Home Again, Home Again

One of the wonderful things about living in NY is, no matter where we've been, we're always happy to come home again. There are as many exciting things to do here as wherever we've been.

Chris studies magazines, newspapers and web sites; filling a notebook full of things we just have to do. We are home less than a week and have already been to the cabaret at the Algonquin and the van Gogh exhibit at the Met and have tickets next week for Lion King and the opening of the Darwin exhibit at the AMNH. Fortunately, Chris is in Canada visiting her mother, or I wouldn't have time for this journal.

On a more serious note, we went shopping the day after we returned and found the experience not quite as satisfying as in France - the selection of cheeses was sad - and no Camembert! It's my favorite cheese and you can't get real Camembert in the US because its made with raw milk (and not aged). We also missed not having a "boulangerie" on every block. The French have bakeries the way we have nail salons. The average Parisian visits a bakery more than once a day - in the morning for a baguette and croissant - in the afternoon for a sandwich for lunch and in the evening for a baguette for dinner.

On a positive note, we've been out to dinner a couple of times. We haven't had much game (unless you count chicken) - but we have had good and interesting meals at a third to a half less than in Paris! It is clear that NY restaurants can stand up with the best of French restaurants. We have the best meats and some fish. Where we don't measure up is the variety and quality of fresh fruits and vegetables and game and organ meats. We're making progress in artisinal cheese, (even in Otis) but these don't show up in restaurants. The one type of restaurant that we don't have much of are the super-formal, super-expensive, 2 and 3 star Michelin restaurants. I know Michelin has started a NY red guide. I hope it doesn't catch on here. The standards they use for rating restaurants are very rigid and lead to huge overhead. You can see that in the first guide, none of the wonderful "ethnic" restaurants in NY were rated well. It is very biased towards traditional cooking styles.

Lastly, I'm sure you're all well aware of the recent rioting in the Muslim housing projects. The causes are complicated and the result of years of 'doing the wrong thing'. But whatever the immediate causes some things are clear. The French government provides much superior education and housing as compared to our inner cities but makes no effort to better integrate them into their society. Unemployment is over 30%. They get the same generous unemployment and welfare as native-born but that doesn't deal with the lack of feeling a part of, and having a stake in, the system. There are no affirmative action programs in France because they reject any cultural or religious differences as anti-French. Having come from a history of government-sponsored religion and intolerance, they have a strong bias against religious or ethnic identification as separate from "French-ness". It's unclear how this can ever be resolved without the government making some concessions and making a good faith effort to give these people a stake in the system.

Chris is due back from Canada this evening and we will be going to Peter Luger with Jory and Scott. Then we'll be heading up to the Berkshires for the weekend. We will be truly "home again".

Is “dawdling” a word?

Earlier this week, Christina called me from the Metro station to say she was back from her cooking adventure and would be home in 10 minutes (its only 2 blocks). When she showed up 2 hours later, I asked what had happened. She replied that she was “dawdling” - and had discovered a beautiful courtyard in the building across the street; met the nicest woman with a cute dog; and bought me lunch.

The dictionary defines dawdle as “verb {I}. to do something or go somewhere very slowly, taking more time than is necessary:. -”. Under “usage” there is a small picture of Christina.

If an observer could watch Christina and I leave the apartment in the morning on our way to get breakfast she would see us leave the building holding hands and setting off firmly on the path to Bread and Roses. What she couldn’t see was that I had carefully plotted out the shortest possible walking route and was holding Christina’s hand in a vain attempt to keep her on track. Within 50 feet, something “interesting” catches her eye and the progression slows. At some point I give up and sit down on a bench or step to wait. By the way, dawdling is not limited to walking. When she’s in front of a computer it’s the same thing – hours pass and she returns with arms full of printouts of things for us to do!

Fortunately for both of us, the world is a very different place seen through Christina’s eyes. It’s full of interesting sights and things to do. Every open door is an opportunity to explore a new courtyard; every info display has lots of museums to visit and courses to take; every magazine is full of movies and shows to see. We can’t walk down a block without meeting someone new (usually a shop owner or a dog). When Christina is around there’s never a shortage of interesting things to do.

