Category Archives: French

Ringing in 2014

Posted in American in Paris, Dairy Free, Delicious!, DIY, Foodie, French, Funny story, Holiday, Love!, Paris, parisian, Uncategorized, wine by

Cheers! Opening the bubbly for #NYE !!! With @ellacoquine and our chéris :-)Chéri and I had a fun intimate party for New Years Eve, at our place with Lisa of Ella Coquine with her chéri and our good friend Sophie. It was nice to just have a small group of good people gathered together to laugh, drink some bubbly, eat decadent delights and be silly until well past the pumpkin hour.

I served some of my remaining champagne from Mon Champagne, Hediard foie gras (splurge!), Lisa brought smoked salmon bites with a totally amazing dairy/soy free creamy dill dip, and amazing sweet marrons marinés from Sophie, and then of course one of my favorite foods, nêms! Continue reading →

Lost in Translation

Posted in French, Fun, Funny story, low cost, tourist, travel by

Even after 11 years here, I can still find myself lost in translation. Seriously.

Sometimes my colleagues will toss a joke or an idiom my way, and it flies waaaaay over my head. I don’t always almost never get the French punchline or the underlying meaning. But I always ask, because my fake pretend-I-get-it laugh is really really fake.

So I am rather enjoying the new campaign by iDBUS for their one year anniversary. They are also offering a competition on their facebook page. Contribute your story of how you’ve been #LostInTranslation and perhaps you’ll win a iDBUS ticket to a destinatin of your choice! Continue reading →

Paris Cola – Made in France

Posted in boutique, French, Paris, shopping, tourist by

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Paris Cola delivered some of their tasty beverages to my door the other day. It’s delicious and refreshing. I thought it would make a good compagnion with me at the parc de Monceau one lovely day in July. I had brought along my French novel to read, but I ended up just working on my blog with my smartphone.

So the company that makes this lovely beverage, Fonbelle, run by two young guys, invented a first version in 2007. But although the response was great they didn’t find the time to really develop and launch the product until 2012. Typical multi-taskers of our day and age I am sure.

Once the recipe was perfected they come up with the packaging concept. And now we can enjoy their sweet and zesty beverage as much as we want!

The two guys behind this all, Yves Guilloux and Rodolphe Grosset, wanted to offer a quality product, made in France. But Paris Cola can boast that even the sugar used in the recipe comes from the Île-de-France. So really, it’s as Parisian as you can get for a sparkling beverage!

And they don’t just offer cola… Continue reading →

Dinner Chez Sasha

Posted in activity, American in Paris, Foodie, French, Paris, parisian, Restaurant, tourist by

P1210392One of the many things that I often heard from my American students when I worked in study abroad, was that they could seem to figure out how to meet French people. You would think that for young students it would be easy, so if they were having a hard time, then what do those who are beyond university years, or even in their 30′s, 40′s, 50′s and beyond do? Are you traveling here soon, and want a fabulous way to meet the locals? Book your hotel room, and then book your dinners with Voulez-Vous Diner, all in the homes of Parisians! What a great way to enjoy the culture here.

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My take on the “French Lover”

Posted in American in Paris, French, French culture abroad, Love! by

Benjamin Millepied & his wife Nathalie Portman

I was interviewed by Eloïse Daviaud for the NT1 show En Mode Gossip, about the French Lover. It seems the French are enchanted that Hollywood is gaga for several hommes français that are infiltrating the star system over on the sunny Californian coast. I have to say, Guillaume Canet, Jean Dujardin, Benjamin Millepied and those other Frenchies are dashing and droll, and they certainly export a different type of romance, one that is suave and charming, and has less of those heroic-savior-of-the-world proportions that we so often see in American film characters/stars.

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L’Amour (or less) by Jennyphoria

Posted in American in Paris, Expat, france, French, Love!, Paris by

I HAVE GOT TO SHARE THIS WITH ALL OF YOU!

One of my fellow Paris expat bloggers, has made a few serendipitous rencontres, and come up with a pretty fantastic idea, about love in Paris no less. Yes! Jennifer Geraghty is a screen writer and actress who took the precarious plunge two years ago to try to make it in the city of love and light. After much hard work and a huge bundle of her contagious sense of humor, she has launched her project. This lady is determined (just read her posts about getting through the ominous French administrative system in order to stay here), but she is also determined to succeed. And I think she is just about to…

From Jennyphoria

She has a series of shows already written, and shot, all on the subject of love and dating in Paris. Want to know how to snag a Frenchman? Want to know the secrets to dating the French? Want to know what all the mystery is about?!? Well read on…

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A Grand Moment

Posted in American in Paris, City of Paris, French, Monument, Paris, parisian, Pretty! by

I had another one of those starry-eyed moments the other night. One of those catch-your-breath-oh-my-god-is-this-really-my-life moments.

Grand Palais, ice rink 2
I work for the most prestigious luxury house in France, and every year they throw a big event for all their employees in the Paris region. They have a ceremony to handsomely recognize those who have loyally worked for them for 40 or 50 years, and then graciously throw a party for the rest of us. Every year the event is held in some magnificent venue, this year we were told it would be in the Grand Palais.

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Five Frenchie Foodie Faves in Paris

Posted in City of Paris, Delicious!, Foodie, france, French by

Post by Jenny Bailey

Five Foodie Experiences in Paris

French cheese (© Stephanie Watson@flickr CC-BY)

The romance between Paris and fine food has been going on for centuries. As a result, the city has become one of the most renowned foodie destinations in the world.
Paris offers a number of gourmet experiences that tourists can indulge in – from pairing cheese and wine in one of Paris’s famous wine bars, to sampling garlicky escargots (or snails) in a traditional bistro. If snails sound slightly too bizarre for you, then thank your lucky stars you weren’t a visitor during the Middle Ages, when swan and peacock with gilded gold beaks were on the menu! Continue reading →

Amélie, NYC bar à vin

Posted in Café, French, French culture abroad, New York, Restaurant, romantic, wine by

Post by Frank Cierpial

For the Francophiles on the other side of the Atlantic…

Photo by : Frank Cierpial

Going out in New York is hard to do. There are countless complaints that I have about the New York nightlife. Either the music is too loud, there is no place to sit or walk that does not involve getting drinks spilled on you, or  if you want to keep your shirt clean, it is too expensive. With that said, Going out in New York and trying to satisfy a craving for French culture is even harder. But Francophiles in the New York or San Francisco areas, there is an outlet for your yearning for French culture. Continue reading →