Sassiland

Happy Birthday to Me

My birthday was yesterday, and it turned out to be quite a nice day.

I had trouble getting myself out of bed in time to make it to the flea market at Vanves.  Many of the stallholders were packing up as I was strolling around, but I did get there in time to pick up a few things (mainly for others), but including a 5-euro enameled pitcher, just the color I've been wanting, to use as a vase.  And then my friend Carole very conveniently bought me a lovely sunny bouquet for my birthday, so it got put right to use!

My parents sent me a lovely card, which you can see there; and my friends at work bought me TWO birthday cakes.  I didn't get a photo of the pink one, which we enjoyed with champagne at work on Friday, but here is the one my friend Abby brought me:

I mean, I feel it's far too chic to cut into!!   How amazing is it?!

My boss bought me a box of macarons from Gerard Mulot -- 24 caramel.  This stems from a joke regarding the macarons he buys each year for our kick-off-the-year representational party, where we invite our contacts to start off the school year -- known as the rentrée here in France.  He carefully chooses the flavors he wants, and the first year, said order excluded caramel macarons, which are my favorite.  I complained of discrimination, so on my birthday he brought me a box exclusively of macarons (evidently the lady at the shop, when he asked for this, said "ONLY caramel?" in disbelief).  It's a sweet and lovely gesture and means you can share with abandon, because you don't have to worry about others eating all of your favorite flavor -- your favorite flavor will still be there!!

Then some friends of mine from work treated me by gathering together in my neighborhood last night before Marco and I were going out for birthday dinner.  This was especially meaningful, as I hadn't mentioned my birthday to any of them ahead of time -- they only found out the prior day at lunch.  Because, of this group of five, we had just celebrated the birthday of one December 19th, the second was December 25th, and I just feel guilty mentioning/expecting to be celebrated so soon after the holidays when everybody is partied out; I didn't want to make it feel compulsory, so I hadn't mentioned it.  But because my boss got together this celebration for work on Friday, of course they found out.  Next thing I knew, one had insisted that we get together for drinks, so they came to my neighborhood and we shared a couple of bottles of champagne ... and they arrived bearing gifts besides! (A way to make me feel additionally guilty -- I was just so touched they were taking time out of their Saturday to come my way.)  So that was very very sweet, and really touching.

Then Marco and I went for dinner, to l'Ecailler du Bistrot, for seafood.  We had some wonderful oysters to start, and then each of us had a half a lobster for dinner.  The bizarre thing, to me, was that the restaurant didn't distribute the bibs we get used to in the States, and the whole thing made me want to bring Marco on vacation to Boston and Maine.  We had a simple burgundy that was nice.

My nieces called to wish me happy birthday, we skyped, and of course Facebook and email brought well wishes from near and far.

So, a lovely birthday it was, and now I guess I'd better go see what that elegant cake looks like inside!  Purely disinterested research, I assure you!

 

 

End-of-Year (oops, it's January 2nd) Reflections

Speaking of which, would have been Grandpa's birthday today.

 Well, I've failed to do this end of last year (working 7 days a week will do that to you).  But I'm getting back up on this horse.

1. What did you do in 2011 that you’d never done before? Coordinated the Embassy's 4th of July party (a mere 3,000 guests).  Worked a presidential visit (to Cannes for the G20 in late October-early November).  Enjoyed a granita. Or several, as the case may be.

2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year? ha.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth? Yes, Andrea.  And on Christmas day, Millie!

4. Did anyone close to you die? I hadn't even met her yet when little Madeleine Grace Wilczynski Alonso left this world on May 5th.  She passed away a couple of days short of her two-month birthday from complications from hypoplastic left-heart syndrome.  She fought and fought, but no heart came in time.

5. What countries did you visit?  I don't think I was anywhere but France, Italy, and the U.S. (not that that's so shabby!).  We made our (my) first trip to Sicily, which was pretty cool (but sadly shortened by Marco's kidneystone attack 15 minutes before the taxi was coming us to take us to the airport on our originally planned departure date).  And Spain of course for Maddy's funeral. 

