I spent the past week in New York City for a work event, and just had to find some time to visit the newly opened bakery Aux Merveilleux de Fred. HAD TO. The Manhattan version of Frédéric Vaucamps' meringue-shop looks like his many Parisian outposts, with a stunning chandelier, rows of merveilleux in display cases and an open kitchen that allows passers-by on 8th avenue to see how the pastries are assembled by hand. And the pastries? Well, they're just as marvelous on this side of the Atlantic ;-) If you're not familiar with the merveilleux pastry, you're not alone. This traditional northern France sweet had fallen out of fashion until the late 90's, when Fred decided to make it the ...
New York
Travel Highlights from 2014
2014 was a great year for me travel-wise. I made it home to France not once, but twice. I made the most out of a few work trips in New York, Chicago, Raleigh, Boca Raton and Austin, Texas. I even tested out Icelandair's "the best part of a trip to Paris is Iceland" advertisement by doing a stop-over in Reyjkavik on my way back from Paris. The highlight of last year, though, was traveling to Brazil to cheer on my beloved Bleus during the World Cup, a trip I had been planning for and looking forward to for the past 3 years. MAKING THE MOST OUT OF WORK TRIPS Chicago (and New York before that) happened in the dead of winter. For Chicago, I think I got to go because none of my colleagues were ...
Meet Mimo, the Cheesy Jack O’Lantern
Last year, mimolette gave me quite a scare when it looked like its sale was going to be banned in the US because of some microscopic mite on its rind. Well, mimolette is back without mite this time and it wants to be part of your Halloween celebrations. Afterall, mimolette is round and orange, so it's definitely a great alternative to a pumpkin for a Jack o'lantern and the French Cheese Board, the home of all things French cheese in New York city, is showcasing mimolette from October 23 to November 7 at their HQ at 26 West 39th Street. Conveniently enough, I will be in New York to cheer for a French friend running the New York marathon... looks like I'll be meeting you soon mimo! ...
Give Your DC Summer a French Twist
Stuck in the city for the summer? Luckily, there are a ton of events across town to help you pretend you're in France. CHEER FOR LES BLEUS DURING THE WORLD CUP Head to Redline on game day to join the French Expat Meet-Up and L'Union des Français de l'étranger de Washington in supporting l'Equipe de France as they fight to get out of Group H. And if you want to learn more about Les Bleus, head to l'Alliance Francaise after the game on Friday, June 20. Sports historian Lindsay Krasnoff will moderate a panel of sports journalists on the history and importance of the 1998 World Cup champions in French society. LA FETE DE LA MUSIQUE It's one of my favourite events every year. New York goes ...
Stromae Announces US Tour Dates
Now that's a US tour!! French artists rarely come to the US and when they do, it's usually only for extra date or two (typically New York and Los Angeles) before or after a show in Montreal. So I'm really excited to see that, fresh off his cover of Time Out New York and just ahead of his sold out show at the Best Buy Theater, Stromae announced a REAL US tour. The tour includes Washington, DC, which I'm stoked about, obviously, but also places that probably rarely see a French artist perform like Colorado and Utah. Here are the full dates and concert venues: 20-June New York, NY Best Buy Theatre (sold out)17-Sep Philadelphia, PA Trocadero18-Sep ...
Save the Date: Ah, que Johnny a DC (et NYC…!)
He may still be called France's "biggest rock star" but Johnny Hallyday lives in the United States these days, where he is a permanent US resident just like me... He's past his prime, yes, but he's had a long and illustrious musical career. And he's touring the country this spring.... Like most French artist on a US tour, he'll be performing in New York (May 6, Beacon Theater) and Los Angeles, because, well, these are clearly the only two American cities French artists know. But lucky us, he'll also be stopping by the District (and San Francisco, and Miami Beach). And actually, it'll probably be quite a treat... Johnny Hallyday typically performs in very large concert venues in France and ...
High Holiday macaroons Macarons
It's the High Holy Days and patissier François Payard introduced a Rosh Hashanah macarons collection for the occasion. Macaroons are typically associated with another Jewish holidays, Passover, but these are proper French macarons that play on traditional Rosh Hashanah foods: apple, honey and raisins. A common greeting on Rosh Hashanah is Shana tovah u'metukah. That's Hebrew for "a good and SWEET new year." I think it's important to take it seriously. And start the new year with many many sweet macarons! François Payard's Rosh Hashanah macarons collection (with an assortment of green apple and honey macarons and raisin pecan macarons) is available at his Manhattan patisseries for $29 for ...
Paris’ Metro Diplomacy
There's so much to see in Paris. There's literally a landmark or museum every other street. So it's not surprising that even our metro entrances would be historical monuments... Paris' metropolitain is one of the oldest in the world, opening at the beginning of the 20th century for the 1900 Exposition Universelle. The metro was, at the time, a very novel mode of transportation. Only London had one... Since Parisiens are all about style, they thought having attractive entrances would be a great way to encourage them to get on board (literally). So they hired Hector Guimard, a young architect, and between 1900 and 1913, some 141 Guimard metropolitain entrances were installed throughout the ...
2012: the year of the ramen
Since I take a lot of pictures of the food I eat, it's quite easy for me to look down my stomach memory lane. And by the look of things, I ate a lot of ramen in 2012... My first meal out of 2012: Toki Underground (DC) My favourite ramen of all: Totto Ramen (NY) Occasionally, Mandu serves late night ramen (DC) Royu ramen at Hokkaido in Paris' Japanese quarter (Paris) Les Parisiens have caught ramen fever too ;-) Chosun Ramen at Sakuramen (DC) Where it all started: Momofuku noodle bar Minca (New York) Now I just need to get myself to Japan so I can actually try the real thing... travel goal for 2013? ;-) ...
A look back at twenty twelve
January ~ I learned to shuck oysters, it's actually not that hard... February ~ what's better than traveling to Paris? Traveling to Paris with awesome girlfriends. March ~ ran my first half marathon with the husband April ~ voted in the French presidential elections (in May too) May ~ third time's a charm, traveled to San Juan for work again. June ~ cheered for France in the EuroCup. Not hard enough apparently... July ~ there's actually a PEZ factory... it's in Connecticut and I visited it. August ~ watched Mitt Romney accept his party nomination at the Republican National Convention in Tampa, FL September ~ Hung out ...
