1. Le Violon d’Ingres
   135 rue St. Dominique, 01 45 55 15 05, www.leviolondingres.com
   
   This is owned by the former-chef of the Crillon and Ritz, Christian Constant. Constant is one of the most famous chefs in France, renowned for his cooking but also training a whole generation of emerging chefs. Highly recommended by Patricia Wells in the New York Times for its excellent menu. Christian Constant was one of the first chefs to create an excellent menu, creating a comfortable and elegant ambiance. Find a combination of 3 course luncheons, an affordable option at this one star restaurant … to superb seasonal dishes. We tried their truffle menu last fall and it was fabulous: the entire menu included truffles, even down to the truffle and thyme ice cream. (This is my husband’s favorite restaurant in the neighborhood.)

   

2. Café Constant
   139 rue St. Dominique, 01 47 53 73 34Every Parisian has their local favorite, where they know they’ll eat an excellent meal at a reasonable price … and this is mine. Christian Constant’s wonderful, casual restaurant features excellent food at reasonable prices and an ever-changing seasonal menu. A lovely place to have lunch or dinner, and enjoy some of his wonderful dishes at a lesser cost than his Michelin starred Violon d’Ingres a few doors away.

   

3. Au Petit Sud Ouest
   46 ave. de la Bourdonnais, 01 45 55 59 59Excellent foie gras, magret de canard (marinated duck breast), and confit de canard (preserved leg of duck) at very reasonable prices. We are encouraging all our guests to try this restaurant as the owner and his wife (who speaks beautiful English) are charming and make your dining experience an absolute joy.

   

4. Les Fables de la Fontaine
   131 rue St. Dominique, 01 44 18 37 55Christian Constant’s (of Violon d’Ingres) established this excellent seafood-only brasserie in a lovely location on the square with the fountain. He sold it to his former chef and mâitre d’, but still oversees much of its goings on. Small but charming, and the seafood is excellent. The fabulous mousses and other combinations won them a Michelin star. We absolutely love it! Open on Sundays - make your reservations early as it is always full!
5. Thoumieux Restaurant
   79 rue St. Dominique, 01 47 05 49 75Newly reopened to great reviews in partnership with the famous Costes brothers; reservations a must. The chef, Jean-Francois Piege, is formerly of the Michelin-stared Crillon restaurant, and one of the judges on Top Chef in France; excellent dining.  Open on Sundays.

We’re always keen to try new places so if you have a favorite restaurant in Paris we’d love to hear about it!

La Vallee Village is an upscale, outdoor shopping center with over 90 boutiques including famous French and international designer brands, such as, Givenchy, Façonnable, Longchamp handbags & accessories, Burberry, Max Mara, Lalique, Jimmy Choo, Armani, Dolce & Gabbana, Descamps linens, Christian LaCroix, Baccarat crystal and many more.

Clothing items are usually from the previous season, but with discounts of 33-60%, the savings are considerable.

To get there from the 7th arrondissement, go to the Ecole Militaire metro station and take line 8 to Opera, then change to the RER line A for a 40 minute ride to Val d’Europe stop, which is just one stop before the Disneyland Paris station.

La Vallee Village is open 7 days a week, and has a café and children’s playground, free parking and duty free registration for additional savings for non-EU citizens.

If all that shopping leaves you exhausted, you may need a relaxing trip to the spa, and lucky for you, you’ll find the Aquatonic Spa just five minutes away. What a great girlfriend’s getaway to indulge in a full day of shopping and pampering. The Aquatonic Spa has over 40 different treatment options, including the huge indoor thermal baths, Turkish baths, sauna, massage, facials, etc.

I’ve decided I must try this on my next trip!

On my last run the Seine was so calm that I had fun taking pictures of the reflections of buildings in the river…It was so smooth that you could recognize the museum or landmark, even without seeing the original above.

Paris landmarks reflected on the water

Some of the most famous monuments in Paris line the Seine River

Musee d'Orsay on the banks of the Seine

Reflection of the Louvre on the Seine River

The beautiful Ile St Louis in Paris

Bridges reflected on the Seine in Paris

Perfect reflection of the Grand Palais

Guess which monument this is?

I took tons of pictures past the Musee d’Orsay, Louvre, Academie Francaise, Musee de la Monaie, Ile de la Cite’ until a police boat came racing by leaving a huge wake in its trail that seemed to last forever.

Wake left behind by police boat

We hope you enjoy a short Paris vacation viewing these pictures !

Several days later I was strolling again in “my” Paris neighborhood, and was delighted to find the workmen gone, and the freshly painted shop now officially open for their first day of business (in retrospect, I’m not sure if it was a grand remodel of an existing shop, or a new shop being readied…but no matter). The newly hung lights shone brightly, front windows dressed and polished, ready to greet their customers. I couldn’t resist stopping in to learn more.

