This is a guest post from Julian.
Here in Paris, women generally choose modest but stylish outfits for their appearances in public. Black is the preferred color, although pastels and earth-tones are acceptable. Bright splashes are reserved for accessories. But when it’s time to party down, they may choose bizarre and outrageous creations with sequins, beads, leathers, feathers, and colored furs that did not originate from any naturally occurring species.
Emulate the locals, if you want to blend in. You will be immediately pegged as an American tourist if you are sporting tee-shirts and shorts (even in summer). The pickpockets and scammers will be looking for you.
Here is Cindy’s ensemble for a trip to the neighborhood pâtisserie. A silk scarf sets off her pink cashmere sweater (just purchased from Galeries Lafayette). She chose black slacks, and a utilitarian mercury-hued coat. A pair of cute shoes from Joseph Seibel completes the look. The residents of this fashion-conscious city will certainly respect Cindy’s style sense, even as they probably recognize her as an American trying to look like a Parisienne.
Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2017/12/19/dressing-for-paris/
The bistro (sometimes spelled bistrot) is a standard French restaurant term. According to Wikipedia (article in French), the bistro occupies a space in the restaurant hierarchy between brasserie and fine-dining restaurant in terms of food and price point. As you’ll see below, those definitions are quite fluid. The origin of the word may be Russian, as bistro is Russian for fast. [Julian’s wiseacre question: “Does that mean that Burger King is a bistro?”]
From what we’ve seen over the years, the bistro category is all-encompassing. It can be a basic beer and coffee bar with whatever can be cobbled together for food; alternately, a bistro can be very close to haute cuisine. Some bistros are neighborhood joints, others cater to a wider clientele. As with bistros, the customers vary from average folk to tourists to business tycoons.
Last night we had dinner at Le Grand Bistro, about a 20-minute walk from our apartment. (Many restaurants are closed on Mondays, as they are in the US.) Le Grand Bistro occupies the close to haute end of the bistro spectrum in ambiance and food. We each ordered the 44 Euro menu, which came with complimentary cocktails (Kir or Bellini) and a bottle of house wine to share. For entrée (appetizer), Julian had oysters and I had a mushroom soup with a scallop garnish. Main dishes for us were duck and lamb. Julian got a cheesecake for dessert, while I got “Chocolat, Mon Amour” – a molten chocolate cake with a small scoop of ice cream. We both left very full and more than a little inebriated.
Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2017/12/19/bistro-mode/
Julian observed that our travels follow a predictable pattern. We (actually he) are obsessive-compulsive about plane and accommodation reservations. Witness that, for this trip, he had all of these in place by early March. But once we get to our destinations, we tend to wander about, often without premeditated objectives. In old European cities and villages, serendipity often reveals wonderful discoveries.
Paris is a good city in which to wander. Yesterday we did have a bit of a plan: we went exploring passages. These are arcades within ancient buildings, populated with shops to keep customers and the products out of the rain. Some of them have elegant architectural details. Passages can be seen as the precursors to modern shopping malls. Many of the stores were closed on Sunday, but others were open due to the upcoming Christmas holiday. Two days in a row we managed to wind up in the neighborhood where we stayed two years ago. When we last visited, Forum Les Halles wasn’t much more than a hole in the ground. Now it contains lots of stores, and has a small ice rink for the season. The obelisk in honor of Napoleon on Place Vendôme was undercover last time, but has since been restored. I didn’t notice any reference to the disastrous invasion of Russia or to his defeat at Waterloo on the monument – I wonder why.
Julian and I have distinct differences in how we wander. He relies on cell phone map apps, which may or may not point you in the right direction. If it’s somewhere we’ve been before, I’m more focused on streets and landmarks – restaurants, churches, and stores. I also do a bit of dead reckoning. Somehow, between the two of us, we manage to find our way back to the rental apartment.
Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2017/12/18/wandering-in-paris/
The average American will notice significant differences in restaurants in France (and Europe in general) compared to home. Here are a few:
- Waiting on customers is considered an interim position in the US. Students and starving artists of all types make up a high percentage of waitstaff. In Europe, especially in high-end restaurants, customer service is considered a profession.
- There’s no tipping waitstaff in France. They’re paid a flat salary, which is usually a living wage.
- There are fewer waitstaff in French restaurants and cafés, so they’re in perpetual motion on busy evenings.
- Don’t expect the “Hi, I’m Heather and I’ll be your server tonight” treatment. Because of the last two bullet points, they don’t have time to chitchat. However, if you want detailed information on the menu items or wine list, the waitstaff in France will be able to answer your questions.
Here are a couple recommendations to keep you in good stead with French restaurant staff:
- Some waitstaff in France can speak English; however, it helps to start off with some French.
- Don’t call a waiter “garçon.” The translation is boy, and is an insult in any language. If your server is male, call him “monsieur.” If you want to get a waiter’s or waitress’s attention, make eye contact or subtly wave your hand.
Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2017/12/17/restaurants-in-the-us-versus-france/
The last time we were in Paris was May 2015, before the mass shootings at the Balacan nightclub and at cafés in the city. It was also before the Bastille Day truck assault in Nice and the attack on a Berlin Christmas market in 2016. As a result, security is heightened throughout France. We’ve seen multiple layers of security in all of the cities on our trip this year, from private security officers to local police to soldiers armed with assault weapons. While this development may offer a visual veneer of safety to residents and visitors, I wonder if it’s a “fighting the last war” phenomenon. These strategies may force committed terrorists into using other tactics. For example, the barricading of sidewalks and bike trails against vehicles after Nice and New York didn’t prevent the attempted subway suicide bomber near Times Square earlier this month.
