Lunchtime in Paris

Chinese New Year in Paris 2008 - part 1

Today was the big parade in the 3rd arrondissement of Paris.

So, lots of photos but not much food - there was nothing to eat...

Luckily it was a beautiful day. We got to the Hotel de Ville early to watch the preparations. People were posing for photos with the dragon.

And then there was the dragon dance with lots of fire crackers

There were quite a few dragons in the parade

More dragon

All along the parade route the Chinese shops put out offerings

I particularly like this lettuce and clementine decoration. Perhaps I will get one for my office.

These creatures were the ones to take the offerings

It got really hazy because of all the smoke from the fire crackers

Some colorful costumes

I really liked this guy in yellow

Over 1500 people took part in the parade

Paris has never been so colorful

The parade made us really hungry so we afterwards we stopped in Belleville for some lucky spring rolls.

And some lucky har kao

And some delicious lucky noodles with prawns and broccoli

Very tasty and that's it for today. Tomorrow I'm off to the 13th district where there will be another parade and of course another lunch.

Happy lunching!

Gung Xi Fa Cai!

And here to start things off, because I just can't wait until Sunday, is a link to the very interesting Chinatown Paris site and some really nice things that I bought today at Tang Freres (Tang Brothers - link in English) in Belleville on my way home from work. And please if you have the time check this out as well it's the Yellow River Concerto!

A really nice lunch of roast duck, mixed vegetables and noodles for only 5.50 euros.

One half of a roast duck with soy sauce for 7.50 euros. Very tasty.

Here is the styrofoam container it came in with the duck motif.

And I''ve been trying to increase my fruit and veg intake (5 per day for good health and a long life) so here is the very delicious, wonderfully juicy orange I had for dessert.

Tomorrow I will be going to the first of the Chinese New Years parades starting at the Hotel de Ville in central Paris at 2 pm. Let's all pray for nice weather.

Happy lunching!

Kung Hei Fat Choi

And a very Happy and Prosperous Year of the Rat!

Paris celebrations will be held this weekend and I am planning a very big post. If you are in Paris and interested in attending some of the celebrations here is the info:

SATURDAY -

For Saturday 9 February - go to the Hotel de Ville of Paris starting at 2 pm - here it is in French with a link:

La traditionnelle fête du Défilé du Dragon, à l’occasion du passage à l’année du Rat, sera précédée d’une programmation éclectique qui présentera une réflexion sur la Chine aujourd’hui et ses diasporas, notamment à Paris.    
Rendez-vous Samedi 9 février à 14h place de l’Hôtel de Ville de Paris pour le défilé.

Le défilé du Dragon sillonnera comme chaque année les rues du Centre de Paris le samedi 9 février à partir de 14h. Rendez-vous place de l’Hôtel de Ville de Paris pour un parcours qui passera par la rue du   Temple, jusqu’au carrefour avec la rue Turbigo, puis qui redescendra vers les rues Beaubourg et du Renard pour boucler la boucle vers 16h30 place de l’Hôtel de Ville.    

Rens. 01 53 01 75 23 à la mairie du 3e
Mairie de Paris Chinese New Year Parade Info

SUNDAY -

And on  Sunday 10 February in the biggest Paris Chinatown in the 13th arrondissement of Paris starting from 66 avenue d'Ivry at 1:30 pm in French of course but with a link:

Le départ aura lieux dimanche 10 février 2008 à 13h30 au 66 avenue d’Ivry dans le 13e arrondissement.    
     Le défilé prendra le chemin suivant :    

     - départ : 13h30 : 66 avenue     d’Ivry    
     - place d’Italie    
     - avenue d’Italie    
     - rue de Tolbiac    
     - avenue de Choisy    
     - boulevard Masséna    
     - arrivée : 66 avenue d’Ivry    
Mairie du 13ème Chinese New Year Parade Info

I've not taken any photos this week but in searching through my archives I found some old Laos photos that I never posted -

     

A lunch in Luang Prabang

and here is a chicken Makhbous that I did make but never posted either. And ok, it's not Chinese it's Iranian but I still think it looks good.

Anyway, please come back on Sunday evening for my report on the Chinese New Years festivities in Paris.

Until then - Happy Lunching!