As far as vacations, Mara and I went to the Loire Valley in April and did not just chateau-ing, but also wine-tasting.  We had a really wonderful time and had one tasting experience inside a cozy wineshop during a pouring rain with a producer who turned out to be friends with a Parisian friend of mine and Marco's.  The guy's wife was super charming too.  Just one of those magic moments.  I went to Basque country, St-Jean de Luz, for some respite after the July 4th celebration, and Marco and I went to Sicily, Calabria, and Naples in September.  And then the States for Thanksgiving. 

6. What would you like to have in 2011 that you lacked in 2010?  Sadly, three years later, a couch remains on this list.  (See my list from 2008 here).

7. What dates from 2011 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?    July 4th (actually July 7th) because of said fête.  I started to say Feb. 28th, my last day at WH Smith, but a look at my planner shows me that my actual last day was Feb. 20th -- so I guess that wasn't actually "etched" too deeply.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year? Surviving running the July 4th party.  Working seven days a week for nearly a year -  from the beginning of May 2010 through the end of February 2011  - and not losing my mind.

 9. What was your biggest failure?  Failing to anticipate and keep out the floozies at the 4th of July.  (Not real floozies, Disney performers.  Still, who knew that Disney dressed up anyone practically like floozies?)

10. Did you suffer illness or injury? Nope.

11. What was the best thing you bought?  Our bed.  No more of that crappy mattress up in the mezzanine at our old place.  Our dishwasher.  Sigh .. .our dishwasher.  Our full-sized fridge!!! We have all these miracle appliances now, you see.  And bookcases!! We have bookcases . . .I have books -- on display . . .that I can see . . .or reference.  What a wonderful world this is.

12. Whose behavior merited celebration?  That of my cousin, who faced up to a very tough situation and liberated himself from it.  A mere half year later, he's in a whole better place.  My brother and sister-in-law, who packed up themselves and two girls to fly to Oklahoma for Thanksgiving when they heard we were coming (not easy or cheap!).  Our new friend Florence, who took care of Mr. Gogo when we went on vacation (twice).  My third-grade teacher, Carol Dillard Davis, who traipsed around Paris in the pouring rain on a one-day trip.  And especially Andrea, for making it through every one of the more than 240 days that have passed since she last held her daughter.

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed? DSK. And the self-censorship of the entire French political and media establishment during his rise to power.

14. Where did most of your money go? Rent! This is a good thing.

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?  Getting to see my family at Thanksgiving.

16. What song will always remind you of 2011? Can't think of any.

17. Compared to this time last year, are you: (a) happier or sadder? (b) thinner or fatter? (c) richer or poorer? (A) happier (b) fatter (c) about the same.  A little poorer I guess since I don't have my WHSmith income but believe me that's worth it for the extra time -- i.e. weekends.  Although I do miss working in that shop and still go at least twice a week, sometimes more. 

18. What do you wish you’d done more of? Sewing.  My friend Carole gave me a sewing machine, and I've gotten started a bit.  Creating in general.

19. What do you wish you’d done less of? Snacking.

20. How did you spend Christmas?  Marco and I had Christmas Eve dinner here at the house; starter of champagne risotto, followed by scallops with black truffles, and finishing up with caprini de speck with truffle sauce.  And buche de Noel.  Then for Christmas Day, we went over to Vasco's house for a ridiculous Christmas-lunch-turned-karaoke-session.

21. Did you fall in love in 2011? Nope.

22. What was your favorite TV program?   The Mentalist.  The only thing besides Monk that Marco can get me to watch with him. 

23. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?  Nope.  Hey, that's pretty good, for me!!

24. What was the best book you read? This is an unwinnable tie between the The Hare with the Amber Eyes by Edmund de Waal and How to Live:  A Life of Montaigne in One Question and Twenty Attempts at an Answer, by Sarah Bakewell.  Both of these books were superb -- so full of erudition but so clear and easy to follow.  When I finished the Montaigne biography, I picked it back up and started reading it again, it was so good.  And I want the illustrated version of the de Waal -- how it would enhance the story, which goes from Belle Epoque Paris, to Nazi Vienna, to mid-century Tokyo . . . etc etc.  

