But until then, if you are looking for distractions from these quiet time while stuck indoor all that often (no thanks to the generally awful weather), here are a few suggestions.

Ma vie est tout à fait fascinante
Pénélope Jolicoeur is a brainchild of Pénélope Bagieu, in the form of webcomic and all too amusing. Some may chalk this as a girlie diversion, and perhaps it is, but these illustrations along with the text are entertaining and often make me chuckle out loud.

Paris Daily Photo
Eric posts a photo a day of Paris, accompanied by short paragraph of description or anecdotes. It gives you a glimpse into many facets of Parisian lives, and before you know it, you would have found your way around this city since he also often indicates the arrondisement where the photos were taken.

Stuff Parisians Like
You may or may not have heard or read about Stuff White People Like, but it’s a site of satirical jokes that has taken the blogging world by storm. Some finds it offensive, other sees the humour and laughs along. Stuff Parisians Like is written in similar tongue-in-cheek manner, and whether you agree with Olivier or not, it’s up to you.

Paris Avant
Are you just that bit curious what Paris used to look like? Paris Avant is brought to life by Frédéric, and at about noon each day, a pair of photos of a location in Paris will be posted. One from the past, one of current day, for comparison of course. It’s amazing how little Paris has transformed, yet modernised at the same time.

I know it’s rather frivolous, but it also means the full elegant package is now ready to be presented as gifts should you not be tempted into eating them up yourself. ;-)

They have just came up with 5 new gift boxes for macarons, four of which I’ve put together in the giant collage above. These are known as “J’aime Les Macarons”, “Les Incontournables de Paris”, “Joyeux Anniversaire” and “Je Pense à Toi”.

If you’re buying them online for home delivery, they’re available as boxes of 12 macarons (6 types of macarons per box) for €24 plus delivery charges. If you’re buying them online for boutique collection at 185 rue Vaugirard, they’re available as boxes of 16 for €34. Don’t ask me why the €2 price discrepancy. Processing charges? Option to choose macaron flavours?

Either that, or all the major media KNOWS Paris is a wonderful holiday destination and are therefore pouring all the advices in. And this just came in, from Guardian, Top 10 Paris Bistrots on a Budget. Bistros? Bistrots? What’s the difference between the two words?

Anyway, I digress.

Looking at the list, there’s only a couple of them that I know of and have been to - Le Pre Verre (photographed above), Chez Gladines - and those places are among my favourites. This means I must go and try the others on the list, and sooner rather than later too. Afterall, if hordes of English tourists start descending on these bistrots, the value menu may soon becomes a thing in the past.

Of course, such crowd can also be “discouraged” (except for the determined) by the employment of French-only menus, impatient waiting staff, and safely tucked away from the main touristy areas. Some of the bistrots listed here are already on to these tactics - cool!

Alright, I was just teasing here. Good things are meant to be shared, and had I really want to be such a scrooge over it, I would have written this entry without giving you the link to the article nor mentioning the source. ;-)

(Image by Ed Alcook for the NYT)

How? By doing what the French do best - redefining burgers with new taste (using herbs, fleur de sel etc), new texture (why not use T-bone steak?), or new ingredients altogether (foie gras burger anyone?).

As a good measure, the NYT also throws in a few recipes to try:

• Cocotte Burger
• Café Salle Pleyel Burger
• T-bone Steak Burger

So will you be ordering a burger the next time you eat out at a restaurant? Or will you be cooking some at home this evening?

On a side note, I am not sure if I care for remarks such as “expatriate French chefs reinventing American classics in the United States made it safe for their countrymen to try it back home”. Now, come on!

Clotilde is a 28 years old Parisian who started her foodblog 5 years ago as an outlet to share her love for food. She did such a good job that Chocolate and Zucchini is quite the holy grail for food in Paris. How much you wonder? Enough that she has book deals and she’s now a full time food writer.

At first glance, the blog may seem a tad busy (4 columns blog at the time of writing this entry) but do spend a little time and you will find yourself rewarded with deliciously written blog entries, accompanied by beautifully shot photographs. If that’s not even, she has even put in extra effort that her entries are also available in French. Just scroll to the bottom of a particular entry and you can click on the link provided. Super!

The second food/lifestyle blog belongs to David Lebovitz, a pastry chef from America who has been living in Paris for a good 6 years. Oh yes, he is loving his sweet life in Paris as he claimed. They are also reflected in his writing and photographs, always elegant and usually mouth-watering.

David’s blog has just received a new look last week so even I am still getting used to the minimalist white and green layout. Quite a change from the previous gold and chocolate-sweet design, which I’m still half expecting each time I click on the link to his blog.

So, if you don’t already know these two blogs, have a read. You will find all sorts of anecdotes related to food and lifestyle in Paris, and they also give good advices as well as restaurant reviews. I hope you will like them as much as I do.

