Buttons, buttons, and more buttons

Bonjour!

Today I decided to go to the Musee des Arts Decoratifs.  It’s housed in a wing of the Louvre Palace, and is comprised of three museums:  The Musee des Arts Decoratifs, the Musee de la Mode et du Textile, and the Musee de la Publicite. I decided to spend my day in the Arts Decoratifs, specifically to see the new button exhibit, but ended up equally fascinated by one of the world’s most significant collections of decorative arts, from the Middle Ages to the Contemporary Period, Gothic to Art Nouveau and modern design.  You’ll find furniture, interior design, altar pieces, religious paintings, objets d’arts, tapestries, wallpaper, ceramics and glassware, plus toys from the Medieval times to the present day.

Gilt buttons

Let’s talk about buttons, lots of buttons.  The museum acquired a collection of more than 3,000 buttons made between the 18th and 20th centuries, and decided to make these buttons the center of an exceptional exhibit.  They are all rare and were meticulously selected, and highlight the multitude of craft and artistic professions with an interest in such a small object. You’ll see buttons from several glassblowers, potters, embroiderers, goldsmiths, jewelers, sculptors and painters who have all applied their exceptional talents in creating this tiny clothes accessory. The button exhibit runs through July 19th, and I would recommend it to anyone that might have an interest in these truly unique miniature artworks.

Now listen to this – heading home, crossing the street from the Louvre to the bridge, I spotted a man in the middle, and I mean the middle of the street doing a handstand. The street running in front of the Louvre is a very busy street.  But the light was red, and in front of all the cars, he stood on his hands, and proceeded to do a one-minute show – jumping all around, one-handed, two-handed, kicking his legs and more. About 30 seconds before the light turned green (how did he know – he was upside down after all), he took a very impressive, low bow, and then went to as many cars, his hat in his hand, as he could.  Talk about a creative way of begging.  Maybe if the windshield wiper guys in NYC had done handstands, instead of just trying to squeeze us with the squeegees, Mayor Giuliani would have done NYC a service.

That’s all for now.  Tomorrow’s another day.

xo D

Le Cordon Bleu

Evan and I found ourselves (again) at the world famous Le Cordon Bleu cooking school.  We had a food and wine pairing demonstration that was so enjoyable (and delicious).  The class is given in French, but it’s simultaneously translated into English – the chef and sommelier spoke in French, and an American woman from Seattle translated.  It was especially fun for me, because although I speak French quite well, I don’t know some of the technical cooking terminology.  This was an easy way for me to learn new words without having to struggle for their meaning.  And when the American woman found herself tongue tied as to the English translation, I somehow managed to find the words for her.

All the food was paired with wines from the Southwest region of France, and each tasting is exactly that – just a couple of bites of scrumptious food.  The menu started with crawfish with buttered and caramelized Belgian endives.  We had a white Jurancon sec 2012 “Cuvee Marie” that was delicious with the crawfish. We learned that pairing any wine with endive is very difficult, because of its bitterness.  But because the chef caramelized the endive to cut its bitterness (and bring out a bit of sweetness), the wine worked perfectly with this dish. Evan and I drank 2 glasses of it.  We would have loved to have had 2 helpings of the crawfish, too.

With the Chef and the Sommelier

Next came finely sliced duck breast, with sweet and sour sauce and toasted pine nuts.  The sommelier paired the dish with a red Fronton 2013 “La Folle d”Embats”.  This wine was easily paired with the dish, because this is the region where the duck is raised. We ate “magret de canard”, which is the breast of duck raised for its liver, and was cooked like a steak – seared, then finished for a few minutes in the oven, and served medium rare.  Magret refers specifically to a mulard duck – the most highly regarded – and is found in the Southwest region of France. The duck and wine were so delicious together.  We couldn’t get another taste of duck, but I was so interested in getting another taste of the wine that I actually knocked my glass off of the table top when I raised my hand to catch the sommelier’s attention.

The student cleaning up after me

The last dish was dessert – prune flan with walnut nougatine, pared with a Bas-Armagnac.  The dessert was delicious, but I don’t care for Armagnac.  Evan loves it, so he drank my glass, too.  It is 40% alcohol, and it can knock you on your behind!  To me it tastes like turpentine.  The sommelier even told us that you shouldn’t stick your nose in the glass to smell the aromas, as you would with wine, or it can make you dizzy. That was the end of our evening.  Not full, but fully satisfied, and not dizzy.

That’s all for now.  Tomorrow’s another day.

xo D

Trying to get a French phone number

Bonjour!

I’m sure you all were so worried about my lost luggage…:)  Well, I have good news – last night at 8:30, I received my bag, all in one piece!  And thank God that I had my name tag on it!  Evan and I were so relieved that we finally were able to sleep peacefully (maybe Evan had a little help with a sleeping pill). We fell asleep around midnight, and didn’t wake up until 10:45 this morning!  We usually do this when we have a significant time change (we are 6 hours ahead).  We allow ourselves to sleep until we wake up naturally, and find that our bodies are then pretty much set to the local time.

We started out our day today at Le Bon Marche – Paris’ equivalent of Bergdorf Goodman.  The whole of Paris was on sale from the end of January until today.  You know that I never like to miss any shopping opportunity, but especially not on the last day!  There was not too much left, but leave it to me to find a fabulous pair of black bell bottom pants.  They are the new rage here, so of course I had to have them. And they were even hemmed free.  Not bad at 65% off.

The we went for a beautiful lunch at Helene Darroze, on rue d’Assas, in the 6th arrondisement.  It is sort of a fancy nouvelle French restaurant.  The atmosphere is lovely, the food delicious, and the service excellent.  I guess the reason why I say that it’s a bit fancy is because the waiters were all in black suits and ties, there were many servers, and the patrons were all dresses quite nicely (except Evan and I).  I was in jeans, and Evan wore a sweater, but they nevertheless took exquisite care of us.

Next we went to the ORANGE store (some of you may remember it from my blogs from last year) – the equivalent of our AT&T store, to put a French SIM card into my IPhone.  I had already arranged to have my phone unlocked, and was ready to start using my French number.  But nothing is as easy as it is supposed to be. Of course the phone wasn’t really unlocked, so I headed straight to the Apple Store (which is beautifully situated under Le Louvre).  A French “genius” tried to help me, but without any luck.  I then got on the phone with AT&T for more than an hour to properly unlock my phone (the call was free).  I was disconnected 3 times.  Evan was with me, and thank God he brought a book with him, or he would have been out of his mind waiting for close to 2 hours to get the situation resolved.  The Apple store closes as 8 pm, and at 7:55, we successfully unlocked the phone.  I now have a French phone, and my US cell number has been temporarily (until May 15th) disconnected.

The Ferris Wheel at Place de la Concorde

We walked home, and had the most glorious sight – the Ferris Wheel in the distance from the Pont Royal (which is the bridge that I regularly use to cross from the left to the right bank).  It’s located by the Place de la Concord, and I understand that it gives the most fabulous view of the City.  Evan and I are planning on taking a ride on it tomorrow.  More to come about that.

That’s all for now. Tomorrow’s another day.

xo D