Paris Journal 2011 – Barbara Joy Cooley Home: barbarajoycooley.com
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According to Le Parisien, the French are the top consumers of Post-it notes in the world. The occasion for revealing this astonishing fact is a rivalry that reached the news: the Post-it note art wars in Seine-Saint-Denis (just north of Paris proper) between the offices of Ubisoft (makers of video games) and a BNP Paribas bank office site. Emilie, the director of general services at Ubisoft, was bored during a break one day and thought she’d get a rise out of the stuffy bankers across the street by using Post-it notes in various colors to make an image of the Rayman video game character on her office window facing the bank offices. Much to her surprise, the bankers responded by creating a Post-it note image of “un Lapin crétin” (a raving rabbit video game character invented by Ubisoft) on one of the bank’s windows. And so it began. More images were created with colored Post-it notes on windows on each side of the street. Le Parisien seems to be under the mistaken notion that Post-it note art like this was born in France. Well, it may now have been born in France, but an internet search easily reveals that this Post-it note art has been around for a while elsewhere. Here are some good examples of Post-it note art. The bankers went on to create a beautiful image of Sonic, a hedgehog video game character. Emilie, at Ubisoft, maintains that the Ubisoft Post-it images are the best, however. Emilie has put in a request for approval of the purchase of a large quantity of Post-it notes. If management approves her request, the Post-it note art war in Seine-Saint-Denis will no doubt escalate. Because the bankers, to be sure, have deep pockets. We don’t have terribly deep pockets, so for dinner last night we went for value. We passed by Le Petit Niçois (on rue Amélie in the 7th) during our walk in the rain yesterday evening. In checking out the menu posted on the window, we noticed that changes have been made. No longer is Le Petit Niçois just a bit pricey. Now they’ve added a bargain fixed price menu. For just 22 euros (tax and tip included), you get a starter course, main course, and dessert. So later, after finishing most of our walk, we went back there to dine. It was a mixed experience. We had to wait for a while before our order was taken, even for drinks. And then we had to wait for a long time for our beverages, even though I could see them waiting for us at the bar. The problem was that two servers were working, and one of them was lousy. The other one was good. Our server was supposed to be the lousy one. But eventually, the good one became our server because the lousy one just wasn’t functioning. At long last, the good server brought our drinks and shortly after our starters arrived: ratatouille for Tom, and gazpacho for me. The ratatouille was quite good, Tom said, but very olive-oily. My gazpacho was not at all as described on the menu (tomato and cucumber). It was a beet gazpacho, which I adore. This beet gazpacho in particular was good because it was spicy. I like that. We’d both ordered the chicken main course, which was to come with salad and fries. We saw other chicken main courses being served, and they looked good – the chicken breast was on those plates. But when ours arrived, it was just the chicken leg, and that was small. At least it was properly cooked – not overcooked, and not undercooked. So, okay. But the fries were dull as can be, and not all that hot or freshly made. They needed salt, and there was no salt shaker in sight, and the possibility of asking for salt and pepper never arose because of the service. Weirdly, the salad was too salty. We each ordered the apricot crisp (crumble abricots) for dessert. Instead, the good server brought us each the Petit Pot de Crème au chocolat, Pet-de-nonne. He left so quickly that we could not respond. It was impossible to get the bad server’s attention. We stared at the wrong desserts in amusement, because, you know, the name for the little pastries, “pet de nonne,” means “nun’s fart.” After we’d stared at them for about a minute, the embarrassed good server came literally running over to our table with the correct desserts, the apricot crisps. He was red with embarrassment, and we assured him that it was all okay. He seemed to be relieved that we hadn’t started eating the pots de crème, not to mention the pet-de-nonne. Happily, the desserts were exchanged, and we each consumed a pretty good apricot crisp topped with a quite melted scoop of ice cream on top. It was really raining when we walked home, but fortunately we were equipped with umbrellas, rain jackets, and athletic shoes. Later, thinking about Le Petit Niçois, I realized that there was a fundamental difference in the way we felt as we sat in the restaurant, compared to Axuria, La Gitane, and La Gauloise. This difference had to do with the ambiance and décor. It really does matter, I guess. We feel better in the latter three restaurants than we do in Le Petit Niçois, which is just a bit too constrained, contrived, and crowded in its décor and table arrangement. The crowding of the tables was especially unpleasant when the bad server came around, because she is starting to have a very serious weight problem. That, coupled with her height, meant that when she had to squeeze in between your table and the one next to it, her rear end pressed against your shoulder. Not exactly appetizing. Wow. I am being blunt here, aren’t I? Well, it was the truth. That’s what happened. I probably should have ordered the paella, which alone costs two euros more than the three-course bargain fixed-price menu. And that is what I will get if we go back to Le Niçois again. But somehow we’ll have to see if we can get a corner table . . . . Sign
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Sunday, August 7, 2011
A old-fashioned furniture making
workshop still in operation in the chic and pricey 7th
arrondissement, on the rue Saint Dominique.
“Ets.” Is an abbreviation for “Educateur Technique Spécialisé,”
so I guess that means that this workshop still takes on apprentices to teach
the fine art of finish carpentry and furniture fabrication.
The Eiffel
Tower pops into view as we walk along the avenue Bosquet.
Florist’s
sign on the avenue Bosquet.
It looks good, and it could have been good, but the roasted
chicken dinner included not so fresh, unseasoned fries and an overly salty
salad at Le Petit Niçois.
Walking
along the left bank of the Seine, which we will do this afternoon once again. |
