Paris Journal 2009 – Barbara Joy Cooley Home: barbarajoycooley.com
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We worked even longer at the
computers yesterday. Tom wasn’t ready
to go out until 7:30PM, so we just strolled down through the Luxembourg
Gardens and the boulevard Montparnasse to the Restaurant
L’Abri Cotier (145 Boulevard du
Montparnasse, 75006, Tel. 01-43-26-03-89).
This one didn’t make it into my restaurant recommendations list yet
because it is a recent discovery from last Fall (I really MUST update that
list!). I love the place. It features Corsican food, with an emphasis
on seafood. It is not pretentious, yet
it is elegant in a simple, country sort-of way. Madame recognized us from last September
and was very warm and friendly. Tom
had the 18-euro fixed price dinner, including plenty of Corsican ham with
condiments (olives, cheese, etc.) as an appetizer and a generous filet mignon de porc for a main
course. The pork came with a country
mustard cream sauce and sautéed potato slices that had a crusty outer
layer. Yummy. He finished with excellent strawberries and
chantilly for dessert. I splurged. The restaurant had sole
meuničre on the menu for far less than I’ve seen it in other Parisian
restos. It was 27 euros. I went for it, and was I ever pleased. The taste of the browned, clarified butter
was infused through the fish, as it should be, and also through the
accompanying vegetables. It was
perfect. It carried me back in memory
to the best tasting fish dinner I ever had – a fish boil in Door County,
Wisconsin, where the fish, potatoes, and butter were boiled together,
resulting in the same taste of butter infused through the fish. This is heaven. My appetizer is the signature
escargots-in-profiteroles that this restaurant specializes in. Perhaps the beurre blanc
with parsley could have had a bit more seasoning, but it was very, very
good. Of course I did not order
dessert. I know that Jim and Maddy are
out there on their boat in some French river thinking, “Oh, we can get sole meuničre for so much less out
here in the country,” and they’re right.
But we need to be in Paris.
Enough said. We had to wait for a very long
time for our main courses. The bulk of
the food that needed to be served to the rest of the restaurant’s guests
(there were plenty of them) came out first.
I had the impression that the chef wanted to get rid of the pressure
before concentrating on the sole. It was worth the wait. So we didn’t arrive back in the
neighborhood until almost 11pm. We discovered
a Monop (quick, small Monoprix) on rue Vaugirard, and went in to buy sandwich
bread for Tom and organic low-fat milk for me. ----------------------- Doug and Lennie of Honolulu just
sent me the link to their travel blog from their trip to France earlier this
year: http://www.traveljournals.net/travelers/len_doug/journals/ Theirs is more of a true travel
journal than this Paris Journal. The
Paris Journal is more about living here, not so much traveling or touring
here. When we were in travel mode, in
New York, in England, and on the Queen Mary 2, I found the already formatted
venues, such as what Doug uses, to be more convenient. I used the Facebook notes feature, along
with its photo albums feature. But a
blog format such as www.traveljournals.net
would work fine, too. And it is more
accessible. By the way, you can find me on
Facebook at www.facebook.com/barbarajoycooley Another difference between my
journal and others, I’ve noticed, is that I rarely include any photos of
us. I guess we’re just too crusty,
like the potatoes Tom ate last night. -------- Speaking of crusty, while we
were sitting at the Medici fountain the other day, I noticed this diseased
lump on the plane tree behind us (at right).
Tom says that back in medieval times, craftsmen used the diseased wood
from such a lump to make the brown dye used to illustrate manuscripts like
the Winchester bible that we saw recently.
It is interesting: precious
gold leaf, lapis lazuli for blue, and then diseased wood for brown. Those medieval folks were very creative.
A boat on the Seine. The obelisk at the Place de la Concorde is
in the background. |
Thursday, July 2, 2009
Children
feeding the ducks in the Medici fountain in the Luxembourg Gardens.
These
decorative vines along the Medici fountain pool attract foreigners
(especially Italians) as photo-ops.
Young
Italian woman poses with boyfriend while mamma shoots the photo.
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