Paris Journal 2013 – Barbara Joy Cooley Home: barbarajoycooley.com
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The moment I exited the
apartment building, the heat hit me.
The feeling it gave me was familiar, but distant. What is it about this heat, I asked
myself. Then I remembered: this is the heat of the desert. Dry heat. It is very unlike the humid heat of south
Florida. I know dry, desert heat from
much time I spent in the past working in Richland, Washington. Dry heat is not so bad,
except for what it does to the skin. The official heat wave is
supposed to arrive tomorrow, and will last until Wednesday, when, hopefully,
rain will fall on Paris. All the many plants on the
balcony are depending heavily upon me.
I gave them a real dousing with the watering can this morning. Now
they’re on their own for the rest of the day.
The new French doors/windows are shut.
The two awnings are down. The
sheer white curtains are closed. The
apartment is cool and quiet. When I returned to the
apartment after my walk in the Champ de Mars yesterday afternoon, I was
greeted by a blast of cool air as I opened the door. Our efforts to keep cool are working so
far, simply by opening up at night and closing up before noon. That works when the temperatures are only
in the 80s F. But when they go up to
the 90s, we have to add a some procedures, since we, like most Parisians, do
not have air conditioning. Indoor apartment cooling
procedures for heat wave weather (in order to be used as severity of heat
wave increases) One procedure: launder the sheets in cold water. After spin cycle, hang them on improvised
lines that stretch across the living room.
Aim fan at sheets, and turn it on.
The evaporation of water from the sheets cools the air. Second procedure: launder t-shirts with the sheets. After the spin cycle, put t-shirts on,
damp. Turn on all three fans in the
apartment, so that as you move about, the evaporation of water caused by moving
air hitting your t-shirt will cool you down. Third procedure: As you sit and work at the laptop computer,
have your bare feet in a basin of cool water. Fourth procedure: Take a cold shower. It goes without saying that
one must drink plenty of water, too. Outings include trips to
the grocery store, which is air conditioned. Walks in the park are okay,
but one stays under the shade of the mature chestnut and plane trees. I walked up to the Champ de
Mars as Tom stayed home to watch the Tour de France on TV yesterday. I wanted to hear the Beaconsfield High
School band. I thought it would be the
Beaconsfield High School band from Quebec, Canada. They’d just wowed everyone with their performance at the Montreal Jazz
Festival in early July. (If you’re
concerned about the future of jazz, watch that video – link in previous
sentence – and you will have hope.) But when I saw and heard
the band members setting up yesterday, I realized that they were from the other
Beaconsfield High School, in England.
There would be no jazz. This
would be an orchestral group, and the music would be mostly classical. I hope the Paris parks people will book the
Canadian Beaconsfield High School band sometime. The wind was kicking up the
dust all around the bandstand/stage. I
decided to move on. I walked in the
shade, in the direction of the Eiffel Tower. A different kind of music
was happening closer to the tower: the hearty voices of big people
singing. Big athletes in Lycra were
gathering. Some were singing. The language was not French or
English. German! German athletes were gathering and
cheerfully singing on the Champ de Mars!
They had little tents of the kind used for festivals set up in a row. I watched in amusement for
a few minutes, and then crossed to the deep shade of the chestnut and plane
trees on the other side of the Champ. On the way home, I bought a
fresh, warm baguette for Tom. As he
ate some, we decided to book a reservation at L’Alchimie for dinner. By using LaFourchette.com (thefork.com), I
was able to secure a 30 percent discount on our food (not beverages). Even without the discount,
L’Alchimie is good value because the quality is so good. I do love this little restaurant, but it is
not air conditioned, so we won’t be able to return until late next week, at
the earliest. The chef, Eric Rogoff, was
standing just outside the door, looking around, as we approched. I said, “Bonjour, monsieur,” as we
entered. I know it was him, from his
photographs, but he was not dressed like a chef. He was dressed like his helper, in
black. No white chef’s jacket for him. The server was especially
friendly, recognizing us from July 10th. We had amusing discussions with him (in
French) about both the French and the English languages. The food was wonderful
again. We were given a mis en bouche of a seafood dip (made
with red tuna, I believe) with strips of toast. We shared the delicious foie gras topped with a layer of dark
chocolate again. This time, it was I
who ordered the duckling with roasted white radishes. Tom had a yummy pork chop. And he had the strawberry feuilletée, which was tasty and beautiful. The chairs were comfortable
and the wait was not long at all, I’m happy to say. We were okay with the dry heat, but I bet
it was hotter than Hades in the kitchen.
Poor Eric. But he did a heroic,
successful job with dinner. Unlike the last time we
were at L’Alchimie, the restaurant did not fill up. There were only a few tables occupied when
we left. I think this is because now
that this is post-Bastille Day, many locals have left on vacation. And L’Alchimie definitely has not been
discovered by tourists. I’m not sure
it wants to be. We feel very welcome there,
and we’re blessed to have such a delightful little restaurant nearby, where
the food is French yet modern, and flavor means everything. |
Saturday, July 20, 2013
The
Champ de Mars on a hot, dry summer’s day.
Looking
up through the trees, a glimpse of the top of the École Militaire.
Mis
en bouche at L’Alchimie.
Duckling
in a rich, fruity sauce, with roasted white radishes.
Pork
chop with a little mountain of salad with pine nuts.
Strawberry
feuilletée. |
