Paris Journal 2010 – Barbara Joy Cooley Home: barbarajoycooley.com

Photos and thoughts about Paris

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A couple unreasonable, unkind people from back home tried to ruin our Bastille Day, but we didn’t let them. As George Herbert said, “living well is the best revenge,” and we are doing a good job of that. So there, you mean people back home! Take THAT! After the rain stopped in the evening, I went for a walk down avenue Émile Zola and discovered that one of our favorite restaurants, L’Épopée, was open on the holiday! I popped in and made a reservation for two for 8:30PM. I also stopped in the brand new wine shop near L’Épopée, called La Cave se rebiffe! The shop is so new it doesn’t yet have a sign, and the owner only has a French credit card machine (a machine that only takes cards with embedded chips, not American credit cards). In a deep, smooth baritone voice, he explained to me the varying levels of pinot noir and chardonnay grapes used to make several different champagnes, and I chose one for 19 euros to try for the holiday. I went back to the apartment, popped the bottle in the fridge, and collected Tom so we could go have a holiday feast. L’Épopée changed ownership last year or the year before, and the new, younger owners have been changing the menu gradually, and doing it very well. Now the cuisine is decidedly modern and creative. Not that it wasn’t before, but now it is even more so, and it is better than ever. I had escargot. There were no shells. Instead, the perfectly cooked snails were arranged on the plate, sitting in a bit of zingy hazelnut butter, balsamic vinager, and herbs (persillade). In the middle of the plate were some slices of nicely cooked mushrooms layered with goat cheese. My main course was a sea bass (I know, two nights in a row, sea bass!), on a bed of green beans with broccoli on the edges. All were in a tasty, light, frothy white sauce. A few little clams were tossed in, too. It was very yummy! Tom had no starter course, but he ordered the Arc en ciel de Petits Farcis façon Axoa, jus de caisson which, of course, we had to ask about (and it is not on the English menu on the web site). Turns out it is a tomato and a round zucchini stuffed with a mixture of other vegetables and ground veal, all mixed with the veal cooking juices. It was excellent, and very filling. Tom then ordered the crème brulée, which arrived as two little dishes of crème brulée, one with a chocolate sauce drizzled on its top crusty layer, and the other in the traditional style. We shared this dessert, and so it was the first time in a very, very long time that I have had anything close to all three courses as a meal – a real holiday feast. I just cannot eat like I used to. I’ve lost at least two kilos (maybe about 4 to 5 pounds) since we arrived, and I haven’t even tried to lose it. Before that, in Sanibel, I had lost 7 pounds without trying. But don’t worry, I don’t think I’m going to waste away. It isn’t from exercise; I always exercise a lot, and have done so consistently for at least 30 years. In fact, in Florida I exercise harder than I do here. Here, my exercise is mostly just walking, at a not so fast pace. When we returned to the apartment, we didn’t even think about going to bed at a normal time, because the city is just too crazy on Bastille Day. We stayed awake and watched the fireworks from the kitchen and bathroom windows. The view is only slightly obscured by some rooftops, but that rooftop scene is so romantic, like something straight out of the Pixar movie, Ratatouille. I think it just adds to the show. Afterwards, from the other side of the apartment, we could see throngs of people walking down the rue du Commerce, on their way home from the Champ de Mars, which is ground zero for watching the fireworks that are set off over the Trocadero. But people watch the show from all over central Paris. Our friends Deb and Allan got into a prime viewing location, the Australian Embassy. Hundreds of thousands of people, maybe even a million or two, watch these fireworks every Quatorze Juillet. It is great fun. Sign my guestbook. View my guestbook. Note: For addresses & phone numbers of restaurants in this journal, click here.

Thursday, July 15, 2010 Chopin poster on display in the Luxembourg Gardens. Part of the fountain in the Marco Polo Gardens. Weird construction techniques have been used over the years on very old buildings in Paris – including bent nails like this sticking out of very old wood embedded in a wall made of stone of all sizes, so impossible to deal with that wires are run across the surface. ← Previous Next →