Eats

Pea-mint pesto with spaghetti.

Channa masala and chapattis.

Alphonso mangoes. Although we didn't make it in time to buy a box from one of the grocery stores near Gare du Nord, a friend from India was kind enough to share a few that were shipped to her from Bombay! Yes, these mangoes are that good.

Last-minute picnic. We didn't have much at home that day but enough for a few sandwiches. Jambon, cheese, lettuce, tomato, a drizzle of olive oil, salt and pepper.

Homemade ricotta gnocchi using the same recipe I used before.

Masala omlette with onions, red and green peppers, tomatoes, chillies, and fresh corriander. With crusty baguette and Bordier butter, naturally.

Parsley pesto rice pilaf with peas, sardines, and sauteed veggies.

Lemon bars using this recipe. Very, very good but not the best.

Roasted peppers with capers and mozzarella also from Smitten Kitchen.

Almond flounder meunière (except it wasn't flounder; the fish monger recommended something else) with a side of braised fennel; from Dorie Greenspan's Around My French Table.

Treats from Aux Merveilleux de Fred. Check out David's review here.

Refashion

For several years now, I have been wanting to refashion one of my husband's shirts into a dress for me. I have a small pile of his shirts that have either shrunk in the wash or that never fit him well to begin with, slowly accumulating in India and the US. Since storage space is notably scarce in our rented Parisian apartment, there really is no room for piles of anything. So I finally gave it a go, taking inspiration from Antoinette and her clever refashions.

I was working with a large-tall Eddie Bauer shirt, so I had quite a bit of fabric to work with. I started with ripping out the collar and the shirt pocket. I initially wanted to keep the collar stand but it was much too large, and it had to go. After I cut along the side seams on the body and sleeves, I converted the box pleat on the shirt back to gathers.

I used a self-drafted pattern to cut out the shirt fronts and back, and the sleeves. The sleeves are my favourite part!

I also sewed the original pocket back on the right front of the dress.

I added small gathers to the shoulders, which you can't see very well in these photos, and I left the back of the dress longer than the front (inspired by Wiksten's Lissa dress).

I finished the entire dress with french seams, and I had enough fabric left over to make bias tape, which I used to finish the sleeves and neck. I wore it the day to wander around Paris!

Thanks to my husband for taking all the photos of me in my new, refashioned dress.

Fête de la Musique

The first official day of summer started off rather gray and cloudy but the sun made a brief appearance before the day was up. We spent the evening wandering about the city and listening to music. Without a pucca plan, we were able to stop at street corners, in front of cafés and mairies, and at various parks to listen to whatever caught our fancy. We returned home with exhausted feet, tired and weary but we had a good time! Here are a few photos from the evening: