Paris Journal 2009 – Barbara Joy Cooley Home: barbarajoycooley.com
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I was not in the
mood for walking near cars during rush hour yesterday, so we simply went to
the Luxembourg Gardens and walked around and through the entire park for an
hour. Then we decided to have “tea” in
the outdoor café that is near the bandstand. This is a
lovely setting, under mature plane trees.
Seven years ago or so we had one experience with a bad, nasty server
there, and we hadn’t gone back there until yesterday. The servers are younger and much more
pleasant now. Tom wanted ice
cream, and the server particularly recommended the caramel flavor. In fact, he was downright enthusiastic
about it. So Tom ordered a scoop of
vanilla, and a scoop of caramel. He
also had his usual double espresso. I just had a
glass of chardonnay. I don’t enjoy ice
cream the way Tom does – it is too sweet for me – but I sure do enjoy
watching him enjoy it. The server even
brought us a carafe of water without our asking for it. And he did not scold us for sitting at a
table for four rather than one of the slightly unstable little tables for
two. He was nice. Near us was a
table of four women, all educated and professional-looking, that made me
homesick for Zonta happy hours in Sanibel.
The women were clearly enjoying each others’ company, just as we do at
the Zonta HH. We lingered for
a while. It was such a pleasant place,
and the weather was a perfect 72 degrees with no wind. After some time, we walked up to the
newstand across from the Senate and bought our papers for the day. After reading
and resting in the apartment for an hour or so, we decided to eat something
not French: Indian food. I had not yet picked out a favorite Indian
restaurant in this part of Paris (but I heartily recommend Banani in the 15th arrondissement). Yet I had a candidate in mind: New
Aqib at 47 rue Monsieur Le Prince (telephone 01-43-54-59-49) (recently
moved there from the 17th arrondissement). It is away from
the crazy touristy area north of Saint Sulpice, and it is not far from the
Senate, in the saner, calmer area south of Saint Sulpice. The restaurant
turned out to be a good choice. I had
my usual vegetable samossas (4.50 euros) for a starter, and lamb korma (11
euros) for the main course. Tom had
Butter Chicken Tandoori (11.50 euros), which unlike other tandoori dishes,
had a real massala sauce. We both ordered garlic nan and rice, but
one order each would have been quite sufficient. The only
disappointment was the starter course that Tom ordered: onion baja.
But you know, there is a real art to frying food and I am not sure if
all Indian chefs have learned it yet. The samossas I
ordered, I must say, were probably the best I’ve ever tasted. And the korma was right up there near the
top of the list. The wine list
was interesting. Five or six varieties
of rose were offered, and only two whites – one of which was a Sancerre
blanc. I was given a
free “digestif” after dinner – a
liquor made from coconut and pineapple. We had gone for
an early dinner, attempting to prepare for dealing with jet lag on Sunday, so
we weren’t surprised that only one other table was occupied when we
arrived. But by the time we left, the
place was filling up nicely with local people. The service was
attentive, polite, and friendly. We
will definitely go back. Sign
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Tuesday, September 22, 2009
One
of the many lovely flowerbeds in the Luxembourg Gardens. You see why we love to walk there?
Leaves
are falling from the trees in the Gardens, and cyclamens like these are
popping up in many places.
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