Hot spots in Paris for Bujah

(above: Paris pop in the park behind the Eiffel tower, at a special event for handicapped people of non-French background)

As you might recall I had mixed reactions to Paris when I visited it earlier in the year. In fact there were some complaints that I had been a little harsh. Well, no more! I have joined the legions of Paris-lovers! It happens that Bujah will be in Paris for the first time this Friday so I thought I would compose a Paris best-of for her. I went to Paris again for 10 days in September, but haven't got around to that part yet in my summer of Rowth series, so I'm going to get a bit out of order here.

This is a list of my hot spots but it doesn't repeat things I mentioned in my three earlier Paris blogs (the first few blogs I did).

French
One of the reasons my trip to Paris was less enjoyable that it could have been in Janurary was my lack of French. Actually I did try and learn some using the great BBC online French Steps course but I didn't finish it and I didn't repeat each exercise as many times as I could have.
Here is the French Steps URL:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/french/lj/

And here is the link to the Wikitravel French phrasebook.

http://wikitravel.org/en/French_phrasebook

It's a bit hard to do a best-of of Paris because there is so many sights that most people will do anyhow.

Things you'll probably do anyway

Eiffel tower: and the park behind it
Louvre and Orangerie (I only saw the outside!)

Other things
Place des Vosges and the Musee Carnavalet in Marais
Palais du Tokyo: The art gallery and the cafeteria downstairs

Walks
Belleville to Goutte d'or through Strasbourg-St. Denis: world cultures in Paris
Up to the top of Montmarte from Barbes Rochechouart metro on a sunny Sunday
Along the Seine from the Bastille to the Eiffel Tower
Rue de Menilmontant - up the top of the hill there are cute little cul de Sacs that look like houses in the countryside - down lanes with gardens. You might need a guide to find them all though. Still it's nice up the top of the hill.

Food!
Markets:
Marche d'Aligre - place de Aligre, metro Ledru Rollin - has good wine and cheese shops in the streets near the market.
Marche Bastille - the high end of town.

Ile St. Louis cafe: La Charlotte de l'Isle at 26 Rue Saint-Louis-en-l'Île - get the hot chocolate or the chocolate cake, this is a very cosy place on what can be a very cold and damp island.
Boulevard Belleville for Couscous, Algerian cakes and groceries


(above) Tunisian cakes at Le Bague de Kenza bakery, just off Rue Oberkampf, 106 rue Saint-Maur, Paris 11e.

Cheeses: Roquefort, tete de Moine, anything with the word Moine 'monk' in it - those monks can do no wrong! They are craziest about Roquefort in Marseilles (Roquefort sandwich, pizza, pasta etc.) but it's better in Paris.

Cafes/bars
Rue Oberkampf for groovy bars (Republique)
La Fourmi - corner Rue des Martyrs and Boulevarde de Rochechouart (Montmartre/Pigalle)

Sport in the Latin quarter:
Hammam de la Mosquee de Paris (steam baths: open for women10am-9pm Mon, Wed, Thu, Sat and Friday 2-9)
Piscine Pontoise-quartier Latin, a beautiful indoor pool from the 20's(?) that's not too cold. You don't just get a locker you get a whole room and a man who opens it for you. But you will have to bring a funny hat or buy one from the vending machine.

http://travel.nytimes.com/travel/guides/europe/france/paris/overview.html

Things I would still like to do but didn't:
St. Denis hammam and market
Jardin Botanique Latin quarter
Clubs on a boat: La Guinguette Pirate
Eat every cheese I didn't try yet

Nijmegen autumn recipe

We interrupt our series on the summer of rowth for a brief recipe.

Rowth's autumn stir-fry

Equipment: Electric stove, flat bottomed non-stick wok
Ingredients: 1 onion, garlic, ginger, fresh shitake, carrot, tofu, pine nuts, soy sauce, lime.
Serves 2

Accompaniment suggestions: beer, white rice, salad green, pumpkin (I had some stew-like pumpkin soup but some roast dutch pumpkin would be good too - these are very orange with bright orange skin and round - I think they might be called Chestnut pumpkin)

Instructions:
Chop the bottom half of the shitake stems off. Dice the onion. Chop the ginger and garlic as small as you can be bothered. Chop the carrot lengthways then the other ways, then slice thinly lengthways.
Chop tofu into 2cm cubes and fry in a tablespoon of oil until brown on two sides. Remove. Fry onion for a while in the remaining oil. Fry it a a bit hotter than you would for a European dish. Stir and fry for about 5 minutes. Then add the garlic, ginger, carrot and mushrooms. Stir intermittently and pat into a lump after stirring so it keeps its moisture.
Grill pinenuts in frying pan slowly while doing this.
When the mushroom has shrunk to about half it's size and seems somewhat slimly it should be done.
Remove from heat and mix in fried tofu and pine nuts.
Put on plate with accompaniments. Squeeze lime juice on veges and use soy sauce.

Sesame oil would probably be nice too if you have it.
Guaranteed to remove winter chills.
No photos, sorry - I already ate it.