Tuesday Travels...first illy of the day

queuing for café at CDG,

well before dawn

(October 2009)

friday frequencies...Give It Up for Kaiser Karl!

...groovin' on this little number, Rondo Parisiano, from Something à la Mode

Hope you too have a little Something à la Mode this weekend!

friday frequencies- channelling our inner boulevardiers

We're SO in the mood for travel and escape right about now! Things are hotting up down Rio way as the build-up to Carnaval continues, but it's a little early to go there on friday frequencies. Instead, we're going to channel those nights spent sitting in a boulevard cafe in the the 5e or 11e, sipping un coctail and listening to fabulous French acid jazz. Ahhhh....

Have yourselves "un fabuleux week-end"!!

friday frequencies- a little more Gabin

We posted a couple of weeks ago about Gabin, an Italian duo who are mainly influenced by the French lounge scene, and we felt the need to share a little more before we were done with them here on friday frequencies.

A guest artist who appears on several cuts on their album Third and Double is Z-Star. We're not familiar with Z-star, but they seem to have released a cut called "Slow Dancin' " that was later re-worked by Gabin. So here, first, is the original, followed by Gabin's "Slow Dancing dans la Maison"

Finally, we're suckers, as you know, for a Brazilian beat, so here's Fim de Noite by Gabin, featuring Barbara Casini, an Italian songstress who is one of that country's preeminent Bossa Nova artists.

Hope you all have an awesome weekend!!

Happy Bastille Day!!!!

A tous nos amis Français.

Nous, les deux Bobo,vous souhaites la 

Meilleure Journée de la Bastille!!

Ons pense a vous souvent!

Bisous!!

Postcard from Paris: the 12e and a visit to Marché d'Aligre

A piece on David Lebovitz's facebook page today caught our eye and brought back a flood of memories from our trip to Paris in the autumn of 2010. David shared a link to a nice little article by Alexandra Schwartz in The Atlantic (online- here) about the Marché d'Aligre in Paris' 12th arrondissement. The premise of the article is that Paris, in many of the areas frequented by most visitors, has been sanitized to within an inch of its life, and to get back to la vrai chose she suggests a visit to what she terms "the city's last great daily market". We had the great pleasure of spending a week in a splendidly charming apartment just a stone's throw from the Marché d'Aligre, and we can vouch for it being a jewel.

The 11th and 12th Arrondissements lie to the east of Le Marais and Place de la Bastille, and since the area's inception the settlements to the north and south of Rue du Faubourg Saint-Antoine (which divides the two boroughs) have housed the workshops and homes of Parisians who make things. Long in the past they crafted furniture & housewares that served the royal court at nearby Place des Vosges. In the 1990s artists discovered the underutilized atelier spaces in the area's disctinctive courtyards, and as usually happens, where the artists head the modern-day gentry soon follow. Nowdays the cours and passages are populated with design firms and ad agencies along with the occasional exquisite boutique. A little further to the east the area's population is made up more of immigrant communities. And at the crossroads of these two zones lies Marché d'Aligre.

The market structure, technically known as Marché Beauvau, is a beauty. A solid little building constructed of the native limestone with a clerestory light monitor atop, the interior is light-filled and proudly shows off its utilitarian yet delicate timber posts and beams. The shops inside, while certainly not over the top by Parisian standards, are decidedly more bourgeois than the vendors that fill the place and rue d'Aligre outside. 

And yet the assemblage does indeed feel like the real thing, probably because you know that you're pretty much the only non-residents in the vicinity. The bobos who can afford the spectacular flowers inside the market's doors are more than happy to rub shoulders with their Algerian neighbours as they both negotiate the best price for undergarments at the table up the street. At the end of the day, they are all just modern working families shopping at their local market, the way it's always been done.

We truly hope that this is one corner of Paris that does get overlooked by the scrubbing brigade. An honest, hardworking little market should be left to do what it does best- to simply serve its community according to their needs without having to worry about wearing its Sunday best in front of the visitors.

