General

Restaurant Find – Rotisserie du Beaujolais

Here's what appears to be a good one, though we got serious about it too late to get reservations. The Rotisserie du Beaujolais is right across the street and run by the Tour d'Argent. Food is simple bistrot, but the setting overlooks Notre Dame and the menu looked tasty though Patricia Wellslike it too much. Address is: 19, Quai Tournelle, 75005 Paris, 01 43 54 17 47 Website supposedly is La Tour d'Argent, but I couldn't find any details anywhere.

General

Food stuff to bring back from Paris

With globalization and the internet, there is less stuff to bring back from Paris that you truly can't find back home, especially if you have a Trader Joes in the neighborhood....  This list courtesy of Food & Wine:VANILLA SUGAR - Packets of this French housewife's staplecan be found in the baking section of the supermarket.  It'sgreat sprinkled on French toast, over fruit tarts, or in cafe au lait.PEPPERCORNS - French supermarkets sell white and mixed(pink, green, white and black) peppercorns in disposable mills.LENTILLES DUPUY - I love these tiny green lentils from theremote Auvergne because they keep their shape when cooked.They are especially good simmered in wine with garlic sausage.FLAGEOLETS - These pale green dried beans shaped like afingernail go with roast lamb like jelly goes with peanut butter.DIJON MUSTARD - The mustard made for the U.S. marketlacks the nose-assaulting bite of the stuff sold in France.MAYONNAISE - French mayonnaise often comes in tubes; it's notsweet like the American version and tastes more like homemade.BOUQUETS GARNIS - The herbs essentialfor pot au-feu and boeuf bourguignon (parsley,bay leaf and thyme) come dried in sachets thatlook like tea bags, so they're easy to remove.HERBES DE PROVENCE - This blend ofdried thyme, rosemary, summer savory and bayleaves is used in Provenqal stews and grilledfoods.  It's amazingly hard to find in the U.S.HERB AND TEAS Some of my favorites areverveine (verbena), tilleul (linden blossom) andfraise-cassis (strawberry and black currant).Bon appetit!
General

American mom’s ideas for stuff to do with her 5-year old in Paris

An American mother in Paris/In search of the City of Light's PG-rated attractions Janis Cooke Newman   (05-13) 04:00 PDT Paris -- My date at the restaurant in the Eiffel Tower is making a crayfish dance on the edge of his platter of seafood. He wiggles a little pair of orange claws at me. I smile and tenderly touch his cheek. Then we gaze out past the filigree struts of the tower to the lights of Paris glittering in the night sky.   "Always see Paris with someone you love." The first man who took me to Paris gave me this advice. I was in my 20s, and was certainly in love with him.   We stayed in a little hotel above a 24-hour Vietnamese takeout restaurant and spent hours strolling beside the Seine. Each time we passed beneath a bridge I kissed him.   Now, nearly 20 years later, I'm sitting in Altitude 95, the restaurant halfway up the Eiffel Tower, watching someone I love make a crayfish dance. Someone who earlier this evening dropped a crayon into my white wine: my 5- year-old son, Alex.
General

Bonsoir Lune – Goodnight Moon

I can't believe I've become such a sucker over the past seven years for the sappy "Goodnight Moon," mouses, houses, mittens, and kittens included.  Now you can get Bonsoir Lunefrom Amazon.  It's word for word the same as the classic board book, but be aware that, despite the price, it's a rather flimsy paperback.  Bonne lecture et bonne nuit.
General

Restaurant find – Taverna degli Amici – 16, rue du Bac

One of us likes to either go to dependable old restaurants and eat the same thing, or wander the streets idly looking at menus hoping to be entranced by presentation and well-written food titles....  As in any good marriage, we kick and scream about the frustration of both approaches, but each tends to yield satisfying results from time to time.  One such restaurant is the Taverna degli Amici, on the rue du Bac between the hotel Montalembert and the Seine (and next to our favorite men's clothing store, Atelson....  Briefly, good prices (30 E per person), mix of Italian and real Argentine food, usually easy to get reservations, warm chalet-like atmosphere, nice wait staff.
General

Hello world!

Research seems to indicate that Wordpress is now the short-term winner in the blogging world for ease of use and cost (Free!)....  If you've worked with Google though, you'll agree that Google is no longer the "gold mine" it used to be.  Even with a site pulling in 500 uniques/day (like www.GreatDad.com), you still only make $2-$3/day....  Wordpress also allows transfer to our own domain if someday we can get the rights to Paris.com.
Economy and Exchange rates

Exchange Rates Graph (American Dollar, Euro)

Oil is down in the $70s risking to lull us again into energy complacency, and now the dollar is rising against the Euro. ... While Europeans have jumped in to address their financial markets issues more aggressively than the US, they have no central authority to target shoot the trouble areas. And any one country not stabilizing its own banks runs the risk of unwittingly being the weak link for the Euro as a whole.