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No knocks on our door yet, and it’s almost midnight, so I guess all this candy is for us!  To be honest, I totally forgot it was Halloween today - it’s not that big here.  But I’m making up for it now by eating these yummy marshmallows (or “shamallows” as they’re called here).  Yummy!

Last weekend we went out to eat at a restaurant that specializes in south-western French cuisine called Chez Papa.  This region of France is famous for dishes like magret de canard (duck breast), cassoulet (a sort of bean stew), and my fave, confit de canard (duck cooked in its own fat…I know, sounds greasy, but it’s really good!).  I had the cassoulet to see what it was like (very filling).  And for apéro, a sangria seasoned with espelette pepper (another specialty of the region).   It pretty much tasted like a normal sangria.  As did the chocolate espelette pepper ice cream I had for dessert.  But the main dish was really good, and the ambiance was cool.  A little restaurant with long tables.  A couple of guys ended up sitting at our table, and we could hear everything that they were saying, so when they started talking about Brittany, Simon put in his word.  And we even shook hands with “Papa”.  Or at least we think it was him.  He looked somewhat like the guy in the restaurant window, and he went around to shake the hand of everyone in the restaurant.  Thanks for letting us know about this place Mr. Wu!  It was great!

Meet Fauchon’s Printemps/Eté 2008 eclair collection!

These cakes look too good to eat!

And for information, the store at place de la Madeleine has been newly redesigned. Gotta love the trademark pink!

At “Les Mouettes” restaurant at Larmor Plage in Brittany.  I ordered the magret de canard (duck breast).  So good!  We had such a wonderful view too!  Our table is pictured in the “diaporama 2“.

On Friday we went out to use my “tickets restaurants” at a Korean bbq restaurant across the street from Sapporo on rue Sainte-Anne, near Opéra. We had the set menu, soup, salad, rice, and 100g of beef. And kimchi tofu for starters. I realized after that we could gotten the bbq assortment or 400g between the two of us instead. It would have been a better deal. Anyway, the meal was pretty good. The service was pretty bad. And we came out of there smelling like bbq!

Yesterday we took a little “pause” at Kusmi Tea in the Saint Germain neighbourhood. Having already tried the Prince Vladimir before, we decided to try the Algothé (mint seaweed green tea) and Vert Bouquet (flowery bergamot green tea). You probably guessed it, but the second was better than the first! In any case, the place was nice and cosy, the deco was well done (the washroom was probably one of the nicest i’ve seen in a while). It’s very “design” as they say. It was a bit pricey (6 euros for a tea which makes about 3 cups), which I think pays more for the Bodum cups, the clay teapots, and the tulip designer chairs than for the tea itself, but it was a nice place to take a break.

If you ever come to France and you see “Boudin Noir” on the menu, be sure to ask what it’s made of before you order!

These are a couple of the new Orangina ads, which I find quite vulgar. The theme is basically a bunch of half naked party animals.

I don’t know about you, but I just find this totally NOT hot!

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!