Sculpture at the Louvre

This was such a monumental and beautiful piece.  Ancient of days. Something mythological.

Green Mansions

Growing up, my father had a radio station and as a courtesy, we had a movie pass.  I saw nearly every movie that came out.  This movie, starring Audrey Hepburn and Anthony Perkins was one of the stinkers.  Imagine my young mind watching Butterfield 8, etc. and going "Huh?"  Nonetheless, Audrey's husband, Mel Ferrer, directed this movie, which was considered a huge flop.  Released in 1959, Audrey played Rima, the jungle girl.  The movie was adapted from a very sucessful book by WH Hudson and though the book sounds interesting, the movie was not.

Berry Odd

This is a fallow year on the farm for berries.  We usually get tens of gallons of blackberries by July 4th.  This year, we got nothin'!  We had a record freeze this winter and our thornless berries were killed back to the ground.  Even the wild blackberries are slim and none.  Our early heat (102 degrees today) coupled with no rain since April have left us with tiny berries not worth the effort to pick.  So, to market, to market, here we come.  I posted this dessert once before.  It has a buttery cookie bottom with a cream cheese layer on top of that.  The berries finish it and of course,  a dollop of whipped cream on top. 

Mile High Apple Pie

Since it is much too hot to bake, I'll share this apple pie I made last fall.  Secrets to a good apple pie?  Granny Smith apples, lemon juice, dotted with butter and light brown sugar gives it the most flavor.

Breathtaking Sculpture At The Louvre

Though I love the two dimension art at the Louvre, I was especially drawn to the 3D sculpture hall.  Just walked around, awed by the works in marble.  When you sculpt with clay, you can mold it by adding the clay or taking it away.  After drying the clay, you can then carve into it. I can not imagine working with stone and a chisel and making this look so beautiful.  Don't remember her name nor the artist's name, but she was stunning, and hardly anyone was around.

Do You Know The Way?

Parlez vous Francais you crow? Just a little? Um, mon French is non bien. Okay. Ou est how to get to the original Chanel shop? The one with Madame Coco's apartment upstairs?
That far? Taxi...















The original Chanel store was quite the shopping experience. Upon entering, I thought maybe I had stepped into an 80's Devo video. Two dapper guards stood on either side of the door. Gorgeous gray suits, white shirt and black ties with mirrored shades. Are you looking at me monsieur? In fact, double guards were posted in hallways and all rooms throughout the store. Very clean lines and spaces. I didn't see anyone trying on the size 0 clothes; they must have been spirited off to the hinterlands by the sales associates. No matter. It was more fun watching the other buyers than looking at the merchandise. I knew the prices without bothering to look. Oh well, perhaps I would go ogle a pair of flats. What the heck? 750euros? A thousand bucks for a pair of flats? Not in this lifetime bebe. We went on to the joailliere room. While waiting my turn for a look, I surreptitiously watched a twenty-something, spiky haired Asian girl in feathered boots, hotpants and a polar bear coat. She was piling her loot on the counter. A giant black purse, (more than 12000 euros) some scarves and shoes, and scads of necklaces were all I could see. Hummmp...

After being taken to a small, private, inner room where payments were made, I left the Chanel flagship store with earrings for my daughters. Nothing to crow about and, nothing for me! As we left the store, the Asian girl in the fur walked past with nothing in her hands. What? Where were all of her bags? "Oh," said our friend, "they have it all sent over to their hotel."
Hint for the day while shopping the designer stores in gay Paris ~ il est good to be Asian as they seemed to be the only ones doing all the power shopping.

Fruits de Paris

The Antiques and Ham Fair in Paris had these beautiful candied and dried fruits just sitting out in baskets. Didn't try them but they looked wonderful. I came upon these meringues while window shopping in St. Germain des Pres. I cannot get meringues like these anywhere I know of, but I've always wanted to try a Pavlova. A new trend in restaurants is to 'deconstruct' food, (originally called playing with your food?). Methinks an Eton Mess is just a deconstructed Pavlova. I think I would rather have the Pavlova for the aesthetics with a sprinkling of these various fruits to gild the lily.

Parisian Poulet

Grilling out for the holidays? Mmmmm! Chicken. Don't know about you, but I think I would pass on fowl if this is what I had to choose from at the market. There were feathers, legs, faces and feet, not to mention the head, like it was sleeping with its comb still on. Small birds, ducks and geese and rabbit too. Everything was not wrapped in plastic like our pre-packaged meats from the store. Some birds wore stamps or decals of some kind; my guess is it was to tell you where they came from. I am sure they were more flavorful than what we get at Wal Mart, but I just can't do the whole animal thing. I've never eaten one of my chickens (nor bunnies, turkeys or animals, oh my). They have names and as it is, I can barely choke down one of the eggs.

