Paris Journal 2014 – Barbara Joy Cooley Home: barbarajoycooley.com
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We stopped working earlier than usual on Sunday afternoon so that we could attend the neighborhood brocante on the avenue Félix Faure. These organized events occur in various neighborhoods, generally once per summer per neighborhood. This summer, we’d been to one on the right bank of the Seine, near the Petit Palais. Other summers, we’ve attended brocantes in the Place Saint Sulpice, on the avenue de la Motte Picquet in the 7th, on the rue du Commerce, and south of the Luxembourg Gardens in the 6th. These kind of brocantes are like garage sales, yard sales, flea markets, etc., in which just about anyone can arrange to have a booth space. You never know what you’ll see there, but generally there are a lot of old paintings, framed prints, books, costume jewelry, silverware, porcelain, glassware, bric-a-brac, wood furniture, oriental rugs, and general household junk. The most popular booth in yesterday’s brocante was one that had a truly eclectic assortment of bric-a-brac and household junk in open boxes and spread out on tables, with a sign announcing that each item cost 1 euro. People were jammed around that booth! Generally, so many shoppers flowed through the brocante that I could not take photos comfortably. The crowd was a bit too thick. So we just meandered, and looked. Tom was very interested in a lovely Limoges tea set consisting of a teapot, large sugar bowl, large creamer, and ten dainty cups and saucers. It was nice, and the price wasn’t bad. But I told Tom he’d have to carry it back on the plane. He decided not to buy it. Some of the shops on Félix Faure that normally would be closed on Sunday (like the place where I bought my boots) were open. They seemed to be doing a nice business as a result. One newly opened shop did not even have a sign or name yet, but it had an attractive display of earrings and handbags in the window. I stopped to look. There were two pairs of gorgeous earrings made in India for only 5 euros each! So I entered the shop and looked around. This would be a good place to shop for very large handbags, and small, tailored handbags. There were some fascinating reversible large handbags that included coordinating billfolds and fold-up umbrellas. The shopkeeper was a young woman from Bangladesh. She told me that her mother, in Bangladesh, sends her merchandise from there and from India and Pakistan. What a nice arrangement! Her store will be named Paris Angel when the new sign is finished. I bought the earrings. The young shopkeeper will probably do very well, because her prices are good, she has a great sense of style, and she communicates well, without any of the ridiculous stuck-up Parisian shop-girl airs. She’s a genuinely nice person whom I look forward to seeing in future summers on the avenue Félix Faure. Moving at our snail’s pace, it took over an hour for us to see the entire brocante; it might have been two hours. Time flies when you’re having fun! Speaking of odd sales, I don’t think I mentioned that a few days ago, I took Tom to a storefront I’d found on rue Frémicourt that is temporarily rented out by an Iranian-French tailor who is selling his beautifully made men’s dress shirts there, along with some designer items (Ralph Lauren, etc.). I thought Tom would like this tailor’s shirts, and he did indeed. He needed a long-sleeved shirt. He bought a pink one, in a beautiful slightly textured cotton, for 25 euros. In most of the shops around here, nice men’s shirts like this cost about 80 or 90 euros! On our way back to the apartment, I checked the daily specials board at Le Café du Commerce. The special of the day blanquette de veau, a great Sunday dinner dish that I’d been wanting to have. So we made a reservation, and showed up at the appointed time of 7:30PM.
The restaurant was in excellent form last night. We started with a beautiful thin pastry tulip filled with a zesty, fresh salmon spread. Then Tom had some delicious, homemade ravioli, and I had that blanquette de veau. We finished by sharing profiteroles covered in very dark, very rich chocolate sauce. All around, this was a fine Sunday dinner. And so that brings us to the end of August. September, while still officially summer until the 21st or so, is really Autumn in Paris. We can feel Autumn in the air -- an experience that is a special treat for South Floridians.
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Monday, September 1, 2014
Le Café du Commerce, with its three levels, had its
retractable glass ceiling open last night.
Temperatures were in the 60s (F) outside.
Salmon rillettes
appetizer, in a thin, crisp pastry tulip.
Blanquette
de veau, a traditional Sunday dinner (above), and homemade ravioli
(below).
Profiteroles at Le Café du
Commerce are highly recommended.
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