Because I haven’t had more than a week of vacation per year in the last two years, I decided to be offline from work for the duration of this break. I told a coworker that I should only be contacted via my home email if there’s a zombie apocalypse or similar disaster at work.
How’s it going so far? So far, so good. I’m obviously not unplugged entirely from the outside world. We’ve been watching CNN. Both of us are sending and receiving emails and calling family and friends in North America. I’m (obviously) blogging. However, I have not tried to access my work email yet. We’ll see how long that lasts.
Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2022/04/13/unplugged-sort-of/
We landed at Charles de Gaulle Airport around noon on Sunday. We took a cab to our rental apartment on Ile St. Louis. The apartment is small, but serviceable for the two of us. The biggest drawback of the building – no elevator, and we’re on the third floor. The stairway is in a semi-spiral and has no railings. It was a religious experience getting our luggage upstairs. The plus side is the location – it’s within walking distance of most of what we go to Paris to see. Given that Covid is still an issue, staying out of the Métro is a good idea.
Ile St. Louis might be more appropriately called Ile de Glaces, as in Island of Ice Cream. This little bump in the Seine River has more places selling ice cream per square kilometer than most cities. Much of it is Berthillon ice cream, which is good stuff. A large percentage of the cows on nearby farms must produce milk for this operation. We have yet to partake on this trip, although there’s a place next door selling the ice cream.
We walked over to the Marais neighborhood last night to get some basic groceries and takeout. Because of the pandemic, many restaurants are also offering menu items to go. We stopped at a takeout window to get pitas filled with greens and merguez (Moroccan sausage). Very tasty. The pitas were nice and fluffy, unlike the dry husks we sometimes find in the US.
Today we did a little shopping. We started out at La Samaritaine, a high-end department store that’s been beautifully remodeled. We looked, but didn’t buy anything. We had lunch at Au Pied de Cochon (Pig’s Foot) restaurant. This is an old-school French restaurant that we’ve gone to on previous trips. Following that, we went to Librairie Gourmande, where I restrained myself and bought only one cookbook. We strolled along Rue Montorgueil (another foodie street) and got takeout salads for dinner.
More exploits to come.
Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2022/04/11/paris-days-one-and-two/
Some people have bad hair days. I have a bad hair life. My mother thought my straight hair needed to be permed, so I had several perms before she gave up and made sure I got pixie cuts for years. When I chose to get a permanent as an adult, Mom said, “You know, I think I prefer your hair straight.” Haircuts are always fraught with peril for me. Here’s the usual progression:
When the stylist hands me the mirror: Looks good.
When I look at my reflection in a window after leaving the shop: WHY didn’t I make them quit while I was ahead? It’s SO SHORT!!!
After I wash my hair for the first time after the cut: OMG, it’s sticking out all over! It’s too damn short!!!
A week after the cut: It’s still too short! Grow, grow, grow!
Three weeks after the cut: It’s beginning to grow on me at last.
Four to six weeks after the cut: Finally it’s behaving! Life is good.
Seven weeks after the cut: It’s too damn long! The bangs are getting into my eyes. Time for another haircut!
Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2022/04/06/evolution-of-a-haircut/
The countdown has begun! T minus 12 days until we leave for a twice-Covid-canceled trip to Europe. The original itinerary (France and Italy) has been changed to France and Spain. The plans for this trip have been in the works almost since we canceled last year. Julian managed to get us almost-reasonable plane fares and two killer apartments to rent.
The first stop is Paris for ten days. Our rental apartment is on Île-Saint-Louis, less than a 5-minute walk to Notre Dame. Granted, the cathedral is still closed after the 2019 fire, but we can observe the construction on our walks. We’ll visit some of the usual haunts and a few new ones. A visit to Librairie Gourmande is definitely on the itinerary. Julian has also expressed an interest in seeing the Musée d’Orsay, which has a large collection of Impressionist art.
The next part of the trip involves taking a train to Bordeaux, renting a car, and driving to San Sebastian in Spain. I’ve always wanted to visit the Basque region of Spain and France. The Basque language bears no resemblance to French, Spanish, or any other Indo-European tongue. The region has mountains and the ocean to make us both happy. And it should be no surprise to regular readers of this blog that we’re also going for the cuisine. Our friends Bruce and Laurie may join us on this leg of the trip. I anticipate a crawl or two for cider/wine and pintxos (the Basque equivalent of appetizers or tapas).
