Ah Paris…I can never get enough of you. One week and 3 pounds heavier from my last jaunt to France, I’m still longing for the Parisian life. I feel very at home in Paris, despite the fact that I speak virtually no French and I am, (Shhhh…) a tourist. Despite these small barriers, I try hard to fit in while I’m there and live like the locals do. This means hiding my large camera and my shopping bags and trying to keep silent in every store I visit. As long as I can greet the owner with “Bonjour Madame!” I feel I’m momentarily safe from looking like a foreigner.
I love starting the day in Paris with breakfast at a boulangerie. The French do have a few Starbucks, but no one is ever running down the street with a cup of coffee choking down breakfast the way we do here in America. If you don’t have 5 minutes to savor your coffee and morning pastry, something is terribly wrong. I’ve tried hard to maintain that philosophy whenever I return home from Paris. There really isn’t so much going on that we cannot allow ourselves 5 minutes to eat… is there?
We have a wonderful bakery here, and the French owners bake amazing croissants and pastries. I love their French macarons, which come in an array of flavors: Vanilla bean, Blackberry current, Hazelnut, Pistachio…
Of course, breakfast in my backyard doesn’t look like this:
Or this…..
But you can enjoy a lovely French breakfast wherever your home may be. I took some photographs of some of the lovely treasures I found at the Flea Markets in Paris…
An enamelware Coffee pot easily carried out into the garden and ready to be served piping hot…
Madame et Monsieur napkin rings for a romantic breakfast for two…
This buttery croissant looks pretty on a vintage French platter. The beautiful knife is part of a set I found at a Flea market outside of Paris….
Raspberry preserves in an Antique jam pot….
Fresh Raspberries and a sweet Cafe au Lait bowl….
These never-used vintage linens were found in northern France and still have their original tags on them.
I bought an array of Cafe au Lait bowls in all different colors and patterns…
Sweets wrapped up in a brown box from Chocolatine, in Thousand Oaks….
I couldn’t resist buying some of these delicious macarons…..
Have a wonderful week, and don’t forget to enjoy your breakfast…xo Jennifer
