A bit of whimsy for your day.

Un tour de Manège from Les Manèges on Vimeo.

Dear Meredith:

For this Friday, enjoy this charming little animation!

Does fine dining exist at Costco?

Dear Meredith:

I have a mad mad crush on Eric Ripert, the chef and co-owner of Le Bernardin in New York. Yes, I've featured him on this site before. But now he's on the small screen, with a cooking show, featuring Eric Ripert being inspired by nature and then cooking a dish based on this inspiration. In the link below, however, Alan Richman of GQ takes Eric Ripert to Costco (ie, NOT nature) to see his reaction.

Some choice quotations:

I am freaked out. Costco depresses me. I know everybody doesn’t have the same opportunities I do to visit farm stands and little markets, but I will fight to the end for inspirational shopping. Costco doesn’t even look like it belongs on our planet. It could be on the moon.

Alan asks me to push the cart, and I will not. Yes, I know I am being a spoiled brat, but for me it is an acceptance of the system. I do not want to be seen as somebody who supports this kind of store and this kind of system.

I just don't push shopping carts because I am lazy.

Avec Alan

This is how I'm going to lead my life from now on.

Dear Meredith:

Gosh, I love this dreamy ad for Dior's Miss Dior Chérie perfume. It's directed by Sofia Coppola, and set in Paris. I think I need to move to Paris RIGHT NOW and have this sort of hazy rose-colored-lens happy life.

To start off your week...

Dear Meredith:

I know that Mondays generally suck. So here's a little perk-me-up, to get you going for the week!



You are awesome, and don't forget it.

(If you want to watch it in French, because you roll that way, here's the link.)

A Friday bonus!

Too much candy from Capucha on Vimeo.

Okay, this is the last of the Capucine videos. For now. And it's a two-parter! In the first, watch Capucine figure out a way to get her and her mother out of trouble for eating too much candy. In the second, watch the outtakes.

Seriously, if someone could get me a little cute French child, I'd be much obliged.


"Too much candy" II-The bonus scenes ! from Capucha on Vimeo.

Yes, the rest of this week shall be Capucine week.

Eat your carrots ! from Capucha on Vimeo.

I really can't help myself. She is too cute. In this video, Capucine so does not want to eat her carrots. But she is brilliant, and comes up with a diversionary tactic.

I desperately want this child for my dissertation.

Once upon a time... from Capucha on Vimeo.

I know this has already made the internet rounds, but I was too lazy to post it when it first popped up. After viewing this, you will want to procure a little French child of your very own.

AND, even better - there are magnets and buttons with Capucine drawings, coupled with lines from her story - for sale. I sort of really want them. Profits go to a good cause. I sort of really need them, then.

There are stereotypes for a reason.

Similar to "Stuff White People Like", there's this website. It is all true.

Stuff Parisians Like

Taking college dorm room cooking up a notch.

Is there anything sexier than a man who cooks? Perhaps a man who cooks who has a French accent. Eric Ripert, of Le Bernadin fame, has a website where he makes all sorts of delightfully simple yet elegant recipes using a toaster oven. It sounds sort of gimmicky, but it actually works.

Avec Eric

You just have to love it.

I do have a wee quibble with their conclusion (look in the comments to see what I think should actually be the accurate closing line given their argument), but seeing that this is an advertisement for French classes, I see why they ended the way they did.