Modern lunch

Another gloomy gray January day in Paris,

I can't take pictures at my desk anymore because there is no natural light so I unpacked my lunch on the terrace of the Museum of Modern Art (not the Pompidou center - this museum is run by the city of Paris). It's right down the street from my office. In the background you can see the Seine, the Eifel Tower and a footbridge leading to the Musée de quai Branly.

I had a roastbeef and Roquefort sandwich. Of all the delicious French cheeses Roquefort is my favorite. Someday I will make a weekend getaway to visit the cellars where it is aged.

A close up of this delicious sandwich. I've found an excellent boulangerie and their bread is really good.

I also had a rasberry tart, which unfortunately got a little smushed while I was transporting it to the photo location.

And since the lunch cost 7.60 euros and my lunch tickets are for 8, I made up the difference with two yummy chouquettes (scroll down to the bottom of this excellent link for a recipe in English).

So that was my lunch but I also made this interesting discovery,

See that weird green mobile-home like thing on the top of the building? It's called the Hotel Everland and although it's really complicated and expensive you can make reservations to spend the night in it.

Happy lunching from Paris!

What's in a name?

The original name of this blog "What's for Lunch" has been bothering me for a while. I really like the name but when I first chose it in March 2006 I hadn't done a proper search to see if anyone else was using it and also some of the people who were had not been blogging long and so they were perhaps not in the search engines. Now, I've been aware for a while that at least three other bloggers have "what's for lunch" in the titles of their blogs:

The Original What's for Lunch has been around since 2005

What's for Lunch Honey? came into existence in February of 2006

What's for Lunch is a French site that was also started in February 2006

and who knows how many more of them there are out there? It would be really helpful if there was a good search tool to avoid this happening.

Therefore, I am changing the name to Lunchtime in Paris. Unfortunately I can't change the name in the URL because I will lose all my links and photos (if someone knows how I can change without losing anything please let me know) but at least on this site the title will appear as "Lunchtime in Paris" - as far as I know no one else is using this and I really searched a lot.

Malaysian Lunch in La Chapelle

First we went to the movies at MK2 where we saw Into the Wild - I'm still deciding whether I liked it or not. It was kind of depressing - tragic waste of a life, etc....and the pop pyschologyphilosophy bits (the sister voice overs) were rather annoyingly trite but there were some good moments too.

And of course, you can't go the movies without -

Popcorn and candy (really expensive - the popcorn, kitkat balls, iced tea, and one soda came to over 11 euros...and the movie was expensive too 9,90 euros for one adult ticket, my daughter's tickets were 7,70 because they are students).

MK2 is located on the Bassin de la Villette in the 19th (link to wiki in French - some good photos) and the closest metro is Stalingrad. There is a movie theater on either side of the canal and a little boat goes between the two. It's fun.

After the movie we decided to have a late lunch at the Malaysian in La Chapelle (the South Indian neighborhood in the 10th arrondissement of Paris). I saw this place last weekend and we decided to give it a try.

We started off with samosas and rolls. (check out the link for a complete history of the samosa!)

Delicious and not expensive (1 euro a piece).

My daughter had the Shrimp Sambal with rice for 7 euros.

And I had the Mee Goreng Udang which was also 7 euros. Very tasty.

We also ordered an onion parotha because we'd never had one before and we were curious. It was very good.

And here is the desert the offered us at the end of the meal - a coconut jelly. It was refreshing after all the spicy food we'd eaten.

Malaysian is located 15, rue de Cail - 75010 Paris. The closest metro is La Chapelle. The service is friendly, the food is good, and it's inexpensive. Our meal came to 22.50 for everything above plus an iced tea and a regular tea.

I've had a tip that I should check out Krishna Bhavan (also rue de Cail) a South Indian vegetarian restaurant. I walked by today and it looks interesting so perhaps next weekend I'll give it a try. Until then...

Happy lunching!

Indian Lunch

I'm still trying to figure this out. I really want to keep this three column layout but I am so not sure about the butterfly and I'd really like a warmer red....(if you typepad people are listening could you please offer a larger choice of templates).

Anyway, today we went for Sunday lunch in La Chapelle (metro station La Chapelle). There is a large Tamil population leaving in this area and I've posted about it before but since I've decided to go to India this summer I'm going to go frequently to get accustomed.

