Letter from Paris 28-29 April

Another relaxing morning for the two of us and Susie's last day of bread class.

We walked over to the Metro at Campo Formio (line 5) and got off at Gare de Nord. Our objective for lunch was a Clothilde Dusoulier recommendation for (one of) the best places to get a croque Monsieur, the classic Parisian grilled ham and cheese sandwich.

A 10-minute walk down rue Maubeuge from the gare and we found our quarry: the small but warm "Madame Messieurs," where they specialize in just two things: croques and hamburgers (OK they also had a couple of salads on the menu, sue me). But we came for the croque and that's what we had:  two variants on this wonderful sandwich, both with egg which turned them into croque Madames. (The egg, yolk only, was fantastic!)

The food was delicious, the atmosphere inviting and the hostess ("Madame?") friendly and congenial.  Oh and their frites, a combination regular of and sweet potatoes, were made to order, firm and crisp on the outside and creamy smooth inside.

The food was so good and we enjoyed ourselves so much we lost track of time and had to scramble to get to the Metro so Susie wouldn't be late for class. But before leaving we made reservations to return Friday for dinner; think hamburger, which is really another version of steak frites, non? Once I saw one of the hamburgers come out of the kitchen (that small glass area in the first photo) I knew I had to come back for one of those. Note the French eat their hamburgers with a knife and fork - civilized, eh?

Oh, and they are only open for dinner on Fridays and Saturday, otherwise its lunch only. 80 rue Maubeuge 75009.

With Susie off to her last day of class I headed for a full afternoon at Passy Cemetery to research my fourth and final Guide to the Art in Paris Cemeteries: Passy. With about 90% of my shot list complete, I left the cemetery just before closing. Although there was plenty of activity across the street from the cemetery at the Trocadero -- a protest of some sort it sounded like -- I walked (underground) to the Metro (line 6) to head home. That evening just before Susie got home I fixed yet another vegetable medley for dinner. Not bad.

The following morning, 29 April promised lousy weather and did disappoint. We stayed close to home for much of the day although midmorning Susie walked over to Maison Landemaine pastry shop in the 5th to pick up an apricot-pistachio tart to take to Val & Hubert's later in the day.

About midday we made our way to the line 6 at Nationale. The rain persisted so taking the Metro was a big plus -- dry and warm underground.

We exited the Metro at Pasteur and five minutes later were inside their apartment shed of our wet coats and welcome by Val and they kids -- Hubert was visiting his father to help out at his parents home but he soon arrived in time for le gôuter, what the British refer to as teatime.

We all set around the table and enjoyed good food and even better camaraderie. At one point we recalled my 60th birthday at Gracie's in Providence, RI, when Val had come to visit and how much our lives have change din the intervening ten years. But, aside from the occasional flashes to the past most of the afternoon conversation revolved around food, especially potatoes and pastries.

Time slipped away faster than we anticipated and it was soon time to go -- and we made our way through the rain and wind back to Pasteur an line 6. Since the day had gotten away from us and we were fast slipping into evening we decided to go in search of dinner. So, once we arrived at Place d'Italie we switched to the line 7 and went one stop to Tolbiac. From there we walked down to a Vietnamese restaurant we had eaten at in 2010, Lao Lane Xang, 102 Avenue d'Ivry.

We had another wonderful meal there: Susie had brochettes of pork and I had beef sautéed in onions all washed down with a half bottle of Brouilly. Delicious!

After dinner it was back into the rain and wind thanking the gods for providing the nearby Metro stop. We were soon back home where we had a little Avèze (gentian) for digestif. Then bed.

Another day in Paris. Life is short.

A New Year and that means plenty of news

The weather has been very cold here but that’s to be expected – it is January in New England after all. No snow this month yet and that’s key.

The year seems to be flying by and, while it seems very little has been accomplished, in reality, of course, much has happened in our lives – and in the lives of those whose paths have crossed ours over the course of our years.

Much of what we have heard of late is good: family and friends in good health and enjoying the fruits of a life well-sown.

Two wonderful pieces of news came our way: our niece Rachel (above) is marrying her boyfriend Steve in Grand Rapids on May 23, the day after our friend Valerie is marrying her boyfriend Hubert in Paris.

We will sadly miss Valerie’s wedding – having just returned from Paris the week before – but will most certainly be in Michigan for the Bergman wedding (we haven’t missed one yet).

Some of what we’ve heard is not so easy to bear, but that, too, is often the way of the world, and so be it. We just hope that the pain and anguish, the uncertainty, hurt and ambiguity will seep away, and the sooner the better. Life is full of funny twists and turns and we're never sure of where it’s taking us.

And the other big news for 2010 (so far) is that Susie is leaving Gracie’s.

She has always wanted to work in a pastry shop and, frankly, never thought she would end up in a restaurant in the first place, let alone an upscale place like Gracie's. But she has learned so much, about the culinary industry to be sure but also about what she really wants. And, equally important, she has learned so much about baking and about the importance of creativity, especially from Chef Joe Hafner.

And Gracie's has certainly benefited from having one of hardest-working, most reliable, dependable, honest and driven pastry chefs ever to come out of Le Cordon Bleu. The things Susie has created, and shared . . . But she’ll be posting a note here soon with more details.