25. What was your greatest musical discovery?  I'm no musical discoverer, sadly.

26. What did you want and get? A nice apartment!!

27. What did you want and not get?  A nicely decorated, non-cluttered apartment.

28. What was your favorite film of this year? Hmmm, I was really off to a roaring start when I saw two movies in the first two months of 2011 - The King's Speech and some French film with Benoit Poolevorde and Isabelle Carré.  But then I didn't see any others.  Oh wait, Happy Feet 2 in November.  The King's Speech was excellent, but it's not like it had much competition from all the rest of my viewing.  

29. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you? That's a year ago, how am I supposed to remember!  Ok, according to my planner, I took the day off work, took myself to lunch at a Thai place in the 18th and for cupcakes at Berko, then moseyed around the fabric shops in Montmartre.  Then I went to aforementioned French movie, which it turns out was called Emotifs Anonymes  (the two meet when she goes to work for the repressed gentleman in his chocolate factory. Of course she ups the elegance of his chocolate, he realizes too late he's in love with her -- after she's already felt rejected . . .blah blah blah).

30. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying? A lesser amount of crap in my home.

 31. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2011? Jeans and a t-shirt.

32. What kept you sane? Moving out of the 200-square-foot hovel where we'd lived the previous 2.5 years.

33. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most? Colin Firth, I suppose. 

34. What political issue stirred you the most? Obama's cession to the Republicans on budget and spending issues. Democrats should have the moral high ground -- Bill Clinton being the one who got us on track to reduce the debt, and George Bush having driven spending back up -- but Obama let the Republicans paint the Democrats as tax-and-spenders, and didn't seize the lead on so many issues he should have. 

35. Who did you miss?  I miss everyone. Hello --- I live far away from most of my friends and all of my family!  But especially these two: 

36. Who was the best new person you met? Kira, an Italian woman I met on Christmas day with her partner Fulvio at Vasco's.

37. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2011. Would that I would learn something and then apply it.

38. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year.   Don't you get that I'm not a song person? 

 

Our "new" building -- dates to 1937, if I remember correctly (I'll check the date tomorrow morning when I walk out to go to work!).

 

That's our apartment where the curved concrete balcony extends all the way across (i.e. there are no iron balconies).  Our apartment is the first three windows on the left (you can just see the spiky railing separating ours and our neighbors' apartments to the right of our third window).  We're up on the 6th floor European, 7th American.

The view looking down from our front balcony to the street below.

 

 

The view from our bedroom (on the back side of the apartment).  The foreground is a park and bocce playing area.

 Oops, of course we're in pétanque country here, not bocce . . . (same game, different names in different countries).  Seriously, they have tournaments down there -- PA systems and everything!

A Couple of Christmas Follow-Ups

Here's the baby Jesus, in his manger . . .

 

 

And here's a cross-section of the buche de Noel (which I certainly did not make and happily bought at the fantastic patisserie down the street).

In case you're wondering, yes, it was every bit as tasty as it looks!!!  The little part spouting off is where there was a branch sprouting off the buche.  I mean, this is versimilitude!!

 

My Walk to Work

This is what I see after I come up from the metro and walk the rest of the way to the Embassy (a couple of very long blocks):

 

My personal view of the 21-acre Place de la Concorde, the largest square in Paris, and the site of the US Embassy (although it's not visible in this photo). 

That's the 23-meter tall obelisk from the temple of Ramses II to the left (it's only almost 3,500 years old); one of the 'cities of France' statues on her pedestal with her back to us; a certain Eiffel project in the far distance, and you can just make out the silhouette of the Fountain of the Rivers to the right of the Eiffel Tower.

When I took this photo, I was basically standing in the far-right corner of the first photo on this page, looking out onto the Place.

I come up from the metro just to the right of that photo, and then walk along those two long buildings to the Embassy at the far left end.