The shop offers a delicious taste of Spain in the heart of Paris. El Sol specializes in gastronomic specialties from Espagne, including wine, cheese and the mouth-watering Spanish delicacy known as Jambon Iberico de Bellota.

(Photo courtesy of Wikipedia)

This exclusive product is from a very special breed of black pigs, pata negra, indigenous to south and southwest Spain. These distinctive animals have black hooves, and are allowed to roam freely in the oak forests, indulging in a diet primarily of acorns (bellotas), which give the jamon it’s unique flavor. Generously marbled with fat, the meat is salt-cured for 12-36 months to bring out the sweetness and delicacy of flavor.

I met the owner, Jose Maria, and he insisted I taste a free sample (degustation gratuit) of this very special ham. The fragrant, thinly-sliced morsel melted in my mouth, sweet, slightly smoky, nutty and aromatic.

I wished him good luck in his new shop, and he was gracious to allow me to take photos.

This is the type of personal interaction that most tourists never get to experience if you’re staying just a few days in a busy hotel. But in a Paris Perfect apartment, you become a temporary local, and part of the neighborhood. You can experience the day to day changes, and feel like you are truly a part of the neighborhood life.

El Sol
147 Rue Saint-Dominique, 75007 Paris, France
01 45 55 84 09

Wishing you bonnee journee as you explore your own Parisian neighborhood.

Asparagus is a root vegetable and unlike many countries, is still grown in fields in France , not forced or grown in greenhouses.

The most popular variety is the fat white asparagus, a French favorite. I grew up with green asparagus and had trouble believing that all white asparagus has the same vitamins as green, but we checked and both the white and violet asparagus in France are equally rich in vitamins. The asparagus appeared late this year because of the cold winter. The season is short, late spring and early summer, and we’ve been eating it like mad for two months. Philippe spent hours peeling each stalk, separating and freezing in zip lock bags to save for the fall and winter.

The best asparagus from France - fat and white!

Carefully peeling and preparing the asparagus

Philippe’s cousin Marie Agnes is a busy working mother. When I asked for her recipe for hollandaise sauce she replied: “No way, I don’t spend my time making it from scratch any more. I buy the boxes of ready-made Hollandaise by Maggi at the supermarket!’

We love to eat with hollandaise sauce or a simple vinaigrette dressing made with a little French mustard.

If you can’t buy ready-made hollandaise, here is an easy blender hollandaise recipe:

Blender Hollandaise Sauce

Ingredients:

3 egg yolks
2 Tablespoons lemon juice
4 oz butter
Salt and pepper

Preparation

• Put the egg yolks in the blender, add lemon juice, salt and pepper and blend
• Melt the butter in a saucepan and stir.
• Add the hot butter to the hollandaise sauce in the blender. Blend at full speed until the sauce thickens
• Finished!  Serve immediately.

Here is the longer version of the traditional Hollandaise sauce, courtesy of Epicurious. My mother in law hadn’t heard of adding cayenne but thought it sounded interesting; that may be the American touch.

Ingredients

2 tablespoons white-wine vinegar
3 tablespoons cold water
1/4 teaspoon salt
White pepper to taste
3 large egg yolks
2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, cut into tablespoon pieces and softened
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
3/4 teaspoon cayenne

Preparation

• Boil vinegar, 2 tablespoons water, salt, and white pepper in a 1 1/2-quart heavy saucepan until reduced to about 2 tablespoons. Remove from heat and stir in remaining tablespoon
  water
• Whisk in yolks, then cook over very low heat, whisking constantly, until thickened (be careful not to scramble yolks), about 1 minute. Whisk in butter 1 piece at a time, lifting pan
  occasionally to cool sauce and adding each piece before previous one is completely melted.
• Remove from heat and whisk in lemon juice, cayenne, and salt to taste.

The Jacquemart André Museum is an exquisite 19th century mansion, and former private residence of art connoisseurs Edouard André and Nélie Jacquemart.

Jacquemart André Museum in Paris

Edouard was the son of a prominent banking family, and devoted his sizable fortune to amassing an extraordinary private collection of French, Italian and Dutch masterpieces. Edouard married prominent painter Nelié Jacquemart in 1881, and together they traveled throughout Europe each year to acquire rare treasures for their collection. Under the guidance of the most prominent museum curators of the time, the couple built a world class collection of paintings, tapestries, sculpture and frescos. Their philosophy was that great art was meant to be shared, and upon Edouard’s death, Nelié completed the collection and bequeathed it, along with the mansion, to the Institut de France, to be converted to a museum. The mansion opened to the public in 1913.

