More penis bread

Gentle readers, isn't January a depressing month?  The festive season is over and a long gloomy winter lies ahead.  Today it was particularly grey and grim and windy and rainy in Paris and I'm attempting a (much-needed) month-long detox.  Sigh.  So you can see how I need to be cheered up, but never fear, because......penis bread to the rescue!!!  You may recall that I used to live in the Marais and my old neighbourhood bakery there sells this rather delightful item, which I have posted about in the past (Penis bread).  But it seems that they have expanded their repertoire, and I feel I must share this awesomeness with you.

Firstly, the penis baguette - please note that it comes in both poppy and sesame seed to delight your gourmet tastebuds, which is very important, I'm sure you'll agree:

Then we have the chocolate-chip penis brioche.  I'll admit that it looks slightly dodgy, but I assure you that it's delicious:

And finally, quite possibly the greatest thing in the world: the penis tarte aux framboises:

Gentle readers, the tarte aux framboises is already my favourite thing in any bakery, but shaped like this?  How much temptation can one little blogger resist??  I haven't actually bought one of these yet, but that's only because it's about twelve inches long (make your own jokes here, you cheeky little monkeys) and should probably be shared (okay, that's enough smut from you - honestly, what kind of a blog do you think this is?  Get your minds out of the gutter...because I'd like to be alone down there.  Hee!  Tip your waitresses, I'm here all week!).  Anyway, the point is that I was going to wait for the proper occasion to buy one of these, but with this being January, I'm sort of thinking the proper occasion might be any damn time I feel like it?  I'll let you know when I succumb...

NB - should you find yourself in Paris and then find yourself in the Marais, Legay Choc bakery can be found on the rue St Croix de la Bretonnerie, at the corner of rue du Temple.  Enjoy!

Favourite Paris photos - 48

Things you might see on the Metro

Miss K spent a couple of years as a platinum blonde and let me tell you - bleaching your roots can be a bit on the painful side, so I give full credit to this gentleman for his commitment to the rather stylish stars he has bleached into his skull stubble. I can't even imagine the hassle of the upkeep on this hairdo, but sir, I salute you!

Feeding the animals

A couple of weeks ago, I went to a party with my Australian friend Mr Sydney.  We had to stop at a supermarket along the way to pick up some booze and I must give credit where it's due - Mr Sydney was the one who spotted this rather amusing sign.  In case you can't see the photo clearly, the "animal food" section is entirely stocked with beer... 

Happy New Sneer

Well, my pretties, the holidays are over - I hope you all had a lovely break and spent some quality time with your family and friends.  In my case, I had originally planned to ignore the whole thing, but then I decided that it would be far more fun to sulk my way through it and really embrace my inner Scrooge - and here I quote the fabulous Charles Dickens:

"Every idiot who goes about with 'Merry Christmas' on his lips, should be boiled with his own pudding, and buried with a stake of holly through his heart."

Hee!  So I laid my Grinchy little plans accordingly - to stay home, cook up a festive feast for myself on the 23rd (so that I could eat leftovers and not have to lift a finger for the 24th and 25th), watch lots of Christmas movies (but skip all the endings with their festive, life-affirming crap), and drink a ridiculous amount of wine.  And you know what?  That's exactly what I did and it was awesome.  It was made even more awesome because two of my lovely friends back in Toronto sent me a surprise care package of chocolates and champagne, which arrived on Christmas Eve morning (and was therefore my breakfast - well, obviously).

Seriously, this was probably the most relaxed Christmas I've ever had - didn't go anywhere, so no travel stress; didn't buy a single present, so no shopping stress (all right, being totally broke is kinda stressful, but I'm used to that by now); didn't have guests over, so no entertaining stress.  I didn't even bother to get any form of Christmas tree - I thought I might throw some tinsel at my ficus ("throw some tinsel at my ficus?" Well, there's a nifty phrase - it sounds vaguely filthy, doesn't it?) but I couldn't even be bothered to do that.  I ate and drank and watched exactly what I wanted, I skyped and socialized with a few people so that I wasn't a total hermit and generally had a terrific time.  But it's all about perspective - about fifteen years ago, I spent Christmas Eve in the hospital having a big needle shoved into my spine, followed by a week of headaches so severe that the pain kept making me vomit.  So, for me, any Christmas not involving a spinal tap is a damn festive one...

Bah. And also? Humbug.

Well, it's four days until Christmas and I couldn't care less.  Normally, I love Christmas (food! drink! presents! sparkly dresses! pretty lights! parties! friends! family! whee!!!!) and am more festive than a giddy little elf all hopped up on the 'nog, but this year?  Nope, I just can't bring it.  I think it's partly because this has been a crappy year for me, and I can't wait for it to be over and partly because I can't afford to get back to Canada for Christmas, which is the first time I haven't been able to go home in about eight years.  So I'm stuck in Paris (and yes, I know no one will sympathize because it's Paris and I am therefore obligated to enjoy it even if I'd rather be somewhere else, I know) with no money and most of my friends out of town, so I was planning to huddle around a candle for warmth and eat a festive bowl of gruel this year, but  I ran into an friend at a party last week and we had the following conversation:

Him: What are you doing for Christmas?

Me: Nothing.  You?

Him: Working in the morning, working in the evening.  Want to go to a pub and get revoltingly drunk in the afternoon?

Me:  Yes!!!

So I might have a plan after all, and it sounds like a damn fine one...

One year ago

I meant to post this yesterday but as I've been a little short on time recently, it completely slipped my mind - nevertheless, I wanted to re-post these photos from the big Paris snowstorm from one year ago yesterday, because right now Paris is grey and grim and rainy.  And even though the snow was a giant pain, it sure was pretty...
Jour Blanche