Just part of my commute every morning . . . .it's deceptively calm here.  The evenings this week, Paris is more packed than usual with tourists who are here for the fêtes  -- end-of-year festivities.  Making it back down the sidewalk in the evenings is a bit of a challenge.  And one is always inevitably walking in front of someone trying to take a photo .. . .

Now it's the long weekend for New Year's, hooray!

 

 

Christmas in Paris . .

Okay, let's see if I remember how to do this . . . 

 Christmas Eve is here in Paris; the sun is totally down now, the Christmas tree lights are on, as are the mantel lights (what?! I have a mantel, you say?).  My friend and former typing teacher Jane Hall had asked me to share a few photos of Christmas in Paris, so here you go.

First of all, I took an illegal photo inside the Embassy of our large Christmas tree there.  Apparently over the past few years, a hue and cry had been building against the artificial tree that was put up for a few years.  So last year, we went back to a live tree, and the tradition continues.  (You might see old George Washington himself there in the stairwell to the right.)

 

This thing must be 18-20 feet high, I don't know exactly how tall the ceilings are there.  The weird thing is that the smell doesn't seem that noticeable when you come in in the morning, but if you're ever up on the first floor, heading down the hallway to the Ambassador's office, the pine scent starts becoming more and more intense. It's as if it is funneled up the stairway and around the corner. Bizarre, but nice.

 

So I left work (I think this was Tuesday night), and the biggest illuminated object evident is the huge ferris wheel at the Place de la Concorde, at the foot of the Champs-Elysées and the head of the Tuileries Garden.  I have yet to ever ride on this thing, I'm embarrassed to say.  Every year I say this is going to be the time.

Then I walked up the bottom portion of the Champs-Elysées to take a few photos of the Christmas market (marché de Noel) that they've installed there the past few years.  Honestly the idea of going to a Christmas market on the world's busiest boulevard doesn't exactly appeal to me, I'd prefer to go to Strasbourg (or hey, Vienna, or Nuremberg) any time.  But you can get all your best made-in-China products right here outside the Embassy while sipping your vin chaud (hot spiced wine) and eating a crepe or two.

They have absolutely RUINED the atmosphere along the Champs this year as far as I'm concerned with these new bizarre concentric circle lights around the trees -- they look more Jetsons than Paris.  Up until this year, there were beautiful golden lights draped on the trees and they made a beautiful sight.  This just looks cold and lame.

Fortunately, the avenue Montaigne and rue du Faubourg St-Honoré, among others, have kept more traditional lights, and look much jollier.  Of course I didn't have my camera with me when I was on either of those recently!

Then this morning while doing my morning marketing, I took a few photos around the neighborhood to give you a sense.  Here's our amazing bakery/sweetmaker, Yann Chantrelle.  Note the line coming out the door.  I stood in line twice here today, it's completely worth it.  The ornaments adorning the building look black, but they're really dark purple (hi Santa, I need a new camera, just kidding).

And the reason I went today the first time (and yesterday morning before work):  Buche de Noel!

With all these tempting beauties of all different flavors, how does one decide?  Well I wanted one looking a little more log-like (since that IS the origin of the buche, after all).

You see how they've scored the frosting on these and built knotholes and everything? And in fact, those evergreen sprigs are real!  I bought a coffee-flavored one to share at work yesterday, and bought a small chocolate one for me and Marco to share tonight.

On down the street (the rue de Rendez-vous in the 12th arrondissement, if you're curious).

The fishmonger sets up an auxiliary stand in the parking space just in front of his shop to sell the oysters that are so popular with the French at the holiday time of year.  This year, however, they're even more expensive than usual -- a problem that was already present but will be exacerbated by the grounding of a ship off the Breton coast last week.

To the right is the actual shop, where they are selling fish, scallops, etc. etc.  All he has over there is oysters!

At the church down the street, they've got a Nativity scene outside (they're also piping out music).

Look closer, and you'll notice something that I'm starting to get used to. It seems strange to our North American eyes, but if you think abou it, it makes sense.

