Postdoc in Paris

Thursday, March 01, 2007

Not too Busy to Eat

Lately I've been busy working and job-searching, and blogging has pretty much fallen to a low rank on the priority scale. Fortunately, I found time to have a couple nice meals that you can check out on my Flickr site. They were both at neo-bistrots, L'Ourcine and A Mi-Chemin, which combine the fast service of a bistrot with more refined, higher quality food.

L'Ourcine is a well-blogged over place in the 13th, where I went last night with La Petite Americaine, brumaire, and Gregoire, a friend from Amherst who I now work with. More People = More Dishes and they were fantastic. A Mi-Chemin is just a place I happened upon by myself one night.

Both are recommended by me, but L'Ourcine is finer cuisine and you'll need reservations, and A Mi-Chemin gives you bigger portions with service one notch less professional. In case you're visiting Paris, here are the addresses:
A Mi-Chemin, 31 rue Boulard, Paris 75014 Phone: 0145395645
L'Ourcine, 92 rue Broca, Paris 75013 Phone: 0147071365
If you're not visiting Paris, tant pis (too bad). Feast with you're eyes anyway, its calorie-free. Cheers!

Thursday, February 15, 2007

Blogger Postcards From Around the World: Part Two

I received a beautiful postcard on Tuesday, just in time for Valentine's Day. It came all the way to me from Mumbai, India!

Nandita, who has a blog called Saffron Trail, got this card in Pondicherry, which is the former capital of French India. I didn't even know there was a French India, and that France didn't relinquish control of Pondicherry until 1954! A Google search led me to this site with some photos of the place. I also found out that many travellers are drawn to Pondicherry because of the Sri Aurobindo Ashram, a center for practice and study of a school of spirituality which combines yoga and modern science. Sri Aurobindo, a political leader who later became a spritual leader, wrote the verse on the postcard.
I'm separated from my fiance by an ocean right now, so there's no Valentine's dinner in my picture, so it is helpful and meaningful to me to think of our love transcending our lack of material contact.

But anyway, the material me celebrated Valentine's Day with a phone call home and a pastry from Laurent Duchene, on rue Wurtz: two heart-shaped almond-raspberry macarons with fresh raspberries and a nougat cream center. Pretty and delicious!