June Showers

At this point, I'm not clear why the Pacific Northwest gets such a bad rap when it comes to rain.  Because in Paris, it rains all the time.  Yet when I tell people I live in Paris, nobody says, "Oh, doesn't it rain all the time?" like they used to say when I said I was from Portland.  Now, there are of course other reasons why rain is not the first thing that comes to mind when you think of Paris, but let's be real - this city gets a lot of rain.  This whole supposed "Paris in the springtime" thing?  If by springtime you mean daily rainshowers and occasional truly unseasonably cold days, then springtime here has been lovely so far.

I've heard that back in DC its already incredibly warm and humid.  And that sounds fairly miserable, but I'm reaching the point where I would consider taking disgusting, sweat-dripping-from-elbows humidity over this. 

Wait - what?  No.  Wrong.  I'll keep my June showers, thank you very much.

This has not been our best week in Paris ever.  Mostly this is due to Baby Oil's ongoing penchant for getting up at 5am, combined with Mr. Oil's extremely hectic week of working late every day - nobody is getting much sleep.  That did not stop Mr. Oil and I from attending our first Parisian opera this week.  We saw The Barber of Seville, which was the first opera I'd ever attended.

It felt fittingly Parisian to go to the opera, and it is an impressive display of true talent on the part of the singers.  There were a few moments where I felt like I was at synagogue on High Holidays, and the second act in particular is a bit of blur.  Allegedly, I fell asleep.  Either that, or I was so moved by the music that I was elevated into some higher meditative state in which the 60 minutes of the act lasted but five, and I missed major plot development (such as when the Count and Rosina actually get married).   Really, its not a judgment on the opera but more of a reflection on our current level of exhaustion. I would go to the opera again, though I might wear pajamas next time...

Last night I went to dinner with a group of women bloggers/writers at Blend, a new chic hamburger place in the 2nd.  Shockingly for Paris, they actually offer TWO veggie options - a veggie burger and a buffalo mozzarella burger.  I went with the mushroom-tofu burger, which is crusted in sesame seeds and is absolutely fantastic - comes with creamy brillat savarin, eggplant, and mint, on fantastic handmade rolls.  The dinner was for writers for an excellent (though I'm biased) site called Girls Guide to Paris, which I am starting to write for as well (hence the bias).  Another former writer for the site is actually the baker and pastry chef for Blend, and once the staff found out we were "friends with Camille" they were extra solicitous and wonderful.  In other words, completely un-Parisian!

If you're in Paris on vacation, you might not need or want a burger.  But if you do, I would highly recommend stopping by Blend.  But come early or be prepared to wait - there was a line at 7:30 when it opened, and when we left around 9:30, there was still a line.  Do not skip dessert - the cheesecake in particular is light and creamy perfection served in a petite French portion.

So June showers continue, but at least there's burgers and fries to compensate!  Not to mention the entire box of Belgian chocolates that Mr. Oil brought home from a work trip to Brussels yesterday.