Belgian ?

If you happen to stroll through the 12th arrondissement of Paris, east of Gare de Lyon the train station from which you can reach southern France and Italy, if you happen to follow this rather long street called Rue de Charenton you will come across this bar called 'Le Mastroquet'.

If you like Belgian beers, I can only recommend you to make a short stop at this place. I write short but I think it could last a little more. 

Why should that be ? Well, because first the atmosphere is pleasant. Second because while you sit you can enjoy looking at the 'quartier' life flowing by. Third because once you have tried maybe the beer of the month, you will feel like tasting another one.

At lunch time they also have a small offer of dishes of the day which are good value for money.

 

Expert in crime

If you  happen to be a fan of whodunits and other crime novels I can only recommend that you check 'Terminus Polar'.

A highly specialized bookshop only dealing in murder and detective books, comics and magazines.

But have no fear the two persons running the shop are very friendly and will treat you well. They will also provide plenty of tips and advice (on books, not on ways to take out your neighbour).

The shop is located on Avenue Parmentier N° 30, Paris 11th.

 

 

 

 

 

Café in Paris

 

In Paris there are an awful lot of bad cafés, bad restaurants, ... So when I happen to find a place where I feel welcome, where the prices are sensible and where the food is good I tend to come back and try some other item on the menu. When the original rating gets confirmed I start going with other people, with friends.

I have recently added a new café to my personnal list. It is called Café Fusain. Located where Avenue Parmentier crosses Rue Saint Ambroise the dark red brown awning is rather discreet. But do not hesitate to walk over the threshold. Nathalie the head waitress a direct and a frienly young woman from Britanny will lead you first to a table and then through the menu and the daily specials.

On Friday I had andouillette with home made French fries and mustard sauce. Hummm...

DoF

DoF ? What is that ?

Well some of you know I am sure. Most of you probably. But surely a few would be delighted to learn a little more about DoF.

It is an acronym for Depth of Field.

On a photograph like the one above, some parts are sharp, some are not in focus. The DoF is the distance between the nearest and the farthest object that appear sharp.

It is linked to several factors which it is best to know and to handle fluently. Otherwise you could end up getting a photograph not quite as you wanted it.

On a given camera, the DoF is in direct connection with the focal length of the lens and the aperture. Let us just say that the longer the focal length, the wider the aperture, the smaller the depth of field.

The photograph above with a much narrower aperture would have been more in focus. The same photograph shot with a wide angle would have been much more in focus. Here it was shot with a 135mm (telephoto lens) and at f/ 2.8 which is quite open.

Narrow DoF is used to emphasize a part of the image. On the contrary, deep DoF is prefered when all parts of the image have the same importance.

Here are two photographs with the same camera and same lens but very different apertures : f/ 22 and f/4

The result is very different.

 

 

Oriental Latin district

To-day for lunch I bought a Tunisian sandwich. It consist of a bun filled with olive oil tuna, potatoes, red or green pepper, some hot chili sauce called harissa. It is not what you see above. Here you see a photograph of a delicious pastry I bought for dessert. I was the first time I had that specific one. Both the sandwich and the cake came from the 'Patisserie du Sud tunisien' located rue de la Harpe in 5th arrondissement very close to Boulevard St Michel. Over the years I have tried most if not all they have on offer and believe you me I always come back.

Here is a photograph of the shop itself. It used to be blue like the door on the left but they had it repainted last year I believe.