A recent brunch/lunch with a friend yielded a great restaurant find. Located inside the elegant halls of Gallerie Vivienne, one of Paris’ oldest covered passages, A Priori Thé with its cheerful ambiance and good food is a delightful little tearoom that is the perfect venue for meeting up with friends or for a shopping break. From here, I was pleased to discover that it’s a close walk to all the retail temptations of the Opera quartier.
The tea room has been around for 25 years and is owned by American expatriate Peggy Hancock. They have a good selection of teas, and my personal favorite is their version of the Chai Tea. It comes with its own cute pot of honey that you mix into the tea where it blends delightfully with the cannelle flavor. A Priori Thé’s menu features mainly tartes and hearty salads made of organic vegetables. There are also daily specials that are really tasty and served in big portions. While the menu is confined to tartes they are very savory ones and filling enough for the most discerning palate. I really appreciated the effort to come up with creative combinations. On the day we came, they had a rather savory looking cheddar cheese tarte with onions which appeared to be a hit with the people, I saw several people enjoying this tarte. Not quite into onions, I picked the daily special of stuffed courgette with goat cheese on a bed of pesto laced pasta and it was delicious. Dessert was definitely a scrumptious affair. They serve red fruit crumble (again with organic fruits), an almond tarte and a double chocolate brownie that was absolutely heavenly. To assuage any guilt you might have for indulging in the rather sinful dessert concoctions, A Priori Thé helpfully serves demi portions of all their desserts. This way, you can really have your cake and eat it too!

Practical Details

A Priori The

35 Galerie Vivienne 75002

01 42 97 48 75

Metro Bourse/Palais Royal-Musee du Louvre

Le lutin est mon nouvel ami

Avant une lecture au théâtre des Bouffes du Nord, petit resto. Autant vous dire qu'un resto à La Chapelle, vu mon snobisme, c'est niet. Pour moi la Chapelle, c'est encore lié au Crack, et comme 2009 ne commence pas trop mal, j'aimerais éviter de terminer l'année tout de suite. C'était donc l'opportunité rêvée pour tester un restaurant ouvert il y a deux ans et dont je connais la femme du propriétaire (snob et prétentieuse la fille, c'est pas gagnée pour 2009...).

Arrivées avec les poules, c'était le jackpot: 1) parce que, vu la taille intimiste du lieu, presque tout était réservé et 2) parce qu'avec une arrivée entre 19h et 20h, le kir est offert (et en plus, il est bon!).

Le restaurant doit donc pouvoir contenir une quinzaine de couverts, et offre pourtant une intimité. J'ai eu beau parlé (comme à mon habitude) fort, la discussion se faisait avec mon accompagnatrice, pas avec tous les convives.

La décoration est charmante, dans le genre auberge de campagne (sans ironie aucune) sauf que vous êtes dans une petite rue fort agréable du quartier St Michel. Vu le nom, je ne savais pas si je devais m'attendre à me retrouver entourée de nains de jardins. Et j'ai compris que les lutins étaient la version raffinée du nain de jardin.

Pour en arriver à l'essentiel, c'était délicieux! Tout est fait maison et frais (un seul cuisinier) et cela fait une différence énorme. Le problème c'est qu'on s'y habitue. Après le délicieux potiron au velouté, comment vais-je pouvoir revenir à mes soupes Liebig???

Il n'y a aucun plat végétarien proposé, mais pour une chieuse comme moi, il suffit demander, et j'ai eu raison. Cela se fait couramment (selon les dires du serveur, après il me raconte ce qu'il veut...), et l'assiette regroupait l'ensemble des accompagnements proposés: une fondue de poireaux, des endives caramélisées (que j'ai adoré, moi à qui l'idée des endives chaudes donnent d'habitude des nausées), un gratin de pommes de terre, un risotto d'épeautre, et de la polenta (tellement tendre que je me suis demandée si c'était des oeufs brouillés). Un pur délice, ce qui fait que nous avons continué sur notre lancée et avons commandé un crumble pommes/fruits rouges, pas particulièrement une excellente idée pour finir en légéreté, mais très frais.

Moi qui m'étouffe d'habitude à l'idée 1) d'aller au restaurant, et 2) de payer plus de 15 euros, pour un dîner, j'ai payé plus du double, et avec joie en plus. Cela dit, pour adoucir la pilule, le restaurant prend les tickets restaurants sans limite aucune. J'ai donc encore une fois joué ma crevarde, mais le dîner valait amplement le coup, et de toute façon, il y a longtemps que j'ai perdu toute dignité!

