Paris Journal 2014 – Barbara Joy Cooley Home: barbarajoycooley.com
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Caroline and I took a walk in the Champ de Mars yesterday morning, with a detour off to the side to see the garden, musical instruments column, and gift shop of the Musée du Quai Branly. She comes to Paris every year for at least one stay (sometimes two or three?) in her cousin’s apartment on the avenue Emile Zola. We met on Sanibel Island, as members of the local Zonta Club. Then she moved to Australia years ago. So Paris is now the place where I see this friend! The Champ was a pleasant place to walk and talk yesterday. Caroline has been to the Branly museum before, but she had not seen the glass column with 10,000 musical instruments inside. She spotted a few instruments that reminded her of things she’d seen when she lived in Bali; excitedly, she described those strange instruments to me. We browsed through the museum’s shop, and I was the one who ended up buying something: a set of 10 audio CDs (comprising 17 albums) of jazz piano music for just 20 euros. I knew Tom would love to have this set which includes original albums by Thelonius Monk, Phineas Newborn Jr., Oscar Peterson, Erroll Garner, Bill Evans, Lennie Tristano, Ramsey Lewis, Duke Ellington, Sonny Clark, Bud Powell, Mary Lou Williams, Dave Brubeck, and more. Another fun shopping experience that Tom and I had recently occurred right on the ground level of our building. As you face the front door of our building, there are two average-size boutiques to the left, and one tiny boutique to the right. The tiny boutique is now a consignment shop (depot vente) selling decorative objects and ladies’ accessories (designer handbags and costume jewelry). Last year, the shop sold cheap but colorful ladies’ clothing made in China. This year the shop is more interesting to us. We stopped in a couple weeks ago and met the interesting lady who runs this boutique. She is a few years younger than I am, with stylish medium-length gray hair, dark-framed glasses, and a deep Lauren-Bacall type of voice. She was charming and funny. We told her we’d be back before she left on vacation (which was yesterday). So, a couple days ago, we did step into the boutique again and we bought a Limoges dish decorated in a sort-of Japanese way, as well as some Murano glass faux candies. We collect both of these types of things. Now, with the dish and “candies” on the coffee table in the living room of the apartment, we feel even more at home. It is surprising, the feeling of comfort that we each have when we look at that dish. Just like home . . . .
But the apartment is home, too. We’ll be here this afternoon, watching the final stage of the Tour de France as it comes into Paris and the winners are recognized on the podium at the Champs Élysées. I look forward to all the spectacular helicopter views of this magnificent city. Speaking of spectacular views, I try to not take for granted the Eiffel Tower, which we see so often because it is on our most commonly taken neighborhood walk. We walked by it yesterday, as we ambled about in the hour before dinner. Dinner was at a familiar location, but a new restaurant (for us). We used to dine there when it was Le Bayadere, a fairly casual bistro with good food, and good value. Then in the past year or two it changed to Le Court Bouillon. I looked at the posted menu last year, saw the greatly increased prices, and put it out of my mind for a while. But I’ve been noticing this year how extremely good the lafourchette.com reviews for this resto have been. I booked a table for our “Saturday night date” last night. We were seated right where we sat numerous times, when the place was Le Bayadere. The similarity pretty much ended there. Le Court Bouillon is an elegant French restaurant. The chef, Eric Achard, formerly worked at the famous Taillevent and the Plaza Athenée. His wife, Isa, runs the dining room and formerly worked for the Lutétia and the Cours Florent. They knew each other where they grew up, in the Sarthe and Loir-et-Cher. They lost touch when they were young adults, but somehow found each other again later. I think they began their careers in the 15th arrondissement, but then lived and worked in Levallois, a suburb of Paris. And they’ve worked in those famous places in Paris that I mentioned. But now we have them back in the 15th arrondissement, much to our dining pleasure. We began our feast by sharing an order of terrine foie gras – the best foie gras I’ve had for a very, very long time. Tom’s main course was a lamb filet that was just superb. It came atop some darphin potatoes, which are like latkes. Yummy! I ordered the dorade royale, and it was splendid in every way. The filet was cooked perfectly, and came atop a smooth, buttery layer of finely puréed potatoes, with a little bit of puréed kalamata olives as a garnish. For dessert, Tom ordered the millefeuille of strawberries and raspberries. It was light and nice, but not as spectacular as the rest of the dinner. I must say that the service was very fine. The young man who served us part of the dinner was very professional, and Isa was bright, cheerful, and ever-smiling – just a brilliant lady. The stroll home after dinner is so easy – simply straight down the rue du Theatre. Le Court Bouillon is near the river end of this street, and we’re near the theater end. At home, we read on our devices – Tom read the news, and I read a book, The Time in Between – and listened to a CD from the new collection: jazz piano by Bill Evans, and Duke Ellington.
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Sunday, July 27, 2014
Our
dining adventure began with a mis en bouche of
puréed zucchini and leeks, in a base that I’d say was crème fraiche.
The
terrine foie gras (above), and lamb filet
(below).
A
delicious dorade royale with
greens, purréed potatoes and kalamata
olives.
The
strawberry, raspberry and blueberry millefeuille. |
