Finnish breakfast (porridge) either. So, what is it, what do I eat? Well, I often have rice cakes with salmon and avocados. Or avocados and cheese. Sometimes I add turkey. Or if I made Indian food the night before, I would eat leftover dal for breakfast. To be honest, my ultimate happiness was found in South India where I could eat idli and sambar for breakfast! Yummy.

I do admit, I have weird breakfast habits but I am afraid they are now getting even more strange (some of you may call them disgusting). For some time now, I have been preparing a salad that consists of fish eggs, grilled artichokes, avocados, truffle oil and fresh herbs (thyme, basil and rosemary). fish egg, avocado and artichoke saladThe fish eggs I have been buying are some of the cheapest available in Paris (and apparently the saltiest) and of course it would be better to buy salmon eggs but they are considerably more expensive. Anyhow, apart from these “cheap” eggs, everything in this salad is very good for your health. Most importantly, I love the combination, which fills the stomach, but not the same way wheat does (yes, I try to avoid gluten as often as I can).

Would you eat this salad for breakfast? Do you have a breakfast recipe you like making but think it is utterly crazy? Let me know (and make me feel less weird..)! 

Wine Exhibition of Independent Winegrowers is back!

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Is your wine cellar empty? Good, because the Wine Exhibition of Independent Winegrowers returns to Paris this weekend! More than 1000 winemakers from all over France will present their products, often organic and biodynamic, and always of high quality. It is a dream event of all wine lovers and not to be missed! wines of FranceAs previously, I have an extra ticket and happy to send it to someone interested in participating the exhibition between March 28-31. It is for two people and includes complimentary wine tasting glasses.

The rules are the same: like Pearlspotting on Facebook, or if you prefer, become my blog’s follower by inserting your email address into the box available on the front page of my blog (https://pearlspotting.wordpress.com). Please write a comment or a brief story about your most memorable wine experience. Do not forget to mention the name of the wine the story involves (if you remember). Can be from anywhere in the world.

At midnight Wednesday (Paris time) I will pick up the winner (call it Internet lottery) and contact this person. Next day I will send the ticket to the address of the winner.

I am looking forward to your wine stories, and meanwhile, my previous posts about this wine exhibition are to be read here: Wine tasting at Salon des Vins des Vignerons Indépendants and Maison Lorgeril from Languedoc-Roussillon.

EXHIBITION WEBSITE: http://www.france-independent-winegrowers.com/index2.php

Good morning spring!

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Spring equals plants and flowers, so yesterday was a big plantation day for our balcony. We now have more violas and a bamboo. A palm tree will be the next purchase.

This morning I saw a grey thing with a tail run across the balcony so I got up. It was a beautiful grey cat that eventually jumped to the balcony of another building. Maybe just a coincidence, but maybe cats like bamboos? To be observed! Parisian balcony in spring

Impérial Choisy: affordable Cantonese food

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We have not had Chinese food since the Lunar New Year when we ate at Shan Goût: not your usual Chinese restaurant, so it was about time! We found Impérial Choisy on the Internet and decided –once again– to follow the recommendations of Le Fooding and Michelin. The latter has given Impérial Choisy a Bib Gourmand recognition.

Impérial Choisy is located in the southern part of the 13th arrondissement. It is a modern, super clean cantine (small, unpretentious restaurant), where tables fill up fast. A great part of customers consists of Chinese families. Imperial ChoisyWe arrived just before 9 p.m. and got a table right away.  The menu is very extensive and it took us a long time to make our final choices: jellyfish salad, spring rolls, sauteed chicken, shrimp-stuffed eggplants and crispy noodles. Imperial ChoisyOur feeling in the end of the meal was a mixed bag. We liked the shrimp nems. The shrimp and vegetable noodles was very tasty. The jellyfish salad (served with pickled tomatoes, ginger and eggs) was delicious; probably the best of all dishes. Chinese jellyfish saladSauteed chicken came with black mushrooms and bamboos, and yet the mushrooms were very tasty, something was missing. We kept adding chili sauce…

However, what mostly disappointed us was the eggplant dish. Ok, to be fair, we almost never eat fried food, so maybe this explain something. The eggplants were very greasy, the dish had no particular taste, and the size of the prawn stuffed inside the eggplant was not in proportion to the rest. Unfortunately, all we could taste was flour and oil. But maybe it was our fault –we should have known not to order anything fried!eggplants stuffed with shrimpsThis said, the bill arrived and it was 55€ (we also had a 1/2 liter of red house wine). Taking the price into account, we estimated that Impérial Choisy was worth our money. Some dished we loved, some less so.

To answer the big question “Would we return”, I have to say that maybe (but I would pick something completely different). Or, alternatively, maybe I will continue to search for that perfect Chinese restaurant that doesn’t seem to exist in Paris…

Impérial Choisy: 32 Avenue de Choisy, 75013 Paris. Tel. 01-45864240

Le Fooding review: http://lefooding.com/en/restaurants/restaurant-imperial-choisy-paris

Michelin review: http://restaurant.michelin.fr/restaurant/france/75013-paris-13/imperial-choisy/2eqxz1n

Les Nautes: newcomer by the Seine

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Les Nautes is one of the latest additions to the Parisian restaurant scene. Located right by the Seine and in front of the Île Saint-Louis, this old customs house has an industrial feel to it. I loved its unusual entrance. Once inside, I admired beautiful wooden tables, 13 pendant Alvar Aalto lamps (golden, like we have at home!) and art pieces (sculpture and paintings) by young artists. Bravo for the original decoration! Les NautesRecommended by Le Fooding, our food bible to eating in Paris, Les Nautes had been on our list since its opening last October (the bar opened one year earlier). We live a five-minute walk away from the restaurant and believe it is important to support the neighborhood restaurants –that’s how the arrondissements of Paris stay vivant (alive)!

