The quirkiest restaurant in Paris, Derriere

The Quirkiest Restaurant: Derrière

If I were to show you pictures of this place without any explanation, you would think I had lunch in some hip Parisian’s private home, perhaps the home of a graphic designer or art director; but in fact, you would be mistaken.  This restaurant, called Derrière (translated: behind) for its placement in a courtyard behind street-level shops, has the mysterious allure of a speakeasy, but the accessibility and congeniality of your best friend’s house.

What you see when you first walk in is a leafy courtyard with green chairs and yellow umbrellas, which is charming enough on its own.  Keep walking, don’t be intimidated, and you’ll duck into a large, open room, sectioned off into different areas.  There’s a kind of living room with a lip-shaped couch, a salon with a full-size ping pong table and shelves full of wacky trinkets, a couple romantic corners, a dining area with long banquet table, and a tiled kitchen with a bar overlooking the chef’s space.  If that isn’t enough for you, just wait, there’s also a second level, complete with secret wardrobe. But we’ll save the best for last…

Read more

Last Week: LA, Velvet, and Disneyland.

Currently, it’s almost midnight, it’s raining (a rare occasion), I’m listening to the Swingin’ Christmas station on Pandora, and burning the Cider Lane candle from B&BW which smells like caramel apple cider. Today, I had no plans or commitments, and consequently took TWO, yes that’s correct, TWO naps, drank hot chocolate and ate a hot apple crumble pastry. Looking back, today has been fantastic.

However, lately I’ve been a little uninspired about what to post on this blog. Apart from looking back at my time in Paris, there’s nothing too exciting happening in my life at the moment, at least exciting, blog-post-worthy things. The highlight of my day yesterday was coming home to my cozy bed; I recently adorned it with some Christmas lights and a red sparkly garland. I also went to Disneyland with my bff Natalie a couple days ago, which was super fun, but usually my life consists of work and school and being a homebody. Yes, there are fun things to do out here, I live close to LA, but for some reason I never feel inspired enough to venture out of my bubble. Probably because I’ve lived here my whole life.

Read more