Archive for May, 2011

Parade!

Tuesday, May 31st, 2011
Facebook Twitter Linkedin

On Sunday, I blogged about the carnival that was held at Square de la République in the city of Montreuil. From 10:00 a.m. until noon, children and adults were arranging their costumes and painting their faces in preparation for the big parade that would follow. From noon until 2:30 p.m. they enjoyed yassa (chicken cooked with onions) prepared by Moussa Doucoura and Fatou Ba and played carnival games.

At precisely 2:30 p.m., people began moving out of the park and into the street where, under police escort, they followed a circuitous route through the city, returning to the park. I recorded two videos: the first shows them moving out of the park, and the second shows them marching about midway through the course.

I hope that you enjoy watching these videos as much as I did in taking them!

A Lady Named Hawa Walking Alongside the Parade Route
(c) Discover Paris!

The Parade Route

Girl in Costume
(c) Discover Paris!

The marchers returned to the park, where the party and concerts continued into the evening!

I mentioned in the post on Sunday that the festival was organized by Sacamalices 93. This is a community association founded just a few months ago in the memory of Jean Acamas, a community organizer and activist who passed away in 2007.

The goals of the association are fourfold:

  • To create a network of solidarity between the residents and people who frequent the neighborhood.
  • To promote social and cultural diversity.
  • To empower the residents so that they can improve their living environment.
  • To develop the exchange of acquired knowledge.
  • The association sees the carnival as one way of bringing residents, business owners, neighbors, and visitors together to achieve its objectives and simply to have a day of fun. They hope that their efforts in spreading conviviality and joy will endure, and they are looking forward to holding another festival in 2012.

    * * * * * * *

    Like our blog? Join us on Facebook!

    Carnaval! Carnival!

    Sunday, May 29th, 2011
    Facebook Twitter Linkedin

    Carnival and parade were themes for a marvelous party held under sunny skies at a shady park called Square de la République in the city of Montreuil today. I first learned of the event when I was searching the Internet for the performance dates of a fanfare funk band called Tarace Boulba, and learned that it would be performing at the parade.

    I arrived at the square at around 1:00 p.m. and entered into a beehive of activity. There were little kids running around in face paint and costume and playing old-fashioned arcade games whose names I didn’t know. There was a table set up where yassa (chicken cooked in onions) was served with white rice. And there was a stage where musicians were setting up for an evening performance.

    All of this was organized by an association called Sacamalices 93. One of the adults present told me that the carnival had not been held for several years because of lack of funding. But they made up for it this year!

    At 2:30 p.m., kids and their parents, most in colorful costume, lined up, ready to march into the street under police escort. The fanfare funk band took its place at the head of the line and the parade started off through the streets of Montreuil. A second brass band followed at the rear of the parade.

    What fun!

    Danielle - Secretary of Sacamalices 93
    (c) Discover Paris!

    Moussa Doucoura and Fatou Ba - The Cooks
    (c) Discover Paris!

    Parent and Child Playing Carnival Game
    (c) Discover Paris!

    Spiderman and Pal
    (c) Discover Paris!

    Kids Playing Carnival Game
    (c) Discover Paris!

    Girls in Colorful Costume
    (c) Discover Paris!

    Girl in Costume
    (c) Discover Paris!

    Simon Getting Ready
    for the Evening Performance
    (c) Discover Paris!

    * * * * * * *

    Like our blog? Join us on Facebook!

    The Monster Bloggers’ Meet-up and Tweet-up Is Now History!

    Friday, May 27th, 2011
    Facebook Twitter Linkedin

    Bloggers and Tweeps
    (c) Discover Paris!

    The for-the-first-time-in-all-of-human-history Monster Bloggers’ Meet-up and Tweet-up was held in Paris yesterday. A good time was had by all!

    Convened at Chez Lili et Marcel, a café-restaurant located on the quai d’Austerlitz across the river from the Ministry of Finance, twelve Anglophone bloggers and tweeps came together to exchange stories and talk about this and that.

    The following is a recap of some of the things that we discussed:

    Robyn Blaber of A Canadian in Paris recounted the travails he endured to obtain a visitor’s visa from the French authorities so that he could move to Paris. With that agony behind him, his next challenge is to find an apartment to settle into. Lots of luck, Robyn!