I’m convinced that “dawdling behavior” is related to gender. I tend to go view life (like most guys I suspect) as a series of tasks or missions to be completed as quickly as possible. Christina views life as a series of wonderful potential opportunities. One of my jobs is to come up with a list of restaurants for us. I approach this by getting Zagats and the Michelin Red Guide and cross referencing them by “arrondisement”, ambiance and food type. I then give her a list of “acceptable” restaurants by type and travel distance. I am also responsible for getting the newspaper and providing books for us to read. Christina’s job is to plan everything else – walks, museums, movies, jazz clubs, stores, etc. She also is responsible for planning, marketing and preparing one home dinner a week (per our negotiated agreement). She then wonders why I have more time for reading than she does!

Part of the reason that we both love Paris and New York is the shear diversity of things to do. You can easily spend a day (or 2 or 3) just walking around looking at interesting buildings, parks, shops and markets. The big museums and tourist sights are often just icing on the cake. I can’t imagine living anywhere else but one (or both!) of these cities.


Well, I’m off. Christina has a busy day planned for us. We probably won’t get to half the things on the list but there’s always tomorrow.

Paul del Balso, Paris Journal
October 25, 2005


Christina’s aside:
When you dawdle, there’s no telling just what you might find. Have a look at this wonderful Wallace fountain which dispenses drinking water in many parts of Paris. These cast iron fountains are named after Richard Wallace, the Englishman who paid for their construction in the late 1800’s and the water dispensed today is still good to drink.

Don’t let Paul fool you--he dawdles as well, but he calls it shopping!

We Love Paris in the ……… time

In just a few short days, we’ll be packing our bags and heading home! The past three weeks with almost perfect weather have contributed to our sadness in leaving! Why is it we love this place so much???? We talk about it all the time. Sure the food is great—we’ll really miss those morning “tartine’s”, croissants and “tarte au pomme” washed down with a perfect ‘”café crème”. What could be more romantic then a walk along the Seine with the million twinkling lights on the Eiffel Tower in the distant night sky. Even the language is music to our ears. We love the gardens (despite the lawn police) and the unlimited access to art in the museums and galleries all over the city.

Are there frustrations?? Sure—it’s not much fun when it’s raining (it usually rains a lot), and our language skills can sometimes cause us grief; but we’re spared some of the daily bureaucratic frustrations of people who have to make a living here because we can just enjoy the good things—it’s a dream life and we feel very fortunate. But, what is it that keeps us coming back year after year??? We can’t seem to come up with a definitive answer. Maybe it’s the opportunity to discover this wonderful and diverse city—the excitement of coming back to the same places or seeing something new for the first time—maybe looking for secrets behind those massive doors that are so representative of Paris. What’s behind all those doors anyway? We’ve had glimpses of beautiful gardens, courtyards, shops, even a church – sometimes just parking and garbage. We’re sure that there are mysteries we haven’t yet discovered and we’ll be looking for them!

In our search for the answer, the closest we’ve come is our amazement and delight at the beauty of so many things large and small. People here take such pride in their places and there’s attention to detail by the smallest shop where items are arranged artfully—everyday! The smallest restaurants take pride in setting up their décor ‘just so’. Window displays are changed on a regular basis—often with humor as well as beauty. We’re constantly delighted by imaginative and meticulous displays – the “boulanger” changes her whole window 3 times a day (breakfast, lunch and dinner) to feature different products. The fish market has a huge outside display that features the fresh catch lovingly displayed – set-up every morning and torn down every night. We’re accustomed to large department stores having exceptional displays in NY, but here many small retailers take just as much care. Imagine if every Korean grocer tried to look like Dean and Deluca!

Staying in an apartment rather then a hotel makes us feel part of a neighborhood and gives us permission, we think, to just hang out and do ordinary things, like laundry, shop for groceries, go to the park or sit in the living room with the window open listening to life going on around us. Perhaps this gives us a feeling of ‘belonging’ and contributes to the pull that Paris seems to have on us!

Tomorrow we’ll go to the Ile St. Louis in the center of Paris to look at possible apartments for our stay next Fall. It will be our third neighborhood and we’re already anticipating the adventures to come.

