Paris Journal 2007

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At the Port de la Tournelle in the 5^th arrondissment along the Seine, there are two places where one can learn to dance on the weekends. Notice the accordion player, lower left corner, who is providing the music for the waltz. This is Tom’s least favorite musical instrument. Horse-mounted gendarmes from the Republican Guard patrol the Champ de Mars. When they pass the Eiffel Tower, they go out into the very busy street at the Quai Branly. Here, they hold up traffic to answer a driver’s question about directions. Flowers on the Champ de Mars.

Monday, July 23 When Tom and I went out walking the other day, we were approached by a young French couple on the Champ de Mars. They asked us where the public toilets were. Of course, we pointed them in the right direction. Then hours later, on our way home, near the west end of the rue du Babylone, a young couple was trying to return their Vélib’ bicycles to a station on the Place Andre Tardieu. However, the station was full. It was getting to be dark, and the young woman was trying using her mobile phone, trying to get someone to answer the 24-hour Vélib’ help line where supposedly, a staff person would be able to tell her where the nearest station would be where there would be empty spots for their bicycles. She looked pretty frustrated. The young man asked us. Of course, we were able to name three places where there are supposed to be stations, but who knows if they have any open spots, and they were not all that nearby. The young man politely thanked us and went into the café to ask the manager about nearby stations. But there are not enough stations in the 7^th and 15^th arrondissements, where an unbelievably large number of Parisians live. So, late in the evening, it is very difficult to return a Vélib’ bicycle in those areas. Vélib’ is going to have to use a small truck and an employee to go around and move bicycles from station to station in the evening. Let’s see how long it is until they figure this one out. We went for a long walk along the Seine yesterday with Dan and Mary, and we saw plenty of Vélib’ bikes in use there. We ended up at the Jardin des Plantes again. It seems that Dan and Mary had not been there yet! They decided to stay there and have their sandwiches, along with a fresh order of McDonalds French fries, in the park, while we took the métro home. Before we went our separate ways, a young American man came up to us, asking for directions to the A3. After a moment of confusion, we realized that he had actually driven a car into Paris (!), unintentionally, when he really was trying to go around Paris on the A3, which is mostly known as the “Peripherique.” I’ve never heard it called the A3 before, but that is its true name. All the signs I’ve noticed in Paris say “Peripherique.” So we told him that this is the word he’s looking for on the street signs. I told him to just follow the big boulevard behind us, the boulevard de l’Hopital, out toward the edge of the city, following the signs that say “Peripherique.” Then he was on his way. Suddenly, about 500 rollerbladers came up the boulevard, headed for the Seine. But they were going the opposite direction, so it didn’t impede the brave young American’s escape from Paris. After we rested and read newspapers for a while, we went out for a nice Sunday leg-of-lamb dinner at La Gauloise (59 avenue de la Motte-Picquet, 15^th arrondissement, telephone 01-47-34-11-64), just as we did three weeks ago. The meal was just as good as always. The complicated computerized system for taking orders caused our server to make a small mistake on our check, but he very quickly and politely corrected it. Now that we have had a whole weekend of nice weather, in the 70s with no rain, it is raining again. Of course, I was sent out to buy computer printer paper in the rain. Somehow, I managed to do this and to buy newspapers without getting any of that paper wet. Whew. I’m still doing a fair amount of cooking. I cooked for the family on Friday night. It was a rather elaborate meal because I had sauces for both the vegetables and the chicken breasts. I had fun making Dan and Mary try to guess the identity of the mystery vegetable. I had julienned carrots and turnips, and they did not know what the turnips were. I even told them at some point that it was a root vegetable. How many root vegetables are there, anyway? But I finally had to tell them the answer. Dan, who is notorious for not eating vegetables, did have a couple bites but then he pushed his plate over to Mary for her to eat them, while he took some of her chicken. Tonight I think I’ll cook Italian. It is easier to hide the vegetables in that kind of cuisine. The recipe for the julienned carrot and turnip dish is something I learned at Betty Rosbottom’s La Belle Pomme cooking school in Columbus, Ohio. Who, you might ask, is Betty Rosbottom? Here’s this from a May 1979 issue of Time magazine: “But the focal point of culinary Columbus is a small, well-lighted school at 1412 Presidential Drive called La Belle Pomme. It is owned and run by Betty Griffin Rosbottom, 37, an energetic Sophie Newcomb graduate from Memphis, whose husband Ronald is a professor of romance languages at Ohio State. “Betty studied cuisine in New Orleans, Philadelphia and at La Varenne in Paris. Her classes range from basic Continental techniques to such entremets as Winner Soups, A Riviera Cookout and Favorites from the French Bakery. She has taken two groups of culinary acolytes on a week-long working pilgrimage to Paris. Last October Jacques Pépin, Charles de Gaulle's onetime chef, author of La Technique and glamour boy of the culinary circuit, came to La Belle Pomme to give an S.R.O. three-day course. “For two days this spring Betty's visiting luminary was Marcella Hazan, the most authoritative exponent of Italian cooking in the U.S. Her two three-hour classes, limited to 25 auditors at $50 each per class, were sold out almost instantly after they were announced. Some applicants had already attended the school that Hazan conducts each year from May to November in Bologna, Italy's gastronomical heartland. Most are Belle Pomme regulars, eager to branch out into the mysteries of pasta, prosciutto, parmigiana, pesce and polio, not to mention savoring Marcella's gelato spazza camino (Scotch-laced vanilla ice cream chimneysweep style, so called because it is topped with finely ground espresso coffee ‘soot’). “ La Varenne cooking school is probably named for François Pierre La Varenne (1618-1678), the chef who is credited with pioneering and codifying French cuisine in the 17^th Century. The person who really injected French cuisine into American culture is Julia Child. I have yet to go out and buy her book, My Life in France. Before I go hither and yon to this bookstore and that, I sent out a couple e-mails. The Village Voice bookshop answered me already – they are sold out and won’t have new copies until July 31^st. Brentano’s has not yet answered me, but we have to go to the Fed Ex office on boulevard Haussman later today to send one of Tom’s precious chapters off to W. W. Norton in New York. Fed Ex is fairly close to Brentano’s, so maybe Tom will let me just check it out. ←Previous Next→

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