Raison d'etre

I committed the grievous sin of eating a day-old croissant
this morning. Your breads are required to be fresh
daily, but a day-old croissant in Paris is still preferable to
any I’ve ever eaten in the States. It crumbles all over you,
a sensuous brown crusty exterior with a warm secret inside.
I want one RIGHT NOW. I’ve done my part to sample all
the breads and the rolls (love the olive-studded ones) and
the cookies and cakes and the custards… Everything the
boulangeries and patisseries have to offer. I have a favorite
bakery: Julien’s at St. Phillippe de Roule in the 8ieme. In
general, I’d like to recommend every boulangerie in the
entire city. It’s reason enough to come to Paris.
I also recommend having a friend like Regina who cooks fabulous
multi-course French meals daily. Lucky Christian can view
the menu on her little kitchen chalkboard. Our Sunday
afternoon meal included amuse- bouches too numerous to
mention, along with aperitifs. Skip and Christian had Pastis.
The “entrée” or first course is depicted above. The center mold
is an avocado aspic she created with clever use of tuna tins.
Main course was salmon and other goodies, as she is considerate
of my aversion to red meat. After a walk along part county-part
suburban village roads, we returned for (almost) 90-year-old Anne
Marie’s apple cake. It’s true, I’ve gained another 10 pounds, but
I can’t reveal Regina’s address. Well…maybe if the bidding got going.
Something new since our last visit 2 years ago: the proliferation of
take out food, which I’d assumed was a no-no here. I take advantage
of the famous French salades composees. Tonight’s is curry chicken
with ruby red tomatoes, grapes and more.
Breakfast and dinner chez nous in our Louis XV splendor (more on
this later), dejeuner at whatever little café we find on our traipses
or places for which I have an actual Groupon. Yes, I went overboard
with the www.groupon.fr, with mixed success. The best to date was a super
elegant Japanese place, savvy enough to serve the miso soup after
the main course. One of the amuse-bouches was a big fat snail,
reminding me of those in my garden at home. The snail was
unadulterated, that is undisguised in its sinewy snailness. Urp.
Restaurant Kiyomizu is right around the corner from Julien’s.
Bon Apetit!