Pour les infos:

Le lutin dans le jardin

Tel : 01-43-26-29-44

15 Gît du Clos

St Michel

Despite the not inconsiderable number of books at my disposal (one of the perks of what I do), I sometimes have a hard time finding a novel that that’s not too heavy but still has enough substance to sustain itself. There are times when I want to read something straightforwardly nice and believe me, this isn’t the most obvious thing to find. I lucked out when I chanced upon Nicholas Drayson’s A Guide to the Birds of East Africa. Contrary to its title, it’s a novel set in Nairobi Kenya and its actually the story of an unusual contest.
Rose Mbikwa has long led the Tuesday morning bird walk of the East African Ornithological Society. One faithful attendee of the walk is Mr. Malik who has long nursed a secret and love for the widowed Rose. Unfortunately he is much to shy to declare his feelings for the fetching Rose. As he attempts to figure out how to ask Rose to the annual Hunt Ball, an unexpected rival, in the shape of the much wealthier Harry Khan, arrives on the scene. And when Mr. Malik unwittingly blurts out his secret, a bet is set between the rivals. Whoever sees the most number of birds in the week, will ask Rose to the ball.
This is a good old fashioned romantic novel that’s at least three notches above the usual chick lit. Drayson writes his characters with great feeling and you can’t help but root for the hapless Malik, who very much resembles David against his rival. The author also ably infuses his book with the vivid color and sounds of Africa. He even manages without being preachy or heavy, to recount the different problems that beset Kenya. But this is not a doom and gloom sort of book, so there is much humor and joy to be found in the passages of the book. Its exactly what the doctor ordered!

I've always liked Neil Gaiman's work. I first discovered him through my sister's Sandman collection. He is a wonderfully imaginative writer and you can't help but get hooked in his universe. Later on, I read his fiction and my initial impression was confirmed. He is also a generous artist. I remember his first visit in Manila. It was like a demi-god coming to town. He was going to do a book signing and the bookstore where he was slated to appear was mobbed with people. My friend and I braved the huge crowd and queued for hours. But it was well worth it when I finally got to meet him. I couldn't say much unfortunately, I was too tongue-tied. After his first visit, he was asked to come back to be the judge of a local comic book design contest, and I hear that its become an almost yearly thing. I'm sure its still a thrill for budding comic book artists and writers to meet him and to spend some time with him. I was thus super excited when I heard that he was coming up with a new book. And when we finally did get it, I was thrilled with the premise of the story. I thought that it was a very Gaiman-like story.

The Graveyard Book is the story of a young boy who survives the assassination of his family by a talented murderer. He finds sanctuary at a graveyard where its denizens decide to adopt him. They name him Nobody (Bod for short) and he is given a guardian to ensure that he will be fed and educated properly as the only living boy in the graveyard. But this is only the beginning of his story.

This is vintage Gaiman. In some ways, it reminded me of Kipling’s Jungle Book which I loved when I was a kid. Like Jungle Book, Gaiman’s tale has all the necessary elements to take away the reader from the mundane –a smart and loveable hero, exciting plot twists and turns and huge heapings of humor. It is also wonderfully inventive and I wonder how Gaiman comes up with all his ideas. And if that weren’t enough, the book is illustrated by the very talented Dave McKean and his illustrations capture perfectly the spirit of the story. How nice to discover that this writer's talents just get better with age. I hope he doesn't make us wait too long for the next one.

I don't know about you, but I'm always a bit wary about books being turned into movies. Very often, the book is much better than the movie. That said, I can't help myself and I always end up watching these movies, out of an unfettered curiosity to see how the characters of these beloved tales will be fleshed out on screen. There seems to be a good number of these movies these days --Revolutionary Road, Ink Heart and the Reader are just three of the most recent ones. I'm especially looking forward to the last two as I loved the books.

Even before Hollywood's attentions, The Reader by Bernhard Schlink had long gathered much critical acclaim in its native Germany. Thank goodness for translations, as this is a fine book that deserves a very wide audience.

The story begins when 15 year old Michael Berg falls ill with hepatitis and is helped by the then 36 year old Hanna. After his recovery he returns to thank her and they embark on a passionate affair. Later on she disappears mysteriously from his life. He meets her again when he attends the trial of several women, including Hanna for war crimes during WWII.