We had lunch here at Café Bharath (67, rue Louis Blanc - no site). It's a really nice place, lots of Indians eating there, service is good and the music was nice too.

Mango lassis with fruit.

MIxed pakora. Unfortunately all the seats by the window were taken so these photos are not the best (the flash was too bright).

Shrimp Vindaloo with rice. I've been doing my research and apparently Vindaloo is a Goan dish but I wanted to try it and it was really spicy (the waiter did warn me beforehand which was kind of him).

My daughter had the Chilly Chicken which was served with a cheese nan. Most of the Indian people eating there seemed to have ordered the Biryani, which looked excellent, so perhaps next time we will try that.

Wandering around the neighborhood after lunch I noticed this cool flower shop where they sell flower garlands. And I also noticed a lot of new excellent looking restaurants that I cannot wait to try out. I'm going to try and get back there next weekend.

Happy lunching from La Chapelle!

Experiencing Technical Difficulties sorry

Hi everyone, I'm trying to change the look a little and it's not easy. Somehow this piment 3 columns is stuck and I and trying to figure out how to deal with it.

I want the middle column bigger because otherwise the photos get cut off......

Anyway, hopefully things will be back in order on Monday

Lunch from the market - Wednesday is Market Day

On a positive note, one of the benefits of my new workplace is that I can leave for lunch early on Wednesdays and go to the outdoor market which is right across the street from the new offices.

This is our street food here in Paris. And here is a LINK in English for the addresses and days of all the markets in Paris. My market is the President Wilson one.

A nice bag full of clementines...the weather was weird today, I managed to take this picture in the sun but it just kept coming in and out so some of the market pictures are rather dark as I suppose befits Paris in January...

Here is where I buy my fruit every week, delicious mangos, papayas, and clementines.

And I can't resist another photos of the clementines, they are so good!

You can buy plants and flowers in the market.

As well as fish and seafood,

and even sanwiches, there is a little sandwich stand in our market and that is where I bought my lunch today.

Anyway, I'll try to get back to the market. It's interesting because it changes with the seasons. Today I was a little shy about taking photos. It's weird because when I'm visiting foreign countries or off into the countryside for a weekend I'm a tourist and I don't care but somehow just leaving the office to take photos of the market across the street intimidates me...I will work on this.

And,  I also want to work on getting my links up to date. Several people have linked to me and I've not linked back. Not because I don't want to it's just that I'm trying to get a useful link organization system set up and it's really difficult.

What I would like to do is set it up by country in one long list, for example:

Australia (this would be the title in bold or whatever but would not be a lien)

and here would logically follow a clickable list to the various sites I like in that country.. such a

1.  this one  (particularly nice), or

2. this one  (which I also really like)....

Hopefully, I will figure this out or you will be able to help me get this going.

Happy Lunching!

Lunch in my new office

The place that I work for moved to new offices last month and so now every morning when I come out of the metro I see this guy:

Yup, it's George Washington conquering Paris!

And here he is again from a different perspective which is interesting because right behind him you will see the Musée Guimet (the Guimet Museum dedicated to Asian art) - link to the English version of the site.

And here's todays lunch: ham and cheese on a baguette, an apple tart, a diet coke, and a little macaroon that cost .60 euro cents (my restaurant tickets are for 8 euros, the lunch cost 7.50, and they don't give change so I had to get the macaron to make up the difference).

Parma ham and comté cheese on a baguette with some lettuce. (the comté link is in English if you are interested in learning more about this delicious cheese.)

An apple tart. I had to take the pictures outside because my new office doesn't get much natural light (and I'm not real happy about that either - if anybody's looking for a PA/assistant/secretary/translator in Paris please drop me a line, but only if I can have a nice bright office with a window and a mutuelle) -  when the nice weather comes I will eat outside by the Seine which is right close by too.

A chocolat macaron...

And here is the inside. So, that was an ok lunch (with some culture thrown in - who knew there was a giant statue of Geo Washington right in the heart of Paris). I'm still getting used to this new area, on the down side there are no Asian take out places (hence my foray into Belleville this past weekend - I was really missing my Chinese takeout fix) but on the positive side we have an outdoor market on Wednesdays so maybe I will take some pictures of that soon.

Happy lunching!