In an effort to distract myself from the saddening news from Friday, I packed in lots of activities on Saturday before meeting my in-laws for dinner. First stop: the Fondation Cartier for the exhibit on Graffiti. The contemporary art museum was founded in 1984 and quickly established itself as a pioneer in contemporary art. Not only does the foundation’s programs bring attention to up and coming artists but also supports them in their careers. They aim to represent the international art scene, from photography and painting to performance art and fashion, and feature artists of all ages. Many of the exhibits travel abroad and is useful for French artists to gain recognition.

Né Dans la Rue (born in the streets) follows the birth of graffiti in New York at the beginning of the 1970’s through its worldwide evolution and concludes with the current graffiti scene. My favorite part was the projection room where a variety of short films/documentary’s on graffiti were being shown on repeat – particularly the documentary called Pixo about the Pixaçao movement in San Paolo.

After that, it was off to find JP a birthday gift (hubby not great at planning ahead) but not before stopping on rue du cherche midi to scope out Bio Génération upon Emily’s suggestion (she said it would be my cereal heaven). After taking a wrong turn, we ended up on rue du dragon in front of Lili’s Brownies, Les Véritables Pâtisseries Américaines (Real American Pastries). Ced was, not surprisingly, hungry and we decided to go in. In any case, it’s research for me.

Lili’s Brownies is quite a small place, with wooden walls and tables, but only room for a about 4 people to sit inside. With their selection of muffins, scones, cakes & breads (iced lemon pound cake among others), some cookies and literally one tiny plate of brownies, I determined that the name of the shop is lame. Don’t call it Lili’s Brownies if you sell 5 brownies and have a fridge for take-away drinks, sandwiches and fruit cups.

Anyway, against my advice, Ced chose the chocolate praline cake which was so rich it ended up making him nauseous for 2 hours after it landed in his belly like a boulder. I tried it… it was good. But too much. That’s the problem with some of these places – they take it too far.

After dragging him along, we finally ended up at Bio Génération. It’s close to the Bon Marché and right next door to Mamie Gateaux which is a cozy little “snack shop” with a French countryside feel and seemingly designed for the little girl in all of us. Definitely need to take a trip over there another time. Anyway, Bio Génération was quite small but the downstairs was full of cereals, pastas, grains and flour. Emily was right! I think I’ve made it abundantly clear by now that I go through constant cereal withdrawal in this country (I eat it but I’m bored with the options) so to come across crunchy muesli in a variety of flavors with healthy nuts and grains mixed in, it is indeed my little paradise.

Two boxes of cereal and some spätzle later, we were on our way back to rue de rennes for some shopping before meeting his parents at the restaurant at Grands Boulevards. On our way, we passed by yet another freaking cupcake shop (seriously the trend is now becoming obnoxious… but could be on its way out, at least in the US), this one called Synie’s Cupcakes.
I didn’t even need to try one of them to know that they’re too French. You could tell from the window. They didn’t even look appetizing. I’ll give Synie one thing, her site is quite nice. But I can’t imagine they get much traffic since it’s on quite a calm street. Anyway, I’m amazed at the cupcake craze.

After hours of walking, we made it to the restaurant, Ratatouille which had a lot of potential but failed to wow. Interior was quite nice, rather modern, with comfortable leather chairs and a spacious dining room. Shortly after being seated, we were served tomato tapenade and eggplant purée to spread on little pieces of bread – not very common in French restaurants so it was a nice surprise. The waitress, however, was a walking skeleton whose jeans were falling down and were only held up by her distended belly (don’t get me started on my eating disorder theory). What was nice about this place was the affordable fixed menu deal of 22,50 for appetizer, meal and dessert. Aside from that, the offerings were pretty much the same as every other French restaurant. Duck, beef, two kinds of fish, something uncooked, and salads. The fish was served with ratatouille, naturally, which was the best part of the whole meal. All in all, I’d recommend it for an inexpensive French restaurant, but the service wasn’t extraordinary and neither was the food. In a city like Paris, there’s no sense going back to mediocre when there are thousands of other places to try. Next I want to try Razowski which Jenni recommended for the “best burgers in Paris”. We’ll see about that….