The Tiara Room
Monday was an easy start to the week as in order to avoid the Sunday Scaries we stayed in St Remy another night, taking in a morning swim and lunch in the village on the way to the train. France has shown almost no interest in a four day workweek but I’m convinced if they just tried it they’d change their minds.
I’m in awe of the number of places
manages to try in Paris so when we were planning lunch I let her choose and was rewarded with excellent cucumber soup drizzled with ginger oil and miso grilled aubergines, plus a perfectly made matcha cortado. As two working mums the conversation was mainly tips for wrangling children all summer long before the school holidays start, with an occasional eye roll at the heatwave.
It got so hot towards the end of the week I caved, bought some goggles and a swimming cap and went to the art deco Piscine Pontoise to do some laps. The glass roof makes it feel a little less “indoor pool” and the cute changing cabins give it a vintage feel, although you have to flag down someone to open the door when you’re done so patience is required.
After years of waiting patiently a good Pilates studio has finally opened nearby so if you saw me out in public in leggings no you didn’t. Early for a class I moseyed through a pottery festival happening across the road and am now dreaming of one of these pieces by Elise Lefebvre on our walls.
On Friday I jumped on the first train to London and on arrival headed East to the new V&A East Storehouse, an incredibly cool new working museum where you can see behind the scenes and browse over 250 000 objects, 350 000 library books and 1 000 archives from the V&A’s collections. Bigger than 30 basketball courts and built in the old 2012 Olympics Media Centre I had the run of the place when I arrived at 10am and spent a happy hour browsing, before a little sit in front of the biggest Picasso in the world. From art to food I then dashed straight to lunch at Los Mochis with a friend and out to kiss my niece, who’d accommodatingly just learnt to say my name.
On Saturday I was at Portobello Road buying Wedgewood vases and marble barometers at 8am, at Libby’s for all the gluten free treats by 9, on a bus to Paddington station by 10 and on the new Elizabeth line out to Cliveden House for a friend’s birthday lunch by 11. We were given a fabulous tour of the house (now a hotel) famous for its notorious parties which brought down at least one government, and then settled in for lunch at the Astor Grill (the name a nod to it’s previous owners, you might have heard of them) for an afternoon of food and laughter.
On Sunday I had time for breakfast with my brother and sister in law before lining up at the V&A Cartier exhibition, just in front of a woman who berated the staff for daring to let her in at 10.03am when her ticket was for 10. “Don’t condescend me!” she shouted as I asked how she could be angry with so many diamonds nearby. The exhibition was glorious, especially the tiara room where my socialist ideals went straight out the window and I imagined marrying a prince.
Then it was back to Paris quick sticks in time for my daughter’s ballet recital, where among a sea of flowers and swans she was a little monster. Loved it.
Have a great week,
- Emily
Cheese we’re eating this week:
Mini-clac - a firm little cheese made from raw goat’s milk.
Maroilles - a very fragrant cow's-milk cheese made from northern France with a washed rind and delicious flavour.
Pelardon - an unpasteurized, soft-ripened goats cheese from the Languedoc region, with a thin, wrinkled rind covered in a white mold.
All three cheeses were from Manu at Marché Maubert.
Real Life Paris Photo
Don’t wait to use the good stuff.
That was indeed a great lunch together. Especially on a hot as hell day!
You are so lucky to have a good Pilates studio available. My friend and fabulous trainer of 20 plus years closed her studio last year.