Macaroons, Birthdays, Old Friends and New

I'm writing to the sound of thunder and Mumford and Sons...I feel like the two go together nicely. I haven't experienced a thunder storm yet in Paris but it reminds me a lot of Indiana and DC which is nice.

Macaroons

For those of you who know me fairly well, you know that good food is tied with breathing on my list of important things. Well, naturally, I researched the best macaroons in the city and between websites, books and word of mouth Pierre Herme and Laduree were the two top contenders for Parisian macaroons. Pierre Herme happens to be within walking distance of my house so on Thursday morning, Amy and I set out for the promise land. I'm pretty sure we were the first customers in the store that day seeing as we arrived at 10:30am, just 30 minutes after they opened. While the two women in the store were meticulously straightening boxes of chocolates, Amy and I were choosing which large macaroons were worth our 4.50 euros. I went with the salted caramel and she went with chocolate and caramel.

I'm salivating just writing this but they were AMAZING.  Just the slightest bit crunchy on the outside but then soft as soon as you break through that shell. The filling in the middle was so fluffy and was what I am sure a cloud tastes like. It was probably one of the top 10 things I've eaten (and I've eaten a lot of food in my 20 years). If you're in Paris, prepare to pull out your wallet for Pierre Herme. Totally worth it. It's also been decided that we need to try a new macaroon place every week or so. And we will be walking to them all to burn off at least a couple calories on the way to and from.

Birthday!

We celebrated Clemence's 6th birthday after school on Thursday just down the street with the grandparents. I wasn't really working so it was great to just hang out with the family. We did birthday cupcakes and I gave her and card and some English candles. I've been so welcomed by this family already but this just validated it. They could have very easily said "we don't need your help this afternoon because we will be with the grandparents" but they didn't. I was invited and included and it felt so perfect. Just another sign to me that I was matched with the perfect family.

Old Friends

On Friday evening I met up with two wonderful girls, Lottie and Lizzy, who I went to National Cathedral School with in 4th-8th grade. We ventured to the restaurant Lottie had so carefully Yelped only to find that it did not even exist so we then took the metro to another area of the city and wandered around looking at menus until we found one that we could afford and that looked good which turned out to be pretty easy. We had a great meal and an even better conversation that didn't stop until we parted ways at the end of the night. We also wandered around and found dessert after our meal. Best. Crepes. Ever. So much better than the ones I had by Moulin Rouge. They were perfectly crispy and then so soft like they melted in your mouth. PERFECTION. Seeing familiar faces in a foreign city was so refreshing even though it had been years since I had seen these girls. We reminisced on elementary and middle school, talked about how American we felt (Example A being all of our very utilitarian raincoats and lack of umbrellas) and generally got caught up on how college was going for everyone. It was by far one of my best nights in Paris.

New

Saturday was spent at an au pair social at the European au pair agency who helped us all find our families. There were about 100 au pairs there and I met some fellow Americans, Canadians and Brits so it was nice to speak some English with all of them. We spent the afternoon eating WAY too much delicious food (by food I mean all sweets) from around the globe and swapping au pair stories of kids, pets and parents (and I still have the best little ones). After the au pair social a couple of us ventured to a Scottish pub where I met a lovely couple from Alexandria, VA who ride their bikes to Easter Market every weekend. Seriously!? What a small world. It was the first time I was asked what I was doing in Paris. After a bit of hesitation to think I replied, "I work here as an au pair for the year". Yep, I live here and work here. This is my life.

We took a detour to love lock bridge before the pub. I'm sure they are in love, but I think the people with the combination locks missed the point.

My life also consists of Louis learning to say my name, my language classes starting, and my munchkins trying to get in on goodnight hugs and kisses all at the same time (which actually works quite well with their various heights).

In the words of Phoebe Buffay, "It's like hugging fresh cookies!"(or maybe fresh macaroons).