Paris Perfect

I know I am in Melbourne and should be talking Melbourne stuff.... but I have been totally side tracked by this beauty that popped in to my inbox yesterday. Paris Perfect have a new apartment and her name is 'Margaux'. Oh, Margaux, Margaux, Margaux!

It is no secret (or maybe it is, as I can't remember posting about it?) that I stayed with 'Paris Perfect' when I went to Paris last year. I stayed in one of their apartments in the 7th arr and it was perfection, right down to the Nespresso pods and free phone calls to anywhere in the world (my boys got an hour and a half of my garble every night.... they probably played Nintendo through my blow by blow recounts of my daily Parisian adventures! "No, I'm still here Mum, keep going").

Look at 'Margaux' in all her Parisian spendour! I know I am only supposed to post no more than 5 photos per post, but I am going to break all Katrina's blog design rules this morning! Sorry pet!

Pop down to Rue Cler market and buy the freshest goodies to munch on in this gorgeous kitchen. You can get the most gourmet takeaways from street stalls....like baked quails with the most glamorous vege dishes you have ever seen.... and I don't need to tell you about the baguettes... and the cheese...... or you can skip right out of this kitchen, down Rue St Dominique, to 'Cafe Constant' (Top Chef, Christian Constant's Cafe... he also has five star dining joints along the street too)... and savour the most delicious meals you will ever have under 16 Euros. Unheard of! Gourmet! I lived there. I turned up every afternoon at 4pm for lunch, after 8 hours of wandering, read my guide books, sipped my daily medicinal glass of red wine and scoffed.

I digress, back to Margaux....

... the glamour! Master bedroom.

Second bedroom.... but wait there's a third.

Two bathrooms and a bath! Unheard of!

There's even a TV room.

I mean, seriously!

And don't be fooled into thinking that the place is never as good as the photos. My place was. Better than the photos. And if you don't need a whopping big place like gorgeous 'Margaux'... they have teeny, tiny loft-ish places too. You can see 'Margaux' HERE.

I did not get paid for this post. They don't even know I am writing about them. Maybe I need to tell them!... and tell them about all the readers I have referred to them... and maybe, just maybe, I could take my boys to Paris and 'Margaux' could be ours for a whole week! 

'Margaux', I will meet you one day. If I talk about you enough, you will become a self fulfilling prophecy. Life works like that I reckon. My friends and I did throw your name around a bit at the blackjack table last night! "C'mon 'Margaux'!"

Happy Thursday, I'm off to some appointments in Australia's little Paris, Melbourne..... I was thinking that the Yarra was looking a little bit like the Seine last night, with it's leafless trees filled with sparkling lights.

Have a great day!

Sundays.... in Paris

This morning...... I'm back in Paris.

It's early and I've just found an empty cafe, just over the little bridge from Notre Dame. 

You know the place. Sit with me a bit?

We might have some crepes and some coffee.

Ordered in broken French of course....."les crepes et un cafe s'il vous plait"...

The waitress smiles at our attempts.

We sit for ages in that little cafe, watching the world go by, breathing it all in......'osmosing Paris'.

We remark that we could just sit there all day and we would be happy.....

.... but there are things to do and such places to see. Let's go! Spend the day with me?

I dream. 

.....and while I wrote this post.....I was there..... 

.....even with accordion music playing in my head! Ha! True!

You never really get over Paris. 

I shouldn't have seen that movie last week. I'm a Paris tragic all over again.

Happy Sunday!... "Bon Dimanche"

We're off on our bikes.

One day we'll all be on bikes in Paris!

One day.

... And It Ended In Paris.

It's been a busy week.

I know I have already told you.... but I just can't help mentioning it again (that's the great thing about being able to waffle on about anything on your own blog)......I'm adding to my lighting collection over at Cape Cod Designs. The latest is this beauty. Sort of stops my heart. 

It was so hot this week, I resorted to hiding out in an airconditioned establishment between appointments. The coffee was unexpectedly nice. 

I met a bloggy friend for coffee in this nice French place that had bookcases and ladders and stuff.

I wore my favourite cuff. An item I coveted over at 'The Old Boathouse' for a very long time. Katherine held it for me for my birthday early this year... because she knew I had my eye on it.

It has a matching ring and brooch.... but I only ever wear one of them at a time. I'm not much of a fashionista... is that the right thing to do?... not be too matchy, matchy?

Went hunting for rugs for a customer.

Aren't these nice?

She took this one. I would have too. So plush. 

