Looking through

I walk by this courtyard and wonder at what's inside. 

All walled in, it looks prim and proper but 

I'm certain there are tales for waiting ears.

Its never too early for a treat

Remember Meert? A patisserie shop I discovered earlier on in the year? I love love love their vanilla gaufre cookies but hard as it is to believe, I wasn't completely convinced by their chocolates. Well, I just found out that on weekends, they have a small selection of freshly baked mini-cakes, including a mini-chocolate one that's apparently, too die for.  So in the name of research (its hard, but someone's got to do it right?!), I took myself there to buy one or two.  

They were delicious! Its actually resembles a teacake in consistency and there are little chocolate bits hidden within the cake. Its not too sweet yet not too bitter.  Its just right and perfect with tea or coffee.  I can see why these little cakes sell out fast.  The good thing about them too is that you can store them in the freezer and they keep really well. A sweet treat saved for another day is always a good one in my book!

Of course while I was there, I couldn't resist taking home another teacake.  This time, it was their version of glazed orange tea cake.  Little confession: I'm actually allergic to oranges but cannot for the life of me resist orange cakes.  So when I saw that Meert had one, I just had to try that too.

I'm happy to report that its absolutely fantastic. One can really taste the fresh oranges used while the body of the cake was all moist and soft. And did I mention that its glazed too? Absolutely yummy! Unlike the chocolate ones however, the orange cake doesn't keep well. It has to be consumed right away. I think that's not going to be a problem for me.

Salon du Vintage

check out that fur coat!

Friends, I can definitely tell you that vintage is here to stay. This weekend was the spring edition of the bi-annual Salon du Vintage in Paris and it was jampacked with literally thousands of vintageophiles.  Ten minutes after taking these pictures, it got to be too crowded for me to take another photo.  I seriously do not know how that happened. I suppose I should count myself lucky to have even been able to take them!

Population wise, there was a wide spectrum of people walking around. Lots of vintage loving girls, obviously, dressed to the nines with retro and vintage finds. But there were also lots of regularly dressed folks, middle aged couples and families complete with poor sweating children in their strollers.  I think most people had an eye out for clothes.  Everywhere I turned people were eyeing clothes or trying them on. Nothing would deter them from going through the racks and racks of clothes. It was amazing to see.

But while the majority of stands featured clothes and accessories, there were also stands that carried retro furniture --lighting fixtures, tables and kitchenware and

60s-70s era chairs  were for some reason, the prominent features of 2 stands. Here

and here.

All told, still an interesting experience but I think for the next one, I'm going to go either really early or just before they close!