It’s a long schlep for me to get to Tang Frères in the 13th, but I do it every now and then because it’s the best place to find many of the ingredients you need for Asian cooking and the prices for meat really can’t be beat. Seriously — the butcher near me had chicken [...]
It’s my first Christmas in Paris. Chestnuts are roasting on an open fire…Ok, maybe not an open fire. More like chestnuts roasting on a silver aluminum platter resting over hot coals in a metal garbage can, but who cares? The chestnuts are still warm and roasted. And they are certainly everywhere, especially at the metro [...]
Anglophone feminists, rejoice! The new English translation of Simone de Beauvoir’s masterpiece The Second Sex was published in the UK this week by Jonathan Cape (with the American edition set for publication by Knopf in April 2010). Viewed by many as feminism’s foundational text, Gallimard published The Second Sex in two volumes (to mixed reviews) in 1949. It sold [...]
For many visitors to Paris, the first glimpse of the city is the gloriously scruffy transport interchange at Chatelet Les Halles. For those living in the city, it is an almost unavoidable hub, welcoming 750,000 passengers a day. Creaking, crumbling, peeling and slowly falling apart, it somehow still manages to be efficient. Welcome to the [...]
Just like her distinct, handmade jewels, Valerie Sloan’s shoebox of a boutique is striking despite its diminutive size. Maybe it’s because there’s usually no one in it. When she’s not upstairs with her slowly growing clientele, the former sculptor can be found downstairs in her atelier handcrafting new pieces for her couture bijoux collection. Looking for [...]
I’ve developed a crush on the guy who works at my local wine store. This was at first quite enjoyable as he began talking to me about wines and making recommendations, and as a result I’ve learned a bit more wine and enjoyed some really nice ones. The downside of entertaining this crush is that [...]
I bundled up in my down coat and wool cap last week to see Ice Magic, an exhibition of 50 ice sculptures of famous French monuments and icons. The Eiffel Tower, Rodin’s Thinker, Notre Dame and its hunchback, Mona Lisa, the Hotel de Ville, and Django Reinhardt bathed in pink, blue, and green lights, are [...]
Clémentine Dupré is a young, talented ceramicist with an atelier in the 20th arrondisement. Through the 23rd December she has opened her atelier to the public and has invited three other artists/friends to show their work to create an intimate and interesting salon where you can do some last minute gift shopping. What better then a [...]
When the Lone Wolf and I moved from the 2nd arrondissement to the 20th arrondissement, some friends and acquaintances started saying to us, “Now you’re living in the real Paris.” What did they mean? My take: They said this because there aren’t as many tourists outside the center. (And I’ve been told that things aren’t [...]
Breathing fresh air into the formulaic art scene, Atelier 7 is a chic, discreet gallery that resuscitates the forgotten genre of the Parisian art salon. A stylish home where people go to mingle with art, and each other, Atelier 7 has the perfect pedigree for the part. The Montparnasse home-studio was built in 1904 by Louis Süe and [...]
