Thursday, December 31, 2015

Korea Now

You're wondering what is she up to now?
Well you have exactly THREE days to get to KOREA NOW at Arts Decoratifs.
Last day - January 3rd. I just discovered this magnificent exhibit on Tuesday. Don't this red dresses
Look like Coco Jobart's styled glasses of Ispahan rose?
Traditional Hanbok dresses, the basis for many contemporary designs. Design, craft, design, fashion and graphic design in Korea As part of the France-Korea Year the Arts Décoratifs museum presents this exhibition which brings together more than 700 works of art by 150 Korean artists, designers, fashion designers, graphic designers and craftsmen. Arts décoratifs museum, September 19, 2015 – January 3, 2016
Korean children's traditional dress.
The symbolic colors of Korea, including black, each imbued with special meanings for special occasions.
Traditional headdresses yet wildly contemporary.
Old woodblock prints of traditional hairstyles.
How do I find Vogue Korea?
The images are otherworldly 
So imaginative.
Designer Jin Teok uses white as her source of inspiration.
As a child she was Inspired by her brother's shirt drying in the sun.
Her pieces capture translucency and grace.
You can see more pictures on FLICKR of KOREA NOW.
There was even a BEAR in the graphics area.
2016 may be the year of the bear. I have to check...
BONNE ANNÉE et BONNE REVEILLON Parisbreakfast readers!
And get to Korea Now if you can ;)

Monday, December 28, 2015

What I ate, did during the Holiday, January Bear Paris Letter

Adventures at Picard produced little lobsters from Canada (7,95)! Nice try Picard. Give me a Maine lobster onsite anyday.
Picard's escargot (2,95€) on the other hand are excellent. Nice butter sauce with plenty of garlic. I can highly  recommend if you're a 🐌 fan.
The French Love exotic fruits for the holidays. Every year I attack the litchis. They are 4€ a kilo bought off the branch.
Foie gras tastings even at Monoprix and darn good.
Why ever did I buy just this tiny jar of abricot/pain d'epice chutney (2,95) to go on top the foie gras? Gone in an instant.
A terrific, easy recipe for duck breast (magret de canard)..the perfect Christmas dinner in my opinion if you're in France where magret is abundant.
Fancy grey shallots from the Coqs d'or salon were on hand. But balsamic vinegar was not, so I used vinaigrette packets saved from salads in the fridge. I also blotted off some of the excess duck fat.
Otherwise I followed the recipe to the letter. The minced shallots came out perfectly caramelized and crunchy. Tout va bien.
I've been dying to try La Grande Epicerie's gateaux de Noel of passion fruit and caramel (7€). The caramel was too sweet and overpowered the passion fruit. Verdict: save your € and get 3 Pierre Herme Mogador passion fruit macarons instead.
Christmas eve anyone could walk into the new Star Wars movie and not wait in line. So much waving around of that light saber I thought I was back in front of Notre Dame. I didn't make it to the end...ahem
Bears of Paris and Strasbourg have taken over Parisbreakfast HQ.
My print shop announced they were closing for the holidays until January 4th. I had to work like this wind-up painting monkey from the Tomi Ungerer museum through Christmas with breaks for luxury food. See above. Pas mal.
Did you see this viral drawing by Dudolf?
'Find the Panda'.
Bears are everywhere.
Bears stepping out in Paris.
I found a postcard in August and decided it would be perfect for the January Sketch letter. Just turn the cupids into snowmen.
But bears won the day. Especially when a ladder-climbing bear showed up on Google.
Doodle-di-do = celebrating bears.
No attack bears from The Revenant were invited to my New Years bear party.
Party hats? Yes for girl bears. Thank you Elle Magazine.
More bear doodles
And plenty of bonus bear watercolors for any new subscribers and those owed their renewal watercolor.
You can see the full Sketch Letter on Etsy.
January Sketch letters are all mailed out.
And yes I found gingersnaps in Paris at Marks and Spencer's.
Eureka all around.

Thursday, December 24, 2015

Garlands of Strasbourg

Christmas garlands (les guirlandes) are the rule in Strasbourg like at Patisserie Christian.

Look up!

You'll find them hanging above the ground floor (not to be confused with the FIRST floor in French buildings.

Don't ask me why they place them here.

Even a petit chalet in one of the 11 Christmas marches has a garland of hanging balls.

Gold chairs hanging...why? Quit sait.

White is the color of choice generally.

But this stocking shop went for scarlet red.

When in Strasbourg wear RED including your shopping trolley.

Red hanging garlands inside a little cafe.

Traditional evergreen garlands hung outside the little restaurant where I had lunch, Vince' Stub, 10 petite rue des dentelles. I ate roasted magret de canard (duck breast) topped with foie gras + a glass of Reisling. Talk about going over the top. Travel Advisor rates it 10 out of 1,174 restaurants by the way so get a reservation.

After I fell into this ice cream parlor and promptly went to sleep at my table. Zzzzz. I got up, sleep-walked out, leaving my iPad on the table. The nice waiter came running after me. Merci Dieu!

Does a 'garland' of buskers singing in front of the cathedral count?

Inside the cathedral beautiful garland-style decorations hang from the chandeliers.

Hanging decorations inside patisserie Christian's courtyard.

The Strasbourg tree in the main square is the biggest in Europe.

The toy village at its base had this little kiddie fascinated.
Even the Strasbourg train station makes departing a festive occasion.
Bye bye Strasbourg!