The final leg of the journey is a return to the Dordogne region in France. We were in this beautiful area seven years ago (see this post). We’re staying in the same hotel as we did on our previous trip. The last day we’ll drive back to Bordeaux and spend the night in a hotel near the airport so we can catch our flight home.
Watch this space for progress reports.
Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2022/03/28/the-paris-and-pintxos-tour/
Julian made chimichurri along with steak the other night. For the non-cognoscenti, chimichurri is an Argentine parsley pesto sauce that’s heavy on the garlic. It should only be consumed among consenting adults. I took some for lunch years ago and nearly caused evacuation of the office suite. We had some leftover sauce, so Julian suggested using it as a pasta sauce. Made sense to me.
I chose orecchiette as the pasta. I could have used spaghetti, but I wanted a shape that would cup the sauce; hence orecchiette. After the pasta was cooked and drained, I tossed it quickly with the sauce. Julian grated some Parmesan on his dish and called it good. One could have added chicken or other protein to the dish. I’d do this again.
Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2022/03/24/chimicchiette/
I’m reading Mark Kurlansky’s The Basque History of the World in advance of our trip to San Sebastian and the Basque regions of Spain and France. (More about that to come.) The Spanish Civil War didn’t make it into my high school history classes. Generalissimo Francisco Franco was the butt of many Weekend Update jokes in the first season of Saturday Night Live when I was in college. I just finished the chapter in the book about the aerial attack on the city of Guernica on April 27, 1937 by Franco-allied German and Italian forces.
April 27 was a market day in Guernica, and the town was full of farmers and shoppers. German aircraft started bombing at 4:40 pm and continued for three hours. The purpose of the attack was to strike fear in the Basque people so they’d submit to Franco’s rule. Although the exact number of people killed will never be known (government records on the attack have never been released), Basques estimated over 1,600 mortalities in the three hours of bombing and machine gun strafing of those trying to escape. Franco tried to use the oldest alibi in the book: The Basques attacked Guernica themselves. Survivors and the few journalists in and around Guernica rapidly refuted Franco’s assertion.
If I changed the date, location, and name in the paragraph above, Guernica would be indistinguishable from what’s happening in Mariupol or other cities in Ukraine. For that matter, attacks on civilians from the air have been standard war operating procedure for the last 85 years. These are crimes against humanity, period, end of discussion.
Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2022/03/19/a-sad-symmetry/
The Florida Legislature has passed a law that’s popularly known as “don’t say gay.” Teachers won’t be allowed to discuss topics related to lesbians, gays, and transsexuals. However, will Florida ban songs containing the word gay? Here are a few examples that might have to be eliminated. I obtained some of these from another blog.
- Deck the Halls
- Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas
- Here Comes Peter Cottontail
- I Feel Pretty, from West Side Story
- I’m in Love with a Wonderful Guy, from South Pacific
- Dites-Moi, also from South Pacific
- The Great Pretender
- Twistin’ the Night Away
My idea of fun would be to have a high school chorus record the lyrics of songs containing the word gay and play them on an endless loop in front of the Florida Capitol.
Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2022/03/12/but-we-can-still-sing-it/
Seen on a t-shirt at Pike Place Market today: “Science is not a liberal conspiracy.”
Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2022/03/05/t-shirt-of-the-day/
Julian made some brownies the other night. He took some to his homeowners’ association board meeting. He came home crestfallen. One of the other board members told him to thank ME for making them.
Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2022/02/26/brownies-1-ego-0/
When we’d visit Julian’s dad in Miami years ago, the question of what to have for dinner would inevitably be asked. Lenny’s stock answer: “Pasta fazool.” He liked the sound of the dish. There was also an Olive Garden a block away from his condo, although he didn’t like pasta fazool when he tried it.
I had another hankering for soup, so I decided to make pasta fazool. (The proper spelling is pasta e fagiole, but it always comes out as pasta fazool in America. I riffed off a recipe I found in Nancy Verde Barr’s We Called It Macaroni. I substituted canned cannellini beans for cranberry beans and elbow macaroni for ditalini. I frizzled some pancetta, then sautéed onion, garlic, celery, carrots, and bell pepper. A quart of broth went in, along with the beans. Finally, the elbows were cooked in the soup. I served the soup with fresh basil torn in at the table. I think Lenny would have approved.
Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2022/02/05/pasta-fazool/
Load more
Recent Comments