*******

Marché Beauvau

place d'Aligre

75012, Paris

Marché d'Aligre

place d'Aligre & rue d'Aligre

75012, Paris

More Memories of Paris...

Photos above courtesy David Lebovitz- Living the Sweet Life in Paris

Over at David Lebovitz's blog Living the Sweet Life in Paris, he has recently done a great round-up of the best cookware shops in the City of Light.

Check it out here

Of course it brought to mind our visit to E. Dehillerin
this past October.
The pleasure in visiting these shops is in the leisurely browsing. The atmosphere of these old world wholesalers is unlike anything in North America, and if you're in the vicinity of Les Halles in Paris the ghosts of that famous market past are almost tangible.


There are precious few items stocked in these emporia that we would contemplate lugging home. They are just too large for overseas flights, and frankly, the cost of shipping negates any bargains found.
Nonetheless, after a half hour of schmoozing about the store there comes a certain urge to leave with at least
"un petit quelque chose".

Last visit we discovered some lovely stainless-steel spring loaded tongs which our kitchen could easily benefit from.
We grabbed two pairs.


Upon returning to our apartment at day's end, as is our habit we proudly laid out all our purchases & carefully perused. Imagine our surprise/ dismay/ humour to discover that our new Dehillerin tongs were from a company in Markham, Ontario!!
Oh, well- six hours on Air France will beat one hour on the Don Valley Parkway any day!


Check out David's blog post for a comprehensive list of kitchen supply shops in Paris.

Parisian memories

Recent news of a big art heist at the musée d'art moderne de la ville de paris brought back memories of a visit to the area last autumn.
The 16e arrondissement is not really our style (nor our snack bracket), so we're not too familiar with its charms. But indeed, they seem to be many, not the least of which are those quintessential elegant tree-lined Parisian streetscapes whose images we're all so familiar with. Immaculate limestone buildings with gleaming brass doorways. Cars with 'drivers'. Staff in uniforms. You get the idea.We had visited the Palais de Chaillot previously, and that was our initial destination once again on a drizzly Wednesday last October. The present day claim to fame of this Palais is that its broad terraces afford the most picture-perfect views of the Eiffel Tower just across the Seine, so there are always throngs of tourists. (oh, & apparently the plazas & fountains make a sick skateboard park)

On this particular day, the view was a little soggy, but how can you NOT have a peek & snap a few shots, even if you already took the same ones a few years back?

Our objective was to view an exhibition that had been mounted in the cité de l'architecture et du patrimoine (the right wing in the aerial shot above) featuring the concepts of ten teams of world-renowned architects & urbanists for the future of Paris. Fascinating stuff, but a little heavy going if French isn't your usual tongue.

After leaving the exhibition we browsed the book shop (why do you always find 20 books you absolutely MUST have when you're inconveniently a few thousand miles from home?) and admired the bright modern café.

From the Palais de Chaillot, we were headed to the Fondation Pierre Bergé - Yves Saint Laurent via a street that would let us take a passing look at the Palais de Tokyo. The Palais is a lovely '30's era structure quay-side on the Seine, composed of two wings surrounding a colonnaded court. The west wing (left, below) is simply known as the Palais de Tokyo while the east (right side) is the (now infamous) musée d'art moderne de la ville de paris. We had heard that the palais had undergone a fairly radical renovation a few years ago & we wanted to have a look.

A quick peek into the courtyard before entering revealed a curious interloper perched on the rooftop.

More on this little guy later...

The Palais de Tokyo houses exhibitions of 'a la minute' art, and the renovation architects, Lacaton et Vassal, decided that stripping the interiors down to their original bones was the best way to provide suitable facilities.

And we have to say that the approach makes for a stunning contrast with the genteel exterior of the building (& by extension, its posh neighbourhood)
Above photo is from the architects' website.
Above, the bookshop. Two great ones in a single day was torturous!
Below, our shot of the lobby space. It seems to have been tweaked a bit since the date that the architects' photo was taken, principally by the addition of a gift shop to complement the bookstore, in the location where the ticket trailer originally stood. The giftshop is outlined in pink neon & offers some pretty crazy keep-sakes!

