OH MY GOD IT’S TRUE.

Polaroid film is making a comeback. Not that I don’t love Fuji for stepping in with the Instax film and cameras, which I have used with reckless abandon (see here) but my first love will always be the SX-70 and I can now blow the dust off and start shooting with it again.

Thanks to the Impossible Project, a web based collective out of Vienna that specializes in all things Polaroid. They sell vintage prints, cameras and, most exciting of all, film that they have produced using old materials from the great Polaroid factories themselves. This film does not come cheap (a box of 8 images for $24.50), and I have no idea if it’s all they say it is, but I have ordered a bunch and suggest you do too, as the quantities are limited, and who knows when this little window of happiness will close again.

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They have also just released a black and white film for the SX-70 called PX First Flush in both 100 and 600 ASA speeds. From what I can tell, this is their first completely from-scratch product, which means that they will be able to mass produce it, as demand determines. (I can’t seem to download their press materials, which would probably give us all the info we need, and I’m too impatient to post this to wait till that little bug is fixed) But as soon as I finish this post, I’ll be buying up a bunch of this film too. When I get the goods and start shooting, I’ll let you know how it all works.

Man am I excited. I’ve also heard that a full color version is coming to us by year’s end…

A friend e mailed me to ask for some suggestions of great places to eat in Paris as her parents are headed there for a celebratory vacation. Now I haven’t been to Paris for any length of time since the 90′s, but I asked my friend Susannah, who has just moved back from there, if she had any suggestions. Her e mail describing various places to eat in Paris is so spot on that I felt I had to share it.

If any of you are lucky enough to be heading over to Paris any time soon, here’s some solid advice on how to keep your taste buds happy.

My favorite perfect lunch: Bar de La Croix Rouge at intersection of Rue de Grenelle (v good shopping) and Rue de Sevre in the 6th arr. The thing to order is the Saint Germain (grilled Poilane bread with most divine thinly sliced roast beef and delish salad) plus best tarte tatin in Paris (also v good chocolate fondant). U must have a glass of wine.

For macaroons, Laduree of course, also Pierre Hermes.

Have a Berthillon sorbet on Ile st Louis. (They sell is several places on rue Louis Phillipe or whatever…)

Have oysters anywhere. Am serious. If u want serious fish/oyster fancy place for dinner, the Dome is wonderful, Avenue Montparnasse.

Cafe Flor for a total chic Parisian scene (sit on covered outside and if eating lunch, somebody has to get the classic French baguette sandwich Jambon beurre, ham and butter, or saucisson sec)
For pleasant outdoor lunch on fabulous Place des Vosges, Ma Bourgogne. Get warm leek salad (poireaux)

For a fabulous relaxed dinner, L’Ami Jean.
Fancy chic crowd dinner: Voltaire on the Quai Voltaire
Way fancy/haute cuisine: Joel Robuchon (there’s the Atelier where you sit at bar but probably better for her parents is his lovely restaurant in the 16th arr.) For lunch, no reservations but they should always aim for 12:30 or 12:45. The French all eat at 1pm on the dot, so all tables suddenly full.

In food-related dept., if they are there on a Sunday, they must go to the beautiful famous organic market on Boulevard Raspail between the rue de Sevre and Rue de Rennes. (9-1pm). It is ravishing.

As is this spectacular advice. May it lead many of you through a tasty Parisian adventure.

So I’m finally opening about two weeks worth of old e mail, and I come upon a daily candy post about a tea cozy that is really cute. So I go to the site and lo, I discover perhaps the most beautiful collection of ordinary objects that I have ever seen. All for sale. And at reasonable prices.

Appropriately called ancient industries, even their homepage (see above) is beautiful. The site is streamlined and perfectly designed, with an emphasis on the objects, rather than a bunch of flashy web trickery. And oh, the objects that can be yours with a click of the mouse.

First off, for all of my fellow mothers out there that cringe at the various baby bottle related products one has to keep handy, HOW GREAT IS THIS BOTTLE CLEANER? I am ordering one the minute I finish this post. Old school in the best way possible. And when you are using a beautiful functional object, the task of cleaning out those bottles (glass, I hope!) becomes far less odious.

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Also, just the way they’ve written the words “bottle cleaner” and then the short and perfectly sweet description add to the pleasure of plunking down $7 for this thing.

And check out this detaill from the main shopping page. I ask you, what’s not to love about a site that has hot water bottles right next to the coolest cotton socks around? Nothing!