0 AGRAFEUSE!

 Today's post was supposed to be on STAPLERS not strawberry tartes but c'est la vie. A stabler is an ESSENTIAL to bring to Paris but no one bothers to tell you. I ordered this petite pink beauty from Amazon.

  When I saw the French word for stapler (agrafeuse) in Baldwin's I Love Paris But bla bla on page 60 I was thrilled.

"I'd also learned the French word for "stapler" - agrafeuse- because Olivier hadn't understood me when I'd asked to borrow "la stapler," so he taught me its gorgeous name, which sounded to me like an expensive motorcycle."

 Wherever and whenever you use your credit card in Paris they give you a bunch of receipts (resu/ticket).

If you don't carry your own stapler or know how to ask them kindly SVP to staple the damn%$#@ things together, you'll end up with your bag full of paper end of day.

"and when I couldn't remember agrafeuse, I'd mimic clenching my hand, as if squeezing a stapler, or a hand exerciser. Which confused Olivier. The first time it happened, he pulled out a hand exerciser from his bottom-left drawer and told me to keep it."

 This happened more times than I like to admit.

When people would say, 'Oh you mean une agrafeuse'

I hadn't a clue how to spell it or pronounce it.

This is why you need that notebook to write new words down along with your own stapler.

 What I bought at Fauchon.

 These macarons are all gone now.

 I should have bought Fauchon's adorable 3-4-5 minute timer (15 euros) to cut back on time spent reading emails...c'est comme ca.

 I write in my notebook dishes I liked and sometimes how to pronounce them. Wait staff will usually help you with this.

 Brenda introduced me to cafe Tribeca on rue Cler, where hitherto I'd refused to eat.
I did not come to Paris to eat at a place called 'Tribeca'!

 But they have the BEST salade de saumon au sesame (pronounce that Zez-Zam) (12 euros).
Now I have to eat here every visit.

 They also just happen to have glasses.

 That look exactly like my red glasses from Cote vue!

 You may have noticed the bebe sketches in my notebook.

 Parisian Alex asked me to draw her darling bebe Julietta for a christening announcement.

 Rather brave of her since I mostly draw cats and dogs.

I'm pleased to announce I'd love to paint your baby!
Please contact me for more info.
Meanwhile I'll be sketching babies like mad on the metro.