Yesterday we walked over to the Eiffel Tower. The grounds were a soggy mess. It looked as if a Christmas market was being constructed. I assumed one would be up and running by now. The Tower itself was ringed by security fences to the point that pedestrians had limited access to the streets and bridge to the north. (Julian took a shot of the top of the tower from a nearby neighborhood, but the whole Tower was not photogenic because of the fencing.) The ubiquitous selfie stick and souvenir sales people were confined to narrow strips of sidewalk, so you risked stepping on their goods as you walked past. If this is what the new reality is at low season, the summer crowds must exacerbate the mess several fold.
The Eiffel Tower in 2015.
While I am grateful for some of the enhanced security measures, there is a delicate balance between abundance of caution and abridgment of access. The Eiffel Tower is an engineering marvel. On previous trips I loved to walk under the Tower and gaze up through the metal latticework. Unfortunately, the current climate has eliminated that view for me and many others.
Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2017/12/17/a-sad-reality/
This was in a window of the French department store Le Printemps.
The Cult of Cute Shoes were tucked snug in their beds,
While visions of stilettos danced in their heads.
IMG_2063
Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2017/12/16/moment-of-zen-for-the-cult-of-cute-shoes/
So you think that, after long days of work at le bureau, Maman (or Papa) cooks up three-course meals for the family every night? Au contraire, mes amis! Maman heads to le traiteur or le supermarché to get fixings for dinner, just like Americans do.
Traiteurs are fixtures in Paris neighborhoods. You can purchase a main dish and sides for less than a restaurant meal. The food is high quality and very tasty. Although fast food is making inroads, the traiteurs seem to be more popular with the French. Some French supermarkets are trying to muscle in on the takeout meals, as in the US. Depending on the supermarket, the offerings can be as good as the traiteurs.
When we’ve rented apartments in Paris, we’ve made use of traiteurs. It keeps us from buying too many ingredients that we’d have to throw out at the end of our stay. We had excellent Greek and Middle Eastern traiteurs near our apartments on earlier trips. Tonight we got a rabbit stew with carrots and prunes and roasted potatoes. I picked up a fennel bulb and pan-roasted it before I microwaved the rabbit and potatoes. We were impressed.
Traiteurs in France offer locals and tourists alike good food at a reasonable price. They’re worth checking out if you ever visit a French city.
Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2017/12/15/the-little-secret-of-french-cuisine/
We’ve rented apartments in Paris three times. In addition, we’ve visited relatives and friends in the Netherlands and Switzerland over the years. There are features in some European homes that would be beneficial in North America:
- Heated towel racks that double as a radiant heat source for the bathroom.
- Separate the toilet from the rest of the bathroom. Most American homes have more than one bathroom these days, but this feature can be helpful in the morning rush.
- Electric shutters. Our rental apartment in Paris is just off a busy street. The shutters protect the people and property inside from prying eyes. They can also serve as good noise and light blocks for people who sleep at odd hours (night shift workers).
As always, there are two sides to this post.
- Most separate toilet rooms in France do not contain a sink. (Remember that I work in a hospital and my boss is an infectious disease doc; therefore, hand hygiene is automatic for me.)
- We hate European home washers and dryers. Their logic escapes us. The set in our current rental apartment is driving Julian nuts. We can do metric conversions for temperatures in our heads, but the time it takes to get one load of laundry washed and dried is almost enough to pay someone else do it for us.
- Most French kitchens don’t have an oven. If there is one, it’s small.
- The kitchens overall are small. You think everyone has a La Cornue range in their flat? Pas de chance. (Come to think of it, we’d be hard pressed to shoehorn one into Casa Sammamish unless we put it in the garage and left one of the cars in the driveway. In addition, a La Cornue costs about as much as a new car.) David Lebovitz tells many stories about trying to bake in a Paris kitchen in his book, The Sweet Life in Paris. He also has a new book about his exploits in Paris, L’Appart. Maybe I’ll pick it up when I get back home.
Much of the differences are what one is used to. Americans are used to huge houses and (at least recently) large kitchens with big ranges. Retrofitting an old building with modern fixtures in Europe is not an easy task. Many of these buildings predate electricity and indoor plumbing. Bottom line: Vive la différence.
Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2017/12/15/european-vs-american-homes/
Two years ago (see this post) we were hard-pressed to find much in the way of gluten-free foods in France. I saw a couple of French translations of Wheat Belly and other “diet books” in a bookstore, but little food for folks who had to be gluten-free due to intolerance or celiac disease. Things may be changing, however. Our hotel in Lyon segregated some gluten-free foods on a counter away from croissants and other items on the breakfast buffet. There were gluten-free sections in La Grande Epicerie de Paris and Galeries Lafayette. Both also had a wide selection of non-glutenous grains such as rice and quinoa. We also saw a restaurant off Rue Montmartre called Noglu, which is entirely gluten-free. There is hope for celiacs in France.
Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2017/12/14/gluten-free-in-france/
A masterpiece at only 250 Euros.
This artist must have been on some rather potent pharmaceuticals.
Another weird one.
We couldn’t resist taking these pictures of figurines in the window of a furniture store in Colmar.
Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2017/12/14/for-the-cute-shoes-clan/
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