    Karin Bates-Snyder of An Alien Parisienne told the group that she began blogging about Paris to document her gluten-free life here and to get out and see more of the city.

    Laura Collier of Context Travel stated that she came to Paris to study for a Master’s degree and talked of her interest in sustainable travel.

    Jenny Sundel of Jesus Year Project told me that she decided to move to Paris in the 33rd year of her life. She doesn’t seem to have regretted this decision!

    And we, Tom Reeves and Monique Y. Wells of Paris Insights and Entrée to Black Paris, talked about our “Paris Was a Woman” walk, which we will soon offer to the general public, and the soon-to-be-published abridged edition of our book Paris Insights – An Anthology.

    Others in attendance were:

    Sion Dayson: Paris Imperfect
    Richard Nahem: Eye Prefer Paris
    Ann-Marie Nolan: Like Home in Paris
    Elinor Browne: Like Home in Paris
    Joshua Smith: The Controversial Manual
    Jenny Sundel: Jesus Year Project
    Nikki Bailey: Yahoo Travel

    Yetunde Oshodi of Feels Like Home in Paris has already reserved Sunday, June 19th as the date of a tweet-up to be held at the Cook’n with Class cooking school in Montmartre.

    Robyn Blaber - A Canadian in Paris
    Monique Y. Wells - Entrée to Black Paris
    (c) Discover Paris!

    Laura Collier - Context Paris
    Richard Nahem - Eye Prefer Paris
    Joshua Smith - The Controversial Manual
    (c) Discover Paris!

    Nikki Bayley - Yahoo Travel
    Sion Dayson - Paris Imperfect
    Karin Bates Snyder - An Alien Parisienne
    (c) Discover Paris!

    Elinor Browne - Feels Like Home in Paris Apartments
    Ann-Marie Nolan - Feels like Home in Paris Apartments
    Tom Reeves - Paris Insights
    (c) Discover Paris!

    Joshua Smith - The Controversial Manual
    Jenny Sundel - Jesus Year Project
    Robyn Blaber - A Canadian in Paris
    (c) Discover Paris!

    * * * * * * *

    Like our blog? Join us on Facebook!

    Tasting Single-origin Coffee at the Brûlerie Artisanale

    Wednesday, May 25th, 2011
    Facebook Twitter Linkedin

    Brûlerie Artisanale
    (c) Discover Paris!

    The Brûlerie Artisanale is a coffee-roasting facility located at 7, rue du Rendez-vous in the 12th arrondissement of Paris. As well as fresh-roasted coffees, the shop sells a great variety of teas, chocolates, and confections. The proprietors are a husband and wife team; their names are Jacky and Clotilde.

    Clotilde, who hails from Spain, took time to tell me about their selection. Many of their coffees are single-origin, including beans from Colombia, Nicaragua, Honduras, Haiti, Hawaii, and New Guinea. I selected 250 grams of whole-bean coffee from the Dominican Republic, selling for 21.60€/kilogram. The chalkboard on which they had written descriptions of the different coffees indicated that the flavor of the Dominican Republic coffee was “intense” and “explosive,” with notes of “prune and zest of citrus.”

    Back home, I brewed the coffee in my French press. Upon tasting it, I found its flavor robust and intense. The aroma of the coffee is quite sweet, and while I agree that it has the fragrance of prune, I could not detect zest of citrus. Nonetheless, it is a smooth, rich, and fully satisfying coffee.

    Jacky (left) and Clotilde (right)
    (c) Discover Paris!

    Jackie told me that he roasts his coffees until the beans display the color of “robe de moine” (medium roast).

    The Brûlerie Artisanale is a great place to shop for small gifts of chocolates and confections to take to the folks back home, as well as for single-origin coffee from different parts of the world.

    Bonne dégustation!

    * * * * * * *

    We participate in Wanderfood Wednesdays. Head over there to explore food from around the world!

    Like our blog? Join us on Facebook!

    Big Bash on the Seine Last Sunday Night

    Tuesday, May 24th, 2011
    Facebook Twitter Linkedin

    The Brothers Paris Spring Gala "AllStars" Band
    From left to right:
    Nicholas Horton, guitar; Hervé Samb, guitar
    Sonny Troupé, drums; Allonymous, vocals
    Mike Amoogum, bass; Toli Nameless, trombone
    Jerry Leoni, keyboard
    Video courtesy of Discover Paris!