And oh, Bonne Fête Nationale! :D

Pierre Hermé certainly deserves his title as The Picasso of Pastry, among other illustrious ones. The offerings from his shops are simply delectable and irresistable to me (and many others I suspect). The queue outside the shop can be pretty lengthy at times, and I’m not surprised if numerous Japanese tourists have got pictures of me standing in the line, waiting for my turn to get into the tiny shop on Rue Bonaparte!

Bij treated me to some Pierre Hermé when I saw her a few days ago (what can I say - she’s an awesome friend!), after a few turbulent days of emotional rollercoaster. We shared some émotions and macarons, and she also gave me a couple of surprise plénitude.

Let’s talk about those delightful émotions, shall we?

Pierre Hermé usually creates two émotions for his shops at any one time, and this summer they are Émotion Fragola and Émotion Eden. I personally love Émotion Eden while Bij prefers Émotion Fragola.

Émotion Eden is a creation with layers consisting of delicate crème brûlée of saffron at the bottom, apricot pieces in the centre, and topped with saffron jelly sprinkled with some gold sheets. Digging through all three layers in one go to get a mixture of creamy custard and light jelly together with fruit pieces, it’s a lovely combination of texture and taste much after my heart’s delight.

Émotion Fragola is not pale in comparison either, and rather unusual too. It’s a bold combination of balsamic vinegar, spaghetti in strawberry juice and strawberry compote, garnished with a dollop of cream. I’ve known of the vow factor in pairing balsamic vinegar and strawberry, but to add spaghetti into the mix to make it a dessert, that’s a new experiment in my opinion. But it works well. Very well.

Of course, a trip to Pierre Hermé also normally means taking a small selection of macarons. We had some rather fruity selection, continuing the whole summery theme, with some Eden (apricot), Montebello (raspberry and pistachio), Vanille (vanilla) and Pamplemousse (grapefruit). They literally melted in the mouth, such heavenly bites they were.

I. Really. Heart. Pierre. Hermé.

Pierre Hermé
- 72 Rue Bonaparte (near St Sulpice)
- 185 Rue Vaugirard
- also available through online shopping in Europe (certain products only)

I do believe Shaw on this count. Even though I am just a constant visitor in Paris, I never think twice about the hunt for good food, the search for good restaurants. Some places are simply brand new, some places are old favourites of mine, some places are new discoveries for me but regular haunts of my friends in this lovely city.

I got to know about L’Os à Moelle through a blog that I read a while back, and what’s better excuse to try this place apart from the fact that I’m actually in town? Each trip I made is reason enough to celebrate, because this is when I get to meet up with my friends and catch up on news etc. (Not that we haven’t been doing that regularly on gtalk or email, lol, but that’s besides the point.)

Situated in the 15th arrondisement, L’Os à Moelle is one of the eating gems in Paris. The restaurant itself is cosy and perhaps a tad tight on space, and the menu may be somewhat limited in terms of choices, but it more than make up for these slight shortcomings by virtue of being big on taste and freshness!

At around €40 (depending on items, there may be small supplementary charges), a full and delicious 5-course meal will be served - soup, starter, main course, cheese and dessert. For good measure, they also present all diners with a small amuse bouche to whet the appetite shortly after the order was taken.

The menu at L’Os à Moelle are presented, handwritten, on blackboards. Just like most quaint little restaurants/bistros in Paris. These boards are mainly French of course, but if you request for it, they do have one English board that they will bring around.

When I was there with my friends, we had quite a variety of items ordered. Some perennial favourites including foie gras, scallops and sea bass; others rather unusual (for foreign diners, maybe not quite so for French) such as pig’s snout and wild boar. Everything was cooked to perfection, well-seasoned with fresh herbs and garnished with salads and vegetable crisps.

The sweet course is probably my favourite course, and seeing there were so many of us there together, we each ordered a different dessert so that we can swap around and taste them all. The rum baba was ambrosial, the flambéed bananas sweet through pairing with caramel, the fruit gratin refreshing and the chocolate quenelle rich and creamy.

This place is definitely marked as a place to revisit in future, and I would recommend you to give it a try too. No harm in making reservation before you head over either, as they do get pretty busy here. Bon appétit!

L’Os à Moelle
3 Rue Vasco de Gama, 75015 Paris
Tel : 01 45 57 27 27
Métro: Lourmel

Today, I’ll like to share some of the views from Eiffel Tower that I managed to capture with my little point and shoot camera. They may seem a bit cluttered (it was not exactly a clear day either) but play spot the main landmarks within these images anyway. ;-)

Well it’s not that difficult really, naming the landmarks, isn’t it? I do wonder though, how different it would be, had I used a good dSLR or something to that effect. Better zoom lenses, better play of angles, or even swapping the lenses for something fun such as fish eye lens - it definitely will spice things up somewhat!

Maybe I should consider that for my next photography expedition. For now though, time to save up so I can get those lovely photographic gears in the first place. ;-)