Lost in Translation

It was blue skies today in Paris, right to the right of Ty you can see the Eifle Tower, its small from here! We haven't seen the sun in a few weeks, it feels like, in Paris so we were pumped! 

First stop, Sonia Rykiel exhibit at the Les Arts Decoratifs museum in the Louvre.  This was awesome!  It was huge with tons of clothes from her collections, videos of runway shows, photographs of shoots in huge black and whites and a special anniversary collection that other noteworthy designers did especially for her. My favorite was a Roberto Cavalli number that was meant to be twirled. Ty's was, (I made him pick one) a Super Man dress with a cape that said Sonia on the back, it was cute. Forgot who did that one though. He was a champ going to this with me and faking his interest in woman's fashion. Although he loved the concept art. Donna Karan appears to do hers in water colors, gorgeous! Wish we could take pics there but it was prohibited. I did snap 1 pic but it doesn't do the show justice so we'll just use our imagination. We did stop off at her flagship store which is around the corner from the apartment on our way home to come full circle. I am a new fan and I love this season's handbag collection and accessories. Its really fun and has tons of rhinestones on them, bringin it back. The best was seeing this older man taking a nap in one of the chairs near the dressing room and his wife, all snazzed up with her multiple shopping bags, coming over to say, "Irving, I am done, Irving!!! We are leaving!!!!!" Her friend was right behind her and said, "Is he dead?"

Ty was cracking up.

But before we made it home, we ventured back to a favorite restaurant, mainly because the view is so gorgeous and you can sit outside and stare at the Louvre behind big glass pane windows that block any wind. Here we are waiting for our food.

This is the view from our table.

We both ordered the Tuna which we had last year but it was more of a tartare then with avocado. This was fantastic although not the same, raw, and with a ginger ponzu sauce I think. We savoured every bite. It was a no carb kind of a day. Gotta love it!

Unless you count sugar as carbs...  The weather took a quick turn for the worse so we decided to come home and finally make toffee! This is a tradition in my family and always makes if feel like Christmas. Its a huge hit but really a challenge to make. So many batches I have thrown away in my lifetime, candy making is tricky.  But when you nail it, its worth it!  Here I am at step one, melting the butter.

Skipping ahead a few steps, Ty helping me stir, my hand felt like it was going to fall off after 20 minutes of solid stirring.

Pouring it out on a greased cookie sheet... crucial.

Melted chocolate. Check.. About to drizzle toasted chopped almonds. 

I am letting it sit overnight before I do the other side with chocolate and almonds. I will post the finished product although Ty and I came home tonight and tasted a corner. Its definitely my best batch YET!! I am not sure whether its the european butter or what, but its perfect! My Mom would be proud as its her special recipe.

Oh, after the toffee was done, we headed back to the American bookstore. I have 2 funny stories about that.

1. The first night we went to hear David Sedaris, we were smushed in the back with a bunch of people. This one girl was there and was about our age and started to have a panic attack, then she fainted. I am not sure if she was star struck or what but she was out cold and then came too, right in time for his readings. She was kind of a spaz before that and we were doing our best to ignore her.

We were in line with her when he signed our book and she told him, "I am one of those people you write about, where I think my dog is my child, I call her my daughter" He looked at her slightly amused and nodding out of courtesy. 

So anyways, we went back to the store yesterday to get Ty a new book and she was there, with her "Daughter". She has a Tri-colored King Charles Spaniel which is the same breed as Ty's parents 2 dogs, Tucker and Morgan. Tyler got excited to see the dog and went over to pet it and noticed she was attached to the fainter. He starts talking to her and shows her a picture of T and M. She starts off on a ramble, "Oh, they are so cute.. are they males? I keep looking for her for a husband. Everywhere I look, I see a dog and I want to breed her but the vet said it would be very irresponsible as she is too old, but I keep looking anyways, she needs to find a husband. Oh, you live in Marin, how is San Francisco? Like, can I take her shopping with me? I have a bigger bag that I take her in that no one knows she's in there, its black. (The one she is carrying now is sparkly gold, all bling'd out) I might move there to study animal rights law but I am worried about her, (pointing to her daughter) are they very dog friendly? Because we have a very good life here, everyone loves her in the 6th, all of the restaurants call her the princess of the 6th, I think I am going to write a book about it."

Um... Ya. That is seriously how that went. I meanwhile, was flipping through cookbooks wondering how Ty was going to get to walk away from this one but he did, like a gentlemen, say nice to see you again and bee-lined it for the horror section. Incredible.

2.  While we were there last night we read about another author reading going on tonight so headed over early to get seats closer to the front. Mission accomplished, we were an hour early and snagged front row seats, this was not the David Sedaris smash hit however. This book was called, The Journal of Helen Barr, a diary about a jewish girl in Paris during the Nazi occupation.  We both thought it sounded really interesting and it did once we heard some of it, the niece of the author was there to read and tell a little background about the book, she was the one who got it published last year and it has since been a best seller in Paris and is being printed in 21 more languages currently. 

So... the room fills up, and the reader speaks the ENTIRE time in French. There was an english speaker who read aloud the parts from the book that the niece did, but not any explanations, nothing. It was 2 hours long and then there were questions. Ty and I fortunately were in the front row, eyeing each other like we wanted OUT! I wish we had discussed a signal, never in my life had I wished we had a secret code tug on ear or something. But the room was tiny and we were in the dead front so we had to stick it out. Finally, after questions were going for what seemed like hours and my stomach was growling, I bailed. I couldn't take it and my manners were out the window. Oops.

It was a bit torturous not understanding anything and I said once we were outside, "See, that is why I never sat in the front row? You never know when something might suck and you gotta bail"

Whew!  We were laughing that it was at the American bookstore and we should have known at the very beginning that the host said, "I am sure all of you speak French enough so we can do this in French." 

Ya, that's why we are buying books at the AMERICAN BOOKSTORE!!!

hahaha