So, Susie will work through the middle of March before she heads off for Paris on March 23. I join her the third week of April and we both return together in mid-May. We will be staying at Drea’s apartment on rue General Renault in the 11th arrondissment. We love it there and couldn’t imagine staying anywhere else. Further details have yet to be worked out but that’s just fine. The important thing is to slip back into that world, however briefly, and renew our minds and spirits.

Working on her French and possibly taking a short course at Lenotre (outside of Paris) are top on Susie’s list of things to do. She also plans on spending quality time in the kitchen perfectly Pascal's croissants and breads. I envy the neighbors on rue General Renault, that's for sure.

After I arrive my hope is to spend some quality time with Susie in one hand and Clotilde’s Edible Adventures in Paris in the other as we search out new culinary adventures. Trips to Pere Lachaise and the Orsay are next on my hit lists. After that we’re thinking of renting a car and perhaps driving out to Brittany (thanks Marie for those wonderful photos you took this winter – inspiring). And then down to the Gers and Mouchan to visit Richard and Pauline – maybe even a short trip into the Pyrenees. And maybe another quick trip to Siena.

And what's next?

As our friend Aimone would say,

Chi lo sa?

Dinner with Val, Parc Monceau and dead kings

Sunday was a quiet day for us, catching up on household chores and the like. Susie felt the need for a true day of rest and what better day for that than Sunday, eh?

We did rally ourselves that evening so that we could meet up with our friend Valerie at her apartment for dinner. She and Susie were in Basic together at Le Cordon Bleu and she lives here in Paris, over the by Eiffel tower in fact.

Susie made up one of her rustic fruit tarts, I stuck a bottle of wine in my jacket pocket and we headed off for the Metro: line 5 to Gare Austerlitz and then took the RER to the Eiffel tower; we were lucky indeed since we go onto the platform just a couple of minutes before the train arrived. (Otherwise we would have had to wait a half hour for the next train, which meant we would have had to dash back to the Metro, head downstairs to an even lower level -- the lower colon of the Metro -- in order to catch the no. 10, which would have taken us to La Motte-Picquet, but that station is below ground and we would need to walk up not just to the surface but then to one of the stations raised above ground and take the no. 6 to Dupleix and walk five minutes to the apartment. See why it was important not to miss the RER?)

Four stops later and we were off the train, and soon staring at the underside of the Eiffel tower. Anyway, after a ten-minute walk we were standing in front of Valerie's building, ringing her buzzer pleading to let us in. Which she did.

We had a grand evening, the conversation was lively and warm, catching up on all her news (she is studying Finnish for her work, she's an engineer) and we of course talked of Paris but of the importance of travel in general. (Valerie had recently been to Sicily and also had her first mountaineering adventure in the French Alps, and she had the photos to prove it.) Since Valerie is not only French but Parisian the food was delicious: sausage and lentils with rice, followed by a perfect green salad, simple yes, great yes, in fact it was incredible! Eeen-kray-dee-bee-lay!

Monday was another gorgeous day, lots of Parisian sunshine that needed to be consumed. We walked up to Pere Lachaise where we got on the no. 2 line and took it all the way to the other side of the city, getting off at Monceau, which is right at Parc Monceau, one of our main objectives for the day.

The park is small, but tres cool, and it was filled with people in search of what we are all looking for I suppose: a little peace, quiet and time to just relax. Several intriguing statues are scattered throughout the park. The one of Guy de Maupassant had his bust on a pedestal while on the bottom was a woman reclining, perhaps contemplating his writing.

Another curious piece of stone is found at one end of the parc that was devoted to children plaing, a statue marked A Chopin, "To Chopin." an intriguing piece of work we thought: a man, presumably Fred himself, playing a keyboard instrument while seemingly unfazed by his permanent audience of one, a woman covering her eyes with her right hand, as if to say "Oh what exquisite music!" Or is she hinting, "Not THAT piece again!".

From the Parc Monceau we headed off in the direction of Place Madelaine, stopping briefly to check out the enormous spiritual bulk of St. Augustin church which stood squarely in our path. The church is large, no doubt about it, but a quite unremarkable interior and other than its sheer size has little to recommend it (for non-Catholics).

We strolled passed the Chapelle Expiatoire, which is presently closed until the middle of November while work is being done on the gardens. The chapelle is built over what was originally the Madelaine cemetery, a place that would otherwise have become just another part of paved-over pre-Hausmann Paris had it not been for the fact that the bodies of King Louis XVI and his wife Marie Antoinette, along with hundreds of others who had been executed on the nearby Place de la Concorde, were dumped into a mass grave on this very spot.

During the brief restoration of the monarchy in the early 19th century the land was acquired by Louis XVIII who had the bones of the king and queen removed to St. Denis for reburial with the other kings and queens of France, and the other remains were placed in two rows of small half-moon-shaped vaults flanking a small garden, the chapelle as it exists today.

From the chapelle we made our way to Detou for baking supplies -- Susie is stocking up on a few hard-to-find ingredients in the US before we leave next week. We then had lunch at the Cafe Etienne Marcel just a few doors down from Detou on Boulevard, that's right, Etienne Marcel (at the corner of rue Montmartre in fact).

After a late lunch we returned to the Metro and headed home, another day in Paris, exploring the wonders of the human spirit in the bright light of the day.

For additional photos click here!

Wish you had been there,

Steve