paris is calling

I've posted the link to this site before, but I'm doing so again because I just love it!

Here are some music to go with the view.

 

a close encounter of the junk kind

Last week Friday, my son and I were on the way to the metro station when I spotted three children's chairs on the sidewalk. The apartment above was being remodeled, and unwanted things were being thrown out.

Oh, how I wanted, really wanted, those chairs. They were charmingly dented and beat up, with the paint peeling off and the metal parts slightly rusty. But we had to catch the metro and be somewhere in 30 minutes, and I didn't have time to take them back to our apartment. A dump truck slowly pulled up as we walked away, and I pretended not to see it.

I looked for the chairs when we returned a few hours later, but they weren't there any more (hope never killed anyone). I am imagining that someone "found" them and took them home, cleaned them up and gave them a new environment where they can just, well, sit and look pretty.

more gifts from the earth

Part of today's loot.  How beautiful are they?

There were several empty spots at today's market. My Bread Guy(*) is one of the vendors who are already on vacation. I miss his bread and I sincerely hope he is having a wonderful summer.

(*) My Bread Guy sells cheeses, sausages and bread, although most of the time I buy just bread from him.

A few weeks ago when I went to the Friday market, I didn't intend to buy bread because I already had a loaf at home. My Bread Guy was reading newspaper behind his cheeses, and I was going to quietly pass in front of his booth -- when he briefly looked up from his newspaper, caught my eye, put his newspaper down and walked toward the bread. Then he smiled and said "Bonjour."

This was a major milestone for me. A local vendor now considers me a regular customer!

So of course I had to buy a loaf, although I really didn't need to. And I ate a piece as soon as I got home.

It was good.

hôtel dieu

A detail of the painting we bought recently.

This domed building is Hôtel Dieu, one of my favorite buildings in entire Lyon. Now we can take it back to the U.S. with us when our time in Lyon is done.

french sailor uniform

These guys probably don't take this as a compliment, but their uniform is way too cute! Note the footwear.

my little prince

I found him on the ground at the park where we were having picnic lunch.

He was covered with dirt and dead leaves, and lying dangerously close to something unmentionable left by a dog (actually, by its owner).

I looked around, and saw no little girls nearby. We were there for about an hour, but nobody came apparently looking for something.

I hesitated. The thing is, we weren't in Lyon; we were in a town about two hours away. So I couldn't leave him there and come back a day later to check on him.

When we had to pack up our basket and leave, I decided to bring him home with me. After all, Lyon is his home, too.

I gave him a quick bath when we got home, and after that, he looked much better and appeared to be feeling better also. But that may be just my imagination.

Welcome home, Mon Petit Prince.

home made ginger ale

My honey ginger syrup was happily deployed and turned into awesome ginger ale.

The first batch turned out not very ginger-y and definitely not strong enough for me. So when I made the second batch, I increased the amount of ginger (which, this time, I didn't blanch in boiling water, either) and also put some extra lemon slices and cinnamon. I did go easy on other dry spices, as Chika suggested.

My second batch was a success! I made enough syrup to fill the Bonne Maman jam jar (370g one), and that disappeared rather quickly.

FYI: You need quite a bit of this syrup to make properly ginger-ale-tasting drink. The jam jar full of syrup made only about four glasses of ginger ale -- I need a bigger jar!

I haven't tried mixing this with sparkling wine yet, but I'm having dinner guests soon and that's what I plan to serve as apéritif .