Paris Journal 2010 – Barbara Joy Cooley Home: barbarajoycooley.com
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Yesterday evening, I was able to dine on pot au feu. Perhaps realizing my disappointment the last time we were there, the big restaurant, Le Café du Commerce, behind us put the dish on its short list of daily specials this week. We saw that when we went out to buy newspapers, and decided to try it out. What they served was a summertime version of the dish, so it didn’t have the turnips and no hot broth was served on the side. This pot au feu was intentionally served lukewarm (tiède), wrapped in a lettuce leaf. The two carrots, which normally would have been cooked to softness for a dish like this, still had a tiny bit of crunch in them. There was a leek, an onion, a couple little round potatoes, and of course, some beef that was cooked slowly, so that it came apart with the touch of the fork. I enjoyed this rustic, traditional dish while Tom consumed a very good steak (onglet) with a pile of almost-carmelized onions on top. It came with some sautéed slices of zucchini and a half of a small tomato that had been broiled a bit with some herbs and olive oil on top. The servings were not big at all, so we went ahead and indulged in dessert. Tom had some excellent ice cream, and I had the crème brulée, which was very correct, as they say in France. The restaurant filled up, and it got to be a little too warm in our corner. Then the server forgot to bring Tom’s decaf coffee, so I left – after all, the apartment was only around the corner – before the heat began to make me feel sick. Then the server saw her mistake and was quite apologetic to Tom. The restaurant tried to give us the English menu’s when we came in. I asked for the French, but they said it was in both languages, which was sort of true. But the daily specials were not included in that version. So when the server came to take the order, I asked about the daily specials. Only then did she bring us the true French menu. But after we ordered in French, nobody tried to speak English with us, thank heavens, and the restaurant’s customers all seemed to be French. That’s quite a change from years ago when we ate there. There were a number of families with kids, because the prices are reasonable, for Paris, and the restaurant has a special kids’ menu. The traditional nature of this resto makes me think of the little diner, Les Mouettes, across from the Bon Marché department store. I meant to mention that when we ate there, we admired the view of the store across the street because it is finally having some money spent on its exterior. It needed the work very badly, and it is so deserving – such an elegant Hausmann-era building. One of the first things our friends Pat and Stanley did when they arrived in Paris was to go to the gourmet grocery at Le Bon Marché, La Grande Épicerie. As I explained to Pat, that is a very good place for vacationers like them to go. Why not splurge on the special things, you’re on vacation! We’re not on vacation; we just live here for three months of the year. But every once in a long while, I like to go to La Grande Épicerie. And if you are here on vacation, you should definitely go. As I said, we are not on vacation. In fact, Tom is working on a new edition of Back to the Lake. Today he’s reading reviews written by professors who have used the book in their classes. The reviews are very, very good. Tom’s editor says they’re the best she’s ever seen, and she has seen a lot – perhaps more than anyone has, for this type of textbook. Next on the list of things to do is to come up with the new table of contents. I help Tom whenever I can with the textbook writing/editing. I also need to get to work on a new newspaper article in my role as president of the Committee of the Islands. So that’s all for now folks. See you tomorrow! Sign
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Tuesday, August 10, 2010
Pot au feu, summer style.
Bernard
Constant, the amazing one-man-band, performing under the Passerelle Solferino
at one of the entrances to the Tuileries Gardens.
Notre
Dame and one of the ubiquitous tourist boats.
Boat traffic on the river was somewhat disturbed this past week when a
barge carrying fuel sank near the Eiffel Tower. No fuel leaked out of the containers, and
the authorities were able to move the barge off to the side of the river, out
of the navigation channel, a couple days ago. |