    A fantastic party took place last Sunday night in the French capital on the Seine River. Organized by The Brothers Paris, a group of African-American men who live in the City of Light, the event lived up to its high hopes and expectations.

    Called “The Brothers Paris Spring Gala,” the party took place on a barge located directly across the river from the new Fashion and Design Center. It began shortly after 8:00 p.m. as guests arrived to take their places around dinner tables for a delicious three-course meal. Live music started almost immediately, with top-level bands and singers belting out rhythms until around midnight. After that hour, recorded music took over for dancing until 2:00 a.m.

    Long-time Paris resident Tannie Stoval was inspired to organize The Brothers Paris shortly after the Million Man March that was held in Washington, D.C. in 1995. He began inviting African-American men who live in Paris to his place for dinner and conversation, and this private, weekly event has become a tradition. Many years later, the group is still going strong, and it recently decided to organize an open event to celebrate African-American culture.

    And celebrate it did, in art, poetry, and music!

    Master of Ceremonies Christopher Nisperos
    (c) Discover Paris!

    Guitarist Nicholas Horton
    Singers Nat Jones and Joseph Langley
    (c) Discover Paris!

    Artist Ealy Mays
    (c) Discover Paris!

    Singer Enricque d'Shawn
    (c) Discover Paris!

    Trumpet Player Rasul Siddik
    (c) Discover Paris!

    Writer and Film Maker David Burke
    and Gospel Singer Linda Lee Hopkins
    (c) Discover Paris!

    Bluesman Juju Child
    (c) Discover Paris!

    Left to Right: Gospel Singers Tori Robinson,
    Unknown, Linda Lee Hopkins, Alex Sanders,
    Richard Allen, and Sylvia Howard
    (c) Discover Paris!

    Watch the 36 minute video produced by Joseph Langley:

    Chef Tsukasa Fukuyama of A & M Restaurant

    Wednesday, May 18th, 2011
    Facebook Twitter Linkedin

    Chef Tsukasa Fukuyama
    (c) Discover Paris!

    Chef Tsukasa Fukuyama hails from Osaka, the third largest city in Japan. At the age of thirteen, he became aware of French cuisine while watching a television show on the subject. This became his passion, and after formal training in a cooking school in Japan, he traveled to France, seeking work in the restaurant trade.

    After working at a number of restaurants in Paris, he was eventually asked to join two other chefs in a partnership to open A & M restaurant. Chef Fukuyama has been the head chef there since the year 2000.

    We recently enjoyed dining at his restaurant and have written an extensive review of our experience there.

    Access to the review is by paid subscription to our newsletter Paris Insights. Click here to read a brief summary of the April edition, and here to enter a subscription.

    Bonne lecture!

    * * * * * * *

    We participate in Wanderfood Wednesdays. Head over there to explore food from around the world!

    Like our blog? Join us on Facebook!

    Visit to a Chocolate Shop

    Wednesday, May 11th, 2011
    Facebook Twitter Linkedin

    We stopped by Mococha, a chocolate shop located at 89, rue Mouffetard, and made a short video about the owner, Marie, and the chocolates that she sells there.

    * * * * * * *

    We participate in Wanderfood Wednesdays. Head over there to explore food from around the world!

    Like our blog? Join us on Facebook!

    Tasting Tapas at La Table des Anges

    Wednesday, May 4th, 2011
    Facebook Twitter Linkedin

    La Table des Anges
    (c) Discover Paris!

    One of the advantages of writing about restaurants is that I occasionally get invited to restaurant openings. On the evening of Friday, April 29, La Table des Anges hosted such an event for journalists and my partner and I attended.

    Although the formal opening took place that night, the restaurant has already been open for about five weeks. At the opening, we had the occasion to speak with Jacques-Henri Strauss, one of the partners in the enterprise. He told us that the restaurant plans to serve three types of cuisine: vegetarian (inspired by Indian and southern French foods), traditional French (leg of lamb, beef-carrot stew, and eventually ham on the bone from Eric Ospital, whose company is renowned for its pork products), and what he called “discovery” (food from the Middle Ages and earlier times, molecular cuisine, foreign cuisines such as Indian curry…).