We had the corner table by the window and enjoyed watching touristic boats cruise along the Seine. Bread, butter and Poisson Rouge arrived, and we got to taste this curious, organic white wine from Lanquedoc-Roussillon that actually is red by color! It tasted fruity and had I closed my eyes, I probably wouldn’t have tasted its “color”. It was the most perfect pairing with oysters and our main courses: fish and meat. oysters at Les NautesFor starters, we shared six oysters from the Bay of Mont Saint-Michel, Britanny, and they were the best oysters I have eaten for a long time. In fact, as this oyster season (which started last September) has been very mild, I find that oysters have not been at their best this winter. And if you follow my blog, you may remember that I regularly eat these seafood delicacies…Les NautesFor the main course, my husband ate tuna and I had entrecôte. Both dishes were succulent, and the taste of the fish and meat proved that the restaurant goes out of its way to find only the best products. The only regret we had was that the side dishes for both of us was the same (rather ordinary-tasting courgettes with cream).

The bill came to 77€ for two, including a shared starter, two main courses and a bottle of wine (19€). Very reasonable for such great quality I consider, and we will definitely return!

PS: First of all, Les Nautes recently changed the chef, so I would not count too much on the older Tripadvisor reviews. Secondly, Les Nautes also has a bar by the river, and I bet it will be one of the hottest terraces in Paris this summer! Especially during the Paris Plage when the cars cannot circulate nearby.

Restaurant (http://www.lesnautes.com): 1 Quai des Célestins, 75004 Paris. Tel. 01-42745953. Metro: Sully Morland or Pont Marie

Le Fooding review: http://lefooding.com/en/restaurants/restaurant-les-nautes-paris

Wine: http://www.vins-bios.fr/domaine-de-clairac-coteaux-d-enserune-languedoc/471-poisson-rouge-2010-domaine-de-clairac-coteaux-d-enserune-.html

Lamps: Alvar Aalto bell lamps from 1937 find a new home in Paris

Sunbathing in March!

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It is hard to believe but when I returned home from meetings this afternoon, I put a bikini on and walked to my Seine hideaway to sunbathe. Yes. Sunbathe. In March. There was no wind and no clouds. Just the Seine, tourist boats, some guys playing guitar and me. The summer is going be long (or not)!Sunbathing by the Seine

Crazy winter!

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This past winter has been very mild in many European countries. So far, it has been one of the three warmest winters in France since 1900. Surprisingly, but to everyone’s delight, the temperature climbed to 22C in Paris last Sunday! Although I like spring as most of the people do, I feel slightly sad that I didn’t experience really cold weather this year.

In Finland, my country of origin, it hasn’t been much better. Lapland has snow but Helsinki is ready to welcome spring. In the region where our summer house is located, It still looks very much like winter but the reality is quite different. The ice on the lake is only 35 cm thick compared to what it could be: 100 cm 35 years ago, usually 60-70 cm. This is what the lake looked like few days ago (photo credit: my father):Finnish lake in winterMaybe with the climate change we will now have more of these Caribbean sunsets at least?

PS To compare this winter image to a summer photo, see Our beautiful lake has turned into a monster! Yes, it is the same lake. Same islands. Spectacular, isn’t it?

 

Glimpses of spring fashion in Paris

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Last Saturday was really sunny and warm, and we decided to walk along the famous high-end fashion streets of Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré and Rue Saint Honoré. My idea was to find something for myself–after all it was the International Women’s Day– but I ended up walking home empty-handed. At least almost. I did get lots of ideas about this spring’s trends and at least in Paris, it is looking playful. Every fashion house seems to have something made of animal prints (zebra is back) and shades of rose, lavender and turquoise. I think it will be a cheerful, happy spring!

1. Burberry: BurberryAre you attending a wedding this summer? Need an engagement dress? This dress will turn heads but allows you to remain elegant. What an edgy detail that pink strap! http://fr.burberry.com/robe-bustier-en-dentelle-de-coton-p45114111

2. René Caovilla:Rene CaovillaFrom left to right: pink for Miami, yellow for St Tropez, blue for Portofino. Overly mignon! http://www.renecaovilla.com

3.Escada: EscadaI absolutely love this outfit. I would wear it at conferences, meetings and airplanes. Love, love. http://fr.escada.com/look/escada-spring-summer-2014/escada-spring-summer-2014/LOOK_877

4. Dsquared2:Dsquared2I am a big believer of wearing what pleases you as opposed to what the norms of the society and other people tell you. Moreover, I don’t think one’s wardrobe should be a reflection of one’s age. So, yes, I would wear these shorts! At least at home (smile). http://www.dsquared2.com/

Have you made observations about the latest collections? How does the fashion look like in wherever you live? Let Pearlspotting know please!