bio brunch

Because Cheri is on a health kick I took him to brunch at le Pain Quotidien this afternoon to celebrate his birthday. On the menu was:

fresh squeezed orange juice
cappuccino for me, chocolate chaud for him
granola and yogurt
brioche, croissant or pain chocolate
a bread basket with accompanying raspberry and cherry jam or chocolate to spread
an œuf a la coque
and a salad with cheese and meat or salmon

There was so much food it wouldn’t fit onto our tiny window table so the waiter wrangled a chair for the overflow. Wedging savory between courses of sweet is my favorite way to brunch so I started with the pain chocolate, best ever!, then ate the salad and cheese and finished with yogurt and fruity jams on bread. Everything was organic and delicious.

The atmosphere is rustic and noisy. Large tables are shared between parties and the bakery sells breads and spreads to take. Arriving just before noon we beat the rush. Brunch runs 23 euros a head. I think I’ve found my new favourite resto!

http://www.lepainquotidien.com/

Remedy for Springtime Blues

One stop at the boulangerie for a sweet snack in a paper sac.

One leisurely bicycle ride along the Seine.

Sunshine on my cheeks, frogs croaking, flowers in full bloom, worries dismissed.

Hearing different languages, being introduced to cultures, acknowledging their values, and looking into people's eyes will change your outlook. To me the world seems a little smaller, my woes trivial in comparison to some.

6 Billion Others

The atmosphere at dusk inside the exposition resembled a fair ground, the Grand Palais illuminated in a candlelight glow by chandeliers dangling from long ropes of cord. I warmed my hands on a gifted cup of mint tea and settled on a wooden bench inside. Each of the dozen yurts posed a different question: What are you most afraid of? What is your first memory? How can you sustain love? Standing before the camera those people of the world seemed much like me. I marveled at the beauty of others that were terribly different and could have spent all day in the company of so many strangers.

An abbreviated version of 6 Billion Others available online. Invited to become a part of this social study, a web cam awaits your monologue. I scribed a first memory into the guestbook.
http://www.6billionothers.org/index_en.php

With everything dusted in white, winter is for building snowmen and throwing snowballs but I'd rather be inside.

I take pleasure in rifling through the contents of dusty old boxes, sifting treasure from trash. I’ve come to know family I’ve never met through photographs.

Specimen of years I wasn’t born to see, I admire their costumes and the mask of their expressions.

Monday La Defense

exiled to the corner
window on the dusk
clouds hung like frothed milk

din of the coffee machine
cloaks jazz and conversation

green straws
whipped cream
a worn burgundy armchair

tea spicy and warm
a favorite indulgence

leaving bird's nest offices
suits patter by
pointy-toed italian shoes

girl by her lonesome
is this seat taken?

remember to avoid eye contact
he is eager to find an excuse
cheeks flush pink as my sweater

Cesar's Pouce

These sculptures have long since departed,

art in Paris, especially sculpture, being very transient.

Fete de Ganesh

Shopkeepers swathe the parade route on Rue Philipe de Girard in garlands of flowers spelling out their welcomes to the elephant-headed Ganesh. As the god of wisdom he distinguishes good from evil and assures success to worthy enterprises. Here offerings of fruit and incense are sold on silver trays outside an Indian market.

Chanting and dancing in the streets, Hindou devotees from the temple Sri Manicka Vinayakar Alayam carry flags, wear totems of fruit and feather, and balance candles atop heads.

A medicinal smell is dispersed as women tear camphor leaves from the wreaths they wear to smudge in the flames.

Bare feet tread the rinsed streets of the Paris quartier "Little Jaffna."

Powdered spices paint a street mandala.

Outside shops selling gold jewelry and silken saris, makeshift altars are erected where clouds of incense smoke surround statues posed above piles of bananas and limes.

Ganesh leads the way.

Before his feet, piles of coconuts are smashed in the streets as an offering of heart. The round of the shell represents the world, the flesh of the fruit-karma, and water-the ego. The large shards are gathered and dispersed throughout the crowd to pick coconut meat from the shells.

Read more about the fete here