    Inside, the restaurant displays bare-stone walls; a light-toned wooden-plank floor and wooden tables; figurative, semi-abstract art on the walls; and fabric-covered benches. The dining room and bar are located on the ground floor. An open kitchen and two large tables for dining are located downstairs. Jacques-Henri told us that tapas will be served downstairs, whereas traditional dining will take place on the ground floor.

    The Kitchen of La Table des Anges
    (c) Discover Paris!

    While we conversed with Jacques-Henri, we were served four kinds of tapas. One was a triangular-shaped brick pastry folded over goat cheese and spinach. Another was a crescent-shaped pastry that contained sweetened ground meat. The third was a breaded ball containing cod and potato; and the fourth was a cube of Spanish tortilla containing egg and potato. All of the tapas were appetizing. We noted, in particular, that the cod in the breaded ball did not have a fishy taste, attesting to its freshness.

    For the wine accompaniment, we were served first a glass of Picpoul de Pinet – Domaine Val Grieux, a white wine from the Languedoc region. Following this, we were served a glass of red Zinfandel from Agnes’ Vineyards in Lodi, California.

    One of the four partners in this enterprise is Denis Robin, CEO of the restaurant chain Pain Quotidien, a restaurant at which we have had the pleasure to dine on several occasions. Based upon what we saw and experienced Friday evening, we believe that La Table des Anges has great potential for becoming a restaurant for informal dining on fine fare.

    The restaurant is located at 66, rue des Martyrs (metro: Pigalle, lines 2 and 12) and is open from Monday to Saturday from 9:00 a.m. until midnight. Open for brunch on Sunday.

    * * * * * * *

    We participate in Wanderfood Wednesdays. Head over there to explore food from around the world!

    Like our blog? Join us on Facebook!

    Big Tweet-up Under Sunny Skies Last Sunday

    Tuesday, May 3rd, 2011
    Facebook Twitter Linkedin

    Last Sunday more than twenty persons met on the upper terrace of the café 25° Est to enjoy mild weather, sunny skies, and scintillating company!

    Here are photos of the event:

    Lindsey Tramuta, Kathryn Reichert, and Lisa Gironda
    (c) Discover Paris!

    Elinor, Milla Msa, and Leila Florentino
    (c) Discover Paris!

    Lelia Florentino, Marlys Schürmann, Karin Bates Snyder
    (c) Discover Paris!

    Lisa and Nikki
    (c) Discover Paris!

    Forest Collins and Erin Czarra
    (c) Discover Paris!

    The following Tweeps enjoyed the beautiful day on the terrace:

    Monique Y. Wells – Entrée to Black Paris
    Lisa Gironda – @BunnyTheCat
    Kathryn Reichert – @KNReichert
    Lindsey Tramuta – Lost in Cheeseland
    Yetunde Oshodi – Like Home in Paris
    Forest Collins – 52 Martinis
    Emma Bentley – liberté, égalité, crème brûlée!
    Eric Fraudeau – Cook’n with Class
    Karin Bates Snyder – An Alien Parisienne
    Marlys Schürmann – Paris Movie Walks
    Leila Florentino – Leila’s Photos & Stuff
    Nikki Bayley – @nikkibayley
    Jennifer Geraghty Jennyphoria
    Linda Donahue – Parisien Salon
    Jody Israelshy – @jodyparis
    Gail Boisclair – Perfectly Paris
    Erin Czarra – @ecinparis
    Milla Msa – Not Just Another Milla
    Stephanie – La Belle in France

    Thanks to Kathryn Reichert and Forest Collins for organizing this magnificent Tweet-up!

    Paris and its Trees

    Sunday, May 1st, 2011
    Facebook Twitter Linkedin

    Judas Tree at Champ de Mars

    We are pleased to announce that the feature article “Paris and its Trees” for this month’s Paris Insights was written by Jamaica-born artist and writer Alecia McKenzie. She has worked for the New York Times Regional Newspaper Group, the Wall Street Journal Europe, and CBS. Her new novel Sweetheart will soon be published by Peepal Tree Press.

    Access to the newsletter is by paid subscription. Click here to view the newsletter announcement. Click here to enter a subscription.

    Bonne lecture!

    * * * * * * *

    Like our blog? Join us on Facebook!