THE NOT SO BLONDE TRAVEL

Ok first off, I am not engaged or planning to elope. At least not yet. This is just me, wondering about life and people's reactions when it comes to wedding planning. I have been to  many weddings, even been a bridesmaid a couple of times, and I have to say I am pretty lucky. My friends and family all have impeccable taste when it comes to wedding parties. Whether a destination wedding at the beach, a week long celebration Tunisian style, or an intimate French affair, every wedding I have been to has been amazing in its own way. And being a girl, you would think all these weddings would be the perfect inspiration for my own wedding, but nope. I am not sure why, but it's kind of the opposite. I feel like I just want to elope and go straight onto my honeymoon. But it doesn't mean I don't want to celebrate with all my friends. I just don't want the pressure of figuring out a date that works for everyone. I don't want the pressure of planning it all and ha...

Yesterday was a sad day for Paris. In the matter of a few hours, 129 people lost their lives and hundreds were injured. I wasn't in Paris, but I was terrorized.  What if NYC was next? Why was my best friend who lives in Paris not answering any phone calls? It was the longest two hours before I finally reached her ... Thankfully, she was just at the movie theater, safe and sound, and completely clueless to the terror awaiting outside.  I mourn for Paris, for all the people who lost a loved one because some idiots decided to blow up a concert hall and start firing against innocent people. I also mourn for Lebanon ... And I probably should be morning for many more countries because unfortunately terrorism is happening much more than we choose to admit.  According to the Institute for Economics and Peace's latest study, the world as a whole has been getting incrementally less peaceful every year since 2007. Pretty bleak study I admit, but let's face it, barbari...

I have learned the hard way that me and other people sometimes often have very different views of good food. And yes I will admit I have high standards. That's what happens when your father owns a restaurant with amazing food and you get to order anything you want all the time. You don't like any food. You like the good stuff. And yes I am a bit extreme. I will wait hours for food if it means I get to eat something really good. So when I went to COSY  for the first time, I did a little prayer in hopes that I was going to like the food because the chef in the kitchen is my friend and I didn't want to have to lie to him and tell him I loved his food if I didn't.  But no need to lie to him or anyone else: the food was F-A-N-T-A-S-T-I-C. The menu is beautifully executed French cuisine, however, every dish had something particular about it that will make you remember it.  Take the steak tartare for example: raw meat, mustard, tabasco, ketchup ... that...

I fly to Paris around 4 times a month, but I never get tired of French Food. The bread, the salted butter, the mustard, the saucisson ... how can one get tired from all this goodness?  However, more than once, I have heard some of my colleagues complain that they couldn't find good food in Paris. And I have to say I don't understand how they manage. There is good food everywhere. Even the quiche lorraine from the grocery store Monoprix is fantastic.  As for the restaurants, I could go on and on about how many places I love in Paris, but we will be here forever ... Instead let me introduce you to Faubourg 52, the latest addition to my list of Parisian food goodness. Faubourg 52 , located at 52 rue du Faubourg Saint-Denis (yes I know, no Nobel prize for whoever came up with the name) is definitely off  the beaten path, but very well worth the detour. Every dish was beautifully presented and so full of flavor that I  would have easily paid ...

I love comedy. Broadway musicals, Off Broadway shows, plays, stand-up, improv, I love it all. So when my best friend asked if I wanted to go to a show in Paris, as much as my wallet wanted to say no, my heart said yes. And that's how I ended up attending a one-man show - in English - in Paris. Yes you read this right, it was in English and it was awesome.  "How to be Parisian in one hour" by Olivier Giraud is a true depiction of Parisians: the dark clothes, the depressed subway look, the poor to non-existent customer service at shops and restaurants, and the "I am better than the rest of the world" attitude - non Parisians included.  However Americans are not all safe either during the show. Giraud mocks American's overexcitement over all French things and overuse of OMG, their need to add ketchup to every dish and their mispronunciation of every French word.   In a nutshell, no matter where you are from, you will laugh a lot. When I atte...

I have to blog about my lunch yesterday because it was so amazing. It was so good that I don't even have a picture to show what I am talking about because I was too busy eating.  If you are a foodie like me, you probably don't order chicken or salad when you are trying out a new restaurant for the first time. I can make chicken and salads at home. But since my friend Sardine was so adamant about the salad being over the top, I caved. But not entirely. I ordered a quiche as well, just in case the salad wasn't that amazing. I tend to disagree with people about food.  But this salad was truly fantastic: lettuce, sundried tomato, goat cheese, and  lonza, a corsican type of ham, topped with a magical balsamic reduction. It might sound pretty simple put like this, but in one sentence: I was very sad when my plate was empty. I wanted more. Not that I was still hungry. I just wanted more. And I don't even like balsamic.  Now thankfully I did take pictures of th...

If you are French, please keep reading. I promise this post is not what you think it is. However, if you know someone who has been to France, especially Paris, no matter where you are from or where you live, chances are pretty high that you have heard this sentence: "Paris was sooo beautiful, but French people were soooo rude." Well I have heard this about not just French. Some friends of mine said the same of Jamaicans and I totally disagree. My trip to Jamaica was fabulous and people were extremely nice and hospitable. I have also heard that Japanese people are very helpful, and I couldn't disagree more. My friend and I left Japan two days early, that's how terrible of a time we had. However, my boyfriend was there with no IPhone, no Ipad, basically no technology to get around, and to my big surprise, he came back praising how helpful and nice Japanese people were to him.   My point, obviously is that we shouldn't make generalizations. But it's not...