In framing the story against the WWII and its aftermath, Schlink poses one of the most difficult questions –what would you do if the person you love is guilty of doing horrific things? There are no easy or definite answers to such a question and it is one that Michael grapples with all his life. And in posing this question, Schlink doesn’t limit the question to the crime to which Hanna is accused of and later incarcerated for. He poses this question to the generation that was present during the war. “Our parents had played a variety of roles in the Third Reich. Several among our fathers had been in the war, two or three of them as officers of the Wehrmacht and one as an officer of the Waffren SS. Some of them held positions as in the judiciary or the local government. We all condemned our parents even if the only charge we could bring was that after 1945 they had tolerated the perpetrators in their midst.” And if this is the case, what should the second generation (the children and their children) do with the knowledge of such crime? Do they stop loving the person? Or are they too condemned because they continue to love this same person?

These are not easy questions to answer and Schlink doesn’t provide easy answers neither for his character nor for us readers. What he has done instead, is to write his novel with great sensitivity and insight that allows for much reflection. The objective is not so much to assign guilt or blame to specific people but to make us understand that there are some crimes especially those born out of hatred and prejudice that transcend the specific perpetrators. And while there aren’t any answers, there is room for the possibility of redemption and even love. Still and all, the end of the novel left me feeling uneasy and I lay awake long after, praying that I never have to find myself faced with this question.

Génocide rwandais

Après un premier essai Dans le nu de la vie, où l'auteur raconte du point de vue des rescapés le génocide rwandais de 1994, Une saison de machettes se penche sur la version des tueurs.

Jean Hatzeld a ainsi rencontré une bande d'amis incarcérés dans une prison locale, et rapporte dans cet essai les entretiens. Très intelligemment, il intercale les récits de chapitres plus "scolaires" orientés à chaque fois sur un thème (le repentir...), afin que le lecteur non initié puisse avoir une meilleure compréhension (historique, etc.).

Comme tout génocide, celui-là a ses racines, mais pourtant aucune raison réelle ne ressort vraiment. Des faits déclencheurs, certes. Une saison de machettes se penche d'ailleurs moins sur les explications politiques ou historiques, que sur la nature humaine de ces tueurs, ce qui en fait un ouvrage d'autant plus passionnant, bien que beaucoup plus dur.

Si j'avais encore quelques espoirs sur la nature humaine, ce livre permet de s'en débarasser. Tellement intense en émotions, cet ouvrage ne peut se lire que quelques chapitres à la fois.

Bons chrétiens pour la plupart, bons voisins, bon pères de famille, ces homme ont brusquement pris leurs machettes un jour pour aller tuer leurs voisins et amis. Ce carnage a duré plusieurs mois. Aucun regret de leur part ne semble émerger quant à cette période si ce n'est pour eux-mêmes (et leur emprisonnement). Aucune résistance ni conscience collective ne semble avoir existées à l'époque parmi les Hutus. Comprendre le génocide rwandais grâce à cette bande d'amis serait réducteur, donc peut-être cela a-t-il existé. Il n'empêche que ces individus sont représentatifs de la nature humaine laissée à son libre arbitre, et que la maxime "l'homme est un loup pour l'homme" ne s'est jamais mieux illustrée.

In this global village we now find ourselves living in, modern interior design has come to reflect different cultures. Nowadays it is perfectly acceptable even desirable to incorporate foreign elements of design for one’s house. As far away as Asia may be in physical distance there is no shortage of home furnishing stores carrying vases, lamps, desks and collectible items. Recently I came across a poster for an Expo-Vente of what they called Asian Antiques and got really curious about the kind of wares they would have.
Appropriately enough, the exposition was in the 13th Arrondissement. So one gray afternoon, we found ourselves heading towards that direction. It is being held in this huge warehouse like space tastefully decked out in Asian décor. The better to showcase the wares I suppose. Most of their wares appear to have been sourced from Thailand and India with a smattering of select Chinese lacquered shelves. As such there was a good deal of Buddhas smiling their beatific smiles, big desks carved from teak and benches that could seat at least 12. What I particularly loved were the wooden lamps which were artfully displayed against the wall. They give off a cheerful welcoming light which is perfect for chasing away the winter gloom. What was funny was to find against one end of the hall, a tiny alcove crammed full of old paperbacks selling for 1 euro a piece.
The selection is perhaps not extensive as one could wish it could be, and the items included may not necessarily all be antiques but the exposition nonetheless gives you an idea of the kind of Asian furniture that could give your home just the right edge of the exotic.


The lamps I loved...

Practical details: Asian Antiques Exposition Vente from 23 Jan to 1 Feb at 31 rue Vergniaud 75013. It is open from 11 am to 7pm.