Monday was a day filled with food. Craving tacos my friend
(who writes What’s Up Paris and knows all the cool new spots) and I met up at Mamacita and discussed election protocols over quesadillas and hibiscus agua frescas. At 6pm we hosted Aussie friends for an apéro dinatoire and at 8pm the babysitter arrived (booked before the apéro plan was arranged so my husband and I could do date night, and I need to stay in her good books) so we opted to skip dinner and go for a long ice-cream walk along the Seine and check in on the Olympic preparations that are popping up at speed.
Having passed the theory test for both river and sea boat licences, on Thursday afternoon I pulled up at Port de l'Arsenal in Bastille to do my practical session, and was soon cruising down the Seine in charge of my own little naivre. I went forward, I went backwards, I picked up items dropped in the water, I parked and the instructor soon confirmed that I was a natural (😉) and approved my licence for processing, so iI’ll only be responding to Captain for the foreseeable future.
After 8 years of living around the corner, and following a lengthy renovation, I finally visited Musée de Cluny – Musée National du Moyen Âge which is perched on the site of ancient Roman baths and filled with treasures from the middle ages and spanning 1000 years of history. There’s a cute cafe in the courtyard where I didn’t have time to stop but the food looked surprisingly good, and it’s worth the visit alone to see the artist’s take on a lion in the famous Lady of the Unicorn tapestries.
After stalking the website for a few weeks I snagged a resale ticket for Swan Lake at the Opéra Bastille and took my place on Wednesday night. I’d originally had a ticket for Saturday the 13th but will now be away… so instead of selling it I’ll be giving it to a paid subscriber this week and if you’d like to go in the draw leave a comment below (before Wednesday) and I’ll include you! In all honesty it’s a cheap seat in the nosebleed section but the show is incredibly beautiful and the building is well designed so the view is unobstructed.
Poor Noisette went to the dentist this week and refused to speak to me for several days afterwards, eating a few of the children’s toys in silent protest. The bright side of the situation was that I got to visit my favourite Parisian cat who lives there and side-eyes anyone who dares to approach. I myself am also looking for dentist recommendations so if you know of a great one (experienced, old school etc) please email me!
Our in-laws came to celebrate our daughter’s birthday and spend some time with the kids before we head off on holidays, which meant the opportunity for a long family lunch of apéro, steamed trout with green beans, coconut rice and a ginger & lime dressing, followed by cheese. We finished up with her cake request, a heart shaped pavlova with chocolate sauce (finding creative ways to use up
’s leftovers) berries plus singing and candles.
We set out early Sunday morning to vote (again) and I was delighted to see our local butcher Serge manning the polling station, who let both small kids put a ballot in the box. We went about our day anticipating the results at 8pm when (most of) the country breathed a sigh of relief, with the far right coming third behind the new left coalition and then Macron’s centrist party. There will be a bit of a bun fight for the next week as everyone decides who’s who in the zoo but that’s it for elections for a while now, as they can’t call any more for at least a year.
Have a great week,
- Emily
Cheese we’re eating this week:
Tomme aux fleurs sauvages - a pasteurized cow's milk cheese that’s rolled in a mix of wild flowers after a few months of maturing, which gives it a gorgeous floral aroma.
Comté - a semi-hard cheese made from unpasteurised cow’s milk from the Jura Massif region of France, this one was aged 24 months.
St Marcellin - a wonderful small soft cow's milk cheese named after the small town of Saint-Marcellin.
All three cheeses were from Manu at Marché Maubert.
Lime & Ginger Salad Dressing/marinade
This dressing works so well on fish, meat (I’ve marinated a whole roast chicken in it), salads, vegetables, anything you can thing of really. We fight over the last drops.
2 tablespoons lime juice
1 tablespoon fish sauce
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 inch of ginger, grated
Mix together until the sugar is dissolved. Adjust lime/sugar to taste.
Bon appétit!
Real Life Paris Photo
The polite queue for a photo with the Olympics sign in Jardin du Luxembourg.
P.S. Thanks to your new subscriptions last week I was able to donate over €100 to NHS Charities Together who provide funding for over 200 NHS charities across the UK; supporting hospitals, mental health, community and ambulance trusts.
Sometimes I think “ I don’t have time to read this” but when I do I giggle all the way through, Captain. 🧑✈️
How wonderful to finally visit Musee de Cluny - especially since the (rather lengthy) renovations. We have visited twice - first in 1985 and then a few years later and then it was closed for the work. I recommended it to friends who were visiting Paris in early June. They had never heard of it and were totally thrilled by it. I didn't tell them that in the 80s one could wander around up very close to the fabulous tapestries and practically breathe on them! (but you could also walk around touching the stones at Stonehenge too in those days). I am glad to hear that the tapestries are very well restored and protected theses days. 🦄