Over Paris

Here's the zeppelin we parachuted out of somewhere over Paris. Okay, just kidding...

Les Deux Magots

Croque Monsieur?

Open faced sandwich?

Fois Grahahaas with shaved jambone?

Dessert? But of course!

In Paris, we stayed in the 6th arrondisement, St. Germain-des-Pres. There, we drank and dined with ghosts of the great writers, surrealists, existentialists and artists of the time. Les Deux Magots opened in 1813 and was named after a popular play of the day, The Two Magots of China. Not only was LDM the headquarters of the surrealist and existentialist movements, Max Ernst and Picasso and other greats painted and talked and wrote etc. John Paul Satre, along with Simone de Beauvoir, took their tea there each morning and he would write for hours. Hemingway was another regular. The two large Magots still grace the cafe walls. ( And, it is after 1:30 am and a bird is out my back door singing a plaintiff song and my peacock is honking his head off out somewhere in the night. Go figure.)

1970, When we were young...

The Louvre Visit

Went to the Louvre. Breathtaking art. Happened upon this large, gorgeous canvas. What was the lady doing to the doves? Pulling them apart or instigating copulation? ??? Adjusted my glasses and saw the wooden plaque, Venus, from the 1500's. Frames are art at the Louvre. Unbelievable works. While we did see lots of paintings, this time I got to see more sculpture. I will share more of it later.

Parisian Street Fair

I love monkeys and this big one wanted to come home with me. I couldn't afford him anyway and feared I'd have to buy him an extra seat.










We happened along a sidestreet full of tents with antiques and decided to stop and shop. Loved all these old toys. The prices were only slightly better than the Ham Fair, but great stuff.


















I loved these wooden painted animals and made home with a few of them. At 7 euros apiece, they seemed like a deal considering almost every other thing we had seen in Paris.




















I love old molds but have many so I passed these up.










And what , pray tell, was this old sign lying in the street outside of the tent? "Is it for sale," I ask. I love old signs and she said, "Oui, 70euros." Oh but of course I had to have it. Pretty heavy and big but I was absolutely sure it would fit in my luggage.

















































My new find, my sign with the trefoil corners, was going to fit perfectly - until the night before I left Paris. I had brought two large hard sided suitcases. But, the sign wouldn't fit. I was about to go looking for a sledge hammer, but I finally got the 4 corners wedged/bent upwards. The security people left a note in my bag that they had checked it out. Nevertheless, it hangs in my kitchen and I am very happy with my Paris cafe sign.

Antiques and Ham Fair in Paris

What do you imagine this could be?

Well, it was the largest brioche in the world, I think. At least 2 and a half feet across and 6 inches high, they pulled off chunks of it and sold it by weight.

The toys were great at this fair; very old and unique. The prices were also great - as in very high.

I loved the Guignol puppet stage and the little metal table.

Old wall coverings.

Great chair.

Paris Antique and Ham Fair Pics

Just a few more random photos from the antique show. By the time I started shopping, I forgot about all the things I was going to look for while I was there. So, just pics of my ogling everything.

Paris Ritz Cooking Class

One reason we went to the Paris Ritz Hotel was to attend a cooking class. It was fun to see the otherwise unseen parts of the hotel. Though the dish was uninspired - stir fry - it was tasty. I guess they didn't know what level of cooks we were and I had hoped to make bread or a dessert of some kind.

Chef began with how to use the utensils. She spoke mostly in English.

Going over the ingredients.

My sister and the assistant chef listening to Chef's instructions.

After the preparation, we lunched in the kitchen library where all of the cookbooks lined the walled shelves behind lock and key. It was fun and though not very challenging, I did learn one thing. If you cry over onions (I am literally blinded when preparing them) slide the knife forward in a slicing fashion. Don't chop or push down on the onion. Another little tidbit.... There is a law in France forbidding the use of corn meal in bread. Who knew?

The Paris Antiques and Ham Fair

While at the Jambone Antiques Fair this spring, my heart quickened as I hurried over to this beautiful miniature staircase. I've always wanted one; love all things old and architectural. That is until I saw the price. 2000euros or about $3000. USD! I didn't even look at the price of this next one as I couldn't have gotten it home anyway. But, it was a fine staircase too.

Just a few more things I spied. I did make a couple of purchases which I will have to photograph soon. Loved the faux bois table and fairy aierie. There were lots of things to die for - that is die when you saw the prices. Paris was extremely expensive. The dollar was valued around 63cents and the euro was fluctuating around 1.45. I don't know how anyone affords to go there right now, much less live there. I'm still smarting over the little staircase. I spent 400euros that day on two purchases. Guess what they were?