Je Suis Parisienne

The View from my Patio

I’m officially a Parisian! I moved into my new apartment in the 7th arrondissement last Sunday so it’s been exactly one week. I could not be happier. I’m in love with my new place, my neighborhood and just being in the City of Light!

Brunch at Coutume Café

After moving in, Christophe and I went to have brunch at Coutume Café. I had read reviews about Coutume in multiple blogs because all the expats have been raving about their coffee. I was quite happy with my latte and it was one of the best cups of coffee I’ve had in this city. The vibe of Coutume was really cool, reminding me of Greenwich Village in New York. The brunch was solid. While nothing blew me completely away, I found the mango yogurt refreshing and I enjoyed my plate of chicken and rice with a side of sweet potatoes. Everything tasted clean and light; I didn’t feel like I was going to roll over and take a nap (which is often how I feel after brunch).

Tempura and udon at Sanukiya (top left and right); Korean rice cakes with kimchi and seafood at Dawa (bottom left); and my own Chinese cooking (bottom right)

Ironically, I had a lot of Asian food and hit up some of favorites like Sanukiya and Dawa. The first meal I made in my kitchen was Chinese food too (although I cheated because I bought that hot and sour soup).

Snow in Paris

On the Bridge by Notre Dame

It’s been an eventful week because it starting snowing this past weekend and the snow is actually sticking. As a native Californian, this is a big deal for me. I’ve been in snow when I’ve gone skiing, but I’ve never been in a major city with snow. This lead to a lot of wandering and taking pictures because this city is absolutely gorgeous in the snow.

Caramels, Hot Chocolate and Mille-Feuille at Jacques Genin

Hometown Glory, Bay Area Edition

Christmas Treats: Prime rib, homemade macarons, baked brie and Peking duck.

I had a brief but wonderful trip back home, full of good times with family and friends (and lots of food). I flew back home on Christmas Eve and was welcomed to a wonderful feast of Chinese and Western food. My cousin made amazing homemade macarons and baked brie (he even has a special wood-fire oven in his house). However, nothing could beat the Peking duck. My aunt has a brand-new steamer oven (I didn’t even know those existed) so we had freshly-steamed buns to pair with the three ducks. Yes, we had three ducks and prime rib. That’s my family for you.

Pizza from Tony’s and cheeseburger and garlic fries from Super Duper Burger in San Francisco

One of the best days of my vacation was spent in San Francisco trying Tony’s Pizza Napoletena. The line for Tony’s is always CRAZY long (like 2-hour wait long), but I was determined to try their margherita pizza, which won the world pizza cup in Naples, Italy. They use special dough so they only make 73 margherita pizzas a day (talk about a good marketing tactic–exclusivity). My friends and I also ordered the Cal Italia pizza, which was the gold medal winner of Food Network’s pizza champions challenge. This pizza had asiago, mozzarella, gorgonzola, sweet fig preserve, prosciutto, parmigiano and a drizzle of balsamic reduction.

I loved the pizza. It was even better than Delfina’s because even though it was thin crust, it didn’t get soggy. While the margherita was delicious, the Cal Italia pizza completely won me over. I loved the combination of the slightly sweet and savory that came from the fig preserves and the prosciutto. The pizza was cooked perfectly with a thin, crispy dough, but fluffy crust. The Cal Italia would have definitely made it on my list of 100 Things to Eat in San Francisco Before You Die. If you go, I’d recommend going early to put your name down (they don’t take reservations) OR even ordering your pizza to-go and eating it in Washington Square Park.

While in SF, I also got to check out Local Edition, an awesome bar that opened up right before I left SF last year. It’s the same owners of the Rickhouse and Bourbon & Branch so you can expect highly-skilled bartenders making quality cocktails in ’20s Newsies outfits. No night would have been complete without some garlic fries and a cheeseburger from Super Duper Burger, one of my favorite SF burger chains.

I love you, Pinkberry.

My sister got me hurricane popcorn for Christmas!!! Mexican food from Fiesta Del Mar, sushi from Masa’s and brunch at the Rick’s Cafe.

ESSEC and Paris: First Impressions

Mousse au Chocolat at Chez Janou

It’s been officially one week since I landed in Paris and classes are already in full swing at ESSEC. This year, our MBA class has 35 students, hailing from all different parts of the world. I’m one of two Americans and it’s a really interesting experience to be with such a diverse group of people. While we come from various backgrounds, we’re all drawn to the world of luxury and I see the same passion and drive in everyone. Everyone is so friendly. I’m really appreciative of the French speakers in our class, who have been so patient in helping and translating things for the us, the foreigners (merci beacoup!).

Notre Dame at Night

I am so grateful that one of my closest friends from USC, Christophe, just moved to Paris a few months ago. It’s a little taste of home when we hang out and it’s really comforting to know that he’s there for me. He already surprised/spoiled me with amazing chocolates from Joséphine Vannier– a chocolate “book” box filled with an assortment of chocolate pieces!

