Unexpected Treasures

1.  I found a large, blackish raisin in my Leader Price Muelsi Chocolat this morning and thought, what a treat!  Especially since this cereal does not, in fact, feature raisins.  Leader Price costs 2.24 while my favorite brand-name Country Crisp, at 3 euro and change, would never include something you hadn’t bargained for.  Sometimes being thrifty is such an adventure. 

2.  I went to the most scenester place I have ever witnessed in Paris, La Perle, last Thursday night.  I confirm that the sole draw is the other people.  Which isn’t to say that’s a bad thing, if you're into voyeurism which I totally am, but you should maybe know it’s just a typical cafe/bar--there isn't any absinthe in the beer as has been joked/rumored.  My friend says she sometimes plays a game there, “Count The White Jazz Shoes,” to give you an idea.  (Although honestly, don’t you feel that it’s too hot for white jazz shoes every time you look at the closet?  I know I do.)

On the way home from La Perle, we found something in the gutter that looked, in fact, like a thumb*, therein totally edging the night into awesome territory.

*We surmise it was a piece of baguette, but we'll never really know, will we?

Comments

[eurobrat]

Haha, I love your entries so much.

I am visiting Paris in about 2 weeks and am interested in going to this infamous La Perle cafe. Absinthe or not.

xx

[eurobrat]

...but I think I will have the same opinion as Lola is Beauty. We'll see.

[sened]

I was there yesterday! Can't believe I've missed the infamous Miss Fourmont

[Claire]

Yes exactly, white jazz shoes! Ha ha! And I always feel my hairstyle just isn't ironic enough for that place. I'd never turn my nose up at free unexpected raisins though, you lucky thing.

[Gillian]

I love la Perle! Funny enough, the guy that took we there was wearing white jazz shoes. I thought he had original style, but I guess I forgot to check out everyone elses shoes...

[meg]

The fact that you consider a raisin as an unexpected treasure is incredibly endearing.

[Coquette]

Don't believe my lies, Meg. I was being a smart-ass. (But I find your thinking I was being earnest really, really endearing.)

[Coquette]

I thought it was kind of gross, if you want to know the truth. Like, if a raisin can get in there, who *knows* what else could. (And I'm the type of person who will eat anything, but I don't like to be surprised.)

Sened, is it getting more chill now that we're in August? When I was there the poor guy who's charged with keeping everyone under the awning was overwhelmed by the mob.

Eurobrat, it's worth checking out. It's def. having a moment!

[april]

Are you sure it was a raisin! :)

I ate an almond once, but it was really a fly. LOL

[Negrito]

I love La Perle, what a Pity it is officially forbidden to drink in the street now, they take out all the fun...

[Serena]

People watching should be an official sport. Talk about inspiring ideas and stories : )

[Jecca]

I'm with april! I was waiting for the punchline, wherein you realized that it really, really wasn't a raisin.

[chester]

Dammit. I was totally about to comment that I would think it actually gross to find an unexpected raisin in generally raisin-less cereal. And that I'm normally not the squeamish sort because, after all, I would eat nothing but hot dogs if that were nutritionally viable.

But you basically already said precisely that.

Stop pre-empting your own readers' comments!

[cernunnos]

Man, throwing a piece of baguette, regardless how tiny, in the gutter is a national crime here, people have been beatten up and jailed for much less.
As a french national I am so appalled that such an irrespectful behaviour can still be observed nowadays.
Okie in another way it might all have been just an unfortunate accident in that case it's of course forgivable.
Great blog Miss, cannot wait to read the next entry.

[Sara]

When I read that, my mind immediately started making a list of all the horrible things the raisin could actually be: Rat turd, shriveled up dead cockroach, large lump of mould, etc. Even if it was really a raisin, I think I'd be throughly disgusted just by all the possibilities presented by the raisin.

[Noire Dire]

That's like gulping a carton of milk while expecting a splash of pepsi to wet your tongue...

Gross.

Food + surprises = not good.

Unless we're talking about a box of cracker jacks.

[meg]

Oh, Coquette, smart ass or no, I know that beneath that hard shell, lies a soft chewy nougat of a woman.

Or something like that.

[sened]

Well... NOW (i.e. August) is supposed to be the time for "real" parisians to spend their nights there. But, really, stopping service at 0.30 and shooing off customers at 1AM could get all the bobos to find themselves another arbitrary Bar-PMU to hang out at (Like Cesar, rue de la Tour d'Auvergne).

[katie]

The comments are as fun as the post!! You are my new favorite site, Cocquette!!

And seriously? White jazz shoes? Some people actually thing they are stylish? Yikes.

[Coquette]

Meg, I'm so glad you think I'm full of nougat. That's really lovely and so much nicer than the other things one could be full of.

Katie, I always urge people to skim over what I write and head straight for the comments. That's where the good stuff happens.

[Stu "El Inglés" Harris]

In England we like a type of biscuit (cookie if you're a Yank) whose correct name is 'Garibaldi'. They have shredded raisins in and everyone, especially kids, calls them 'squashed fly biscuits'. Just saying...

[Coquette]

Cernunnos, I agree, bread is sacred and plus I come from french farming people and have a very special aversion to throwing any sorts of food stuffs away.

[Coquette]

Stu, it better not have been a fly. I should say that I considered eating it anyway (I like raisins) but in the end decided that was too risky. Fine, I'm a wuss.

[The Bold Soul]

Eww. Are you sure it was a raisin?

