Category — Travel To Go

TBG, Mignette and Moi are departing on the all-American summer tradition: the road trip. And because our kids are grown and gone, we’ve borrowed a child for the backseat: Moi niece R, who will:

• serve as the backseat buddy for Mignette
• act as tie-breaker over which roadside fast-food stop to pick
• provide the “how many hours til we get there” background noise
• deliver cold drinks and snacks from the back seat to the front
• walk Mignette at rest stops while TBG gases up and I search the store’s pop coolers wondering why I didn’t pack my own diet Canada Dry ginger ale [Read more →]

It all started with a tweet July 6 from @TheAntiquesDiva:

Found gorgeous antique linens with CR embroidered – perfect for @shesshoppingnow

Immediately following were a series of frantic emails and phone calls, and the deal was done: the antique monogrammed linens were mine! [Read more →]

I scoured the libraires for cute postcards on my recent return to Paris, somehow I missed one! But no worries: in the mail I received a thank you postcard from Paris friend @Parisbug.

This fab Merci carte postal is on Moi shopping list for my next visit to Paris!

á plus!

Moi tip: When you’re traveling, postcards make great souvenirs that you can share: stock up on birthday, thank you, get well: any note or postcards you regularly send throughout the year. Your friends and family will love to receive such a unique memory of your trip. Even Christmas cards! Joyeux Noël!

We just celebrated Christmas in July: our Christmas present to The Queen Mum was a girls trip to Savannah, and we were finally able to coordinate the trip this past weekend. All 5 daughters, 3 daughters-in-law, and Mom: almost everyone made it. So 9 of us flew in from 4 states for a 4 day week-end in Sweat-vannah.

And of course when Moi travels, she shops! Savannah is filled with fun and unusual shops, and we shopped them all! A few of Moi finds were: [Read more →]

It all started with Lance Armstrong’s LiveStrong yellow rubberband bracelet: we lived in Paris at the time, he was of course our Tour de France hero. Wearing the bracelet was a fun chic way to proclaim our national pride, plus it inspired envy in all our French friends who of course wanted their own LiveStrong band. Trading ensued.

Wearing one or multiple rubber wristbands has become an increasingly trendy way to proclaim your allegiances: [Read more →]

If you’ve been reading along you know three things that make Moi happy are Paris, antiques and my iPhone. You may also know that I’m on twitter, and in addition to having twitter followers, I’ve been following some new favorites that make me happy. And Monday morning I read:

Our Flea Markets of Paris App has Launched! Check it out on itunes!

http://ax.itunes.apple.com/us/app/keys-to-the-fleas/id380432477?mt=8

So immediately I clicked on the link, went to iPhones, read about the new app by Claudia Strasser, and within seconds had purchased, downloaded, and was excitedly reading and mental note-taking on some of my fave and soon-to-be-fave Paris flea markets.
[Read more →]

J’adore all things blue: blue bags of pretzel M&Ms, my new bleu sel marin (sea salt) jar from POSH Chicago, and Moi blau zwiebelmuster (blue onion) crock that I scored on a shopping trip with The Antiques Diva in Berlin. Read all about it…

And a correction:

As you can see on the crock, the old German spelling was Cacao. not Cocoa, and with a period after the o. So the last line explaining the Deutsch Rightig Sprechen und Schreiben should say:

As a result, Cacao. became Kakao.

Tschüss!

How come no one ever writes a song about returning home from a great trip? Along with the tedium of unpacking comes the fun of showing off your new finds! After my recent trip to Paris I lugged home these goodies. Why? Because they make me happy!

Pylones, the fun and funky French housewares chain, had these trés cool Eiffel Tower graters dangling in the front window of their Ile Saint-Louis shop, so of course a purchase was made! If you won’t be in Paris soon, Pylones has shops in NYC, as well as an online shopping site.

One of my other favorite houseware shops in the 6th on St André des Arts had these great silicon Eiffel Tower cake molds, sold in a set of 3 or individually. Of course I bought the set of 3, and will inaugurate them next week when I make individual Reine de Saba for a cocktail we’re hosting.

