Where in the world is Val?

... ne sont pas tous égals. After my initial success with Pierre Hermé and Angelina, as well as good bread from Du Pain et Des Idées (and I will also grant them an excellent chauson a la pomme), I was so thrilled with my little patisserie guide. But let's just say, it's hard to do a bad baguette (although I have certainly had some bad ones). But now I must say, I trust Isabelle a great deal more than Jamie Cahill. Yesterday I visited Boulangerie Julien in the 1e (our class went for a visit to the passages, the original halls built in the 19th century for shopping and eating and meeting together for discussion.) Julien was near where we were meeting, so I was excited to get to taste the specialty, the "Jurassien," a cookie with a fruit topping... But I didn't see it on display anywhere, so I went for a pain sucré aux fruits rouges et chocolat (essentially, what looks like a croissant, but square and with red fruit (strawberry and/or raspberry) and chocolate ...

Monday, 9 June 2008 Other than Pierre Hermé's fabulous macarons, Isabelle's number one recommendation was the hot chocolate at Angelina. Angelina is probably Paris' most famous salon de thé (tea room - a small pastry shop very popular for a light tea-time meal) . I didn't take any pictures of the salon, but it was a beautiful room, decorated as though at the turn of the last century. Their chocolat chaud (hot chocolate) is absolutely their specialty, and I ordered some of this famous drink (called l'Africain, I don't really know why) as well as a croissant, and lingered over the beautiful breakfast to do my homework for class that evening: The croissant was pas mal mais rien de spécial (not bad but nothing special)... But that hot chocolate... oh my GOODNESS. It was every cliché for a good hot chocolate - smooth, creamy, silky, DELICIOUS... but it puts all these clichés to shame. It was amazing. Such a perfect chocolate, too - just a little bitter, but s...

Sunday, June 8 2008 Sunday I meant to get up and go to mass at Notre Dame Cathedral, but instead I opted to sleep in. I think that was a good decision. I got up around 11 (somehow I always need more sleep here!) and decided to visit the open-air marché de la Bastille (market of the Bastille), so named because it is right next to the Place de la Bastille. .. You can look down through the middle and see the huge column I showed you just a few days ago: The market was enormous! There were vendors there selling everything you can imagine - clothes, cooking supplies (as in pots and pans), poultry and eggs, (you know what they say about those French, they eat anything that moves...) I would totally have bought some, except that they were entire pigeons - with heads, and feet, and guts. And that is really more than I am willing to deal with. (Celine, I'll have to save my pigeon cake for another day!) Anyway, continuing my list of the food at the market, there was red meat (veal tongu...

Saturday, 7 June Did you notice that the date on Saturday was 06/07/08? That was pretty exciting. Unless, of course, you live in France, in which case the date was 07/06/08 - not nearly as cool. I'll just have to wait until July 6th. Saturday I worked in the morning, just 11-1:30. One thing I really appreciate about my stage (internship) is the fact that I really feel like I am getting a good understanding of what is required in running a galerie. Eric is just taking on a new artist, who will be having an exposition (exhibition) at the galerie either in November or next January. For this new artist, I am creating his CV for the galerie's records, and Eric asked me to attempt a resumé of his oeuvre! I have met collectors and artists and dealt with transporters both in person and on the phone (I called China the other day - no big deal.) The scariest part of the job is without a doubt when I am the only one in the office, or when Eric is there as well but preoccupied, and...

Friday, 6 June Work during the day... At lunch, I walked to a little park not far from my office and discovered a flea market all along Rue de Bretagne... They sold all sorts of random things - furniture, clothes, cheese and saussage, enormous clocks and tiny trinkets... There was really no rhyme or reason (or, if there was, it was beyond me.) The most significant part of the day was the fact that I got off of work a half hour early so I could get over to the 12e arrondisement for my coiffure - hair cut/styling. I chose a salon recommended my the BU program because they spoke English, but they didn't speak English to me... but that was fine, the only part I didn't understand was when my hair stylist (I am very sorry to say I do not know his name) asked me when the last time was that I washed my hair. Other than that little difficulty we understood each other perfectly. I didn't have a set idea of what I wanted going in, just that I wanted to trim 3-4 inches because my ha...

Monday, 2 June I woke up early but didn't leave the apt until about 11 because I had some homework to finish - reading for class, and finishing our Butte aux Cailles project. I went for a run around the neighborhood, bringing my Paris practique (a little book with maps of Paris by arrondisement) - so vital for when I get lost, as I inevitably do... but sometimes, that is the best part because you stumble upon amazing things. This time is was the Musée des Arts et Metiers - Museum of the arts and careers, which holds, according to a banner outside the first ever calculator, or something like that. On my first run, it was this arch, just hanging out down the street from where I live: After my run, a quick shower, then out to a bakery to buy a pain au chocolat, and then I spent about three hours exploring this little district not far from where I live that is entirely filled with clothing shops. Many of them only made " grandes ventes " - they are wholesalers. I think most o...

This past weekened, BU offered to reimburse us up to 30 Euro if we went on a day trip to somewhere in the Ile de France region, the region around Paris. Kendall (my roommate) and I decided to go to Chartres on Sunday to see the famous cathedral and attend a mass. The train ride over was gorgeous - the countryside was so incredibly green. I didn't take any pictures, because the glare on the inside of the train windows was terrible, but all the fresh clean green countryside was good for the soul after being in Paris for 2 weeks. Miss Giles, my art history professor from high school, once said she was driving in the south of France and had to stop and get out of her car because all of a sudden, she understood van Gogh's yellow... I had a similar moment with Cezanne's greens. Magnifique. To make up for no pictures of the countryside, I took a ton of pictures of the cathedral, which was also quite beautiful. Unfortunately, they were doing some restoration on the facade, so t...