Highlights of the permanent collection include:
Dutch 17th century masters: Rembrandt, Van Dyck, Ruysdael
French 18th century: Fragonard, Boucher, Vigée-Lebrun, Nattier
English masters: Reynolds, Hoppner, Lawrence
Italian Renaissance 15th century sculptures & paintings: Bellini, Botticelli, Mantegna, Uccello

Temporary exhibits change with the season. In 2010, from 12 March until 1 August, you can experience Spanish masters from El Greco to Dali.

One of the highlights of your visits should be a stop in the Jacquemart André Tea Room, where you can enjoy lunch or coffee and pastries surrounded by beautiful Belgian tapestries and a fresco by Tiepolo. In the summer months, the Tea Room extends service to the adjacent courtyard. Indoors or out, you’ll be in one of the most beautiful tea rooms in Paris.

Enjoy coffee or lunch in the beautiful tea room

The Museum is located in the heart of Paris’ 8th arrondissement, at 158 Boulevard Haussmann, north of the Champs Elysees and west of the Galerie Lafayette shopping district. It is open every day, 365 days a year, from 10:00 am - 6:00 pm. Entrance is included in the Paris Museum Pass, or tickets are available on site. Free audio guide is included with admission. Discounts available for families, and children receive a free activity book, challenging them to solve riddles by searching for hidden clues throughout the mansion.

Check the website for temporary exhibits, maps, and practical information:  www.musee-jacquemart-andre.com/en/jacquemart/

RER: Charles de Gaulle - Etoile
Metro: Miromesnil or Saint Philippe du Roule
Bus: 22, 28, 43, 52, 54, 80, 83, 84, 93

Combine your museum visit with a shopping excursion to Paris designer stores located near the Jacquemart Andre, and you’ll have a fabulous day!

Franprix Supermarket in Paris

G20 Supermarket in Paris

Don’t worry, even if you speak no French at all, it’s fairly easy to manage. The following tips will help you navigate like a true Parisian.

First, the shopping cart. In some outlying areas, you’ll find the shopping carts stacked up outside, but in Paris, they are usually just inside the doorway. You’ll find them all chained together, and you need a 1 Euro coin to unlock your cart.

When you are finished shopping, return your cart and slide the key back in to the cart in front of you and the Euro coin pops back out again…just a rental.

True Parisians shop with their own rolling market basket, to transport all their daily purchases easily, without lugging everything around by hand. Remember, they have several stops to make, so carrying multiple bundles around can be unwieldy. Lucky for you, Paris Perfect stocks a rolling market basket in many of their apartments.

When you arrive at the grocery, it’s usually customary to leave your market basket at the front of the store (look for the variety of wheeled baskets lined up in front) and use the store’s shopping carts to travel up and down the aisles.Now, produce can be a bit tricky. Some grocery stores weigh your produce at the check out stand. But many require you to weigh them yourself in the produce department. Watch what the other shoppers are doing and take your cue from them. Scales in the produce department are easy to use. Just bag your item in plastic and place it on the scale. There are little pictures of each fruit/vegetable item on the scale, so you just locate the appropriate photo, push the button, and voila, the machine calculates the weight and spits out the label for you to affix to the plastic bag.

Don’t be surprised to find larger grocery stores in Paris on 2 levels, with large elevators or escalators to accommodate the shopping carts.

Yogurt - the French love their yogurt, and there must be 100 different kinds

Hundreds of yoghurts to choose from

And of course, French cheese is legendary. Pick up a few basic cheeses if you like, but save your main cheese shopping for the neighborhood fromagerie.

Sliced luncheon meat is always available. You’ll find dinde (turkey), poulet (chicken) and jambon (ham). And you’ll see selections for meats smoked (fumer) or roasted (roti).

Salad dressing is interesting. In France, it’s customary for the chef to prepare a special dressing or vinaigrette for each salad, to bring out the special flavors of the greens. So in a French supermarket, you do not have a large selection of pre-made dressings. Your choices are: yellow or white. That’s about it!

On the other hand, sauces, condiments, mayonnaise, and mustards you will find in abundance. One of our favorite lines is Benedicta sauces, which come in about 8 delicious varieties (the Benedicta Sauce au Poivre is missing from this shelf below, as I bought every jar to take home with me to the States). You’ll also see mayonnaise in a tube, like toothpaste. Olives, pickles and cornichons come in many varieties as well.

The salad dressing and sauce aisle

Bonne Maman shortbread cookies filled with raspberry or strawberry jam are scrumptious with a cup of hot tea when you need a sugar high to perk you up after a long day sightseeing.

Here’s another difference in French supermarkets. Milk is rarely refrigerated. It is sterilized and perfectly safe, so don’t be afraid (remember Louis Pasteur, as in pasteurized)! Milk comes in white plastic bottles or boxes - usually 1 liter, and shrink wrapped 6 bottles to a pack. But most groceries allow you to break the plastic and purchase just 1 or 2 bottles at a time.

If you’re looking for organic options, look for “Biologique”.

