Paris Journal 2012 – Barbara Joy Cooley Home: barbarajoycooley.com
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Leslie, the chef who has a catering business on Sanibel, briefly lived in Paris 30 years ago. Now she’s back, with her brilliant and charming 7-year-old son Johnny, renting an apartment on the east side of Paris. We met up with the two of them at La Terrasse yesterday evening, and had a nice dinner and fun visit. Even in the rain, we walked over to the Champ de Mars to take a look at the Eiffel Tower. While she is here, Leslie is going to take some classes at Le Cordon Bleu. We’ve dined on her cuisine many times, and highly recommend her as a chef and caterer. I admire her work. For a simple dinner, we had quite an assortment of things. Johnny ordered a milkshake as an aperitif, while we adults shared sparkling water and a half-carafe of Pouilly-Fumé. Johnny had a cheeseburger and fries, which he seemed to enjoy like a true connoisseur of burgers. We adults were more health-minded. Leslie had the Niçoise salad and the classic onion soup, soupe à l'oignon gratinée. Tom ordered the salmon, and I had the Friday night fish special: a small, grilled filet of daurade (Mediterranean fish), and a hearty pile of spinach. For dessert, Tom ordered a café gourmand – coffee surrounded by four miniature desserts, including a crème brulée – and I ordered a baba au rhum for us all to share, because Leslie wasn’t familiar with it, and I thought she’d find it very interesting. She did. Now it is Quatorze Juillet, and as I write this I have the TV on, with no sound, to see the traditional military parade on the Champs Élysées. This is one of those opportunities to see beautiful Paris from the air. A total of 32 helicopters are out there for Bastille Day; many of them are taking live video for French national television. As I watch the new president, François Hollande, reviewing the troops in all their glory, I am reminded that he will revive the tradition of the Bastille Day interview with the press in the Elysée Palace after the parade. I will want to watch that, to see if his French is as clear as Jacque Chirac’s. (Nicolas Sarkozy abandoned the tradition of this annual interview.) Now the military band is playing the national anthem, La Marseillaise, for the President and the rest of us. That reminds me, not too long ago, I played that anthem on my harmonica for my mother. She didn’t know I could play; she was surprised. It is a very difficult melody, and I don’t know why I can play it, because I do not take my music seriously enough to practice regularly. But, as a server at the Brasserie Lipp once said (after I insisted on ordering the Andouillette AAAAA), I must have French blood coursing in my veins. I haven’t found it yet in the genealogy of my family, but it must be there somewhere . . . . If only I could exercise enough discipline to memorize the lyrics for La Marseillaise. Someday, maybe. Now we are hearing bagpipes play, and I see that one of these musicians may well be the young man we heard on the Île aux Cygnes the other day. He, like a good musican, was practicing that day. Now horses are prancing in formation as an orchestra plays. Oh so French. This beats a commercial parade, as far as I’m concerned. It is so beautiful, and dignified. Now the military air show is happening. We can see the jets from our kitchen window as they complete their circuit down the Champs Élysées and Tuileries, but with the cloud cover today, they are flying so low that I can just barely see them in the distance above the closer rooftops of the neighborhood. But I can still see them, as I move back and forth, across the apartment, from the TV to the kitchen window and back. Hmmm. Three airplanes flying upside down. Cute. All bleu-blanc-rouge. As I listen to the commentary that accompanies the TV coverage of the military parade that is now making its way down the Champs Élysées from the Arc de Triomphe to the Place de la Concorde, I appreciate how educational it is, for the French people, to hear about the specialities and functions of all these various military units. We don’t have anything quite like this, on an annual basis, in the U.S. It is also good to see all the faces of the young men and women in their dress uniforms, marching for the nation. This puts a real human face on the military. The various uniforms are splendid. And because there is no summer heat (it is only 61 degrees F at the moment) and no rain at the moment, these young men and women appear to be quite comfortable wearing lined, wool, tailored jackets and slacks in mid-July. Well, some women are wearing wool skirts, and a small number of men are wearing kilts. The troops parading on foot will be followed by those mounted on horses, and then those in motorized vehicles – like tanks. In closing, there will be another air show, including, I hope, parachutists, who land with great precision, right in front of the viewing stand where the President and other VIPs are seated. The final touch is provided by the Paris Firefighters Brigade – considered to be part of the military in France. The next big thing, after this superb national holiday, is the opening of Paris Plage, the Paris Beach, on July 20. This year, Paris Plage will be different because of the riverfront reconstruction projects that are underway in certain areas. Another unique attraction at Paris Plage this year will be a giant screen showing the Olympics, live. But the really big event for us will be the arrival of our twin granddaughters on the 18th. Stay tuned! |
Saturday, July 14, 2012
Sanibellians in Paris: Johnny, Leslie
and I on the wet Champ de Mars.
The
Eiffel Tower on a gray day.
Friday
fish special at La Terrasse: filet de daurade,
épinards.
The
Eiffel Tower, in the rain, at night, as it twinkles for a few minutes on the
hour. The clouds are obscuring the top
of the tower. (View from our kitchen
window.) |
