My blog

Today we had a nice relaxing Saturday. We tried a nice little French bistrot for lunch called La Porte Didot. It was good. Planning to go back again to try out other things on the menu.

Then we went for a walk down Rue Rivoli to check out a new “arts de table” store called 13 à Table. We ended up walking all the way to the Notre Dame before taking the metro home. We happened to pass by a photo shoot!

And finally, some first signs of spring!

This weekend we went to Brittany so that my parents could meet Simon’s. It went really well! We had a great time showing them around. And I still love la Bretagne! These are some pretty pink hydrangeas in a town called St. Cado. There were tons of them everywhere. I just love this deep pink colour.

This is in Quiberon on our way to see the “Côte Sauvage”.

And this is the “Côte Sauvage” (the coastline). Isn’t it beautiful? We totally lucked out on the weather that day.

The following day, we headed to Concarneau to see the “Ville Close”, or the closed city. It’s a cute little village enclosed by walls. There were tons of little shops and restaurants. We ended up eating moules frites (mussels with fries). They were SO good! I love that dish. This is my bucket of mussels that I ate.

It was a great weekend. Next weekend, Simon’s parents are coming to Paris.

This weekend we went to the south of France to celebrate Simon’s birthday with some friends. We were able to visit the island of Porquerolles while we were there. It’s where Simon and his family used to spend their summer holidays. Beautiful island. We hiked up a hill to see a bit of the island. This is the view of the beach from the top. It was so nice out, at least at the beginning…

Found a cactus on our way to the beach…

Just as we got to the beach, clouds started coming in and the sun disappeared behind them It even rained on the ferry ride back!

Seeing as there was no more sun, I spent most of the time picking up rocks and pebbles from the beach to put with my bamboo plant at home. Simon and the others were brave enough to go for a dip in the water…the cold water…but I was content with my rock collecting.

It must be peonie (or pivoine in French) season, because I’m seeing them everywhere! This is a florist at the entrance of Lafayette Homme. I passed by on my way to the Paolo Nutini concert.

These are the pretty peonies I bought at the market on Thursday. There’s a market just across the street every Thursday and Sunday, and I was able to make a quick run on Thursday because it was a holiday here. I think they’re my new favourite flower. They’re so pretty!

On the way to shopping today, I was quite happy to finally see an ad for Hocus Pocus in the metro. They’re a hip-hop jazz group I discovered in 2003, and I absolutely love them. They were independent before, and now they’re finally with a record company that I’m hoping will get them the media coverage they deserve. An add on the door at a metro station is a good start! We’re going to see their sold out concert on May 31st. I can’t wait!

Further into the metro station, I met up with Kylie. Apparently she loves H&M. There are a lot of brands getting celebrities to say they love them lately…Mila loves Mango, Scarlett loves Adidas. And now Kylie. What’s with that?

I read about a bubble tea place in Paris months ago, and today we finally went and got some. It’s called ZenZoo, and their bubble tea is excellent. I wonder if there are any other bubble tea places in Paris…

With matcha bubble tea in hand (Simon had taro), we went across the street to Square Louvois to rest my feet. This is the pretty fountain in the middle of the square, which apparently was where there used to be the 8th opera room in 1793. People used to watch Mozart’s enchanted flute where we were chowing down on our tapioca balls. So crazy!

On the way home, we stopped by a Japanese grocery store and picked up some soba noodles. So simple and so good. All you gotta do is boil them and rinse them in cold water, and sprinkle seaweed on them. Wow, I’m such a good chef!