Frozen foods - lots of interesting choices here.

Huge range of frozen foods

Soda and soft drinks? Of course - Coca Light is Diet Coke.

You’ll also find a very decent wine selection - you’re in France, of course!

Supermarkets also sell wine

Lot of bottled water too - Volvic is a favorite, along with Evian and Perrier, if you want avec gaseus (carbonation)

When it’s time for checkout, take your place in line, and when it’s your turn, be sure to greet the clerk with a polite “Bonjour”. Cashiers don’t smile…..don’t take it personally. It’s against the rules. It’s just not done. Pay in Euros or with Mastercard, Visa, and some supermarkets accept American Express. Good to verify in advance.

Once you check out, you bag your own groceries in plastic, load them into your rolling market basket, and you’re on your way.

Don't forget your shopping cart!

Yummy French specialty products you can’t find abroad make great small souvenirs to bring home for gifts (remember the Benedicta sauces). And French chocolate maker 1848 is a great line. Our favorite is the milk chocolate with whole hazelnuts and praline. Unbelievably delicious!

French chocolate

The packaging has changed to a gold box (instead of black, as shown in the picture), but the chocolate is still the same….incredible! And only about 2.50 Euros each, they make a great, and very packable, souvenir for friends, neighbors, co-workers, etc.

Thought you’d enjoy these pictures… Sales end in early August so if you’re planning a trip, get over here soon.

Some stores are already offering the second round of price cuts, up to 70% off

Other stores had signs that announced ‘prix ronds’. I wasn’t sure what it meant so asked friends; they said it means that everything is thrown into bins and cut to a single price ‘Everything in this bin for € 5!’ One store is ‘changing concept’ and I look forward to their new look this fall. Hand-lettered signs, professional signs, mega discounts, double discounts…shoes, handbags, furniture, accessories, underwear, swimsuits, coats, jackets …everything in Paris seems to be ON SALE!

Shopping the local markets and grocery stores is a treat not to be missed. France is a delight for foodies, and there are many grocery stores in central Paris . Local supermarkets (supermarche in French) are G20 on the rue St. Dominique near the Eiffel Tower .

There is a very nice and larger Franprix on Ave de la Bourdonnais. We love to roam the isles to view the selections of ‘slightly different’ foods, from cereals to cookies and biscuits. Both G20 and Franprix deliver.

A smaller version Monoprix has just opened next to the Ecole Militaire metro near rue Cler, called Monop. Open late and on Sundays, good price and handy!

On rue Cler itself you’ll find two small groceries: a Leader which is a discount type supermarket and a Fran Prix which is more upscale.

Also, we love visiting the Monoprix chain, which is like the French version of Target. The location of the Monoprix nearest the 7th arrondissement: rue de Grenelle just next to the Motte Piquet Metro. Walk to Ecole Militaire (the beautiful old building at the other end of the Champs de Mars gardens; it literally faces the Eiffel Tower) and turn right in front of it. Four blocks later and you’ll see the big Monoprix sign on the corner.

The other big Monoprix on the Left Bank is: 35-37 Rue du Bac , 75007 PARIS phone 01 42 86 44 30 (By the way, did you know the French invented the hypermart concept?)

To be truly French, you must visit Picard’s gourmet frozen food store for great selection of frozen items at affordable prices. They are located all over central Paris , but this address is handy to visitors staying in the 7th arrondissement: Picards, 195 RUE DE GRENELLE 75007 PARISTEL : 01 47 05 88 84.

I Love Picard’s Desserts!

Picard's Frozen Dessert

It’s very common for the French to shop daily for their fresh baguettes, produce, cheeses, etc., for several reasons. Parisian kitchens are small and storage space is at a premium, so buying several weeks of groceries at a time is just not practical. Plus, the French insist on the freshest, best quality goods they can find. Daily shopping is part of the French culture, with loyal patrons visiting their favorite shopkeepers, socializing and catching up on the latest news.

If you missed the Bastille Day celebrations on the Champs de Mars no Wednesday, you can see the whole event here: Eiffel Tower Fireworks on Bastille Day

Months of planning goes into the show and they are undoubtedly some of the most spectacular firework displays you’ll ever see — and just when you think it can’t get better…it does. This year was dedicated to France’s former colonies in Africa and all African nations. The music was excellent, from all African countries, lots of beat in time with the fireworks. You’ll enjoy watching!

Many apartments at Parisperfect offer close-up views of the Eiffel Tower fireworks. It’s hard to decide which one is the best, whether the Champagne Paris apartment, the Cognac rental, the Bergerac or St. Emilion vacation rental.

A family who rented the St. Emilion apartment a few years ago sent us this picture of their two sons enjoying Bastille day in Paris and the fireworks. I’m sure they never forgot it.

Watching the Bastille Day Fireworks from the St. Emilion Apartment