Thursday, March 13, 2008

The One Where I Go To Paris To Eat American Food.

So I spent Tuesday and Wednesday in Paris visiting my friend Nat and her husband Seb. They’re expecting their first little French-TexMex baby in a few months and I really wanted to get to see her while she was still all adorably cute and round. Fun was had by all. It was a much needed break from my recent working schedule. Plus with the new high-speed TGV it only takes me 1 hour and 30 minutes to get from my doorstep to the middle of Paris. Wait, why don’t I visit more often?

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Tuesday I headed over to La Grande Epicerie to buy some goodies for FrenchBoy and then I went over to Sephora on the Champs-Élysées to visit the MAC counter. And eventhough I’m a total lip-gloss whore, I didn’t end up buying anything.

Wednesday I went to the Pompidou to see the Louise Bourgeois retrospective and a few other exhibits, but before I did, I ran two other pretty important errands:

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Before yesterday I hadn’t had a piece of Fried Chicken in almost a year and I had been thinking about it incessantly. Starbucks was a total after-though, but since it was less that 100 meters away from KFC, I had to go see if they had carrot cake. And they did!

Now for those of you who are gonna go get all bitch-ass weepy at the idea of Paris being infested by Starbucks, if it’s any consolation, when I went in it was almost completely empty and the over-priced coffee I ordered did in fact taste like “pee-pee de chat”*.
Feel better now?

Also---How funny is it that the above photos are the only 3 photos I took in Paris?

*Commonly used French expression which compares the taste of American coffee to cat piss.

10 comments:

David in Setouchi said...

So, what do you think of KFC in France?

Because, personally, in the US, it was my guilty pleasure, but in France I don't really find it edible.
(on the other hand, I can't stand McDonald's in the US and love it in France).

I won't comment on Starbucks though, cause I'd get all bitch-ass weepy... ;-)
(couldn't stand it in the US, can stand it even less in France)

Madame K said...

David- As far as I can tell the French KFC is a greasier version of American KFC. I ordered a tiny order of 'Hot Wings' and I couldnt finish them. But that's Ok. I just needed to taste it for 10 minutes. I'm officially over it.

Starbucks. Eh, over-priced on any continent, but seems especially superfluous in France. 3 euros for cat piss? No thanks.

Anonymous said...

David, I agree. I was really quite impressed with the higher quality of McDonalds in France. I haven't tried KFC here yet though...

Travel said...

I stopped for lunch at McDs in Normandy last summer, the delux potatoes were devine.

90 minutes by train from central Paris, I think I'd go every week.

DG

screamish said...

Hmmm. I'm torn- KFC back home was a rare treat in my family. I was 10 before we were taken to one, it was our first takeway/junkfood experience!

Its pretty rare to find one in France if you dont live in a big city. But I read about their animal treatment/abbatoir practices so now I can't even visit one out of nostalgia, dammit.


Am I the only person in the world who has never been to a Starbucks?

Madame K said...

lol@ Screamish.

You can wear that fact as a badge of honor if you like, but people who haven't been to Starbucks are probably in the majority on this planet.... considering that the price of a crappy StarBucks "Grande latte" is nearly one month's salary in some parts of the world.

You ain't missing anything.

p.s. How's the book progressing this week?

Penny said...

Oh, I could really go some KFC nuggets...

Jim and Darcey said...

I have to say, that salad with vinaigrette I had tonight just ain't cutting it now with all this talk of American fast food. I have been in Paris now for a month, and I have to admit I have already had a Royal Cheese.

By the way, I work for MAC...you didn't get anything??

Madame K said...

Jim&Darcey- It's all about the Royal Cheese. That's pretty much the only thing I eat at MacDo.

p.s. We need to have a serious discussion about how I can abuse your MAC employee discount. ;)

Nobody said...

Wow! My Plan de Paris is famous now!