Can I tell you a few somethings about Paris?
Balloons, cherries, fashion, friends — there are worst places to be "stuck" than this city I love
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Bonjour! Bonjour!
Yes, I was supposed to be back in America, reunited with my little family. But nope. In fact, we were supposed to fly back on June 25, then because of some medical stuff, our trip got bumped to July 4. But while I’m making steady progress and feel good, I’m still not flyable, and so we’ll be here for a few more weeks.
As with just about everything that happens every day, there’s a good news/bad news story. Since Michael and I adore living in Paris, needing to stay longer is the good news. But the bad part — aside from my health — is the ache of being away from the children. As wonderful as FaceTime calls are — I love when one of the girls says, “Grandma, can I tell you something?” — nothing beats a real hug in real time in real life. Sometimes I wake up in the middle in the night and realize that I’ve dreamed that I’m hugging them. Separations are hard. But they also give us time to collect stories that we can share when we’re together again. They give me the chance to say to Gemma and VV, “Can I tell you something?” Now I’ll have even more to tell them as I gather “bonus” memories over the next few weeks.
Can I tell YOU a few somethings?
Can I tell you about all (well, some) of the things I meant to tell you about while they were happening? About the things that tickle at the edge of my memory and make me smile weeks later? About things that have passed, but that you might still enjoy on the page or when you find yourself in Paris a little while from now?
Catch these if you can
The Olympic Caldron, the creation of Mathieu Lehanneur, has returned to the Tuileries and will live there in majesty until September 14. Michael and I walked over one night after dinner — in June and July, lift off doesn’t begin until 10:30 pm — and were thrilled by the sight. As it started to rise, you could hear a gentle gasp ripple through the crowd. It feels magical. We stayed for about an hour and then, as we walked home, we kept looking over our shoulders to catch the ballon’s quiet beauty peeking over the Louvre. For now, it looks like the caldron will be on view every summer until the 2028 Olympics begin.
The huge David Hockney exhibit at the Fondation Louis Vuitton has drawn crowds from around the world and with good reason — it’s stunning. More than that, it’s joyful. I don’t think I’ve ever been to a show where people are so happy! Hockney at 87 is an inspiration and reminder to be open to all that’s new and to find beauty in the everyday.
In fact, that’s almost the “motto” of Tous Leger, a small show in the intimate Musée Luxembourg. Fernand Leger said “le beau est partout” — beauty is everywhere — and the exhibit proves it. The show is thoughtfully curated to help bring to light the broad influence that Leger had on other artists. I loved the juxtaposition of an Yves Klein sculpture next to a Leger painting.
And finding a huge Keith Haring in the mix was a delight. There’s a photo booth at the entrance to the exhibit and it produces portraits in the style of selected artists. I’ve done it twice and can’t quite find myself in either, but here’s an image of me in the style of Leger…
and another in a pop-art style from an earlier Gertrude Stein/Pablo Picasso exhibit.
When this picture came out of the machine, I was shocked — it could have been a portrait of my mother!
After the museum, treat yourself to a stop at Angelina (it’s just in front of the museum) — their pastries are all beautifully made. And while they’re famous for their Mont Blanc (a winter sweet made with chestnut puree), I love their éclairs.
When a museum offers a show about fashion here, it’s usually great. I’ve loved every exhibit I’ve seen at the Palais Galliera, the museum devoted to fashion, and the blockbuster fashion and jewelry shows at the Musée d’Arts Décoratifs. With such wonderful places to see and learn about fashion, it’s not surprising that La Grande Dame of Parisian museums, the Louvre, which opened in 1793, has never mounted a fashion exhibit. But history changed this year, when the museum unveiled Louvre Couture, Art and Fashion: Statement Pieces. It is a show that only the Louvre could have curated, since, rather than building a special space for the clothes, the curators chose to put the mannequins in the middle of some of the museum’s most exquisite rooms. As you walk through the galleries, each piece surprises you as much for where it is living for the moment as for the clothes’ exquisite design and craftsmanship. It may have taken a few centuries for the Louvre to decide to give couture fashion a home, but it was worth the wait.
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Cherries!
We were in Paris long enough to see the market stands go from strawberries to cherries. Cherry tartlets glistened in pastry shops and turned up as dessert in restaurants.
We had a beautiful tartlet at Calice, where it was accented with pistachios and finished with pretty little meringues and a few oxalis leaves.
And a stunning financier at the Halle aux Grains, the Bras restaurant in the Bourse de Commerce/Pinault Collection. While almonds or hazelnuts are the usual nuts in a financier, this one was based on squash seeds and topped with three museum-worthy cherries that were given provenance on the menu: they came from Yannick Colombie. Having nothing to do with cherries, I also loved the peanut cookie topped with caramel corn.
A morning at The Ritz
As a superfan of the remarkable François Perret, who has been the pastry chef at The Ritz for 10 years (although he just announced that he’ll be leaving in August — no future adventure announced just yet), and a devotee of the Comptoir, The Ritz’s casually elegant stand-alone patisserie, I was kid-in-the-candy-store delighted to learn that the Left Bank was getting its own Comptoir. Located on rue de Sèvres, just across the street from Le Bon Marché and La Grande Epicerie, it’s a beacon of deliciousness.
I was lucky enough to spend a morning with the chef — who is as adorable and kind as he is talented — tasting some of his newest pastries and chatting about the thinking behind them. We made a series of little videos together and I’ll be sharing them with you during the summer. In the meantime, here’s a little dip into the archives for some BTS at The Ritz.
Chatting with David Lebovitz, everyone’s favorite friend in Paris, and meeting up with David and Jane Bertch
Were you one of the hundreds of people who, when you found out I live in Paris, asked me, “Do you know
?” Well, I do. And yes, he’s terrific! I was so happy to spend a little time with David in his sunny kitchen recording for his podcast. Take a listen here. We skipped all over the place, from baking tins to tonka beans, M&Ms, vanilla and favorite pastry shops. And while I’d hoped to bring something homemade for us to nibble during our talk, I never quite got to it, so I turned up on his doorstep with a sack of treats from Pierre Hermé, always a good thing and, as it turns out, on point: we kicked off our conversation talking about the work I did with the man who’s been called the Picasso of Pastry (great moniker, isn’t it?). Here’s a picture of us taken in David’s backyard — I always forget how tall he is (or how short I am).
Then, a few weeks later, I jumped over to La Cuisine to visit with David and my friend, Jane Bertch, La Cuisine’s founder. David was signing The Sweet Life [Bookshop / B&N / Amazon], L’Appart [Bookshop / B&N / Amazon] and My Paris Kitchen [Bookshop / B&N / Amazon], and Jane was signing her memoir, The French Ingredient [Bookshop / B&N / Amazon]. (Are you subscribed to David’s Substack? And to Jane’s Substack? Of course you should be!)
I don’t know why book signings in Paris seem more like a party than most signings in America. Do you think it’s the wine? Remember the fun (and the wine) when Lindsey Tramuta was signing her Eater Guide to Paris [Bookshop / B&N / Amazon] at The Red Wheelbarrow Bookstore here?
And speaking of meetings and Substack writers
Even though it was a million degrees in Paris the evening that
, a co-founder of Substack, invited a bunch of us writers for a little dinatoire at Le Cornichon, dozens of us turned up and no one wanted to leave. There’s really nothing as exhilarating as being in a room full of talented writers. Nothing. I meant to take pictures, but I didn’t. Thank goodness Augusta Sagnelli did. Thank you, Substack for giving my work a home and for creating such a splendid international community. Also, thank you Substack for finally giving me the chance to meet Lauren Collins (I just finished re-reading her book, When in French: Love in a Second Language [Bookshop / B&N / Amazon]) and to re-meet .
There’s more – but not now
I’ve got more I want to tell you about, including my chance meeting with the Proust Sisters and my friend, Jennifer McLagan’s amazing Pavlova (recipe to come). I’ll leave you with oysters. For me, a long-time oyster lover, and for Michael, who finally came around to loving them (and like so many converts to so many things, now can’t get his fill), one of the unexpected pleasures of life in Paris is the ease with which you can just settle into a place and order up a dozen oysters and some cold white wine. Two of my favorite places for the freshest spur-of-the-moment oyster fests are the venerable La Rotonde on the boulevard Montparnasse and the minuscule Poget et De Witte on the Ile Saint Louis. I love Régis l’Huitrerie — lucky you if you nab a table (there aren’t many and they go fast). And it’s hard to beat L’Ecailler du Bistrot Paul Bert for oysters straight from the source: Gwen, the proprietor, is the fifth generation to farm Cadoret oysters — I love that she calls her family sea-farmers (you can read about my visit to the oysterie here) and that the L’Ecailler now has its own swell t-shirt and Bistrot PaulBert (its sister restaurant) has a scarf with drawings by Patrick Pleutin.
Sip, slurp, share, read, cook, bake, giggle and have fun. Summer is here — as the French say, “Profitez-en!” Enjoy it!
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On the theme of costume exhibits: the Worth show at the Grand Palais is lovely; the Paul Poiret show at Musee des Arts Decoratifs is even better. PP invented the "catwalk" -- who knew? And the garments are stunning. My buddy and I contemplated a heist (but our desire to avoid prison prevailed.) As always, your newsletter is a joy.
So sorry to hear that you’ve been unwell. I was hoping to be in Paris this week to see the Hockney exhibit, but my own health issues put the kibbosh on that. Fingers crossed that it comes to America. Wishing us both speedy recoveries so we can get back to the people and activities we love.