Paris Journal 2014 – Barbara Joy Cooley Home: barbarajoycooley.com
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«Un écran de fumée» I said,
reading aloud from the newspaper. Tom said, “That sounds like something on
the menu. ‘Please, I’ll take the
écran de fumée.’ »
“No, that’s
what the pilots have called Air France’s latest proposal: a smokescreen.” Today at 2PM, the pilots will be
demonstrating in the street in front of the National Assembly (homologous to
the House of Representatives in the U.S.).
I wonder which side of the Assembly building they’ll use? Personally, I
prefer the Place du Palais Bourbon side on the rue
de l’Université, because of the architecture and
the space. But maybe the demonstration
will be on the Quai D’Orsay side. I wonder if
striking pilots will wear their sharp-looking uniforms to the demonstration? Hmmmm. Uniformed
pilots demonstrating in the elegant Place du Palais
Bourbon: maybe I want to see that. [Later: I was too busy to go see the
demonstration. No, we are NOT on
holiday.] The only
friends who’ve mentioned a concern about how the strike might affect us are
Amy and Sue. Amy told me that the day
before our flight, when I go to check in online, we might be offered an
incentive to postpone our return. Of
course, if our flight is one of the 6 out of 10 that is cancelled, our return
is definitely postponed. I thanked Amy
for this useful information. On
Saturday afternoon, we will learn our fate.
Our schedules are more flexible than many people’s. We were talking
about what we might do as we walked in the Luxembourg Gardens before
dinner. I’d not yet made a dinner
reservation, so we sat on a bench and I used the smartphone to scroll through
the list on LaFourchette.com. “Oh yes,” I
said. “Bouillon Racine! We haven’t been there yet this
season.” We both love the beauty of
that ultra-Art Nouveau restaurant on the rue Racine, between the Odéon National Theater and the boulevard Saint Michel. Although there
is no LaFourchette discount for Bouillon Racine,
the restaurant does allow one to reserve a table via LaFourchette. Enthusiastically, I reserved. Tom and I then
walked for another 35 minutes or so, and arrived at the resto
at just the right time. We were shown
to a table upstairs, where the French people are seated. It seemed like most of the English speakers
were seated downstairs. We were
accepted as French speakers and given the French menu instead of the English
one. Bon! The restaurant
filled quickly, and soon was buzzing with energetic French
conversations. I ordered the cochon de lait farcie
– a slice of rolled pork roast stuffed with vegetables. There were more vegetables than pork in
this colorful dish, and I loved that.
The sauce and puréed potatoes were really nice, too. Tom ordered the
pepper steak, which came with a superb sauce and some decent fries, as well
as an excellent veggie dish that resembled ratatouille. I felt no need
for dessert, but enjoyed watching Tom enjoy a strawberry tart whose crust
tasted like a homemade butter cookie.
It was his reward for another productive day in which he returned
another chapter to the publisher. At
this stage, Tom is reviewing chapters that have been copy-edited in New York. Also, a few new
readings have been added recently, including one I recommended by a friend,
the well-known photographer and writer Tony Mendoza. Yesterday, Tony kindly gave permission for
his work to be included. We talked about
the book, joking about rhetorical analysis vs. critical analysis, and in this
frivolity we forgot about Air France troubles during dinner. Afterwards, the walk home through the
crisply cool Autumn air was invigorating.
When we reached
the apartment building’s door, we could hear the Azerbaijani rock band
concert just finishing for the evening.
One night this week there will be an Azerbaijani jazz band concert. That should be interesting! |
Tuesday, September 23, 2014
The upstairs dining room at Bouillon Racine.
Cochon
de lait farcie (above),
and pepper steak (below).
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