We Wait… And We Wait

“Hope but never expect, move forward but never wait.” 

“How foolish is a man! He ruins the present while worrying about the future, but weeps in the future by recalling his past.” Ali Ibn Abi Talib

We live, we struggle, we fight, we cry, we encounter, we race, we rush, and sometimes, most of the times: we just wait… We wait for tomorrow in despair of hoping for better circumstances, for better places, for better timing. We wait for the future so that it can repair our past, so it can affect our present. We wait for life to come up with better and greater ideas about our destiny, we wait for that perfect moment that will change our lives. It’s like when we take a picture, we take several of them so that one, only one, will turn out perfect so we can share it with the world, and then what? Who will be happy with this “perfect” picture, you? me? the people who see it? or even nobody? because maybe that “perfect” picture is no longer perfect afterwards. I don’t know if I’m making sense, probably I am not, but we don’t realice that all the other pictures are better than the “perfect” one, because they show exactly who we are, they don’t show our “fake” pose.

We’ll Always Have Paris… Part II

This is the last post about the trip. The last two days we were in Paris. I will make a list at the end of several places that my friends recommended us, so you can have more information.

Day #3:

– This day we took the Bus Tour as we did in the other destinations. We wanted to have a full tour so we could do a little sightseeing in Paris. We went around the major tourist’s attractions and then we got down at Champs Elysees. Since it was raining we took this day to do some shopping and visit the stores. We walked through Rue de Rivoli and Rue de St Honoré, there were a lot of high end boutiques so we just strolled around and did some window shopping.

– After walking all around, we had diner at Café Fouquet’s, a nice restaurant in Champs Elysées. We didn’t want to have diner in this area because I consider it too “tourist-y” for me, but we did want to have a nice view of Paris at night. The food was delicious, but too expensive for the things we ate. We had escargots, tomato salad, onion soup, a bottle of rose wine and we paid around 250 Euros, so I would not recommend eating on these street unless you are looking for a high end gourmet place with a view.

We’ll always have Paris… Part I

These will be the last two posts about the trip we took to Europe. Our last stop was the amazing and beautiful Paris, and since I have more information I will divide it in two posts. Hope you like them.

I have visited Paris before, but it was the Paris we got to see with our parents, the Paris that just seems “nice,” “beautiful,” “big,” and “worth visiting.” However, this time was different, being in the most romantic and cosmopolitan city in the world with the love of my life, made me see a different Paris. A Paris full of colors, culture, romanticism, joy, art, fashion, extravaganza, and amazing architecture and views even at night. I think this is one  of the few cities in the world that its “midnights” are worth experimenting and specially worth living once in a while. I loved this city, this is what we did and what I recommend visiting if you only have four days.

DAY #1:

– We stayed at the W Hotel near the Opera, which I completely recommend since its location is perfect, we were walking distance from almost everything or just two or three stops away on the subway. After checking in we went to have breakfast to a restaurant called Angelina, a truly Parisian gem. Angelina was founded in 1903 by the confectioner Antoine Rumperlmayer, its elegance, sophistication, and glamour make it a unique place to have breakfast, and lunch among the locals and tourists. Its trademarks to enjoy are: African hot chocolate composed of three different African cocoa, and the Mont Blanc, a light meringue with whipped cream and chestnut paste.

Great Combination

I arrived to Mexico City a year ago and when I started going out to restaurants, clubs, bars, etc., I’d never imagined that I would fall in love with this city. This weekend I went out with some friends that have been living here for a while now, and we were talking about how this city can be a little bipolar; it gives you these amazing places to go out, to explore, to have fun, to meet people, to have a nice cup of coffee, you name it and Mexico has it; but it also gives you a lot of traffic, people drive like crazy, and it’s always crowded (everywhere, anyplace). However, we all agreed that it gives you more than it takes you. So I want to recommend this amazing place that perfectly combines the elegance of French food with the extravaganza of our traditional Mexican food (which I absolutely adore and admire).

The place, which is located in Condesa/Roma one of the trendiest neighborhoods in the city, is called Mexsi Bocu. Everything about the place creates the perfect fusion between Mexico and France: the decorations filled with chandeliers, ancient pictures with golden frames, and the chairs are different among them, but classy; and if you go to the terrace upstairs, you will find yourself in an outdoor mexican patio with a full bar and amazing music. The food is really good and the menu has a lot of classic french and mexican dishes to offer, as soon as you get in you can smell the baguettes baking, which makes you wanna eat anything that comes out of the kitchen. We ordered tuna and salmon tostadas as an appetizer, really fresh and citrusy; as an entree we ordered a seafood soup with a tamale inside, at first I couldn’t imagine eating something like this, but it really surprised me, they combined perfectly the tamale absorbs all the juices and flavors from the soup making it melt in your mouth. Also we ordered the famous “chile en nogada” which the executive chef Alexis Preschez managed to reconstruct turning it into a napoleon  (classic French presentation of dishes) with layers of sweet and savory ground beef and poblano chile topped with the nogada sauce; the colors of the dish were amazing. I completely recommend trying Mexsi Bocu, the place is comfy, homey, classic, with two great open spaces which incite you to drink and socialize. The waiters are always smiling and they have a great attitude, which is always a plus; and the food speaks for itself. Hope you like it!!! Always remember to keep it local!!!

Ratings:

Price $$$

Service: Excellent

Ambiance: Casual and great for drinks before going out.

Reservation recommended at night.

Hace un año que llegue al DF y jamás pensé que cuando empezara a salir a restaurantes, antros, bares, etc. me iba a enamorar de esta ciudad. El otro día estaba cenando con unas amigas, que ya tienen tiempo viviendo aquí, y platicábamos de cómo esta ciudad puede llegar a ser un poco bipolar, por un lado te ofrece una gran cantidad de restaurantes, de lugares hermosos, donde tomar un cafe agusto, ir de compras, ir a cenar, cualquier cosa que tengan en mente y México lo tiene; pero por otro lado el tráfico es horrible, la gente maneja como loca y siempre todo está lleno. Sin embargo, acordamos que es más lo que te da que lo que te quita. Entonces quiero hablarles de un lugar que fui hace tiempo y me encantó, es un lugar que fusiona perfectamente la elegancia de la comida Francesa con la extravagancia de la comida Mexicana, la cual amo y admiro con todo el corazón.

El lugar se llama Mexsi Bocu y está situado en la colonia Condesa/Roma, que es uno de los barrios más hipsters de la ciudad. Lo que me encantó de este lugar, además de su comida, es que todo se mezcla perfecto entre Francia y México. Las paredes están llenas de retratos antiguos de flores como deslavadas con marcos dorados, las sillas de las mesas no combinan entre si pero a la vez se ven muy clásicas, hay candelabros por todo el restaurante, todo esto totalmente francés. Por otro lado, la terraza del segundo piso asemeja a un patio antiguo mexicano, con una barra enorme (donde muchas de las bebidas son servidas en vasos de peltre) y excelente música. El menú está súper variado, además de que ofrece muchos platillos clásicos franceses y mexicanos. Nosotros pedimos unas tostadas de atún y salmón para empezar, estaban muy frescas y con mucho sabor a cítricos. De segundo tiempo ordenamos una sopa de mariscos con un tamal al fondo, al principio de verdad no me imaginé comiendo algo así, pero realmente me sorprendió combinaban perfectamente; el tamal absorbe todo el jugo de la sopa y los mariscos, lo cual hace que se derrita en tu boca. También ordenamos el famoso chile en Nogada, y lo que me encantó de este platillo es, que el chef ejecutivo Alexis Preschez presenta una reconstrucción del platillo en un Napoleón (una clásica presentación francesa) de láminas de carne y chile poblano bañadas con la salsa Nogada. La presentación se veía muy bonita y los sabores estaban perfectos. Verdaderamente recomiendo Mexsi Bocu, el lugar es acogedor, clásico y muy bonito; los meseros fueron muy amables y siempre estaban sonriendo y atendiendo con la mejor actitud. Cuenta con dos terrazas muy bonitas que te incitan a tomar y convivir, y la comida es deliciosa. ¡¡Espero les guste!!

Ratings: 

Precio: $$$

Servicio: Excelente

Ambiente: Casual y excelente para precopear.

Les recomiendo hacer reservación especialmente en la noche pues si se llena mucho.