The easiest way to get straight to my heart?
Chocolate & Meringue & Macaron & rasberries wrapped in a heart shaped cake!
A transitionary home for my soul stuck somewhere between the Swiss Alps and Parisian chic.
February 14, 2019
February 12, 2019
Menu del giorno
There is only one way to describe our recent visit to Napoli... we ate ourselves through the weekend. Welcomed by family and friends, food is their way of appreciating and celebrating our presence. It is the ultimate declaration of love in Southern Italy... la cucina fatta con amore!
Spaghetti alle vongole... my favourite!
Crocché napoletani alle patate, alla mozzarella e ai fiori di zucca
Cannot remember what this is called but it was good!
Canolo ripieno di pasta?
Carciofi alla brace
Just a slice of pizza in between...
The cutest ice cream dessert...
... strawberries, walnuts and chestnuts filled with their ice cream!
Breakfast the next day...
... and off we go: mozzarella napoletana fresca
La pizza fritta montanara
La vera pizza napoletana
Lasagne per 12
Homemade savoiardi (ladyfingers) with melted chocolate
A new day brings more food...
Calamari fritti
Souté vongole
Spaghetti vongole... again!
Zeppolone e caffè
Babà, profiterole, sfoliatelle, zeppole and a whole lot more
Another coffee on the go
Graffa napoletana
Gelato al caramelo
February 8, 2019
A winter week in B&W
A Parisian perspective
An early morning jog
Never get tired of Paris' "grandeur"
Time for afternoon tea!
When the sun tries to take a peak at Paris!
#PasBigMac
Ending the week in the company of some good friends.
February 7, 2019
February 4, 2019
Paris' Night of Solidarity
For the second year running Paris has designated Feb 7th as the night of solidarity for housing. Temperatures are dropping below zero in this part of the world and the time of year is exceptionally harsh for the homeless.
Each corner of the city has their local "clochards": the drunk ones that lie over the metro air vents on the pavements in search of some heat, the clean-cut man wearing a hat politely asking for a coin every morning at the bus station, the immigrant woman cradling her kid in front of the bakery, the rugged looking man parked in a wheelchair at the supermarket who stands up when he thinks nobody is looking.
They are all part of the city's social fabric. You notice when one disappears and hope it is because he or she has found a better solution. Sometimes, however, they don't make it through the winter, and flowers are placed in their spot for a few weeks in remembrance of the clochard who called it his home.
One of the aims of "Nuit de la Solidarité" is enabling citizens to become aware of the reality of life on the streets. It is unbearable that this city has so many people sleeping in the cold at a stone's throw from glorious sites such as the sparkling Eiffel Tower.
Back in summer 2017 the President of France, Emmanuel Macron, promised that no-one would be sleeping in the Paris streets "by the end of the year," something that - he has confessed - he was sadly unable to fulfil. There is an estimate from last year's Solidarity Night census that Paris' homeless population currently stands at around 3,000 people. Not all are old men, alone, walking around with a lot of bags and each homeless has his/her story.
This year's rally is being organised by a collective of French voluntary organisations, calling for an end to poverty and exclusion. Several associative structures are opening their doors offering to share a moment of conviviality. As Abbé Pierre said: "You don't need to be perfect before you can start doing something good."
Each corner of the city has their local "clochards": the drunk ones that lie over the metro air vents on the pavements in search of some heat, the clean-cut man wearing a hat politely asking for a coin every morning at the bus station, the immigrant woman cradling her kid in front of the bakery, the rugged looking man parked in a wheelchair at the supermarket who stands up when he thinks nobody is looking.
They are all part of the city's social fabric. You notice when one disappears and hope it is because he or she has found a better solution. Sometimes, however, they don't make it through the winter, and flowers are placed in their spot for a few weeks in remembrance of the clochard who called it his home.
One of the aims of "Nuit de la Solidarité" is enabling citizens to become aware of the reality of life on the streets. It is unbearable that this city has so many people sleeping in the cold at a stone's throw from glorious sites such as the sparkling Eiffel Tower.
Back in summer 2017 the President of France, Emmanuel Macron, promised that no-one would be sleeping in the Paris streets "by the end of the year," something that - he has confessed - he was sadly unable to fulfil. There is an estimate from last year's Solidarity Night census that Paris' homeless population currently stands at around 3,000 people. Not all are old men, alone, walking around with a lot of bags and each homeless has his/her story.
This year's rally is being organised by a collective of French voluntary organisations, calling for an end to poverty and exclusion. Several associative structures are opening their doors offering to share a moment of conviviality. As Abbé Pierre said: "You don't need to be perfect before you can start doing something good."
February 2, 2019
YSL's dream of Asia
It is not the first time I step into Yves Saint Laurent's headquarters located in Avenue Marceau where the designer worked for about 30 years.
The Fondation Yves Saint Laurent keeps on bringing the famous French couturier back to life. So far, the foundation jealously kept 40 years of creations of this true symbol of Parisian Haute Couture.
In 2017 the foundation became a museum owning over 5,000 clothing pieces, 15,000 accessories and several dozens of thousands of drawings, sampling boards and other documents, a collection of an incredible richness. Yves Saint Laurent is one of the few fashion designer of his time who took the precaution of archiving his work and this from the very opening of his designer house.
This winter Yves Saint Laurent brought together 50 haute couture designs inspired by India, China and Japan through the "Dreams of the Orient" exhibition.
Yves Saint Laurent was fascinated by Asian art and culture all his life. Without really leaving his studio, he worked on traditional Indian, Chinese and Japanese clothes to give live to his Haute Couture designs and fragrances.
From his first collections, he revisits sovereigns’ sumptuous coats from India (a place Mr. Saint Laurent never visited). Then, he explores the Imperial China for his fall-winter 1977 collection and the kimono in 1994, Japan being the only Asian country he visited regularly!
YSL Saint Laurent was a true connoisseur of the cultures that he was paying tribute to.
The Musée Yves Saint Laurent officially opened on October 3, 2017 in Paris.
Three letters – YSL – so synonymous now with luxury and glamour.
The former Haute Couture salon.
Rich silk brocade jackets and emperor gowns from his fall 1977 Les Chinoises collection, in fiery red floral prints or gold dragon-like scales.
Sketches by Yves Saint Laurent, part of the development of Opium perfume, circa 1977.
A man who loves his colours.
Yves Saint Laurent revisits the traditional kimono.
There’s no denying the sheer beauty of Saint Laurent’s pieces within the exhibition.
The Indian section of the exhibition.
By dressing women in Mughal prince robes and turbans adorned with a sarpech jewel that were traditionally the attire of powerful men...
... Saint Laurent was re-contextualising traditional dress and thus empowering women.
A more traditional approach.
YSL's office space which used to be covered with rolls of fabric...
YSL’s desk, and on the wall behind it, a portrait of him by Bernard Buffet, a black and white photograph of Catherine Deneuve, pictures of his beloved French bulldog Muzhik.
A masterpiece inspired by Van Gogh.
YSL was THE master of lavishing accessories.
Dozens of drawings and documents that show the process of the perfume’s design...
... for the launch of Opium in 1977.
"If I chose Opium as the name for this perfume, it is because I hoped intensely that it could - through all its incandescent powers - release the divine fluids, the magnetic waves, the heart-warming and the charming seduction that gives birth to mad love, love at first sight, fatal ecstasy when a man and a woman look at each other for the first time."
Yves Saint Laurent
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