That thing in the gutter... maybe it was just a cigar stub?

[Rica]

Hiiiiiiiiiiiii Coquette!!

Ohhhhhh I miss Country Crisps with the dark choclate pieces ...

Miam Miam!

='( I miss the fooood..

[Rica]

Ehhh

chocolate...

Sorry I'm very sleepy..

=)

[Sara]

White jazz shoes? Does this La Perle place play salsa music by any chance? My only associations (not personal, of course) with jazz shoes have been watching the way too serious salseros who love dancing to old school mambo songs at the clubs. These guys are usually the white jazz shoes-clad bunch spinning and shining on the dance floor.

[Hugo]

I'm afraid I stole a reference Hedi Slimane I'm afraid having had no prior knowledge of him. I feel I ought to make some sort of penitent pilgramage to Bond Street to make up for it.

Many thanks for the continuing education,
A future 13th-Arrondissement-Student-Fashion-Victim

P.S Sara: If I have black jazz shoes does that make me a way to serious Salsero?

[sened]

Btw, why do people wearing white jazz shoes invariably look like they've stopped using shampoo in 1989? Who EVER said that filthy hair looked hot?

[Sara]

Black jazz shoes, Hugo? Let me think... Nah.

But if you wore white jazz shoes...
and some kind of salsero t-shirt...
and had a small white towel sticking out from the back pocket of your jeans? Then I'd say, "Yeah. Way too serious salsero."

[Hugo]

I agree, pocket towels are definitely a step too far. I occasionally have arresting flashbacks of sweaty latin men toweling their faces down as they move onto the next woman.

It was a dark period of my life.

[shannon]

such a funny post, one of my favorites i think.
i would have probably cut the *raisin* in half and smelled it and kept it for the day until my roommate got home so we could both decide whether or not it was actually a raisin.
ive been seeing white jazz shoes or semi-pointy- thin-soled white little canvas sneakers, around my neighborhood. is that like a more casual take on the jazz shoes? and it's true with the unwashed hair, these people must have spent so much on the shoes that they can no longer afford shampoo.

[Asian Lep]

No absinthe?

This is almost as disappointing as when I went to see John Tucker Must Die, and found out that John Tucker DOES NOT ACTUALLY DIE.

He would in my 'hood.

[richard]

la perle is the trendiest and most pretentious but trying to look cool place in paris. It's looks like Williamsburg on the Seine. As an ex-hip New York
fashionista, this place is even too affected for moi.

[Floridora]

And what, pray tell, were you doing in the gutter? Coquette, I thought better of you. I will blame it on the absinthe you didn't know you had.

[Coquette]

Sara, I like the idea that the hipsters could burst into dance at any moment. But from what I've seen, they're worn all for style, no function. Alas.

Floridora, you have so got me pegged. Absinthe assisted gutter-seeker.

[Maria Noland]

Coquette,

Like you, I absolutely love muesli... and I've tried all different kinds, including Leader Price and Kellogg's Country Store (which I admit is a bit pricey). Just yesterday at the grocery store, I discovered Jordan's Muesli Spécial Fruits, which costs less than Leader Price and is least twice as healthy (I paid EUR 2.79 for 750g). They even have muesli chocolat... I highly recommend it! Their website is http://www.jordans.fr.

[Nicole]

Coquette,
I suspect that the real reason you visited La Perle was that the Duris hunt continues... or maybe you did actually spot him in his natural habitat? I would be shocked (shocked!!) if you held back this info from your dedicated readers.

[sened]

Romain doesn't live there anymore. You might catch a drunken Clément Sibony from time to time though...

[Buffy]

Gotta love those unexpected raisins.

[glittertip]

I love your blog! Did you bring the meusli back to the store-- that's what we do in Rome-- especially if half-eaten.

[Neil]

Am I the only one who finds it obvious that the thing in the Leader Price Muelsi Chocolat must have been the other thumb?

[shannon]

seems lots of people are picking up on this jazz shoes trend....(see despicable side)

http://nymag.com/arts/all/approvalmatrix/18838/index.html

i have to say, i have not seen this particular version of the jazz shoe in williamsburg, but i have seen them, nonetheless.

[Ejote]

Hey Coquette. I LOVE your blog and yet was not compelled to comment until now. While I respect your exuberance to try new things (like jumping the pond and living a new life in a different culture)I am floored by the fact that you actually ate the "raisin" though I too had a similar experience and ate the "raisin". After biting half of it (as it was in a muffin) I realized to my HORROR that is was no "raisin" but was instead a cockaroach! Ugh. Yeah, thanks to that "raisin" I am not as willing to eat things unclassifed or unexpected!You are one lucky girl! I look forward to future posts. A+

[sened]

Now, what about a hipster-spotting field trip to La Perle? We could all do some observation rounds and come up with a fashion-debrief concerning all the patrons of the bar on that precise night. With Do's and Dont's. Vice Magazine Style. And Elisabeth would be the guide, with a little red flag. So that nobody gets lost. Paris-Visit style.

[Coquette]

Sened, okay, but you have to carry the blowhorn.

Shannon, Awesome. The jazz shoe crosses cultural bounds.

Glittertip, I didn't bring it back because I am lazy.

Nicole, I wouldn't hold out on you. The chasse continues.

[sened]

I'll bring the blowhorn, the sarcasms and the binoculars. Elisabeth, you bring the expertise. When shall we do that?

[Coquette]

Ha, okay. We'll organize for La Rentrée.