Paris Journal 2011 – Barbara Joy Cooley Home: barbarajoycooley.com
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It was an extensive conversation in French. At the fromagerie (cheese shop), Mr. and Mrs. Sanders asked us a number of questions about ourselves. They were curious, because they don’t have many American clients who stay so long and who keep coming back year after year. They already know we’re from Florida and that we like Salers, Laguiole, Compte, and Bleu d’Auvergne cheese. Tom explained that in the first two months of the summer, we’re in the 15th. Then September is for the 6th arrondissement. Mr. Sanders tactfully said that both arrondissements were interesting, but very different. Mrs. Sanders said all the neighborhoods are so different from each other; each has its own character. I agreed, and I offered that the 6th is more historic than the 15th. That was all the license they needed. From that point onward, the Sanders’ talked about how wonderful and exciting the 6th arrondissement is. They asked if we are familiar with The Three Musketeers (much of which takes place in this part of the 6th). We said yes, with enthusiasm. I excitedly told them that one of the three Musketeers used to keep his horse in what is now the apartment below us. “La rue du Canivet!” both the Sanders exclaimed simultaneously. They know this tidbit of neighborhood history. Then the four of us went on a litany of naming all the streets around that little area between the Saint Sulpice church and the Luxembourg Gardens. Mrs. Sanders said “rue Servandoni!” To which Tom responded, “rue des Fossoyeurs!” which is the old, former name of the rue Servandoni. Both of the Sanders exclaimed in delight that we know this obscure detail. Mrs. Sanders had to tend to another customer, but Tom and Mr. Sanders continued to enthusiastically mimic the three musketeers, until Mr. Sanders said, “but now, they’re gone,” as he mimed the action of putting the sword back in the sheath. Tom mimed the action of breaking the sword’s blade over his knee, saying “Terminé! Brisé!” And we all shared a hearty laugh as the elderly man who just walked up to the fromagerie looked on in wonder. We also had fun at the butcher (Serge Caillaud, the president of the market’s association), Greek deli, and the bakery in the market. Everyone knows us now, it seems, and everyone is in a very good mood these days at the Marché Saint Germain. By the way, if you are going to read the Three Musketeers, I highly recommend the newer translation by Richard Pevear. It is much better and more fun than earlier, sanitized translations. (If you are on Sanibel, the public library has this edition.) The other night, I explained to Roy and Barbara C. why we like shopping at the covered, enclosed Saint Germain food market but not so much the open market under the tracks at Grenelle. The Grenelle market is too dirty (with pigeons living overhead) and crowded with frenzied people. The Saint Germain market also reminds me of the North Market back in Columbus. A fine, fun place to shop. Laid back, détendu. In this part of Paris, in particular, the grocery stores are fewer and farther between, and those that do exist here are madhouses. To avoid the crowds, you’d have to shop there in the mornings, and that’s when we want to be at our posts, reading and writing instead. Late afternoon and early evening is the time to fait les courses. That’s the time for shopping and errands. At the Greek deli in the Saint Germain market I spied coffee packages, high up on a shelf on the right. I pointed it out to Tom, and he decided to buy some even though we just bought a package the other night. We’ll use it all up, I’m sure. This was a special package of Lavazza that we’d not seen before. It is red, and it is called “Matinno.” In small type, it claims to be extra strong, which is what we like in coffee. Earlier, we’d stepped into the Nespresso boutique to buy coffee capsules for the darned Nespresso machine, but the line for waiting to be served was ridiculously long. We left. The entire system for buying these things – and the Nespresso boutique is the ONLY place to buy them – is so Parisian. One must pay homage at the counter, and be served. Each customer is asked a number of questions, and the entire process is burdensome and intrusive, not to mention time-consuming. And then there is the problem that this Nespresso system of capsules and all the packaging involved is awfully environmentally incorrect and wasteful. (Yes, one can theoretically recycle the used capsules, but that is a royal hassle.) In our household, the one who rises first in the morning makes the coffee. That would be me, 90 percent of the time. However, I have some kind of mental block when it comes to this Nespresso machine, and I never remember how to use it. Plus, the dumb machine’s user interface is not intuitive. I can almost always just figure machines out, but not this one (and not Tom’s big air compressor back home in the garage, either). But there is a coffee-making alternative in this apartment, and it doesn’t involve Nespresso. It is the old fashioned cafetière, also known as the French press. On the first morning here, I admit that I couldn’t remember exactly how to use a cafetière either. No problem. I looked up the instructions on the internet. In no time, I had the process down pat. I am now a master of the French press. And that’s where we use the Lavazza coffee. The downside of the cafetière is that there is no burner to keep the coffee warm for Tom. But all he has to do is put his coffee in the microwave for 30 seconds or a minute, and voila. Good as freshly made (almost). Leaving coffee on a warming burner does it no favors, anyway. When the errands were done, and the coffee and other supplies purchased, and the Three Musketeers had been discussed with the fromager, we went on our walk through the Luxembourg Gardens, down to the boulevard Montparnasse. Naturally, we ended up at our favorite Corsican restaurant, L’Abri Cotier, right at 7:30. Madame greeted us like old friends. Well, we are. We’ve been dining there for a number of summers now. The head server came over to give us a warm greeting, too. I didn’t want a huge dinner, since we’d consumed 3 courses each the night before. But L’Abri Cotier offers a 15-euro two-course menu that is simple enough, yet still very interesting. (More expensive options are also offered.) Normally, I’d order seafood at this restaurant, but I’ve had so much fish lately, I was in the mood for meat at last. So I ordered the croustillant de boudin noir – blood sausage in pastry, with apples and a little salad on the side – as a starter course. It was superb. Corsicans are known for their boudin noir. For my main course, I ordered langue de boeuf aigre-douce – beef tongue in sweet-and-sour sauce (more sweet than sour), with puréed potatoes and some veggies. The beef tongue was very tasty, but heavy enough that I couldn’t finish it; neither could I finish the potatoes. Tom didn’t have a starter course, but he had a generous veal chop followed by pain perdu with pears. (These are not on the 15-euro menu.) He said it was all very good. We like the Corsican sparkling water served at this restaurant. The ambiance is fine, and the clientele is almost entirely local people. We were surprised that the menu has been trimmed down a bit, and that the live lobster tank is gone. But otherwise, the restaurant hasn’t changed much, and that’s a good thing. It was like coming home. Another home in Paris. Sign
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Friday, September 16, 2011
Another
pretty place in the Luxembourg Gardens.
Dinner at L’Abri Cotier: Sparkling water and rosé wine from Corsica
are very fine.
Blood
sausage and apples in flaky pastry, with salad.
Beef tongue
in a honey-based sauce.
A copious
and very good veal chop with forest mushrooms and a couple little spinach
soufflé s, as well as a few other veggies and little roasted potato slices. (Cote de veau sur gateau de champignons.)
Pain perdu aux
poires sauce Caramel.
We had a
nice, long walk home in the dark streets of Paris, finally reaching the rue Férou, around the corner from our apartment. Here, we’re looking toward the façade of
Saint Sulpice. |