There's no baby Jesus in the manger!  What kind of nativity scene is this, you ask.  Well, since Jesus wasn't born until Christmas (it is the celebration of His birth, after all), he doesn't appear in French or Italian creches until Christmas day.  The first time I went to Marco's parents' for Christmas I found this so strange -- when we decorate for Christmas, we put it all out.  But I guess it is actually truer to the story to wait.  I'll go back by the church tomorrow to take a photo of the baby once he arrives.

The window of the "maraicheur" (fruit and veg stand) is decorated, wishing us happy holidays . . .

As is a chalkboard outside the traiteur (deli) . . .

People are busying buying the necessities for tonight's reveillon (the huge Christmas Eve feast)

 

And even the wine for sale in front of the wineshop is nestled in evergreens.

I think that's about it for the neighborhood.

As for our home, I had the privilege of going home to OK for Thanksgiving, so I was able to bring back some of my precious Christmas ornaments.  Not too many, but enough to make our house a home. This is the first Christmas tree we've had since we were married.  The other apartment was simply too small.  Even though I had to move some things out of the way, and the tree I got is really too big for our space, I'm so happy to have it.

Probably two of the ornaments that hold the most meaning for me are these two:

My Aunt Betty (my mom's sister) painted them for us years and years ago.  The blonde little angel was supposed to represent me, and there is a corresponding brown-haired little boy angel for my brother.  She used to do a ton of painting of ceramic items, and she was so painstaking and so talented that each piece is really beautiful.  She did lots of others, and a huge Santa and Christmas tree for my mom and my grandmother, so these two little pieces remind me of our family and our Christmases in New Mexico with my maternal grandparents and cousins.  That was Christmas growing up for me, the day-long drive there, what seemed like agonizing waiting for the big evening to come, then even more agonizing waiting as my cousins went to their other Grandma's for their Christmas Eve, and then their glorious return when we gathered I don't know usually 20 people in that living room and tore through presents -- none of this one-at-a-time for us!!! The photos of all those gatherings are imprinted on my mind, and we were always happy there.  Anyway, a little trip down memory lane with these ornaments.

Then of course there's one of my mom's cross-stitch creations.  She made lots of beautiful things too - I have a red wooden bell shape that has a cross-stitch picture of a caroler and "Sleigh Bells Ring" as well as grapevine wreaths (how appropriate!) with a church, or a sheep, etc. etc.  My mom also is very talented and painstaking, so we have lots of beautiful things that she has made over the years too.  These are ornaments that were with me in my adult life after college, so they've lived with me too in DC, in Massachusetts, in France, but I'd been separated from them since they were packed up in January 2008, so it's nice to have them back again.

A carved bird from Slovakia from my friend Kassie . . .(with a clothespin soldier that my mom did with either our Sunday school class or Girl Scout group as a craft) . . .

 

Felt ornaments from Hungary to remind me of my times there . . . plus a gingerbread man stocking from Liberty in London and a sheep from maybe a former piano teacher? I don't remember the exact origin of this sheep.

 

A painted cookie that I bought in Strasbourg some years ago (I bought several, including a santa, a tree, a painted horse, etc etc) . . .

a little nativity scene, an ornament of which I love the simplicity -- a horse cut out of music, simply tied with red, and a painted ange

The tree as a whole (yes we still have too many boxes for people who moved in here in April) . .

It's far from being the most glamorous tree on the block, but it makes me happy.

Our mantel is pretty lame, but it's cool to finally have one.  The stockings are kind of random, but my mom helped me personalize them by cutting the letters for our names out of felt. The cool thing is that she used the same alphabet that she had used to make my very first Christmas stocking, an absolutely gorgeous tiny angel made of felt with the most detailed wings.  So just looking at those three letters 'kim' puts me in mind of her and the stocking that she was making -- I suppose for Christmastime 1969, when they had told her her baby would have arrived.  However, I didn't arrive until January, so the stocking didn't get used for a whole year!

 So that's a little bit of Christmas from our corner of the world to yours.  In a little while, Marco will wake up and make us a nice dinner of scallops and champagne risotto.  Tomorrow we'll go gather at our friend Vasco's with a bunch of random Italians.  I'll pretend I can follow the conversation and even get a little bit of it.

Merry Christmas to you and your family!!!