A little while ago, on a not-so-rainy-day, we had a UYE Photoshoot (Unofficial Yelp Event) with some of Paris’s most avid yelpers. We headed over to the 12th, where rue Crémieux waited for us to add some colorbursts of red.
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Special thanks to Elodie & Lali for making Yelp Paris such an awesome community to be a part of!
More info: Yelp Paris
This UYE on Flickr
A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to go to one of Le Foodist‘s Daring Pairing events. Le Foodist provides a variety of different events where people from or visiting Paris can experience culture through food. Whether it be for a dinner, a wine and cheese pairing, or a tea time history of sweets, you’ll be able to take a big bite into French culture.
This particular evening, on a cozy péniche right under the Notre Dame on Quai Montebello, we participated in Daring Pairings. It was chilly and snow was falling, and it was the perfect setting for a mysterious undertaking of pairing with two of France’s most prided things: wine and cheese. The creator of Le Foodist, Fred, immediately greeted us as we entered Bateau Daphné with our chilled rosy red cheeks. As soon as we walked into the boat, the covered bottles and empty wine glasses awaited us: this was going to be good.
A lovely sommelier, Stéphane Bonnerot, so full of energy and passion, introduced 4 wines to us, explaining to us how to properly taste them and notice each of their particularities: we shook the glasses to see the marks that would fall from the glass, we sniffed them to see what aromas we could guess, we observed the color of reds in front of a white piece of paper. All that good stuff.
Once we made all of the visual observations, we tasted the wine in a few different ways, seeing if we could decipher the dryness and sweetness. All of these traits made for a fun guessing game of where the wine came from in France. Stéphane tied in the history behind the wines and the differences that various regions and grapes provide. This helped us to guess the perfect cheese to pair with each of the four wines tasted.
By the end of the evening I had a wealth of new knowledge and I was anxious to impress my Frenchman of a boyfriend with my knew cheese and wine pairing skills. Not kidding. I now can bluntly state that I never would I ever serve a comté with a white wine! Bien sûr!
It was a night filled with laughter, mystery and passion. People of all ages and all nationalities came together around one fusion of a love: French wine and cheese. The whole night I kept thinking about how fun my mom would have at an event like this, while visiting Paris. What a wonderful and unique way to meet people.
And after a toast of bubbly in the winter chills under the lit up Notre Dame and the reflections of lights on the Seine (yes, Stéphane did indeed teach some people how to open a bottle of champagne with a sabor), we wandered back home in the snowy snowy Parisian night.
For more information on what Le Foodist has to offer as well as their calendar and prices for these diverse and magical events, you can check out their website and their Facebook page. The events happen several times per month but still fill up, so it’s advised it to reserve in advanced for your visit to Paris.
If you’re interested in their Once Upon A Table dinner experience, be sure to check out this lovely post on the HiP Paris Blog.
A special thanks to Fred and Stéphane for their vigor and energy.
All photos by Jean-Laurent Gaudy
As tomorrow is Valentine’s Day, I wanted to post these lovely photos that Jean-Laurent took of Louis and I a few weeks ago. It was what he calls a “Love session”. He has a talent for capturing beautiful candid moments. And gosh I am so happy with how they turned out!
It’s hard to get some seemingly natural shots as sometimes it’s awkward to show PDA in front of a camera, eh? We did our best.
I really like these pictures because they were taken in our apartment. In our own element. With our stuff. It felt so much more natural, and so much more true.
I love love.
You can check out the original post on Jean-Laurent’s blog here.
Don’t forget to check out his blog and Facebook page for more updates and showcasing of his sublime couples photography.
Happy Valentine’s Day.
It was the first sunny day in a while.
Yesterday was the demonstration for Mariage Pour Tous [Marriage for all], a law that is to be . This was my first participation in a French manifestation. Exciting it was, indeed!
Passionate and emotional people of both sexes, all age groups and colors, gathered in the streets and marched to fight for equality in the country that holds the word in it’s slogan.
The sun was shining and people were chanting. It was just so powerful. And after the disgusting demonstration against this law that is to be voted on two weeks ago, some positivity was needed. What happened two weeks ago basically was 340k people from all over France gathering to fight against something that doesn’t even effect them. It made my heart ache to think about how many ignorant and close minded people there are in the world, and I am anxious for a change to be made especially in a powerful country like France. This will change the lives of so many families, children and couples.
It’s 2013. It’s time for people to be treated equal, and for everyone to be able to marry, adopt or have children with the person of their choosing- no matter what sex they are. The hundreds of Belgians that were marching yesterday are right….the cried, “Allez la France, un petit effort” [Come on France, give a little effort].
On a side note, all of the signs were so well done. Some of my favorite quotes from signs included:
“Homosexuality is not a choice, but equality is”
“We want to deal with the same shit as heteros deal with”
“Did anyone ever ask my opinion on your marriage?”
“Belgium legalized gay marriage in 2003, and the country still exists, and people still eat fries with mussels”
“Two moms is worth more than a shitty dad”
For some more pictures & opinions on the event, you can check out my friend Ana Clara’s blog for a good read.
Je suis fière d’être du bon côté de l’histoire.
Do you like gyozas? A gyoza is a japanese dumpling or potsticker that actually has its roots in China! They are so delicious. And this place specializes in making them.
The Gyoza Bar is one of my favorite places to grab a bite (do I say that often?). I’m a big gyoza fan, and when I found out that there was a restaurant devoted to the art of gyozas, I had to check it out. Luckily Rubi & Anne are into gyozas too, so we all went for a lovely dinner one night.
Gyoza Bar is brilliantly set up. You only have to decide how many you want, and you’ve got 2 choices: 8 or 12. They serve them to you on a platter with a yummy dipping sauce. You have the choice to get a side of rice or of course a beverage if you’d like. I love the simplicity of the place.
The main floor has a large bar with the gyoza masters in the center. They also now have a basement that is quite spacious. Just one main tip: the turnovers go quickly, so don’t be discouraged if there is a line out front. Not to mention it’s a wonderful neighborhood for a post-gyoza stroll, up and down the boulevards and into the surrounding districts.
No reservations are needed.
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Gyoza Bar
56 Passage des Panoramas
75002 Paris
1 44 82 00 62
Métro Grands Boulevards/Richelieu Drouot (8/9)
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