A bientot,

Chris & Paul
Paris Journal, October, 2005

Just Another Day in Paris

It’s Tuesday and we had nothing really planned. It’s market day in the 6th and we had decided to cook at home today and catch up with some of the household chores. In the early afternoon we headed out to walk along a block that we dream about owning a flat on. Rue Reclaimer—a beautiful dead end street off the rue Sevres that ends in a Park and has a lovely restaurant in the middle. In al the years we have been here, we have never seen a for sale sign once!

Now noon, our wanders lead us straight to “Paul” a shop which makes the most incredible sandwiches. While Paul opted to eat at his name sake, I decided to forego bread for an Amarone gelato: Amerena (black cherry) and Nutella—what a great mixture, and how easily I can give up bread for this!

Sitting on Rue du Buci is a delight in terms of people watching. During our 20 minute stop, we watched the homeless man with his dogs, and any number of colourful and local tourists cross our path. Our favourite was the older guy with the bright orange shirt and matching shawl sporting a salt ‘n pepper Mohawk!

The afternoon was a delight strolling along rue du Seine filled with art galleries on either side. This was better then visiting a museum and it was free. We saw everything from contemporary canvases to African tribal art and masks. Our favourite discovery was an artist by the name of Marc Perez who paints and sculpts and who’s art has quite a sense of humour.

Paule’s Kitchen—A Taste of French Culture and Cuisine!

On Friday, I participated with 4 others in a half-day cooking/marketing/cultural experience in the home of Paule Caillat. The experience started with an e-mail questionnaire of likes and dislikes to help her customize a menu for the participants that would be taking part that day.

MENU

Salad aux chevere chaud

Souffle au Roquefort

Cul de Veau a L’Angevine

Carottes carmelisees au cumin

Tarte aux pommes chocolatAt 9:00am three of the 5 participants eagerly awaited our French chef who began our cultural lesson by telling us that she was always surprised to see that most of her out of town students were always early; “in Paris, we NEVER arrive early!” After brief introductions, we walked the short distance to a local market where we proceeded to purchase many of the items we would be using that day. Paule, like many Parisien cooks, prides herself in using products that are in season and seeks out merchants she is confident will provide her with the freshest ingredients at reasonable prices. Our tour through the market was punctuated by more questions then we had time. Along the way, we learned that it’s important to know where produce comes from (would you eat anything grown near Chernobyl?), what to look for when selecting a chevre and the names of some greens (Sorrel) and how they might best be used.

Goods purchased, we went back to Paule’s intimate, but modern, well designed, kitchen to
create our fabulous lunch. Hands washed, and dressed in our white aprons, we immediately
got to work scraping carrots, dicing onions and learning little tricks which make cooking
easier; (e.g. to chop parsley efficiently, put stemmed leaves in a tall glass and use kitchen shears to cut them into small bits inside the glass—it couldn’t be easier and there’s no mess)

The time together went quickly as we got to know Bill from Victoria, B.C., Joey and her mom Elizabeth from New Jersey and Dorty from California. Another American, Domenica from Minneapolis
was Paule’s able kitchen assistant and rounded out our group. We traded our own Paris
stories as we worked and enjoyed picking Paule’s brain about her culinary know-how. By2:00pm, when it was time to sit and enjoy the fruits of our labors we happily raised a glass to toast our host and teacher!

We rounded off the afternoon by visiting a wonderful spice shop where the owner delighted in giving us whiffs of blends he had created and telling us about his family’s long history selling saffron.

Del Balso Paris Journal, October, 2005

RESOURCES:
Cooking Classes & Tours: www.promenadesgourmandes.com
Spice Shop: Goumanyat & son Royamaume: 3, rue Charles-Francois Dupuis. 75003 Paris. www.gourmanyat.com

Eating out in Paris!

There are 900 restaurants in the Paris Zagats, so you might be surprised to know that Parisians in increasing numbers are eating more junk food then ever. In fact, in the paper this week, there was a story concerning a push to get the French back to a diet with less fat. How could there be less fat in all those cheese courses?????

Making the decision to eat out requires thoughts about not only where, but the type of experience: Bistro, Brasserie, Restaurant, Café. Which you choose will determine when and what you want to eat, how the reservation is handled and what you might expect in the way of service.

