(Image: Pumpkin and chestnut soup with foie gras, Spring restaurant)
We're going home tomorrow morning. It'll be Singapore for about 6 days and the rest in KL. Time for us to reconnect with family and friends, makan, shop and recharge. In preparation for Year 2. We're not due yet for the official home leave which husband's employers will pay for after the second year, therefore for this trip we have to pay our own expenses but it's justified because we're all too homesick to care.
Mimi & Rufus will be boarded in a city dog creche. It is very expensive, think enough to buy sparkling jewelry expensive, but the facility is the only one in the town. I didn't want to send them to the countryside where nobody will hear Mimi keening and Rufus will be isolated from social interactions. