For those of you who aren't aware, not only did I fall down the pandemic rabbit hole of tuning in 6 days a week to watch cookbook author and former pastry chef David Lebovitz shake and stir up Instagram Live "Apero Hours" for several months - but I took it one step further. (Are you surprised? I think not.)
When Paris reopened from lockdown in late May 2020, David Lebovitz declared that he was putting an end to the regular "Apero Hour" series. I understood completely. But was still upset - not just about losing my daily fix of David himself, but because of the others that I had met virtually in the chat box.
Odd to think you can "meet" people in a chat box, but somehow we managed!
Well, when he declared that "Apero Hour" was coming to an end, I suddenly typed up an "Oh, no! We're going to need to set up an IG hub to keep this group together!"
I said it. Now I had to do it. And so, it was done.
I recruited two other "Apero Hour" regulars to join me: one from Portland, Oregon - Heidi, known as @UncommonMuse on Instagram, and the other from Olso, Norway - Judah, known as @StreetofTrees on IG. For 15 months, the three of us each posted one photo a week and a thought starter or such to keep the conversation going.
We finally decided to have our own "Apero Hour Fans" handle come to a close in September 2021, vowing we'd start it up again whenever the three contributors were able to get together - in Paris.
Just a few weeks ago, we made that happen. The photo above is from our very first lunch all together at Les Rubis in the 2nd ARR. That's a Duck Heart Brochette if you're curious. It was delicious. But, much more importantly, Heidi, Judah and I felt like peas in a pod. In this case, the pod was the City of Lights. More specifically it was Sentier and the incredible foodie wonderland that is Rue Montorgueil...
and Rue du Nil...
Yes, there was pastry...
And, we even left the neighborhood a few times to imbibe...
Quite memorably, the above drinks were sipped at Sister Midnight. Other gorgeous cocktails were had at CopperBay, while bubbly Vouvray Brut was enjoyed at Le Bon Georges.
The pièce de résistance? It happened here...
A trip to Belleville to go to the much-lauded Combat bar. There, we raised a glass (okay, a couple of glasses!) with David Lebovitz and his husband Romain Pellas.
Yes, that's right. That's how we roll.
Tchin-tchin! And, considering the threat of variants still looms large, let me add a - Santé! - for good measure.
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