The concept of Voulez-vous dîner? is to give tourists a chance to meet real French people, see their home, and be cooked a homemade, French meal. What a great idea! The company started not too long ago, but I can see it becoming really popular (my Mom said she saw something similar on the Travel Channel). On their site you can choose your host by age range, interests, languages spoken, and the number of people they can host. The couple we had dinner with, Corinne and Renaud, was super nice and very welcoming.

We took the RER out to Versailles and their home was a short walk from the station. We started out the evening in their living room with an aperatif and salty snacks (think pretzels, nuts, etc). James is still working on his French, so our hosts were happy to speak English with us. We chatted for a while and then moved to the dining room for dinner.

Our first (of many) courses was garlic and herb cream cheese wrapped in smoked salmon. I’m not usually a smoked salmon kind of girl, but with the cream cheese and some bread, it was quite good! (The serving was huge.)

Our main course was amazing: a duck and vegetable casserole topped with toasted breadcrumbs (I think…they were a bit sweeter though). SOO good!

Next up were four different types of cheeses and a simple salad. I wish I could remember what they were! They told us that in French high society you always take one less that what is served (4 cheeses, you choose 3), so that’s of course what we did as well. All very mild cheeses, all very good!

Then dessert…but we were already so full! They served a chocolate cake with a gooey, fudge center (moelleux chocolat). Delicious!! I really tried to finish it (remember how French people have a thing about that?), but I literally could not eat the last bite. Then they brought out clementines! I don’t think I’ve ever been so full in my life!

Although we were quite nervous at first, the night was really wonderful. They even gave us a ride to the RER station to make sure there was still a train going back to Paris. We got the last one of the night!

PS: I should also mentioned that they asked us ahead of time if we had any allergies/dislikes, so no worries if you do!

James and I have been looking forward to (and saving all our money) for the sales for a while now. Stores in France are only allowed to do big, store-wide sales twice a year, and basically everyone goes nuts. The sales season lasts for about a month and started last Wednesday, yay!! (The other sales period is in July.)

Following the advice of a lady I work with, we headed out to the 4 Temps centre commercial in La Défense, the financial/business district of Paris.  We even got up early to “beat the crowds”, but it was still absolutely crazy. It’s basically Black Friday, but lasts for a month instead of one day.  James came home with a pair of shoes and jeans, while I went for a gorgeous teal/blue coat and some fun make-up from Sephora.

This was our first time out to La Défense, so we braved the cold and walked around a bit. Amazing views and fun, modern art!

la grande arche

James the shopper!

Next up: Feess French Fashion!

It’s no secret that I’m dying to have Henry move here with us. He would love it! It seems like everyone has a dog and totes him/her just about everywhere. Paris is an extremely dog-friendly city, well, if your dog is properly behaved. Henry would probably (okay, definitely) have some work to do.

Almost every time I go to the grocery store there is a dog waiting in front for his owner or with his leash attached to the little hook provided. It still amazes me that French dogs will sit outside of a store and wait!

In the hopes of Henry’s eventual move to Paris, I’d like to share a few fun dog stores I’ve come across. (I’m sure there are a million more!)

BHV La Niche (a division of the department store, BHV) has just about everything you could want for your dog. Treats, clothes, bedding, food, and lots of fun toys in a wide range of prices. We even found Henry’s food, so he’ll be all set when(ever) he gets here! His Christmas presents also came from here: a squeaky penguin and fancy dog treats (he loved them both, of course!). I’m still trying to decide on his first French collar…

Un chien dans le marais is much smaller than BHV La Niche, but still an adorable shop worth stopping for. You’ll find fancy clothes and bedding geared towards your average, spoiled, teeny, female, French dog and also lots of fancy treats.

If only Henry wasn’t so destructive, he could have this lovely bed:

For the stylish dog, there’s always Le Dog Shop. Like BHV La Niche, they have just about anything you could want, but quite a bit more expensive. Check out their dog blog!

We haven’t been to Dog in the City yet, but I’m sure Henry would look dapper after a grooming from them. Whether we could afford it…not so sure.

Start packing your bags, Henry! We miss you!!

Erica visited us from Madrid this weekend! We haven’t seen her since the wedding, so it was really great to catch up. NYE we had dinner with friends we know from UW (and their friends from England) at a delicious Thai place just off of Place Gambetta. Then we headed to the Sacré Coeur to ring in the New Year.

