Printer's Row Lit Fest

Books are a big deal in Chicago, especially at the Printer's Row Lit Fest. A couple of weekends ago John and I headed downtown to 'check out', excuse the pun, the major book festival that happened on a early June morning. Local and national publishers were in attendance promoting new books, as well as small independent booksellers that were selling mostly used books. C-SPAN trucks were around using various auditoriums and lecture halls to interview authors. Among all the trove of used cook books I loved 'Edible Type', which was a vendor that specialized in unique and rare cook books. We arrived relatively early, grabbed coffee, but within an hour the crowd was growing. People formed lines around tables and shuffled along patiently to look at the thousands upon thousands of titles offered. I cannot wait until next year to go back and next time I'll bring a bag or two to carry more books home!

 

E. Dehillerin

In planning my trip with John to Paris, I wanted to bring something special home that would be hard to find in the States. After doing a little online research I found a wonderful old store called E. Dehillerin in the Les Halles neighborhood. The store was also an old stomping ground for Julia Child, which offered another layer of interest to me. After months of pining and considering something I could bring home, I had decided to try to get a copper mold to make cakes and form ice cream in. However, the reality of such a quirky store is that the number of molds they had in stock was very low and I didn't see anything I was interested in. The store was still a very charming place to visit to get a sense of the culinary tools many local professional chefs and students need for their cooking.  So I didn't get a cooking souvenir from Dehillerin, but luckily I found another cooking store called Mora (more modern in format) that sold amazing professional-grade chocolate molds. I hope to use the mold soon in the future and I will definitely share the results here.

Inside Mora:
 

Bonjour, Paris!

I'm happy to report that after eleven months of practicing Rosetta Stone French that my time has not all been wasted. While in Paris recently, I was able to understand when two ladies, in two separate occasions, asked me to reach and grab some items off the top shelf while at a local super market. A modest success!

Paris is a wonderful city that when even mentioning to people that you plan on visiting, their features change and a tone of nostalgia creeps into their voice. People made recommendations for places to visit and things to do, but every trip is different, unusual, and particular for everyone separately. John and I went to Paris, our first overseas trip together to expose our senses to foreign culture, ideas, and habits. Having visited twice before, it was nice for me to have a reminder that extended European travel is enlightening and also worth all the jet lag. I loved seeing things I've seen before, but of course, it's also great trying new foods, experiencing new places, and having a sense of familiarity to city that I consider truly special. 

I think getting older I've recognized that it's nice to develop deeper insights and appreciation for complex things. I no longer pander and pine over novel trinkets like snow globes and kitschy souvenirs (not that there's anything wrong with that). For example, now I've learned to appreciate the brilliant decorative design techniques used at Versailles and also how to identify unusual cooking accoutrement at E. Dehillerin (a famous cooking store)--those kinds of things fulfill me, because they make me more curious.

Our trip was an affirmation that traveling wakes a person up from the daily hum-drum routine that can easily over take anyone. As some people remark that our world is growing smaller based on new technologies and different modes of transportation, I positively anticipate that my individual access will only increase and lead to new experiences.

I plan on spreading out all of my photos from our trip in a series of blog entries coming up. It'll help me cherish my experience in France, and hopefully inspire anyone to get-up and travel--after all this blog is a celebration for any and all things fancy.

Post by Paul Neumann - Fancy Things.