Jardin du Luxuembourg

Saw Alice au pays des merveilles. Twas great! It wasn't like the books at all, which I normally think is better because then I don't have to compare and lament bits being included and left out etc., and the costumes were super. I saw it in 3D or "trois-D" in French. Dang! French people take their movie-going very seriously. I should have realized this after observing movie theaters (there are over three hundred in Paris) on every street corner . The theater where we saw Alice had over 700 seats. I think it was the largest I've ever been too.

You can find Wonderland in Paris at the Jardin du Luxembourg. All of my classes are right around this garden, so I eat lunch there a bunch and walk around grounds after class.

The 11th

Friends, I'm living in the 11th arrondisement by the intersection of Parmentier and Oberkampf. I love this neighborhood for its location and vibe, not to mention its extremely close proximity to places like the Marais and the Pompidou.

I took this picture some Sundays ago, so a bunch of the shops are closed. Imagine them to be open and bustling!

And here's a picture of the St. Ambroise church (and baby moon) that is a few blocks away. I can hear its beautiful, deep bells from my apartment. It's great!

Macaron Day

On Macaron Day, which was established a few years back by Pierre Herme in order to benefit charity, visitors of Pierre Herme's boutiques are given three free macarons and are encouraged to make a charitable donation. This year's recipient was L'association Autour des Williams (www.autourdeswilliams.org).

When I left my apartment on Saturday morning I knew that I would complete two tasks before re-entering: I would interview for a gallery position and I would eat three macarons. Little did I know that I was to return eight hours later having not been properly interviewed and having consumed 15 macarons.

I arrived at FIAC to find my interviewer swept up in the general calamity that is FIAC and I was eventually instructed to return at a later date for my interview. I despise when things are postponed; thus, I promptly carried myself and my annoyance to the nearest Pierre Herme by the Jardin des Tuilleries. While standing in line, I overheard two women talking about the different boutiques they had been to already and how many they had yet to visit. This is how I leaned of the MACARON CHALLENGE, which promises participants a reward of 35 macarons if they visit all six Pierre Herme boutiques on Macaron Day and receive stamps from each as proof. My reaction: "That's nice but I am not doing it." Oh, how wrong I was.

After obtaining my macarons, I walked over to the Musée d'Orangerie, met Milos, J.Roll and Grace, and saw some nice art. As we left I told them of the Macaron Challenge and that was that. We were off. During the subsequent six hours, we flung ourselves around Paris: sprinting, jogging, sitting, standing, waiting, and skipping (skipping only occurred at the beginning of the challenge) to each Pierre Herme. It was nightfall (very dramatic), when we arrived at the final destination and received our boxes of 35 macarons. Was it worth it? Yes!

Dearest family, I have sent you the macarons. I was told they only keep for four days. The post should deliver them by Friday, so they might be squishy. That being said, it's the thought that counts!

www.pierreherme.com

Elliott Erwitt

The Elliott Erwitt show is up at the Maison Européene de la Photographie. Erwitt's photographs possess beauty, satire, and humor and the exhibition encompasses an impressive range of his work. I really loved this show and the museum itself is definitely worth seeing. Check it out!

Elliott Erwitt, New York City, USA, 1953

Elliott Erwitt, New York, USA 1990

Elliott Erwitt, USA, 1964

Elliott Erwitt, Cannes, France, 1975

Elliott Erwitt, California, USA, 1955

Mona Lisait

17bis rue Pavée

I stumbled across this great book store in the Marais. Mona Lisait sells tons of art books, exhibition guides, and coffee-table-like artist books for reduced prices. It was fun to peruse the huge selection they have, but you have to be flexible with what you're looking for because many editions of the books are printed solely in English, French, German, or Spanish.

Burrito Quest 2010

If this were a normal second term, I would be on spring break right about now sitting at home in sunny San Diego eating a burrito. Please don't get me wrong; I love Paris! I'm so happy to be here and Paris is excellent. However, the absence of burritos in Paris is slightly less excellent, and while I can't get enough of French food, particularly French baked goods, I must attempt to satisfy my burrito cravings.


Double stuffed oreos I can do without. Peanut butter... meh! I will try to find a good, big, aluminum foil wrapped burrito in the coming weeks and report back.

Shadi Ghadirian

I saw this work at the Pompidou. I like it. Do you?

Shadi Ghadirian, Comme d'habitude, 2001

Pardon my reflection.

A for Effort - Macarons

I don't get to cook or bake very much here. In anticipation of going home, I've been looking at a bunch of recipes online, mainly for desserts of course, which only has increased my desire to whip stuff up in the kitchen. The other day I received a window to do some serious baking, so I decided to try something that would be relatively involved and frustrating to ebb my desire to bake for awhile. I chose to make macarons.

While my macarons didn't end up looking very good/French, I did use a French recipe book and the metric system. Measuring stuff in grams is NOT EASY because you have to use a scale and tare the scale each time you measure something. Twas frustrating and like ninth grade science lab all over again. Anyways, here are some photos.

Whipped egg whites.

Egg whites "gently" folded into batter. Macaron lesson #1: Your almond flour cannot be exposed to humidity or else it becomes grainy. To see what grainy batter looks like please view the above photo.

