Paris
Sunday, July 10, 2005
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Dennis the
Menace strike probability chart for today.
First party
boat with live jazz band.
The second
party boat with live jazz.
The bridge at
Bir Hakeim is at one end of the Allée des Cygnes. I just love those hanging lamps. |
Whew. Our home is now outside the “cone of
uncertainty” for Hurricane Dennis strike possibilities. Now I just hope it does not strike And just as
Londoners are doing, we are going on with life as usual. We won’t allow any concerns about terrorism
to deter us in our pursuit of happiness in Western civilized life. Going on as usual is the only way to keep
those terrorists absolutely defeated in accomplishing their goals. We had a lovely
walk yesterday evening. It was just a
typical walk, up to and along the Allée des Cynes and back into our
neighborhood. When we reached the I felt like we
were in a Woody Allen movie romanticizing Then when we
were on our way back, the party boat had been launched and it passed slowly
by us, with the jazz band – now complete with drummer and guitarist – playing
away. Lovely. Then there was a second party boat, with similar
music, and similar convivial party goers.
We stopped at
L’Épopée (89 avenue Émile Zola, 01-45-77-71-37), one of our favorite restos,
where we were very warmly greeting and where we dined on absolutely excellent
food. We’ve been going there for
years, and so I am now horrified to see that I omitted this place on my
Restaurants 2003 page! In fact, that
restaurants page is so out of date, I really must update it for you all very
soon. I’ve been referring people to
it, and now I see that some of the restos I mention are no longer in
existence, and there are others that simply must be added. That will be a priority. L’Épopée is
great, but they close too early in the summer for vacation. So if we don’t go there early enough in the
summer, we miss out entirely. The
place is slightly expensive, but worth every penny. Once they get to know you a little, the
proprietors are very nice and friendly.
The food is very French, and there are some strange things on the menu
like terrine of leeks and beef tongue.
But try the weird sounding stuff anyway – at a place like this, you
can be sure it will be pleasantly surprisingly good. Although I admit I have not tried that
terrine . . . yet! We both had
duck breast (magret de canard), sliced thin and served with a rich, dark
honey and red wine sauce and red cabbage soaked in honey and red wine to the
point where it was sweet, with tiny golden raisons on top. My appetizer was a marinated sardine dish
(not salty, but very fresh marinated strips of sardines that are much larger
than the kind we get in tins). The
sardine strips were on top of a compote made of finely minced tomato (flesh
only) that must have had a fine vinaigrette holding it together. It was superb. You don’t know what sardines really are
until you have them served this way. Night before
last, we dined at Oh! Duo (54 av. Émile Zola, 01-45-77-28-82) again. Again it was absolutely great. The menu here has a lot of fish on it, so
Tom struggles a little, but I am very happy.
Madame Valéro could not be nicer.
She remembered that we had been in I should
mention that Tom always has dessert at Oh! Duo: a tarte fine aux pommes. That is a very fine, thin apple tart that
is freshly made on the premises, by the “patron,” Madame Valéro
explained. Often the pastry desserts
you get in a French restaurant are made elsewhere, at a bakery. But not at Oh! Duo. Everything is made there. In this case, the “patron” is Monsieur
Valéro. I was feeling
the need for vegetables so I had a gazpacho made with beets. Then my main course was a broiled fish
called “rascasse” on a bed of perfectly prepared spinach with a light
cream/butter/herb sauce all around. French
food. This is what civilized life is
all about. |
