Aux Merveilleux de Fred

When we first arrived in Paris, the girls and  I were exploring a pedestrian shopping street, when we were stopped in our tracks by what was going on in one of the windows.  Someone was whipping an enormous bowl of delicious looking frothy white stuff.  They were very skillful with their whipping and we were very curious.  We peered into the shop and saw amazing looking meringues.  I'm not sure why I didn't buy any then, but I must have had a good reason.  This Friday I returned to Aux Merveilleux de Fred and purchased some decadent meringues.  Their own website gives a much better description.
David Lebovitz has a Paris food blog and he, too, likes this place.  Click on his name to read what he had to say about the meringues.

Best Friday pastry yet.  Mine was coffee flavored--mmm.

Happy Birthday, Pepe!

Pepe, have a fabulous day!  We are thinking about you!  Much love from Paris!

Happy

Birthday

Pepe

Lillian's card

Sylvia's card

Parc Monceau

Last weekend we took the metro to Parc Monceau.  The weather was beautiful and the park was hopping.  This park was once owned by the Duke of Chartres.  He wanted his garden to be a "pays d'illusions" so he built something to represent lots of different countries.  There are pagodas, pyramids, roman ruins, etc.  During the Revolution, the duke lost his land and after much back and forth, the city of Paris bought it in 1860.  Monet and other artists painted here.  It is a lovely park.

Not bad for an entrance

The girls enjoyed scooting.  Lillian and I battled a few weeks ago about wearing helmets.  Rarely do you see anyone wearing a helmet on a bike and never on a scooter.  I insisted and there were tears.  While at Parc Monceau, Sylvia was run over by a big girl learning to rollerblade and I was grateful I had put my foot down.  Sylvia was fine.  The girl and her mother were both horrified and very apologetic.

Lots of lovely gardens and lots of people running loops.  Most French runners seem to head to the big parks to run.  During our park outings there are always lots of people running laps round and round.

This was our favorite statue

You can even play on the grass here.  In many Parisian parks, you must stay off of the grass.  It was a treat for our girls to be able to run and play in the grass.

Tree climber

Racer

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Bananagrams and Pancakes

Sometimes bad days happen even if you are in Paris.  This week I have been a little under the weather and there have been more tantrums and tears than usual--both  for me and for the girls.  So, Friday night rolled around and it was time to let loose.  What says fun more than Bananagrams?



Sylvia does not like to play "winning and losing games."  She does not like to lose.  She does like to be a "helper" while games are played.



Here the girls are checking Pierre's words to make sure they are all correct.

Here are Pierre's winning words.  I would feel a little better about losing if his game didn't hinge around the word "hooter."  Pierre kept telling the girls that a hooter was "one who hoots" and then he would start cracking up. 
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hooter

Lillian did a great job.  She said she learned the word "cunning" from reading Harry Potter.

Saturday means pancakes.  We are still enjoying our stash of Canadian maple syrup. 

I happened upon an American store called "Thanksgiving" last week.  I went inside out of curiosity and was horrified.  The woman in front of me bought a 10 Euro bag of Reese's peanut butter cups.  The walls were stacked with strawberry marshmallow Fluff, mac and cheese, Pop Tarts...and you will pay through the nose for this junk.  I did buy some canned pumpkin to make pumpkin bread and some brown sugar.  I had purchased some Vergeoise, which is a good French substitute, but it was even more expensive than the brown sugar at the American store.

We just purchased our tickets to meet up with the Rock clan this summer to celebrate my parents' 50th wedding anniversary.  I am very excited to see everyone!

Onward and upward.  Happy Saturday!

Carnaval de Passy

Sylvia's school had a big parade today.  Her class dressed as "indians."  No one here has any idea that one shouldn't say "Indian" or that dressing-up as Native Americans/Canadians is not done.  A friend of mine said that they went to a French ski resort this winter and the theme there was "Les Sauvages."

Sylvia got to hold her friend's hand the whole time.  This is our new Argentinian friend. 

Police Escort



Two drummers led the way through the streets and around the block



Sylvia's teacher is in the blue jean jacket.  She has a different teacher on Thursdays.


The parade filed into the courtyard of Lillian's school and back to their classrooms.





Sunny Weekend

The sun shone.  Here is a backwards recap of our weekend:

 MMM!  Crepes.  After a long play at Le Jardin du Luxembourg, we needed some fuel.  The Crepe is delicious, relatively cheap, and makes girls happy.  You can choose lots of different things to go inside your crepe.