Once again: no official/huge fireworks. We always hope we’re going to be wrong, but Paris only does a big show on Bastille Day (and fireworks to celebrate the grape harvest in the fall). We had a fantastic time nonetheless, drank a lot of champagne, and found a fun bar in Montmartre.

Here’s to an amazing 2012!!

James had to work a bit super early in the morning (6am!!), but when he got home we opened up our gifts to each other and had pancakes with (real!) maple syrup! Yum! (Tidbit: if you’re looking for maple syrup in France, you can find it at just about every Franprix or Monoprix. Look in the honey and/or jam aisles. It’ll be the store brand and a little pricey, but it’s delicious!)

James went over a bit (a lot) on our 15 euro limit and gave me Burberry The Beat perfume (now I can stop going in every Sephora I see just to put it on!) and a gorgeous purse hook (do you use one of these when you go out to eat?).

I gave James a scale model of a hot-air balloon from the Musée des arts et métiers. It’s on our tree now, but I think we might try to find a more permanent spot.

Since we were both so good this year, Santa also brought us some delicious Kusmi St. Petersbourg tea. Delicieux!

We sent some little gifts to our families back home. We, of course, couldn’t forget about our sweet Henry.

Enjoying his Parisian toy:

Our new ornaments this year: Mickey & Minnie, a frog, and James’s Christmas gift

After we skyped with both sets of families, we headed to the quartier chinois in the 13th for our Christmas meal. We decided to try the vietnamese restaurant, Pho 14, and it was amazing! The place was packed, food delicious, and at a reasonable price.

We shared eggs rolls for our entree, probably the best I’ve ever had. I think I said “these are amazing” at least 10 times.

Our main dish was, of course, Pho. A first time for both of us, and we loved it!

For dessert we headed back home to our bûches de noel from Picard. Technically they were “bûchettes” made of ice cream and amazing.

James had vanilla with caramel and mine were coffee and speculos (and yes, we both had two ). Yum!!

Now we’re looking forward to spending New Years with Erica!!

*Not pictured: our dearest Henry Pooper, we miss you!!

First off let me say, I am a terrible ice skater. It wasn’t something my family did when I was little, so I just never mastered the whole balance thing. James, on the other hand, is amazing (thank you roller hockey!) and let’s me hold on to him. What a guy!

Every December-ish they put up an ice skating rink outside the Hôtel de Ville, fun! If you have your own ice skates is free, but they also have ice skates to rent for 5 euros. Not too bad! Plus there’s no time limit, so you could skate all day if you wanted.

The only surprise for us was the gants obligatoires sign. Really? Gloves are a must? James didn’t bring his (who needs gloves, its 50 degrees out!), so we ended up buying a really crappy pair off the street. France always has a way of tricking you…

We waited in line a little over half an hour to get our ice skates, and then we were off! Well, it seemed that way to me, but James claims we weren’t going very fast. Haha! The patinoire was super crowded though, so falling seemed extra scary.

After skating for a while, we decided to get some fancy hot chocolate at Café Angelina. But there was a huge line to get in…boo! Instead we walked to the Place Vendôme to look at the lights and all the fancy jewelry. (Followed by ice cream at McDonalds, it’s just like home!)

Since we arrived, I’ve been lamenting about how we didn’t have an oven. I just never realized how much we use it or how convenient it is to throw a pizza (or a million other things) in the oven for dinner.

We talked to our landlord about getting one, and they actually said they would buy one for us!! Well, the apartment that is. (side note: Did you know that when Parisians move apartments, they take everything with them? An unfurnished apartment is exactly that: no appliances, no cabinets!)

They ended up buying us this little gem, and I couldn’t be more excited!! I found this amazing, French baking blog that includes red velvet cake and sugar cookies. I’ve officially gathered all the supplies (including a fancy scale to measure grams!) and I plan on trying a few things out tomorrow. A little piece of advice when cooking/baking in France: don’t try to convert mL or grams to cups, it’s just not worth the headache.  It will hurt your brain. Promise. Instead,  find a French recipe and go with it! Marmiton.org has a million wonderful recipes!

Yesterday we were at Auchan trying to find a Christmas card for James’ grandpa, when low and behold we came across this little gem:

The best part is that he’s tearing up something, which is basically Henry’s favorite pastime.

We didn’t send out Christmas cards this year, but if we would’ve, this would be my pick!

Merry Christmas from the Feess fam!

]]>