France operates by different rules than the US in many ways – 35 hour work week, highly centralized and pervasive government, ……. But restaurants take this to a further extreme. In the US, most restaurants are open 6 or 7 days a week - vacations are uncommon. The following schedule is fairly typical for a better restaurant in Paris. Closed all Mondays and Sunday lunch; Feb 14 – 22; Apr. 5-13; Oct. 25 – Nov. 2; AND ALL HOLIDAYS! While the level of diversity is typical, every restaurant is unique. Also, while most US restaurants have multiple seatings, French bistros and restaurants typically have only one seating. Only brasseries and cafes offer continuous seating.

Most people are aware that Parisian Cafes allow you to sit as long as you want. But most people may not be aware that most Cafes also have a bar where you can get the same food or drink at half to a third of the price at the tables. Each morning as you walk past the Cafes the bars are lined with customers drinking their coffee, eating their tartine or croissants AND depositing all trash, cigarette buts etc. at their feet under the bar!

Yes, the rules and customs are certainly different. It’s not uncommon to see the family dog sitting at the feet of the owner or even on the banquette beside him. It’s been our experience that like French children, the dogs are also always on their best behavior when dining out.

Fall is an especially wonderful time to be here because of the variety of foods and game in season. We’ve indulged ourselves with “les huitres” (oysters), “cepes” (Portobello mushrooms), “perdreau” (partridge), pigeonnau (guess?), and phaisan. It’s all wonderful and we missed having it when we were here last spring.

Apart from the variety of eating establishments, we are taken with the fact that the French eat EVERYTHING but vegetables; which they eat sparingly. Menus list traditional fare but it’s not uncommon to find every sort of offal including tripe, “ris de veau” (veal sweetbreads which I adore), “tete de veau” (veal head, something we’ve decided we won’t have to try again), bone marrow (which we love), “pied de cochon” (pigs trotters) and veal hoofs. It’s all an adventure and fun to try even if it means missing the odd meal. Many times we’ve surprised ourselves with the discoveries.

When all is said and done, and time to pay “l’addition”, the waiter appears tableside with a hand-held gizmo that allows him to swipe your credit card right there at the table. This is important, because with the prices in Paris restaurants, they don’t want you to get out of sight after you get the bill. New York restaurants will seem like a bargain when we get home.

Yes, we love to eat, and nowhere is the experience so eventful as here in Paris!

Bon Appetit,

del Balso, Paris Journal, October 23, 2005

PARIS, OCTOBER 2005—THAT SAME OLD FEELING!

We’re back after an 18 month absence and in many ways it feels just like coming home! After a week, we’ve barely gotten over our jet lag so it’s comforting to know our way around, at least in this neighborhood. For Paul there was the excitement of having that fresh crusty French bread; for me the prospect of an Amarone ice cream made my mouth water. So far, we’ve satisfied both these urges.

Being in Paris and staying in the same apartment on rue, L’Abbe Gregoire has meant a very quick re-entry. We know were everything is, how it works and where to go to get the essentials. The important thing for me is the nearby market, just down the street, and so on Sunday I headed off to get the fixings for our first home cooked meal. I never have a definite shopping list in mind because I like to see what’s available and make my decisions based on what looks good. The cepes (porcini mushrooms) are plentiful at this time of year so the menu went something like this:

Fresh fruit and cheeses to start (the French would never serve this course first)
Rabbit in white wine with shallots and cepes
Vegetable Couscous (with more cepes) Green garden Salad
Fresh berries with yogurt

As you’ve probably guessed, food is one of the major draws for us especially at this time of year when restaurants are serving incredible varieties of seasonal sea food, shell fish and the game—oh la la!

We delight in the variety of produce, meat and poultry in the shops and the markets and wonder how long the French government and the EU for that matter will be able to sustain the subsidies that make this possible. We hope it lasts for our life time.

Yes, it’s great to be back. We’ve enjoyed revisiting a few old favorite restaurants and have discovered that sometimes the memories are better then the real thing. Tomorrow is Sunday and we’re off to Benoit for a traditional Sunday Lunch. The last time we ate there it was with friends Sheila and Joe and the meal was incredible.

For our Canadian friends, we hope you enjoyed a happy Thanksgiving and to all, bon appetite.

A bientot—Chris & Paul (October 15, 2005)

Note: The man in the picture is at a local market each week demonstrating the effectiveness of his magical ‘salts’ which he claims can cure any number of ailments. One year I bought a pkg. but have yet to make use of it.