A Fork And A Suitcase

I got so busy with my Parisian posts that I forgot to write about my dinner at Contra a couple of weeks ago.  This restaurant, which opened in 2013, was totally not on my radar, so I was glad to try it when my son chose it as a place for his birthday dinner.  We booked it two weeks in advance since it does get a bit difficult to get in with shorter notice, and walk-ins usually get seated at the bar, which was not optimal. Contra is located on a fairly quiet section of Orchard street, one that has yet to be filled with boutiques, coffee shops, and a hip ice cream/crepe/pho/dumpling place. The pleasantly designed, and intimately lit restaurant is long and narrow, with exposed brick, concrete floors, wooden tables, and an open kitchen. The tasting menu changes every few days, and includes six courses ($74), with an option of adding cheese ($14) and wine pairing ($60). The house-baked piping hot sourdough bread arrived in a bowl along with a separate butter

After visiting the spectacular pastry shop of Yann Couvreur I decided that what he needs to do is move to NYC.  Anywhere in New York City.  I would schlep to Brooklyn, Bronx, the Lower East Side,  or wherever he would like to open a pastry shop.  As a pastry junkie I thought that I died and went to heaven, when I tasted the first spoonful of one of Yann's pastries. My first time visiting Yann Couvreur patisserie was in July, a few weeks after he opened his new place on rue des Rosiers in the Marais.  I have been back a few times since then, and had a chance to taste different delicacies as the flavors changed with the season. Large windows and doors give the patisserie an open feeling.  The sea-green boxes which sit on the display cases add a nice pop of color to otherwise muted tones of stone, wood, and copper.  Lovely green plants hang from the shelves, which are suspended from the ceiling. Each day there are about ten different pastries, a few flavors of pound cake

   Paris, oh la la, Paris.  There is no place like it in the  world; I feel so alive, so blissfully happy when I'm in Paris.   While it's lovely when we have concrete plans for the day, like going to a museum, a  gallery, or shopping for something specific, some of my favorite times in Paris are when we just wonder through the streets and make wonderful discoveries.  Years ago, after strolling through the beautiful Palais Royal gardens, we passed an ornate set of wrought iron doors, we ventured inside and found ourselves in one of those covered passages.  Once upon a time there were hundreds of these wonderful shopping arcades scattered throughout Paris, now only a couple of dozens remain. Galerie Vivienne, the prettiest of all the passages, originally named Marchoux, was built in 1823.  The name was changed to Galerie Vivienne shortly after the passage opened in 1826.  This shopping arcade was very popular with the upper class since it afforded an opportu