You can pay 2 Euros and 50 Centiemes and play, play, play.  If you are an adult, you can pay to go in the fence, or you  can stay on the outside for free, pull up a chair and bask in the sun.  The girls could stay here for hours.

This is a bit like a zip line, but faster and with curves.  2 or 3 kids at a time would hang on--it would never be considered safe enough for a North American park.  Lillian went on it "about 14 times."



The girls had a great time chasing the boats around the fountain and checking out the baby ducks.

Saturday, we went to our nearest market and went shopping.  The girls were holding hands and running ahead checking out everything.  It is about three blocks long and everything is there: meat, fish, bread, wallets, scarves, pastries, crepes, produce, flowers, nuts, dried fruit, spices...  I didn't get any good pictures and had to steal this one.  We had a Canadian family friend for dinner and were able to pick up most of what we needed right here.

Lillian and I went to the American Library to pick up books we had requested.  On the way home I said, "You must be getting hungry and thirsty."  Lillian replied, "And I need to read.  If I go too long without reading I get grumpy."  As you can see, I have disturbed her reading.



I spent Friday finishing up the darn curtains.  I spent a lot of time ironing and was looking forward to a nice, cool glass of white wine.  I bought this one because it was cheap, an award winner, and had a great name.  Unfortunately, I didn't know that "moelleux" does not mean smooth in wine-speak, but sickly, sweet dessert wine.  Yuck!



Friday pastries!  Lunettes (glasses) and a milles feuilles.  Sadly, the glass of wine was poured down the sink.

Zau

This is Zau

Lillian attended a workshop at our library yesterday.  Zau, an illustrator, helped the kids to paint a mural.  They used brushes and ink and it was a very messy process.

In the library, there is a gallery area with a display of his paintings along with  a table full of the books he has illustrated.   He has traveled a lot in Africa and Asia and uses lots of different mediums.  The girls were excited to meet a real illustrator.  I was proud of Lillian for participating.  She didn't know anyone and, of course, it was all in French.

Lillian's part of the mural.

This is about half of the mural.

There is a good kids' section and the girls are enjoying the French magazines and comics.  Our friend Peggy told us that she used to read Boule et Bill and they are now some of Lillian's favorites.  You had to be 7 to be part of the workshop, so Sylvia and I chilled out in the courtyard and read.  The courtyard is lovely, except that it is where everyone goes to smoke.  I still can't get over how many people smoke.  I knew that to be the case, but I still can't believe it. 

Before attending the workshop, we walked to the American Library and picked up some livres en anglais.  We stopped at Palais de Chaillot and read and people watched.  It is a great place to people watch.  Yesterday there were some wedding photos being taken.  The groom almost dropped his bride into a dry fountain.  She had a large rolling Hello Kitty suitcase.  Interesting stuff.

The dining room and living room curtains are up.  I had a couple of very nice e-mails checking up on me.  I am fine.  I hate curtains.  I love my friends and family. 

Gratitude and love to curtain helpers of the past

I spent yesterday fighting with curtains and I just want to send a little gratitude and love to those who have helped me with curtains in the past.  When I was 15, I was fired from a job and told I was not "waitressing material."  I am also not seamstress material.  I am not even using a sewing machine, I am using the iron-on strips that are supposed to come with your Ikea curtains.  Of course, I bought the one type of Ikea curtain that comes without the iron-on shortening strip and spent a week looking for a sewing store.  I now have located my source and need to go back for more.  One set of curtains down, three more to go!

When we first moved to Lindenlea, there was a huge closet in Lillian's room without doors.  After pricing doors, we decided we would go with curtains.  My Mom did one of the panels by hand and Mrs. LeBlanc did the other.  Thank you!

When I bought curtains for the girls' windows, my friend, Juliet saved the day.  If I am every forced into a pioneer reality show, I want Juliet on my team.  She sews, knits, gardens, bakes..., and reads medical journals for fun.  I once helped her pick up a used loom.  She has many skills and I have few.  She shortened my curtains and made a couple of matching pillows from the extra fabric.  These curtains and pillows are in the girls' room here.  One less pair of curtains for me to shorten.  Hurray!

Friends and family, I miss you and appreciate you--all of you, even those who haven't helped me with curtains.  The grey clouds are allowing a little sun to peak through.  I need to rally my beauties and head out to acquire some iron-on shortening tape.  Go Team!

