We had a symphony concert on Saturday night. In addition, I was running desperately low on my drug of choice. So we went downtown in late afternoon. It was after the St. Patrick’s Day parade, so traffic was relatively light.
First stop was the Perennial Tea Room at Pike Place Market. As we rounded the corner into Post Alley, we were confronted with a long line of green-clad revelers. The Irish pub next door to the tea shop, Kells, was the attraction. Somehow the thought of waiting on line for hours to hoist a Guinness in a standing room only bar just to say I did so on St. Patrick’s Day was not appealing, especially since I’m not fond of said brew. However, we made it into the tea room and I got my drugs. In deference to the holiday, 3/4 of my purchases were Irish teas.
Next we went down to the Paris-Madrid Grocery. We were in need of some harissa. In addition, I knew they had their cookbooks on sale for 45% off. I wound up purchasing a reprint of the cuisine of La Mère Brazier. Madame Brazier was one of the most famous chefs in Lyon. She trained numerous successors, including Paul Bocuse. Some of the recipes in the book are quite accessible method-wise, if not economy-wise. Julian found a recipe for volaille en demi-deuil (chicken in half mourning). First you need a Bresse chicken, one with blue feet. Then you put slices of black truffle under the skin prior to roasting. Since we saw some black truffles in Paris going for nearly 3000 Euros a kilogram back in December, you might not have enough funds for your mourning relatives to bury you after paying for the ingredients.
The concert featured “Carmina Burana”, complete with the Seattle Symphony Chorus and the Northwest Boys’ Choir. After reading the translation of the lyrics, I wondered if the kids actually knew what they were singing. Since we resubscribed for next season, the Symphony had a treat for us – little boxes of Fran’s salt caramels. Not a bad ending to the day.
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