Paris Macaron Boxes

Some stacked boxes, watercolor, 9" x 11"

What is it about macaron boxes? Can we ever get enough? Or are you only interested in the contents? I could look at pink boxes all day long...The ribbony cartouche design was used on old wine labels. It was used on everything in 18th century French design. Doesn't it make you feel a bit like Marie-Antoinette - gobbling cookies and not thinking about the consequences.Notebooks to help us feel more like Marie-Antoinette...Why didn't I buy this impractical green umbrella? Because I saw it my 1st day in Paris. You never buy anything on the 1st day. You always tell yourself you'll come back later..

Are you nuts about boxes too?
BONJOUR Boxes!

VitrinesNYC

Here's a look at some New York Fall windows and an homage to Anne's vitrines

There seems to be a propensity to odd hat accessories around town - these shoehats were in Barneys... And this bird head was at Bergdorf Goodmans... Helmet hat anyone?It's really a photographer's lamp and I have one right here and I am wearing it today. So there! Wooly hair anyone?

I LOVE these sweaters as "scarves" in Barney's mens windows...

And in Juicy Couture too...

Don't even ask- I have no idea what's going on here...headless and hatless.

LOVE the old photo backgrounds here in Bergdorfs 57th street windows -sometimes their best and wittiest ideas are here rather than on 5th Avenue in my opinion...

A small closeup of these terrific group photos...

My favorite photo was in a window on Madison Avenue...

Anne used to cover the NY vitrines on her blog and now she does the Paris windows & HOORAY for that.

Go take a look s.v.p.!

~BONJOUR ANNE!

Paris Glace

Finally it's that time again to be grabbing a cone.

This morning France2.fr daily email arrived with a similar big cone sitting on the Place Tour Eiffel plastered across the front.

Irresistable! and titled, Glaces: une grande envie de fraîcheur - L'EAU A LA BOUCHE (mouth watering) I'm ready to think about ice cream and nothing else again.

 

Down the street from my 6ème studio was Amorino at #4 rue Vavin, is one of a chain of 7 gelato shops. Natch I went there my 1st day in Paris. And you could stop in at chocolatier, Jean-Paul Hévin for a take-away lunch like salmon quiche + a chocolate bar etc) at #3 rue Vavin. Then get your cone at Amorino and head for the Luco (Jardin du Luxembourg) for a picnique.
 

The Amorino gelato servers are Italian as are the terms and flavor names used here to get you into the proper frame of mind

It wouldn't hurt to bone up on French flavors. They can be a lot more exotic than straight vanilla, strawberry or chocolate chip though you will always find the classics.
Some examples - get out your dictionaires:
Thé Earl grey, pomme verte, thym citron, mûres de framboisier, litchee, thé vert matcha, Noisette praliné, Café pamplemousse, Cannelle, pêche de vigne, violette,caramel au beurre salé, macaron pistache, l'armagnac-pruneaux, After Eight, safran,fleur de rose, tomate, avocat-guacamole, betterave, citron-romarin et citron-basilic, Goyave, fraise et citron vert, Cassis, melon, pêche, abricot en juillet, framboise, cassis, myrtille en août, orange sanguine, ananas aux six épices, rhubarbe, mangue etc...
And that doesn't include the endless fruit sorbet flavors. These always taste more intense to me over in France.

I'll never forget a certain Pomme Grannie Smith sorbet I had at Brasserie Flo once...
What's your favorite French flavor? Do tell.

"Ice cream colors" tend to be pastelly. They're called tints because they're made by adding white to pure color or with watercolor by adding lots of water to dilute the color to a thin wash.

 

They connote a summery feeling, feminine, child-like or prettiness.

Some other useful French ice cream words:
artisanal = small shops with less than 50 workers using traditional methods= homemade/handcrafted
une boule / deux boules = 1 dip / 2 dips
avec Chantilly = whipped cream on top
le cornet = a cone
la crème glacée = frozen custard

les glaciers = ice cream sellers
les granités = chipped ice with flavoured syrup on top
les bâtons glacés = popsicles
nos fraîcheurs = our freshly made...
les parfums = flavours
un sorbet = fruit sherbet
Don't expect giant scoops of ice cream. The French diping scoop is about the size of a small apricot and easily 1/2 the size of US scoops. Unless you're at Amorino where they throw on as many flavors tulip-petal style as they can manage and you can eat.

BONJOUR GLACE!

Macaron Soiree

I'd never had tea on rue Bonaparte, though my nose is bent out of shape from looking in the window...
Italian cat, Chicco waits but he'd much rather be at the Bird Market..
I walzed past the crowds anxiously awaiting their cookies.
Into the salon de the. There was no one about.

My first shot = Blurry
Then I got up my courage and focused.
French chocolates protected by thick glass.

GREEN boxes and (7.40 euros)

Such pretty boxes.

A chandelier to die for

Venetian marble mosaic floor was created by two mosaic artists, Giovanna Galli and Henri Noël Aubry.

a parfum - Paeva Enfin les ribbons.

Paris Cafes

A Paris cafe story today just because

Aussie Bess dropped into a Paris cafe.

Have you seen these new cafe tables with adverts for Pepsi etc. Love em or hate em?

My kind of cafe table.

If it ain't broke, why change it?

Square cafe tables.

I love these tables...miam

I rarely sit down in a cafe unless I'm meeting someone.

I love to shoot a quiet moment at a cafe as I'm breezing by enroute to somewhere else.
I browse cafes rather than sit in them. Who has the time?

You know that your coffee will be much cheaper if you stand up at the bar or le zinc... You're paying rent when you sit down at a table don't forget. At least they don't charge you more when you sit by the window...

Yadda-yadda-yadda - a cafe is like an after hours party. Yackity-yack. Doesn't matter if a trillion people are passing by. No one is distracted from their intense conversations.

Oooops caught in the act.

Do you have a favorite cafe you hang out at for hours? BONNE JOURNEE!