Very 'Greg Natale-ish'. I love his talent and his penchant for black and white.

We're enjoying our Christmas tree like you wouldn't believe. The lights go on before sun up. I kid you not.. I am so grateful you shamed me into being a decent mother and putting it up.

My little Eiffel Tower, in my kitchen, inspired me to ditch the shed yesterday morning and scoot off to the movies to see Woody Allen's latest...'Midnight in Paris'. Oh it was magical... Paris...the music... lots of Col Porter!

There was even a really close shot of 'Shakespeare and Co', on the left bank. I was there this past March. I need to get there again. Soon. Movies about Paris do that to you, don't they?

The trailer for the movie, if you're interested, is HERE.

One more week of school and then we're on school holidays. Yay.

Happy Saturday!

This Morning

This morning I would like to be in Paris.

...sitting here, under a cosy blanket, in a little cafe in Rue St Dominique.

....peering in the window while sipping my coffee, umming and ahhing over what to have for breakfast.

I'll just finish this before I do the school lunches.

Image Via Pinterest

Happy Monday!

Paris Stalking

I was drawn to this... because it is one of Little Brown Pen's beautiful Paris photos (and I am now officially stalking their site... and their bloggy HERE), it is blue and it has my intitals on it. 

The initals? It's a sign. I have to get back to Paris. Pronto. Even it's graffiti is calling me.... "A-M come back".

Speaking of being out of town...I am out of town... doing something very exciting... which I can't tell you about...yet.

Soon.

Happy Thursday!

Wanderlust

Image Courtesy Little Brown Pen

wan·der·lust 

 noun
a strong, innate desire to rove or travel about.

Yep, my recent trip to Paris has me' yearning' so I am 'visiting' anything Paris related whenever I have a moment to myself... to feed my wanderlust. 

The lovely Mel, from the www.theorganicmamas.com sent me over to 'Little Brown Pen', to help me cope.


Oh my!....Nichole's delicious photos of Paris just stop my heart.  You can buy them HERE. Look at the blue set!... deep breaths.... (feeds my blue addiction, as well as my Paris addiction)... I just love the yellow set too and the pink one. Be still heart.

Aren't they just gorgeous!


I love how Nichole describes how she comes across her 'finds':
"We Stroll 
The French have a word for what we do: Flâner. It means to stroll with no destination in mind, simply for the pleasure of it. Our work is a record of the serendipitous discoveries we find by getting lost".

That's what I did for 2 glorious weeks...no... I skipped.

Tell me which set should I get?.... the blue or the yellow? Have narrowed it down.

Before And After

Look at the fabulous renovation going on at Versailles. You can see the rooftop, dormers and balconies on the right before renovation. Now that's what I call a decent 'before and after'. As you can see it was peak tourist season! I got on a bike and rode all through the gardens for hours. I even fellowshipped with a little squirrel..... he only spoke French though and really didn't understand a word I said to him. 

A beautiful day.

P.S. And photobucket... it has been days now!.. get your act together! I am sure I speak for thousands of bloggers and online business owners too.

Immobilier

I loved learning about the architecture in Paris while I was there. I had a few disjointed conversations, about Napoleon 3rd and Haussmann, with French speaking cafe owners and then spent the rest of my evenings researching the modernisation of Paris on the internet (I had free internet and phone in my apartment.... yes free phone to any landline in Australia!). Yes, when I wasn't researching Parisian architecture, or revisiting the 2006 'Marie Antoinette' movie (starring Kirsten Dunst.... I love that movie!), I was watching an 8 Part Series on 'The French Revolution' on You Tube. #nerd.

Haussmann's modernisation of Paris, starting in the mid 1800's, is fascinating stuff. If there is nothing decent on telly one evening, google him. He did some great stuff.

Apart from his gorgeous little street signs and lamp posts, wide avenues and stunning state buildings, his apartment building designs set my heart a flutter. Haussmann-style buildings typically have 5 to 7 floors and were designed to house several families. I did not know this and wandered for a day or so thinking that each building originally was one big aristocratic house back in the day (based on the one whopping door in the middle). 

See the characteristically long balconies on the 2nd and 5th floors

The Haussmann style was designed for the middle class though, a segment of the Parisian population that grew massively throughout the 19th century. The ground floor typically housed a business of some sort, so the owners would most often live above on the first floor. The second floor was reserved for the wealthiest families who could afford to live high enough from the road to avoid noise and not climb too many stairs. Top floor was generally for servant staff with small rooms and common facilities. Fifth floors were also favoured as they offered good views of the city. You can see how the second and fifth floors were given long continuous balconies because of their special popularity. How things have changed... the top floors are most coveted today!

