Looking at these cupcakes at a shop window, I feel a pang of longing – I can’t tell you how much I miss having an oven in my kitchen. Nearly 3 months now without one, it goes without saying that I haven’t been baking, roasting or grilling anything. No quick breakfast muffins, no shepherd’s pie, no roasted vegetables… Good thing this city is full of cakes and tartes and quiches, so it’s not all lost.
One thing though – the price tag. I would quite happily fork out a small fortune for a fantastic piece of pastry, especially when it’s something that I could not made easily myself (read: I am rubbish at delicate cakes and tarts) but for cupcakes which is not too complicated at all, I am soooo not willing to pay anything between €3-4 for one. That’s even enough for me to buy the basic ingredients to make a dozen or two of cupcakes (minus the fancy icings) already!
Ps: I’m not claiming I could whip up the best cupcakes ever though, ok? ;)
Pierre Hermé has changed its window front again. And I think I may be going round chez Pierre a tad too often, even if I’m just getting a tart or two to share with friends, or stock up on some waffles and chocolate, or to get a small sachet of macarons to snack on. Ah if only they do customer loyalty card – you know, like coffee shops would, where you get a stamp for every purchase – I’m quite sure I’ll be in line to get free goodies very quickly, hehehe.
For anyone who ever consider vanilla as a boring flavour need to be re-educated and it’s just as simple as getting the infiniment vanille tart. The unmistakeable fragrant, perfectly baked tart shell, spongy cake centre and luscious and smooth vanilla cream layer over the top – it is not secret that this is perhaps my favourite pastry, even more than those which are chocolate-based or fruit-based. Ah, even thinking about it now is making me drool… but no, I won’t go back there again this week. In fact, I must not. Someone save me please!
One thing about living in Paris is the availability of artworks everywhere. There are galleries – indoor within premises or outdoor open air stalls – catering to all kinds of arts, from the antiquities to the contemporary, from the cutesy to the vulgar (trust me, there are etchings commonly sold along the river bank that had Eiffel Tower does funny thing to itself), from paintings to sculptures to installations. Anyone can be a collector. The only points of the question are, how much do you value one and how much are you willing to spend to acquire one?
Artclub Gallery on rue de Rivoli is one of the many galleries that I often take a peek into. They often have rather particular pieces, and today, behind the windows to the side of Louvre, there’s a series of burlesque dolls peering out with their coquettish pouts. I think they are rather adorable. And fun enough to compete with a couple of paintings on the window to the side of Place Andre Malraux, which featured surrealistic Simpsons in a Parisian metro surrounded by Charlie Chaplin, Hulk, Vishnu, Tintin et al and another, also similar in style, of Simpsons visiting Parisian museums (it was a “portmanteau” of Louvre and Musée d’Orsay) with Mona Lisa guarded by a couple of Terminators and surrounded by Bruce Lee, Mickey and Minnie Mouse, Asterix, Smurf et al.
After a series of non-street art photos, you’re getting mural works two days in a row. Not only that, they can be found on adjacent streets. Am I slacking, by going back to the same place for my photos? Maybe. However, with things hopping busy on my end, time is a bit on the premium. Plus, I like this mural. I was debating with myself yesterday, at the junction between the streets, on which mural I should photograph.
I like that the setting is edgy. A Keith-Haring-like background, laced with additional graffiti, they serve to emphasis the rather aggressive passion between the couple. It’s, errrm, animalistic? In my head, I was humming to Savage Garden’s The Animal Song. Of course, on the other side, a reminiscent of a classic pose by Robert De Niro. “You talkin’ to me? You talkin’ to me? You talkin’ to me?” (If you haven’t guess it – it’s a scene from Taxi Driver.)
Together, it’s as if a reflection on human psyche living in a big city. Your relationship may burn fast and hard but also short-lived, while a sense of impatience and frustration bubbles underneath, ready to take one’s emotion over to spill. There’s always turmoil aplenty, running circular like an infinite loop. Does taking ourself out from urban living help us to find the balance within? That is the million dollar question.
Tucked in one of the smaller streets behind Port Royal is this creative piece of street arts, which incorporates mural painting to exposed brick façade, along with fake wine leaves snaking around the edges. As a result, my brain is running away with the image of a hot day in the Caribbean where one grabs a cold drink and sit out to watch the world goes by.
