Over the course of the last eight years of blogging (Wow! I can’t believe it’s eight years!), I have had the pleasure and privilege to meet some of my readers here in Paris and many have become good friends.
Between last Friday and Saturday, I was wined and dine on three separate occasions with visiting blog readers.
Debbe and Shirley have been long time Eye Prefer Paris fans and Shirley was the winner of one of my photo contests a few years ago. Debbe found me through her cousin Deb, another blog reader who I am friends with.
Every year Debbe and Shirley visit Paris for a week and this year they invited me for lunch along with Carol from Paris Breakfasts. We went to Le Reminet, one of my favorite Under 20 Euro Lunch spots. Debbe is from the Washington D.C. area and recently retired from a long-term position at a non-profit company and Shirley lives between Florida, where she breeds racehorses, and Saratoga, New York. We had a delicious lunch of lentil soup and Blanquette de veau and fun conversation.
On Friday night I went with Mary Gilbert from Cincinnati, another EPP reader turned good friend, to have authentic Bretagne crepes near my apartment in the Marais. I met Mary for the first time five years ago when I accompanied her and her friend Phil, both cemetery enthusiasts, on a a day adventure to St. Genevieve-des-Bois, the Russian Orthodox cemetery just outside Paris. Click here to read about our fun day.
On Saturday afternoon I met up with Barbara, another long time EPP fan and winner of numerous contests. I met Barbara a few years ago when she did a Marais tour and cooking class and have remained friends since then. I took her to Christian Constant’s Les Cocottes, on rue St. Dominique, which she had never head of or been to. We sat at the counter and enjoyed a lobster ceviche followed by cocotte of lamb over cous cous with green veggies. Barbara works for IBM and was here for the week on business and she finally had a day off.
We purposely didn’t get dessert so we could share one of their outrageous, sinful coffee flavored meringues at Patisserie Aux Marveilleux de Fred. After, we went to Palais Galliera to see the Papier Glace exhibit, featuring photos in Conde Nast publications Glamour, Vogue, and Vanity Fair by some of the top fashion photographers of the 20th century. Barbara was not familiar with most of them and I gave her a crash course in fashion photographers. It was a gloriously sunshiny day and we basked in the sun in the lovely garden in the back of the museum facing the Eiffel Tower.
Le Reminet
3 rue des Grands Degres, 75005
Metro: Maubert-Mutualite
Les Cocottes
135 rue St. Dominique, 75007
Metro: Ecole Militaire
Aux Merveilleux de Fred
94 rue St. Dominique, 75007
Papier Glace
Till May 25 2014
Palais Galliera
10 Ave. Pierre 1er Serbie, 75016
Open Tuesday to Sunday 10AM to 6PM, Thursday till 9PM
http://palaisgalliera.paris.fr/en/exhibitions/papier-glace
I am happy to announce the launch of Eye Prefer Paris Cooking Classes. Come take an ethnic culinary journey with me and chef and caterer Charlotte Puckette, co-author of the bestseller The Ethnic Paris Cookbook (with Olivia Kiang-Snaije). First we will shop at a Paris green-market for the freshest ingredients and then return to Charlotte's professional kitchen near the Eiffel Tower to cook a three-course lunch. After, we will indulge in the delicious feast we prepared along with hand-selected wines.
Cost: 185 euros per person (about $240)
Time: 9:30AM- 2PM (approximately 4 1/2 hours)
Location: We will meet by a metro station close to the market
Class days: Tuesday,Wednesday, Thursday,Friday, Saturday, and Sunday
Minimum of 2 students, maximum 6 students.
Click here to sign up for the next class or for more info.
I am pleased as punch to announce the launch of Eye Prefer Paris Tours, which are 3-hour walking tours I will personally be leading. The Eye Prefer Paris Tour includes many of the places I have written about such as small museums & galleries, restaurants, cafes & food markets, secret addresses, fashion & home boutiques, parks, and much more.
Tours cost 210 euros for up to 3 people, and 70 euros for each additional person. I look forward to meeting you on my tours and it will be my pleasure and delight to show you my insiders Paris.
Check it out at www.eyepreferparistours.com
Click here to watch a video of our famous Marais tour
