Herbs and embroidered towels. Place mats, tiles.

<i>Souvenirs
Posted by: ssbbaa77 on Aug 6, 14 at 4:16am
I am looking for some souvernirs unique to France . I live in Seattle and am visiting Paris. All the magnets and little towers can be found in Seattle too. Any suggestions? Where can I find them?</i>

How much do you want to spend for each item?

The Maille Mustard store in Place Madeleine has lovely small jars of mustard in many varieties. Other food shops around the Place have unique food items. We love Provençal olive oil and it's hard to get in the U.S. We did find out pork products from France were not allowed back in the U.S. Truffles, no problem. Some prints from a bouquiniste would be fun. I've also brought back antique postcards; there are several shops in the Passage des Panamoramas.

Oh gee, I've brought back so many things mentioned. Lots of food items properly packaged and in my checked luggage. My Mom's a tea drinker. I've also bought her scarves and some jewelry and she loves handkerchiefs. Tote bags, soaps. My Mom used to collect collectable plates. Which were delicate to get home unbroken but the department stores always found a box.

I've also brought back for my female friends compacts, pill boxes and mirrors with famous French scenes on them. Lightweight books.

And I love the bookinists along the Seine and and found some fun things there.

Chocolate...if you have room in your luggage.

SS

I love the xmas ornament idea - something you can do everywhere.

I also love to pick up cloth (or heavy plastic) shopping bags on trips, and am always pleased when someone else brings me one.

In Assisi (Umbria) there is a particular type of traditional embroidery using predominately blue or read thread (but sometimes other colors) often outlined with fine black thread. You can find various small items decorated with this type of embroidery, such as towels, potholders, and the like. The examples you'll see in souvenir shops have very simple designs, but you can find more elaborate examples easily.

Here is a very simple, but traditional table set:

http://www.accademiapuntoassisi.com/...hesi03_JPG.jpg

In Umbria, a good local pecorino cheese is a good souvenir. Most places will vacuum pack it, which isn't required by US food importation rules, but it does keep it from stinking up your luggage. They have all different stages of aging, from very fresh to hard-as-rock. The more aged types are great for grating.

Honey from Umbria (and neighboring Le Marche) is also very good, if you can find it in small jars. You should get some that's locally produced and unprocessed. It will usually be opaque and of a dense consistency, although honey from some types of flower remain liquid.

A wonderful appetizer, or dessert, is a chunk of aged pecorino cheese with a bit of honey on it.

I've bought the little J Carlton Parisian buildings. You can find them in all the little souvenir shops along the streets to the left of Notre Dame (for the directionally challenged) or Rue de Rivoli near Place de la Concorde.

one caution about bringing cheeses home: a few years ago, we were in Netherlands before a Rhine/Mosel river boat cruise. At a goat cheese shop outside of Amsterdam, all 4 of us fell in love with the goat goudas, a vertical stack of 3 rounds in the red waxy-coating, which didn't need refrigeration so were great to take with us and bring home. Well, DH and I thought to put it in our CHECKED luggage, and we were fine. Our friends tried keeping theirs in their carry-on, never thinking that it looks a lot like C4 explosives or something (and both husbands are retired military..) Anyway, theirs was confiscated at the airport.
So: it's a superb thing to bring home, but - check it!
we leave soon for our 10th week in Paris and then wandering France - I've used many of these ideas but I'm taking some new ideas for this trip - thanks, y'all!

Wonderful butter from Brittany (bought mine in Monoprix in Paris) with flakes of sea salt in it. I kept it in mini fridge night before flight home, put it in baggie in checked bag, and it was still cool when I unpacked it at home that evening. I have been making it last as long as possible since our return but just tonight decided that the tiny bit left probably should be thrown out--or maybe one last blob on toast tomorrow a.m.!

I brought back different varieties of honey that I picked up from a small shop on rue st Antoine. I'm going to do the same thing this year. I keep toothpicks in my empty jar, a lovely reminder of a sweet trip!

sugarmaple, if you have visited it already you might like Maison de Miel: http://www.maisondumiel.com/ It is in the 9th just around the corner from Fauchon. It is a lovely store:


24 rue Vignon 75009 PARIS

Table linen is another thing.
Opinel knives (but don't carry them back

You can put marmalade in your proper luggage, Iamdonehere. Want me to post you a pot?

I am all about my Maille mustard to bring home, also chocolate and the brown butter biscuits from Hediard---so good.

Last year, we brought home a set of champagne flutes from Maison de Famille that we use all the time.

E. DEHILLERIN, my favorite store. I bought a lot of cookie cutters that are stamped made in France. I bought every Eiffel Tower and many Roosters but am sure they have more. They make their own wood utensils stamped with the store name and made in France. I would have bought more but these were items that packed well. Julia Child shopped here.

We've bought chocolates at Jacques Genin. They cautioned us not to put them in our checked luggage and, when we got home, not to refrigerate them.

Be careful on how you plan to take your souvenirs home.

Friends and I had each made a small - maybe 10 x10 inches - mosaic on a square wood backing and each packed them in our carry-ons. The friends had no trouble leaving from Rome that way. We, on the other hand, were told by the Florence airport security that it was way too "dangerous" to be carried on. You know those dangerous sharp corners and all! We had to throw it away.

Pack as much as you can in your checked bags (not chocolates...you might need them during the trip ) to be safe.