Paris Journal 2009 – Barbara Joy Cooley Home: barbarajoycooley.com
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I’m getting a late start on
this journal today because I had to edit and produce the monthly newsletter
of the Zonta Club of Sanibel-Captiva. It is a monster edition, 14 pages, and it
took me six hours of intensive work to put it together. Whew. It is great to be able to
remain active in the club even though I’m on the other side of the
ocean. The internet can be so
enabling. Yesterday was a tough day of a
different kind of work, involving legal details of book contracts. Today, Tom is back to the more ordinary and
reassuring work of going over copyedited manuscript, and it is going well. Carol and Ron are leaving Paris
today, so tomorrow we will begin the process of moving over to the apartment
where they’ve been, in the 6th arrondissement, in the shadow of
the somber and hulking Saint Sulpice church, for the remainder of our Summer
in this beautiful city. Carol and Ron came over to this
apartment in the 15th yesterday evening. Over glasses of white wine, we discussed
three possible places to go for dinner, finally deciding on our old standby
favorite, Oh Duo! Inexplicably, we had not yet
taken Carol and Ron to that fine resto operated by the Valero’s. It was high time to correct that oversight. So we made a reservation for
8PM and scurried down the avenue Émile Zola to arrive right on time. The restaurant needed our
business. During the entire evening,
only two other tables were occupied – one with three people, and one with two
businessmen. The starter of the day and the
daily special main course were the same as the last time Tom and I were
there, so that’s what I ordered. The
roasted rabbit leg was even better this time, and so was the homemade pasta. Carol also ordered the starter
of the day – thin marinated slices of pink trout with thin triangular slices
of perfect cantaloupe served in an attractive circle. Tom and Ron each ordered the
shrimp salad starter, consisting of several large shrimp, perfectly cooked
(and we southwest Floridians are very
persnickety about how shrimp is cooked), served on a delicious green salad. Tom and Carol each ordered the
lamb, which came in little rectangular slices – very tender and tasty. Ron ordered the duckling, which also came
in lovely little slices. We even consumed a bit of
cheese (brie) and bread before dessert. For dessert, Ron and Carol had
the tarte tatin served with flaming
calvados on it. Wow! Tom ordered his usual tarte fine aux pommes, which was so
gorgeous when it arrived at the table that Ron had to photograph it. Joel Valero’s tarte fine aux pommes is the best in Paris – so I told his wife. I went on an uncharacteristic
splurge and ordered the profiteroles with honey and rich chocolate
sauce. The two homemade profiteroles were
sliced and filled with rich vanilla ice cream – just a little bit in
each. The chocolate sauce serving,
however, was more than generous. It
was a veritable shallow pool that filled the plate. We lingered for a long time
over dinner, and so were the last to leave the restaurant. But it was only about 10:30. We were surprised that nobody else was
there. Usually by this time in August,
good restaurants such as this are filled with Parisians who’ve just returned
from vacation, and they’re together with friends for dinner so they can all
jabber on about what a great trip they had.
Oh well. There was none of that
excitement last night. Carol asked us to say to Madame
and Monsieur Valero that this was the finest dinner they’ve ever had in
Paris. We did, and you should have
seen the Valeros’ faces – they just glowed with appreciation and pride. What lovely people they are! How well they’ve fed us on wonderful
occasions since the first summer we found them in 1998. Carol and Ron wanted to see and
photograph the Eiffel Tower after dinner before returning to the 6th. So we pointed them down the Rue Saint
Charles, which takes them directly to the Champ in front of the tower. They are wonderful friends to
have here in Paris. They’re so
sensible; they learn their way around so you don’t have to worry about
them. They love the city, and they
always know what they want to do every day that they’re here. Yesterday, while we hassled with legal
matters, they visited the Marmottan museum in the 16th
arrondissement – a must for lovers of Impressionistic paintings. I’d told Carol and Ron about
how Mayor Delanoe has closed the streets that run through the Ranelagh
gardens (in front of the Marmottan) to automobiles, so they planned ahead and
brought a baguette sandwich to have as a picnic lunch in the car-free
gardens. |
Thursday, August 27, 2009
The
interior of the new restaurant, Le Granite, on the rue Durantan in the 15th
arrondissement (see yesterday’s entry).
We considered going there with Carol and Ron, but decided on Oh Duo
instead.
Rack
of lamb, ratatouille, and steamed broccoli at Le Granite.
An
attractive, but simple and small brasserie on the avenue Félix Faure.
Guys playing volleyball on the lawn at the Esplanade des Invalides, where
supposedly ball games are banned. I
think that many of the guys are off-duty cops and firemen, and nobody is
going to tell them to stop playing ball. |