The wares are displayed in glass-fronted coolers, and in fact you can even buy cans of cold Sapporo beer from one of them.

Gotta love the "choking hazard" warning on the Johnny Rotten doll package. Back in the day we're sure there were many who choked on their tea when they set eyes (or ears) on the Sex Pistols!

...and if only this would have been able to fit in our suitcase...
...........

This display explained the beautiful & mysterious glass cube on the roof.
Apparently there is a bit of a history of installing fabulous spaces up top. Previously the same corner had been occupied by a tiny 1 room hotel known as the Everland. Hotel Everland had been transported from its original home on the shores of Lake Neuchatel in Switzerland, to Leipzig in Germany, and finally to Paris for a 2 year run (till spring of 2009)
Following the Everland's closing in the spring, Nomiya at the Palais de Tokyo was installed as a culinary concept piece in a collaboration of the musée & Electrohome.

The following is from the website Scene Advisor:

"Nomiya, which was designed by French artist Laurent Grasso, is a 12-person izakaya, and will stay up for one year. It's part of the Culinary Art Home project between Electrolux and the Palais de Tokyo and is designed to resemble the interior of a glass gift box; one that just happens to have a spectacular view of the Eiffel Tower.

The cutting-edge space isn't merely a dinner destination with a panoramic view of the capital, but also features a program that includes cooking classes and afternoon workshops in the vegetable garden. But, aside from the originality of the project, most will make their way here for the cuisine of Chef Gilles Stassart.

The rectangular glass box is limited to 12 people, dining at a communal table, and serves lunch and dinner daily. Chef Stassart...cooks alongside a few sous chefs at a cooking station. Nomiya is part of a year long culinary project sponsored by Electrolux. The whole endeavour was the appliance manufacturer's idea; a collective art exhibit that belongs to the artists with a common interest in creating unforgettable experiences around food."

David Lebovitz has a detailed review and delectable food photos in a post from his blog here.

It looks to be a completely magical experience. But you'd better hurry, it's only around till July of this year!

Nomiya at the Palais de Tokyo


Next time we're in Paris, we will most surely be planning on a proper visit to the Palais de Tokyo & its sister institution next door, le musée d'art moderne de al ville de paris.
Let's hope their treasures are recovered very soon...

Palais du Tokyo
13 Avenue du Président Wilson
75116 Paris

Palais de Tokyo website

Food...Glorious Food, Pt. 1

If we are not eating food,we are talking about food.If we aren't talking about food,we are foraging for food.

There is no greater pleasure for us when travelling,than to shop where "the people" shop.Therefore we have an affinity to rent apartments when ever we can,where we can cook for ourselves. Some may find this not only to be a chore but a HUGE bore, but nothing beats finding ourselves surrounded by foreign produce in a foreign land.
Talk about getting away from it all.

We have shopped in refrigerated shipping containers and open air stands like these in Vieques,P.R.
where produce is shipped in (literally) from the main land on odd days. You soon realize that you are on an island, therefore when they run out...you could be out of luck till ....??
The mangoes, pineapple and bananas have never tasted better,
well worth the getting out of bed for.

The joy of Sunday morning shopping (a little jet lagged) at the glorious open air
Marché Richard Lenoir, in Paris.
Where the autumn harvest, in all it's glory, is offered... all yours for the taking.

From fully prepared Cous Cous Royal, to bread, cheese, fish and even flowers to bring to "Maman"or your "appartement typique" for that long and leisurely Sunday lunch.
What could taste or be any better than that...?

Or how can one resist buying these tomatoes, in Forio, Ischia.
Add some Buffalo Mozzarella, a little basil, olive oil...heaven, for pennies.
It is often said that one eats with ones eyes first...
We heartily agree.
(barrio Abasto in Buenos Aires)