Kale and Joseph the Butler make their grand debuts at Verjus Wine Bar in Paris!


Once upon a time in a faraway land (a.k.a. New York City), there was a young princess who worked in an advertising agency by day and threw rooftop cocktail parties with her friends at night. One day, she spied Sir Lancelot riding in an elevator, not on a white steed, and fell head over heels in love. Not only did Sir L sweep the princess off her feet, but he took her to a faraway land. Paris. A city bereft of English speakers and of a healthy, green vegetable called kale.

Not being one to sit around and complain, the princess was spurred into action. She talked with chefs, visited restaurants and convinced French farmers to start growing this superfood. To celebrate the fruition of her labors, she organized the first ever kale event in a city renowned for its food. Kale deprived expats and visitors from afar gathered at Verjus Wine Bar on Thursday evening to partake of tasty dishes like fried chicken with a kale twist and to-die-for buratta and kale salad.

And that's how the Kale Queen was born! Please visit The Kale Project to learn more.

Kale wasn't the only hot item making its debut in Paris on Thursday night. To the delight of many Parisian bloggers, Joseph the Butler from Chicago made first public appearance, as did CBaarch and S from Canada. As always, it was heartwarming to see how supportive the Parisian expat community is of each other and to reconnect with Finding Noon, Tales from the Chambre de Bonne and Paris Cheapskate. It was also a real pleasure to finally meet HJ Underway, Totally Frenched Out and Bryan Pirolli.

Thanks to Kristen's efforts, kale is now available at some markets in Paris. Here's Joseph the Butler selecting a leafy bunch on Friday morning.

Comments

  1. Hey, that's me. It was a wonderful event and I find it unbelievable that kale is not so common in France. Long live kale.

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    1. You need to come back to Paris and go to the market with me again! Stephane and I ate the last of the kale last night. Taking your advice, I stir fried it with some onions, garlic and chili peppers. It was delicious!

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  2. What, no song MK? It's SUNDAY.
    But getting an up close...smudgeless...look at Joseph the Butler indicating "this is kale" makes the world (and Sunday) right again.

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    1. Sorry, I skipped the song because I'm so far behind on regular blog posts. Glad to hear that the smudgeless photo of Joseph made up for it!

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  3. Yessssss! Love this post!!!!! We all had a fantastic time catching up over kale, and celebrating Kristen's feat for a project she worked her tiny tuckus off to make kale happen in Paris!!

    I can't wait to see what else she does with this!

    As always, it was so good to see you, MK! :)

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    1. It was wonderful seeing you again, Mlle Ella but I've got to admit that I was even more excited to meet the man of your life, Seb. I can easily understand why you selected him from all of the others at Adopt a mec. Your taste is impeccable!

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  4. Well done to Krisen for introducing Kale to Paris. I wish her much success. At last, Joseph the butler comes out! So nice to put a face to the blog.

    Denise
    Love from England

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    1. One of these days I'll have to see if I can get Joseph's permission to post a photo of him playing pinball! Who would have thought that a butler would be such a wizard at that game. Not me!

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    2. I'm truly a Pinball Wizard.

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  5. Joseph is the one on the left, correct?

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    1. You're as perceptive as ever, Mike! Although it's more difficult to tell Joseph and Kale apart when they're both wearing sunglasses!

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  6. Thanks to Kristen's for planning the event for the day we arrived!!! Learned a lot about that leafy vegetable that needs an acquired taste.

    Even totally jetlagged after a 12 hour journey it was great to meet a lot of the bloggers that I have gotten to know online with the help of MK's blog.
    It was a great start to a 17 day visit to the City of Lights.
    cheers
    Conrad

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    1. I'm so happy that S and you could make it the first kale event in Paris, Conrad. You definitely get the prize for the guests who traveled the furthest and for the ones who were the most jet-lagged! It was a real pleasure to finally meet you face-to-face.

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  7. I have long been a proponent of Kale. I can't believe it is not embraced the world over. Well done Kristen for bringing it to Paris...and well done Mary Kay for bringing Kale, Joseph the Butler and Out and About in Paris together.

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    1. While I've only recently become acquainted with kale, I'm definitely a fan. If you've got any recipes from down under to share, I would love to hear about them!

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  8. Fascinated by the kale project! It's so interesting what people get up to. And very nice to see Joseph the Butler after having read so many of his entertaining comments on this blog.

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    1. Kale would be a great veggie to grow on your farm, Steph. It's fast growing and extremely healthy!

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  9. Such a great post, and hip hip hooray for The Kale Project!!

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    1. Ksam, I'm glad that we were finally able to meet at the kale bash, albeit it briefly. Your blue eyes are recognizable anywhere!

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  10. Wow, go Kristen! That is fantastic! I need to get me some kale next time I visit Paris. I haven't had kale since moving to France over a year ago! Glad everyone had fun at this marvelous event with so many wonderful francobloggers-- I would have love to be there!

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    1. I wish that you could have joined us. It was an exciting (and healthy!) evening for the francoblogger community.

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  11. Of course in Boston we both eat kale and use decorative kale in window boxes. And for an inexpensive and effective centerpiece, tuck a dozen or so tiny pink roses in the pinkish green hued kale.

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    1. HI Carolyn! Good to see you and nice idea.

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    2. Hello Carolyn! As Nancy said, it's good to "see" you. Boston and kale are almost synonymous in my mind because I had my first kale salad at Area Four in Cambridge. I was hooked as soon as I put the first bite in my mouth.

      After reading your comment, I regretted not taking more photos of the evening because Kristen had made an arrangement with kale. Now that I can get it at the market in Paris, I'll try using some with pink roses as per your suggestion. Thanks!

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  12. Great post! So where can I find kale, please?
    Terry

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  13. Wasn't expecting JTB to be a bit of a hottie! I'll have to hunt down kale some time in Paris because I don't think we have it in New Zealand either (or I haven't at least).

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    1. I wasn't either! ;) But that's JTB - full of surprises! Kale is currently being used by all of the trendy restaurants in the USA so I wouldn't be surprised that it has made it's way to NZ.

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    2. Just a bit? Oh how I blush.

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  14. Thanks MK for the LOVELY story and for attending the event. Sir L liked his mention too. It was great to see you AND to finally meet Joseph the Butler who is so lovely! This post made my Sunday :)

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    1. Thank YOU for bringing kale to Paris. I hope that I got all of the details right! I was trying to recall what I had read on your blog over the past year.

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  15. Imagine my surprise when I read that you attended an event at Verjus.

    I found the Hidden Kitchen website a little over a year ago. http://www.hkmenus.com/
    I spent several months silently licking my lips while reading reviews of the dinners they put together and fantazised about attending one. I even put a link to the Hidden Kitchen on my blog.

    When updates to their site slowed then stopped I had to research the new project that took them away from their private dinners. I soon discovered their newest endeavor was to be open to the public and that's when I realized eating their creations was going to become easier from this point on.

    Hope you enjoyed the atmosphere, food and wine.

    Indygirl

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    1. Like you, eating at Verjus has long been on my list of things to do...ever since I heard that they closed the Hidden Kitchen and moved to a real restaurant. I really liked the food, wine and atmosphere of the Verjus wine bar and look forward to trying the restaurant, located above the wine bar, in the near future. If/when you dine there, be sure to ask if they have any of Kristen's kale on the menu!

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  16. What a great post - and what a great night it sounded like (was so so so sorry to miss out)! Love Sir Lancelot riding an elevator, love seeing Joseph the Butler, and most importantly I LOVE Kristen bringing Kale to Paris!!

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