You can imagine the little servants rooms up on the top floor of this complex (each dormer being a separate room)

I was surprised at the price of some of these apartments in the centre of Paris. You can get a basic two bedroom for 500K euros. You can't even get a two bedder for that price here in my apartment complex in West End, in downtown Bris-Vegas. What is the world coming to! ... and don't get me started on the one euro, 2 feet long baguettes. Australia is expensive!

Pretties

Oh look, there's me taking the picture!

Didn't really bring much back with me... except a few things for my soon to be online store (which is sort of taking forever... but these days I just roll with it... minimal stress). I did of course get the customary 'Tour Eiffel' and a few little limoges porcelain pretties, which now take pride of place on my bedside table. Can't you tell I used to have an online bling store. Hey, if anyone wants to meet me at the shed one day, I have a few buckets of jewels going very cheap! Now there's an idea... a 'shed bling party'!

I'm styling up a big house before it goes on the market next week, so I am spending the rest of the week in the shed, packing and sorting. Lots of goodies have arrived from the fairs which will go straight into the house. It's a Cape Cod style house so I am going to be in my element, creating interesting little corners and vignettes...... after I have dragged all the big pieces in!  So a bit of hard physical yakka for the rest of the week... jet lag and all. Yes, it's 3.50am and I have been up for hours, worse luck. East to West was a cinch, West to East, not so good!

Happy Tuesday!

Parisian Fare

Cafe Constant - 7'eme arrondissement de Paris. 

A l'angle de las Rue St-Dominique et de la Rue Augereau.

'Thud'...... yep, that's the sound of me coming down to 'gastronomical earth' after my trip to the most beautiful, yummy city in the world.

The reality of being home hit me when I decided to order a takeaway soup from my local Thai restaurant, on my first night back. Waiting to collect my order, the girl announced that my soup was almost ready and pointed out the cook finishing it off.  I watched the cook (chef is too flattering a term) dip a spoon into my soup, take a taste and then put the spoon back into my soup. TWICE. I made it known to the whole restaurant (in-house diners and all) why I would not be leaving with my soup or coming back to the restaurant. EVER. No-one in the kitchen seemed to think it was a big deal! Another one bites the dust. Oh and the soup used to be so good!

Despairing over my diminishing list of decent dining establishments in town and having had the most amazing gastronomical past fortnight, I realized that I really don't know where to go to get good, well priced food in Brisbane. I need to join some Brisbane foodie blogs. I mean where do you get a lip smacking, satiating, gourmet meal here in Brisbane for under 15 euros ($20AUD). Is central Paris really cheaper than Brisbane??? Why am I paying $39 for a fillet steak at the Norman but eating better steak in Paris for half the price. Is there anywhere in Brisbane that creates croissants like the French do?....you know, the crispiest, flakiest, buttery French croissant. How about baguettes? ... chewy outside, soft and super fresh on the inside. How about fresh food markets?....where the prices aren't the same as Woolies or Coles? Can anyone point me to some good foodie blogs or eating establishments here in Brisbane? I have been living under a rock for too long.... and life is too short to eat bad food.

I was fortunate enough to dine in a few of Christian Constant's restaurants in Paris (I stayed just around the corner from Rue St Dominique, 7th arr, where all his restaurants are). I bought his English cookbook and his 'La Maison Constant' set of cookbooks (all in French!) featuring recipes from all his restaurants. Yes, I will be attempting to recreate some of them here on this blog with my boys as guinea pigs. He has inspired me to create beautiful food! I met him you know! He wanders through his restaurants each evening meeting his happy customers. You can get the most beautiful gourmet meal in his renowned Cafe Constant' for under 15 euros. I have been totally gastronomically spoilt rotten.

And you know what I love about Parisian fare?... the portions are small. That's why those beautiful French women don't get fat. You see them sitting there sipping their espresso with their little boiled egg or a tiny little petit four and that's it. Everything is served in smaller portions...... from supermarket yoghurt ...120g as compared to our whopper 200g standards....to restaurant meals. I think I would still have to run a lot if I lived there though. I would be eating smaller portions but more frequently! Is it a concern that my whole trip revolved around food?

Must go and stir the pot. I have a French dish on the boil at the moment.... yep, lots of cream.
Dietitians look away now.

PS More pictures of my consumptions over HERE.