Merci Merci

About halfway between the Bastille and Republique on Boulevard Beaumarchais is a store called 'Merci Merci.' Described variously as a 'concept store where visitors can shop with a conscience' (Merci donates all net proceeds to a co-op for young women in Madagascar) and an 'Ali Baba's cave of knickknacks and home supplies' and 'une philosophie de vie proposée par Marie France et Bernard Cohen, que l'on connaissait pour la marque Bonpoint, et qui se veut entièrement novateur', it is all those things, and a bit more. They sell stuff like: awesome white enamel-coated tin tableware with different color rims (similar to the kind you would take on a camping trip), cool jeans, vintage designer stuff for girls, rolls of napkins made from raw cotton

 of different colors which you can tear off just as you would a paper towel, and the best-looking camping blankets that rival the Pendleton wool blankets they have at Ace Hotel.

 There's also a cafe that sells tons of used books in different laguages and a canteen in the basement where they serve an abbreviated daily market-driven menu. 

My lunch in the canteen that day was probably the last 'healthy' meal I had on my 3 week trip--'Poulet a la Vapeur' with haricots verts and betraves. It's not often that I have a non-sushi meal that tastes this pure. I'm a big fan of a lot of food that is manipulated or processed to a certain degree, such as, pate, rolled headcheese or pasta with fillings, but sometimes I find it refreshing to have a meal where each ingredient exhibits a real unique presence by remaining relatively 'whole' and un-manipulated, for lack of a better word. That said, I'll never be a fan of 'figs on a plate.'