0 Color in Paris

 Oh the weather outside...

 Is frightful.

Well it has been in Paris for the past week, rain, rain, rain and going forward more rain.

 Is that why there are so many lashings of color scattered about like these colorful ballards near a kid's playground on rue du Bac?

 Colorful chaises sit out cheering one on as you wait for the #96 bus in the Marais. Merci chaises!

 Wildly colored legs I don't know where..?

 Bright plastic bagues/rings in the 11th.

 Same shop womewhere on rue Oberkamph had this Fab bracelet.

 Fauchon can always be depended upon for serious lashings of color. Merci Fauchon for brightening Parisian's grey days.

 Colored dots galore.
Why not wear them if your feeling bleu?

 Paris grey/gris skies require au nom de la Rose for uplifting bien sur.

 A hopeful shop window in the upper Marais.

 I fell in love with this primary-colored kid's book, Couleurs Du Jour by Kveta Pacovska.

 It's a 2 1/2"  accordian thick book that opens both back and front = tons to look at and not a word written.
Who could resist?
I didn't. 

 A very narrow but bright little shop in the 15th.

 Can you tell I LOVE French kid's books?

A how-to for kids, How To Raise Father
!!!

 Multi-colored tulip gelato from Amorino - yogurt, framboise, pistache, cafe = HEAVEN!!

Go paint Paris any color you want (but gris/grey) with this watch by AKTEO France Espace AKTEO "A vous de plaire" Champs Elysées

24 rue Marbeuf - 75008.

Hope the weather changes soon Paris!

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.

0 Paris Pink roses

 Paris pink teatime...

 So many roses yesterday...

 On Valentines Day - these are from Dani Costes Dani Roses...

 Roses + macarons at Cafe Pouchkine = parfait.

 The color pink/rose pops at Jean-Paul Hevin macarons...

 Pink/rose gateaux at La Grande Epicerie de Paris - a kind of fraisier...

 Pink stripes at Parfum Annick Goutal...

 More pink stripes at les Bonbon stand at Metro l'Odeon

 How girly can you get?

 You can not think pink without mentioning...

 Fauchon - Queen of rose/pink.

 Pink/rose is what little girls/les petites filles are made of...

Bonjour Pink/Rose!

0 ECLAIR PLAQUE CHOCOLAT!

L'eclair ordinaire is a staple of French pastry...
Eclair aquarelle...
You almost never see an eclair lurking at Pierre Herme but they adorned his window in October...

Perhaps because they adorn his new book, one even caterpillar-like.

Eclair recipe books are hot hot hot in Paris!
Edible pansys on your eclair? go for it.

Make your eclair look like sushi? Pourquoi pas?

Fauchon's master chef, Christophe Adam has a new eclair book out...

Fauchon is showing a Paris Brest eclair...

But the newest twist/tendance on the eclair is an added plaque or flattened layer instead of the usual slather of icing found at Arnaud Lahrer.

Hugo et Victor's eclair not only has an added plaque chocolat but is slit down the middle of the pate chou pastry with the filling exposed. Naughty!

I bought one of these but forgot to shoot the obligatory cross-section view. Heck! Still the thin chocolate layer adds a touch of crunchy contrast to the soft mush of the inner filling and isn't as sweet as usual.

Angelina has adopted the new 'plaque' look in white chocolate...

As has Un Dimanche a Paris...

Here's the 'New York' DIY eclair I can do without the twist...ahem
BONJOUR ECLAIR PLAQUE CHOCOLAT!