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Museum night…

May 18th, 2012 | Posted by George in Entertainment | George - (0 Comments)

La nuit europeen des musees is upon us.  Once a year, the museums across Europe open for the night. This year it is 19th May… tomorrow!  Hooray.  It is lovely.  They tend to put on shows and little events to keep the day going and best of all… it is free.

Unfortunately as I type the website for the night seems to be down but see if you have more luck and click here!  but to give you some highlights George’s top tips are:

1) I love the Grand Palais.  At the moment they have lots of exhibitions that I would recommend including Helmut Newton, the photographer, an exhibition about the beauty of animals in art and also the exhibition Monumenta, where an artist creates a single art installation to fill the great nave, this year it is the artist Daniel Buren and his colourful structures are spectacular.  On top of all of this the Grand Palais has also put on a gig in the later hours by DJ Joakim.

There is something for everyone here!

2) The Musee Quai Branly is another gem of a museum.  They are putting on an exhition about festivals, with live music and dance from cultures around the world.  The pictures alone have tempted me to go so I might see you in the queue!

3) The Musee Carnavalet closes its permanent exhibition but the exhibition of the celebrated 20th Century photographer, Eugene Atget looks as though it is well worth a look and to tempt you even more, the museum is in a beautiful building with gorgeous gardens where they will be holding various choral concerts throughout the evening (weather permitting!)

The bars can wait until next weekend but museum night is only once a year, so I think you should get out and make the most of it!

Food Revolution Day: 19 May

May 15th, 2012 | Posted by jodiehop in Books, Magazines, Websites | Food and restaurants | Jodie - (0 Comments)

As a Foodie in Paris I’m excited about what’s going on for Food Revolution Day on 19 May. It’s about real food, as they say ‘a chance for people who love food to come together to share information, talents and resources; to pass on their knowledge and highlight the world’s food issues.’ And eat of course.
On the website foodrevolutionday.com you will find more details about the goings in in Paris, and around the world.
A friend has highlighted these three events:

- Blind test organoleptique at the Bellevilloise (bring something to share if you are joining this event)

- eating lunch at the Pique-nique eat-in aux Buttes Chaumont, and then

- the Apartment Gardening Atelier at Living School

 

Bon apetit!

Happy hens and their eggs

May 11th, 2012 | Posted by George in Food and restaurants | George | Household | Shopping - (0 Comments)

 

I promise that this is unrelated to my pregnant in Paris posts… but this week I was taught how to buy eggs in France.

I was told that their are more free range eggs sold than laid.  Now if you do the maths on that, it simply does not make sense.  It tells us that some of us are being scammed and buying eggs believing that they are from happy hens when they are in fact from their incarcerated cousins.

In France, it can be particularly easy to be scammed as if, like me, you buy your eggs at the market, you pick them from big tray and put them in an unlabelled box.  However, to make sure that we are all buying the eggs that we want, there is actually a code stamped on their shells

if the code begins with…

0 then it is an organic egg

1 is free range

2 the hen sees a little bit of sunlight

3 is a battery hen

the next part of the code is usually FR (for France) or occasionally another country.

Obviously, putting the right eggs in your basket does not stop at the eggs that you buy but everything that uses eggs in the ingredients…cakes, mayonnaise, salads.  However, buying these eggs is at least the start and to avoid being tricked by the egg stall at the market.

For more information there is a campaign website to look at, which explains all the conditions for the hens.  I cannot bare the thought that a battery hen has a cage the size of an A4 piece of paper.

LABEL ROUGE

Beyond the current campaigns, the french have had a great sense of pride in their poultry products for a long time. After the 2nd World War the tendency for “industrial” poultry products triggered a movement for traditional tasting and traditionally raised poultry.  This is the label rouge.  It is a guarantee of quality and rearing.  For more information have a look at the label rouge website.

While the Label Rouge was started for chickens and eggs, it is now across French produce and is used as a mark of quality and farming standards.



Pregnant in Paris: Gynaecologists and the Declaration de Grossesse.

April 28th, 2012 | Posted by George in Medical - (0 Comments)

All in the name of research, your trusty Guiri Girl is going through the gestation period… to give you handy hints on what happens during pregnancy in Paris.

Last week, I ran you through the first couple of steps.  One of the things I said was that you should nip to your gynaecologist (or locate one if necessary). 

The Gynaecologist

Now, just to flag up that a trip the gynaecologist in France, well it is a touch more intimate than the trips in the UK.  I have now had this conversation with a couple of other friends so I am pretty sure that it is a nationwide phenomenon rather than just my doctor.  When I say intimate, what I mean is naked.  For some reason this is something that I still feel a bit taken aback by and I still find that even after regular visits, I feel a reluctance to take off my clothes.  So, do not be too alarmed.  It is all in the name of health and well-being!

Some crucial paperwork:

The second and perhaps most important thing to note is that it is your gynaecologist who helps you start all the paperwork for your pregnancy.  We are in France, buy yourself a nice big file as there is going to be a lot of this paperwork ahead.

The key form you will receive is your declaration de grossesse.  This is how you let all the authorities including the health system (the CAM), and the benefits system (the CAF) know that you are expecting. 

However, this declaration needs a touch of concentration.  The form has a front page in pink and a back page in blue.  I got in a bit of a muddle and sent the wrong bit to the wrong place, so before you fill out this form I recommend reading the angloinfo site. 

In brief though the pink sheets go to Caisse d’Assurance Maladie, and the blue go to Caisse d’allocations familiales.  I will explain what all of this does at a later stage, but for the moment that is enough to get on with.  So in brief:

1) get thee to a gynaecologist

2) fill out your declaration de grossesse… this should be sent in your 13 week of pregnancy so you need to get a wriggle on!

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Three Recommended Hotels in Paris

April 26th, 2012 | Posted by jodiehop in Jodie | Lifestyle | What's happening Paris - (0 Comments)

I am often asked for hotels in Paris but as most of my visitors make the most of my spare room I have had to go elsewhere for advice. Here are three recommendations of mid range to top end hotels from trusted friends and colleagues:

The Edouard VII Hotel between Opera and La Madelaine

Hotel Banke near Galeries Lafayette

Le Citizen Hotel by the up and coming Canal St Martin