The Tomato Knife

It’s Mardi Gras! While Halloween may be underplayed in France, Mardi Gras certainly isn’t. A tradition stemming largely from the Middle Ages, children and teenagers (and even some adults) giddily dress up in all kinds of colorful costumes for a day of festive revelry.  No trick-or-treating or candies for this celebration; instead, French tradition calls for chocolate-smeared, sugar-sprinkled and jam-filled crêpes.

Mardi Gras, commonly known as Fat or Strove Tuesday, goes hand-in-hand with Carnival, a wild festival which has origins in ancient Rome and Greece. Back then, for example, pagan celebrations honoring the gods Dionysus and Bacchus (Greek and Roman gods of wine), were a time of fun and drunken merriment.  Another celebration from ancient Rome, the Festival of Saturn, gave citizens the chance to dress up as members of the society that they were not (the rich as the poor, women as men, slaves as masters).  Such festivities became closer to the Carnival we know today with the rise of Christianity. Christians supposedly adopted the pagan tradition of rowdy merry making, incorporating it into their own religious practices.  The word “carnival” comes from the Latin “carne vale,” which roughly translates as “farewell flesh.”  In medieval times, Carnival would have been the last chance to eat meat before Lent.

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Tags: chocolate, cooking, crepes

Valentine’s weekend, Paris’ most-popular restaurants are packed full of couples, literally cheek to cheek. Reservations are a must and, for the special occasion, most places propose a set menu with entrée, plat and déssert.  As our tradition goes, we hopped on the metro and stepped through the doors of one of the city’s well-liked, yet out-of-the-way restaurants.  L’Oga, a small and not-so-traditional dining spot in the 11^th arrondissement, is young, trendy, and recommended by many city-dwellers and dining guides.

From the non-descript outside, you really can’t tell what kind of restaurant this is.  As you walk through the doors and dark curtains draped at the entrance, you begin to understand that L’Oga is a funky cross between tradition and modern trend.  The lighting is dim candlelight.  The walls are covered with boldly colored contemporary paintings and handwritten chalkboards announcing the menu and wine lists- a décor full of edgy, eye-appealing contrasts.

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Tags: fish, restaurants

Though I was hopeful for spring with my last post, this week’s on-and-off flurries of snow have officially confirmed that winter is not yet over.

In fact, this has been the strangest, coldest winter I’ve experienced in Paris so far.  Today, alone, has been proof of divine indecision: one minute, unbelievably large snowflakes are floating in the air; the next, the sky is clear and blue; and, then, it’s masked in grey, bone-chilling cold.

Whether you’re just visiting or actually living in Paris, one of the coziest escapes from the weather is shelter in one of the capital’s endless array of wine bars. Just recently, we discovered one that was especially inviting- and hidden away from any tourist crowd.

Le Rouge et le Verre is located in Paris’ 9^th arrondissement, not too far north of the Palais Garnier opera house and right near the church Notre Dame de Lorette.  This area may not get the same attention as the neighboring 1^st and 2^nd arrondissements (home, for example, to the Bibliothèque Nationale, Place Vendôme and the Louvre), but I enjoy walking around its somber streets and stepping into its cafés/bars for the unexplored, authentic atmosphere I always feel.

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Tags: cheese, wine, wine bars