Josephine Vannier Chocolates (the “book” is made of solid chocolate)

RBJello’s 2011 in Review

I know every single WordPress.com user got a report for 2011, but this is my first year having a blog–it’s all new to me! It’s been a great year and looking forward to more adventures in 2012. I already said my thanks earlier this year, but I really appreciate you taking the time to read my blog.

Here’s to 2012– a leap year, the year of the dragon and a summer Olympics year!

Here’s an excerpt:

A San Francisco cable car holds 60 people. This blog was viewed about 2,300 times in 2011. If it were a cable car, it would take about 38 trips to carry that many people.

Click here to see the complete report.

My Bucket List: Check!

Perhaps, this blog post is not correctly name. It should probably be “My list of things I accomplished but didn’t try to do on purpose.” No, it’s not the end of the year and this isn’t some impetus to start my New Year’s resolutions. Something about Thanksgiving and the start of all the holidays is definitely making me reflect on this past year. So, in no particular order:

1. Justin Bieber started following me on Twitter. I can die happy.
2. I ran 5 miles. I’ve only been able to do it once, but I did it (like a month and a half ago). This probably shows how weak sauce I am, considering my roommate just ran a half marathon. The goal is to be able to run 5 miles again and maybe even run farther.
3. I made friends with chefs. I ate some really delicious food (and met some really amazing people).
4. I rode a horse for the first time. Not only did I ride a horse for the first time, but also the horse galloped into “2nd gear.” It was exhilarating and scary at the same time.
5. Virgin America paid for my weekend trip to Vegas. Technically, my best friend won an all expense paid trip (courtesy of Virgin America) and I was her +1. Now, I can say that people actually do win those contests.
6. I tried acupuncture. Needles scare the crap out of me, but I’m hoping it will help with my wrist pain that’s been bothering me for the past 1.5+ years. I’m two sessions in. I’ll let you know how it goes.
7. I helped pitch and secure The New York Times’ Style section. Bill Cunningham came to one of our work events. My only regret is that I did not get to meet him. Then, I could have died happy.
8. I had my first New York bagel. On my 2nd trip to New York ever, I finally ate my first New York bagel. And yes, it was a life changing experience. Now, I know what the hell New Yorkers complain about when they eat our bagels in California. I no longer think you guys are snobs. I understand now!
9. I successfully stalked someone a decade later. Leave it to LinkedIn’s “people you may know” section to find the boy who you dated when you were 16 in China. We are now Facebook friends. He is also probably reading this and thinking I’m crazy for talking about it publicly.
10. I started a blog! It’s probably terribly cliché to talk about how I started a blog on my blog, but I’m really happy with it. It’s been almost 5 months since my first blog post and I’ve surprised myself at how much I’ve been able to actually write and maintain the posts (28 posts, baby!).

2011 has been very good to me. Can’t wait to see what the rest of the year brings! In the spirit of Thanksgiving, I also want to  thank you for reading and supporting my blog! You made me really happy. Check that off your bucket list!

It's been a good year. Treat yo self!

Over the Moon with MOO cards!

My MOO minicards just came in and I could not be more thrilled! They are absolutely amazing and perfect in every way! I was first introduced to MOO by my writer/director friend, Christophe. I loved the mini shape, color and thickness of the cards. He even had a cool business card holder too (I had to buy one too). I learned that MOO business cards are popular with photographers and graphic designers because you can showcase your work on the back of the card. If you wanted to, you could design each card separately in your order. How awesome is that?

I kept Christophe’s card in my wallet, but I didn’t have a need for my own personal business cards at the time. Last week at Hecho, I told the owner that I would blog about the restaurant and he asked for the link. It occurred to me that I should have business cards with my blog on it! My friend Sarabeth helped me come up with the perfect title– Eater Extraordinaire (I cannot think of 2 words that sum me up better; that would have been a good blog name).

My inspiration came from a wall in San Francisco Japantown’s New People mall. There was one white wall with different colored placards with words to live by: Talk to Strangers, Splash Around, Drive Faster, Flirt Often, etc. I saw it and wanted to decorate my room in the same way. Of course, I was way too lazy and never did it. But, that wall lead to my business cards.

My inspiration

I basically picked my favorite words to live by and chose the font and colors. I LOVE THEM!!! This weekend, I already gave a whole case of them away!

MOO also prints normal-sized business cards, postcards, stickers and labels. They’re really affordable too. 100 cards cost around $20. The website has fabulous ideas for invitations and weddings. I was so blown away by how creative people are. Feel free to use my personal link for 10% off your MOO order!

I could not be more happy with how the cards turned out (that black line is covering up my phone number).