http://trufflesforbreakfast.com ...in which two dreamers simplify their lives and move to Paris Wed, 25 Mar 2009 20:09:27 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en A little over a month ago, I received an email message from someone who identified herself only as "Miss Lunch." Apparently she'd found out from reading this blog that we live in Paris and like good food, so she wanted to let us know about her new project Lunch in ... http://trufflesforbreakfast.com/2008/11/08/lunch-in-the-loft/ Back in January, when I first heard about the Camille Claudel exhibition planned for April through July at the Musée Rodin, I knew it was something I had to see. I've been fascinated by Claudel ever since I saw the 1988 film Camille Claudel, starring Isabelle Adjani in the title ... http://trufflesforbreakfast.com/2008/07/18/no-room-at-the-exhibition/ As a service to proprietors of eating and drinking establishments (whether in Paris or beyond) I offer the following common, but still pertinent, observation: sometimes it's the little things that impress us (your customers) most. Case in point: this afternoon Joe and I spent a few hours at a café ... http://trufflesforbreakfast.com/2008/07/11/hot-air/ Today is the one-year anniversary of our move to Paris! We celebrated that tiring, stressful move across the ocean by undertaking a tiring, stressful move across the city to a new apartment. We've got some recuperating ahead of us, but other than that, we're still very happy to be here, ... http://trufflesforbreakfast.com/2008/07/02/one-year-in-paris/ We'd been in need of a new bathroom scale, so yesterday we headed to a local Darty, a chain of stores with a selection somewhat like Best Buy---appliances, electronics, and suchlike. I was expecting this to be an extremely simple operation: pick out a scale, take it to the register, ... http://trufflesforbreakfast.com/2008/05/19/how-to-buy-something-at-darty/ The French expression for "no kidding" is sans blague (literally, "without joke"). Since blague sounds pretty much like "blog," it makes for a nice little bilingual pun---bloggers = blagueurs (jokers); hence the name of our friend Meg's blog, Le Blagueur à Paris. Anyway, we've been sans blog here for a while, ... http://trufflesforbreakfast.com/2008/05/19/sans-blague/ Today was going to be an exciting day anyway, because in a few hours Morgen and I are leaving for a one-week trip to Spain. We'll be in the town of Marbella, on the southern coast, just a short drive from Gibraltar---which we might also visit. Perhaps we'll even get ... http://trufflesforbreakfast.com/2008/02/22/social-security-and-spain/ I was awakened this morning (that would be, er, yesterday morning, as I'm writing after midnight) by the doorbell, but I only had 30 seconds to be grumpy about it. It was the mail carrier, delivering my French driver's license (two signatures required for delivery). Back when I passed my ... http://trufflesforbreakfast.com/2008/02/16/drivers-license-arrived/ It's a sad day in Paris. A landmark dating to 1831, and one of our favorite places to immerse ourselves in decay and general weirdness, was severely damaged by fire yesterday morning. Deyrolle, the taxidermy shop and walk-in cabinet of curiosities, was the site of a major blaze yesterday morning ... http://trufflesforbreakfast.com/2008/02/02/fire-at-deyrolle/ Today is---or rather yesterday (the 9th) was, since I'm writing this after midnight Paris time---my 41st birthday. This evening Morgen and I went out for dinner with some friends at a fantastic Indonesian restaurant near Les Halles, Djakarta Bali. I thought that was appropriate given that this time last year ... http://trufflesforbreakfast.com/2008/01/10/a-terrific-birthday-present/ Well, I'll say this much: La Poste is running efficiently this week. It took just 24 hours for the post office to deliver the results of yesterday's practical driving exam. I passed! In fact, it appears from the notification as though I got a perfect score. Now I just wait ... http://trufflesforbreakfast.com/2008/01/05/passed-my-road-test/ Having passed the notoriously difficult written portion of the test for my French driver's license a few weeks ago and spent several further hours behind the wheel with an instructor from the driving school by my side, I was finally able to take my road test this morning. It was ... http://trufflesforbreakfast.com/2008/01/04/possibly-almost-licensed/ Well, I've been living in interesting times. Less than a month ago, Morgen and I were wondering whether we were going to have a dull Christmas, since our budget was, shall we say, not conducive to travel (or bringing family members here to Paris). We were, however, looking forward to ... http://trufflesforbreakfast.com/2008/01/03/new-years-update/ Not technically France-related, but pertinent to the title of our blog, is the news that an enormous white truffle was dug up in Tuscany last week. Weighing more than three pounds (almost 1.5 kg), this pungent monster may break the Guinness World Record for largest truffle. In a classy move, ... http://trufflesforbreakfast.com/2007/11/30/truffle-for-breakfast-lunch-and-dinner/ Apologies to those of you who have seen this, but I just read about the growing number of Complaints Choirs worldwide, which are just what they sound like, choirs which sing a litany of complaints set to music. The genesis of the idea came from two Helsinki artists who were ... http://trufflesforbreakfast.com/2007/11/20/harmonious-complaining/