I would take a photo of the curtains, but you can just imagine cheap white sheets and you will have a perfect image.

Victory in Europe Day

Today the French commemorate the end of WWII.  This means that we have another holiday.  There is only one full week of school this entire month.  The girls went back to school yesterday, will have two days off because there is never school on Wednesday, and will return on Thursday.  Our return to routine means that there is less to report--No museum visiting and few outings.

The big news is that we have a new couch.  We sold our couch before leaving Canada, so it is very exciting to have a place for the whole family to sit down at the same time. 


Look at this studious girl.  I even managed to hang up most of the pictures on the walls--see them propped against the wall in the background?  They are now on the walls.  It is beginning to feel a little bit  homish.



Show time!  Notice that Pierre is trying to watch the election results during this fabulous show.

Lillian borrowed my camera and took a series of about 20  photos of various favorite friends.

This photos is too grey to do the trees justice.  There are purple flowered trees lining the Pallais de Chaillot and the Champs de Mars (the park by the Eiffel Tower).  The girls said they look like big lupine and I agree.

Field Trip to Run

Sylvia's class went on a field trip to a soccer field on the outskirts of Paris.  It was a short bus ride.  There was no yellow school bus, but a fancy tour bus with seatbelts.  To actually run is a treat because at school there is just a pavement courtyard and no play structure for recess.  Sylvia came home talking about all of the different races they were practicing.  The three kindergarten classes went on the trip and there were older kids--grade 4?--who tried to organize and keep order.  The kids had a good time.  It made me think a lot of my time as a teacher because kids are kids.  The field was actually fake turf made up of little pieces of ground up rubber.  Some of the kids just could not stop themselves from scooping up handfuls of the stuff and putting it in their friend's hair.  I found cups of it in Sylvia's shoes when we returned home.

One group ran around and the other group recorded how many times their partner ran around the cones.  Sylvia was doing jumpingjacks while waiting to begin.





 

This race involved stealing tennis balls from the other team.  It seemed rather crazy because they were all running at each other, but nobody crashed.
We were thrilled that it did not rain!



Sylvia ran all Thursday morning and Lillian swam on Thursday afternoon; they were tired out.  Aunt Grace thanks for the blankets!  We made your pancakes this morning.  http://www.keepingupcookbook.com/

I remembered to take a photo of Friday's pastries before they were devoured.  However, there is a technical glitch and I can't get the photo to the blog.  We stopped at our neighborhood boulangerie, which is not a patisserie so the selection was limited.  Lillian had a classic pain au chocolat and Sylvia chose an eclarish thing filled with whipped cream and strawberries.  She said it was one of the best she has had.  Since I am lacking a pastry photo, here is a photo of some flowers Pierre brought to me on Friday.  A+ for Pierre.  Hurray!  The weekend is here!





La Fête du Muguet et La Fête du Travail

Today is La Fete du Muguet and la Fete du Travail--May Day and Labor Day all in one!  People give Lilies of the Valley (Les Muguets) to their friends to symbolize happiness and friendship.  The flower shops are all open and people are selling Lilies of the Valley from stands on the sidewalk.

The sun is shining!  We strapped on helmets, jumped on the elevator,  unwrapped the girls' bikes, brought them up from the cave (our basement storage),  and rode them to the park. 

 The ride on the sidewalk involved a lot of cafe table and pedestrian dodging.  Once at the park, a road was blocked off for riding.  Scooters are very popular among French kids and adults.  Being a pedestrian can be very dangerous.

Impromptu Grammar Lesson: L'accent Cironflexe

The sun is shining into our apartment and we can hear the Sarkozy rally going on outside.  I baked some zucchini bread to celebrate the return of sunshine.

Chocolate Chip Zucchini Bread (from an ancient Cooking Light magazine)

3/4 cup sugar

3 Tablespoons vegetable oil

1 cup applesauce

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 Tablespoons unsweetened cocoa

1 1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 cups finely shredded zucchini (about 1 medium)

1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. (177 C.)

2. Mix it all up (Make sure to squeeze as much liquid as you can out of the shredded zucchini)

3. Grease the pan (9x5 loaf pan) and pour in the batter.

4. Bake for about an hour.

5. Cool for about 10 minutes before removing it from pan.

This recipe is for one loaf.  I doubled it.