But not all souvenirs carry a price tag, some are found treasures! When I arrive in Paris, one of my first stops is always Monoprix. And one of my favorite aisles is la crèmerie to satisfy my craving for French yogurt. My favorite brand is La laitèrie, and my favorite flavor is citron: lemon. This yogurt is sold in charming little glass pots, and a stash of pots always accompany me home. I use them for individual servings of crème caramel, or pots de crème. (see Moi tip below) CoMo bff S uses hers as candle holders throughout the year: with a tea light inside, sometimes glittered and sparkled for the holidays, they make an easy chic table decoration.

Saint Marcellin is a yummy creamy cheese, traditionally sold in a small ceramic crock. And an empty crock traditionally makes it way into my suitcase, to be used chez Moi to serve olives, nuts, rice crackers or other little nibbles with an apéro.

Paris now boasts 35 Starbucks, and this trip I managed to visit most of them. Sadly no free wifi, but I was able to maintain my daily tradition of wandering the streets with my tall skim chai latte, extra hot (un tall chai latte, écrémé, trés chaud, svp!) and a straw. And because I can never have too much Starbucks or too many Eiffel Towers, this souvenir also smuggled itself into my suitcase:

Moi tip: I have many authentic recipes for crème caramel and pots de crème that I learned living in Paris, but I have to confess to loving this super simple recipe I discovered when Rachel Ray appeared on Oprah a few years ago, works every time. (note: I never add the mint or the whipped cream) Perfect for my little empty yogurt pots!

Rachel Ray’s Decadent Chocolate Cups with Whipped Cream

INGREDIENTS
2/3 cup whole milk
1 egg
2 Tbsp. sugar
Pinch salt
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
2 Tbsp. hazelnut liqueur or dark rum
4 demitasse cups
1 cup whipping cream
2 Tbsp. sugar
Mint sprigs, for garnish, optional

When planning your menu, make this dessert first to allow these chocolate cups to set and chill.

Heat milk in a small pan over moderate heat until it comes to a boil. In blender or food processor or turn on blender to low setting. Pour in boiling milk in a slow stream. The hot milk will cook the egg and melt the chocolate. Process or blend 1 minute, until smooth. Spoon chocolate into 4 demitasse cups and chill. After dinner, beat cream until soft peaks form. Add a little sugar and beat to combine. Top the chocolate cups with a dollop of cream and garnish each cup with mint sprigs. Place cups on saucers and serve with demitasse spoons. If you use teacups, this recipe will yield 2 cups, rather than 4.

My morning mail yielded a gorgeous watercolor postcard of a Japanese harbor from CoMo bff S.

S lived in Tokyo, and she and her husband were reliving their Tokyo days. The postmark is Tsubuka (I had to look it up: Tsubuka is a planned city known as the Science City, about an hour NE of Tokyo). The card of the Mount Tsubuka harbor was so charming, and her note so cute, I had to share.

Dear Moi -

Konnichiwa!       Life in Japan is great. I’m sitting at a Starbucks drinking a matcha green tea latté… Rest after a full day of shopping.

Hot fashions right now:

- black tights under peter pan-style shorts

- country garden rompers

- fake nails with each finger a different color

Don’t think I’ll waste suitcase space on any of these trend setters!

S

Now you know why we’re bffs!

After a morning of shopping, we bid adieu to Paris with a cruise on the Seine, followed by a nighttime visit to admire le Tour Eiffel sparkling in all her glitter.

Wandering the banks of the Seine with warm, runny crepes oozing with nutella (for la fille) or fromage (Omaha bff J and Moi), we chose Bateaux Parisiens for our cruise, because it was right in front of us and ready to depart.

Then at 10pm, as the late Paris dusk settled on us, a final nutella crepe to bid à bientôt to Paris, the City of Light, under the Eiffel Tower lights.

Á la prochaine!