Caroline Nin Gives Us Edith Piaf Back

21 décembre 2014 06:39 / Leave a Comment / Prête-Moi Paris

Caroline Nin, « French chanteuse » as she is self described, is a jazz singer and has been practicing her art since she was a wide-eyed youth, off to concquor London. She traveled the world for 20 years singing in concert halls from Australia to America, and has now returned to her home town of Paris where she now shares her show Hymne à Piaf with the cosmopolitan Parisian audience.

Much to Caroline Nin’s delight a smattering of Frenchies peppered the 40 seat venue amongst an international crowd for this bilingual show. She promised to translate the show to French entirely if one day she could fill a 1000 seat Parisian theater full of Frenchies. But there is something magical in her mixture of French and English. I wouldn’t change a word of it.
Read more →

Posted in: American in Paris, Bon Plan, Charm, Culture, Events, Expat, French, Fun, Music, Nightlife, Shows, Theater, Tourist / Tagged: cabaret show, Caroline Nin, Edith Piaf, essaion theater, Hymne à Piaf, musical theater in Paris, Paris nightlife

L’Oiseau Blanc Restaurant

23 novembre 2014 16:27 / 1 Comment / Prête-Moi Paris

A friend took me this past summer to the newest fanciest place to dine in town, to celebrate my good news that Chéri and I are expecting a baby!

L’Oiseau Blanc at the new ultra luxury hotel Le Peninsula.

It was such a wonderful way to feel toasted and cared for with the most luxurious service, beautiful food and setting and a view to die for! Read more →

Posted in: Delicious!, Foodie, French, Hotel, Luxe, Pretty!, Restaurant, Romantic / Tagged: best view in Paris, Hotel peninsula, l'oiseau blanc restaurant, luxury restaurant

Ringing in 2014

2 janvier 2014 02:39 / 7 Comments /

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! Read more →

Posted in: American in Paris, Dairy Free, Delicious!, DIY, Foodie, French, Funny story, Holiday, Love!, Paris, Parisian, Uncategorized, Wine / Tagged: champagne, charades, Ella Coquine, foie gras, Happy New Year!, New years in Paris, new years party paris, NYE, Paris, party poppers, Sexy little black dress, smoked salmon, twins

Lost in Translation

27 septembre 2013 09:40 / 3 Comments /

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! Read more →

Posted in: French, Fun, Funny story, Tourist, Travel / Tagged: French English idioms, idbus, lost in translation

Paris Cola – Made in France

2 septembre 2013 02:02 / 2 Comments /

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… Read more →

Posted in: Boutiques, French, Paris, Shopping, Tourist / Tagged: French cola drink, made in france, Paris souvenirs

Dinner Chez Sasha

17 juin 2013 01:38 / 8 Comments /

One 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.

Posted in: Activity, American in Paris, Foodie, French, Paris, Parisian, Restaurant, Tourist / Tagged: dine with the french, dinner in Paris, Dinner in Parisian homes, French dining, how to meet the Parisians, Meeting the french, Voulez Vous Diner

My take on the « French Lover »

15 avril 2013 11:07 / 4 Comments /

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.

Posted in: American in Paris, French, French culture abroad, Love! / Tagged: Benjamin Millepied, French Lover, Guillaume Canet, Jean Dujardin, NT1

L’Amour (or less) by Jennyphoria

25 février 2013 01:04 / 1 Comment /

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…

Posted in: American in Paris, Expat, France, French, Love!, Paris / Tagged: dating the French, how to snag a frenchman, Jennifer Geraghty, jennyphoria, Kasia Dietz bags, Kickstarter, L'amour or less, Love in Paris

A Grand Moment

29 décembre 2012 03:02 / Leave a Comment /

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.

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.