Macarons ready to go in the oven.

First attempt. Fail. Burned 'em.

Second attempt. Partial fail. Macaron lesson #2: The baking of macarons is a fussy process because the oven has to be hot enough to zap the macarons into a state of cookedness. Therefore, to be successful you have to be really familiar with the cookie sheet you are using and your oven. If the oven is not quite hot enough then the tops of the macarons will crack.

Third attempt. Success! The tops of the cookies should have a smooth surface and pearly sheen.

Macaron lesson #3: Improvise! I figured I'd put Nutella in between the burned cookies in an attempt to disguise the fact that they were burned. I think it worked. Tasted good anyways!

Hahahaha! My ganache. So I wanted to make the macarons lavender flavored, but while I was making the ganache I wasn't really paying attention to the stove and I was a bit tired of the whole process and I was watching Clueless so my lavender ganache turned into stringy purple goop. Oh well! It tasted alright... sort of.

Mini-macaron tower. Nutella, caramel, and lavender macarons.

It was a fun experiment, but I'd much rather shell out some euros and buy my macarons from Pierre Herme (www.pierreherme.com). Yum!

Fashion - Turn to the Left

Fashion week is over. I didn't go to any shows or parties or promenade about in cuffed jeans, patterned sweaters and khaki-colored X, but I did see loads of beautiful people looking tip-top around Paris. It was wonderful!

A little known fact about models is that they regularly take the metro. I used to assure myself that models looked a bit off in real life, like maybe a tad too pointy or bug-eyed, but alas, in person they truly are willowy, gorgeous, and incredibly tall. Bizarre how dissimilar humans can appear. We really must be the most heterogeneous species.

Munch

The Edvard Munch exhibition or "l'Anti-cri" is at La Pinacothèque de Paris right now. I went. Should I have? Debatable.

Munch's woodcuts were incredible and the exhibition was also good to see because about 3/4 of the work came from private collections. Otherwise, I didn't like it. The ceilings of the space were low and the rooms felt cramped and unorganized, probably because they were connected by dozens of tiny hallways and were spread over three floors. There were also major traffic jams throughout the exhibition because the curators elected to hang huge gobs of wall text in minute passageways, which inevitably led to people standing in the hallways to read the text, prohibiting others from passing. This all culminated in me being repeatedly jostled, which was unpleasant. And they chose a strange shade of dark purple for the walls. Complain complain complain.

This was the first exhibition I attended in France and I learned three things. Firstly, when the French discuss a painting, they do not subtly indicate towards it, but wildly gesture and point at it with great force. Secondly, the elderly women that attend exhibitions here tend to whisper things quietly towards you. You ignore them, as you logically assume they are whispering to themselves until they loudly inquire "Do you agree?" Thirdly, a surprising amount of P.D.A. occurs in exhibitions. In Paris, there is much scandalous P.D.A. everywhere, especially on the metro. I declare exhibition spaces to be the second offender after witnessing a generously aged couple ear snogging in the drawings section of the Munch show.

Oh well. This was my favorite woodcut.

Edvard Munch, Women on the Shore, 1898

Salon de l'Agriculture

I went to the Salon de l'Agriculture earlier this week. It's sort of like the state fair in Charlotte's Web, but really really huge. Instead of your typical fairground, the Salon takes place in seven exposition buildings located in a large lot. There was tons of food, drink, fair type animals, the best sandwich I have ever eaten, dogs shows, wares, information on how to go Green, French children etc.

To give you an idea of the Salon's size. This was one floor of one of the seven buildings. Some of the buildings had three floors, while others had two.

I love kouglof!

Delicious spicy mustard.

Hams.

Doughnuts covered in sugar and stuffed with Nutella are very good tasting. Held by Milos. Shared with J. Roll and Milos!

Weirdest looking cheese.

Caramel!

Chocolate!

The best sandwich I have ever eaten, and I have eaten many sandwiches. Contained an amazing white sauce, ham, pancetta, mushrooms, grilled onions, grilled peppers, tomatoes. Graciously modeled by Nate!

The best sandwich ever part II.

The contents of the best sandwich ever simmered in a large bowl similar to this. This was the other sandwich option, but the blood sausage was really strong so I opted against it.

Totally awesome pirate man/butcher. I love him.

Rum bar in the Caribbean section. Also tasted a delicious coconut sorbet in this part of the Salon that they made on the spot.

Big.

Dog show. I prefer them on television.

St. Francis of Assisi Jr.

Going Green. This is what I imagine a garden would look like in the Land of Oz.

Cute! I love lambs!

Gorgeous

The weather in Paris is beautiful. It's funny how much weather can transform a city. I hope the sunshine never ends!

Selby

Met Todd Selby today. He's a very nice man.

Selby's "window apartment" was basically him sitting in a mock-up of his own apartment in one of the window display cases at Colette. I was sort of taken aback at first because I wouldn't want to sit in such a small space with loads of people ogling me from the other side of a window. I asked him if he minded. He didn't; "It's just like eating in the window of a restaurant, but here I'm not even eating. I'm just lounging and hanging out on my bed." To each his own I suppose.

www.theselby.com

For the Lovely Katherine

Told you Paris was crazy for Alice!