On My Own

Erik left yesterday morning for Montreal, leaving me on my own to stay out of trouble.

Easier said than done, as we're into the second of three consecutive long weekends this month. I met up with Alex yesterday afternoon to do some shopping, I need to get a dress for the various weddings we're going to this summer, and after trying on a zillion different things, I managed to find something at Kookai. After picking through the accessories at H&M we cruised through the Grande Epicerie in search of snacks before heading off to our cooking class.

We met up with Marie, and made our way to one of the newer locations of Ateliers des Chefs. I have to say this location was a thousand times nicer than the Galleries Lafayette and Nation locations, which are glassed in kitchens in the middle of the housewares section of each department store. The rue Peclet location, where we were yesterday is it's own storefront, with a large kitchen in the back and a cooking supply store in the front. Much cosier, more private, and the staff were very friendly. On the menu last night was supreme de volaille avec persillade and blanc manger avec fraise au balsamic (chicken supreme with parsley crust; blanc mange (I have no idea what it is in English, but it's tasty!) with strawberries and balsamic vinegar). The whole menu was easy and delicious as usual, and we were even able to enjoy a glass of wine with our meal. The three of us are all gung-ho now to take the macaron class, and the cocktail class that they offer. If only I had a professional kitchen to go along with all my newfound culinary knowledge....

After our 'dinner' Alex and I headed up to rue St Maur to meet Anja at the scary bathroom bar (whose real name is Boui Boui). I'm happy to report that the bathroom is getting progressively less scary, and the owner is just as friendly. He remembered us, and gave us another carafe of wine instead of the bill when we asked. Which we happily accepted. The best part of the Boui Boui is that it is one of the few places we've found where you can have three carafes of wine for less than ten euros each.

Today I went on a 'gym date' with one of my gym friends. It's nice to know that I'm not alone in my mild obsession with these fitness classes, so we made our way to her other gym, which was offering an Attack class this afternoon. It's always fun to check out different gyms here in Paris, because I often have the impression that people don't really work out here. But apparently they do, as there were easily 70 people in the class that we took today.

And now I'm taking my sweet time getting through my planning for tomorrow. Three day work weeks are always a treat.

A+ :)