In the mean time, the weather in Paris continues to be dull for most part and rather chilly too in the evening. I may have to pull out my little fleece throw from storage so I can be snuggly wrapped up when I sit in my apartment to read. I am just starting to read Harry Potter in French and it’s taking me quite some effort since I don’t always have the vocabulary to understand everything, and the name changes are confusing. For example, Hogwarts has been rechristened Poulards, muggles are somehow Moldus, and even Snape is now Rogue apparently. One word – confusing!
Today’s street exploration got me photographing a landmark of the 12th arrondissement for the first time for this blog. Peeking between buildings when viewed from Pont d’Austerlitz, the clock tower of Gare de Lyon is quite swanky, with its feature reminiscent of the Big Ben in London but with prettier clock face.
Come to think of it, I have not only not used the train station before, I have not even walk around the area surrounding it. My faithful pocket map of Paris told me that Viaduct des Arts nearby runs parallel to the railway station, and it also serves as the site of Promenade Plantée which I’ve heard a lot about. I must put it down for a weekend stroll sometimes.
It is not unusual to see balconies filled with blooms of all colour in Paris, no matter the size of the balconies. If anything, they make me wishing for my own, where I can tend to a pot or two of flowers, maybe some fresh herbs like basil and rosemary and lavender… OK, OK, hang on – I actually don’t have any green fingers so the plants would die quickly enough. It’s probably a very good thing that I do not have space to grow anything.
But, this rooftop garden takes the cake. I pass rue de la Glacière on a nearly daily basis but I’ve not noticed this before. My defense is, I’m usually inside the bus and since we don’t have transparent top to the bus, you know. However, I walked home this evening and suddenly, ta-da, there it was. I do wonder, how does the owner grow such huge trees up there. Surely the root system requires a lot of anchoring to make sure they don’t ever get blown away by strong wind, which happens from time to time?
I was back walking along Port de Javel this evening. The installation of steel sculptures by Carmona are still there, so I circled around a few of them to try to take a few more pictures. I end up choosing “Brisas” (meaning breezes) for the blog upon reflecting on the weather forecast that is to come.
I’ll be away for a long weekend break in a couple of days, participating in my first pont ritual ever. The weather forecast is looking good for now but it also appears we’re due for some wind and rain by the end of the weekend. I hope that’s just erroneous forecast. I want a full, sunny long weekend. Afterall, when I was busy slaving away working during the weekends in April, every threat of thunderstorm had been met with pretty blue skies, causing a massive tug of will between being good and staying in to work, and to sit out and have a long picnic.
If you ever find yourself crossing River Seine southward at Pont d’Austerlitz, you will see this magnificent building right ahead, surrounded by a beautiful garden. When I saw it for the first time, I wondered whose grand palatial residence could it be. But this is Paris, where real estate is at its premium, so really, who could afford to live in a place like this?
Turns out, a bunch of preserved (or models of) animals and plants. Or so I am assuming since it is the site of the Grande Galerie de l’Evolution, aka the Natural History Museum of Paris, and other NHMs that I’ve been to tend to house items of similar vein. I still have not yet been there for a visit – I should – but I have been told by an ex-colleague in Dublin how wonderful this place is. Certainly, the setting from the exterior has been charming. Now it remains how captivated I would be when I venture in one day.
It’s time for tennis fever around here, with French Open currently taking place at Roland Garros. The festivities around the event must also be celebrated in the city, so right outside of Hôtel de Ville, a whole tennis-centric arena has been set up. From beach tennis to games for youth to large screen that transmits live matches, on a sunny day like today, it makes an overall good day out for everyone.
Around the city, in parks where tennis courts are available for public use, they’re certainly being booked pretty solidly at the moment. In part, it’s the Roland Garros effect. On the other hand, the weather has been obliging of late so why not take advantage of the nice warm day for a few outdoor matches? The municipal tennis courts can even be booked online, at €7.50 per hour at regular rate (€55 for subscription of 10 hours of usage). At Cité U, residents seem to be able to get a monthly rate of €20 for unlimited use but the information on the website is not entirely clear (well, to me anyway – clearly I still have a long way to go in learning and using French).
