It’s been pretty much a picture-perfect April in Paris week. It’s hard to believe that the pink blossoms are already falling and everything is almost fully green. It’s such a beautiful time of year in Paris and if you ever have the opportunity to visit in April I highly recommend it. This week’s Five Friday Finds from France features yet another Monoprix find, this time something perfect for summer garden parties, my favorite fraisier (so far) from Stohrer, the oldest pâtisserie in Paris, one-of-a-kind tissue books from Inès Mélia and more.
Monoprix Garden Party Plates
It’s no secret that Monoprix has some awesome finds. If you haven’t been before you might be wondering why you’d want to go shopping at essentially the French equivalent to Target…but trust me you do. When I spotted these green plates I immediately wanted to take a set home. They remind me of these Wedgwood Majolica green plates. I prefer to buy vintage dishes so I’m going to try to hold out until the brocantes reopen, but the Monoprix version is very tempting!
The Abbesses Métro Stairs
I’ve never been to the Abbesses Métro stop, so I was a little surprised to see an elevator. If you’ve taken the métro in Paris you probably know that there are escalators and stairs, but an elevator is very rare. I opted to take the stairs and wow…I was in for a surprise. Abbesses is the deepest station in the entire Paris Métro system at 118 feet (36 meters) below ground. So as you can imagine, there were a lot of stairs. The winding staircases are beautifully decorated with scenes from Montmartre, which helped ease the blow of the climb.
Inès Mélia Tissue Books
If you’re looking for something unique and one-of-a-kind from Paris for the person who has everything, look no further than Inès Mélia’s Tissue Books. Mélia finds books abandoned in the streets and turns them into tissue boxes. Each tissue book comes with a fabric handkerchief that’s embroidered with the last sentence of the book.
The Stohrer Fraisier
I’m not surprised that the oldest pâtisserie in Paris has one of the best fraisiers in Paris. Stohrer’s version has a pistachio biscuit instead of the classic sponge cake. There’s a divine Sicilian almond cream to bring the pistachio and Gariguette strawberry flavors together. I highly recommend trying it while it’s available! If you want to try making the Stohrer fraisier at home, you can find Jeffrey Cagnes’ recipe in this book.
Salicorne
I was excited to see salicorne at Marché Raspail on Tuesday. I first tried it in Normandy last year and was hooked. It’s described as kind of a salty baby asparagus and the health benefits are quite impressive. The fishmonger said you can eat it raw, but recommended boiling it for just a couple of minutes and serving it immediately. I added mine to a Caesar salad, but the fishmonger also recommended serving it with beef tartare which I thought sounded great.
I hope you enjoyed this week’s Five Friday Finds from France. I’ll be back tomorrow with Weekend Links!
This post includes affiliate links. I make a small commission from items purchased through my links at no additional cost to you. Merci for your support!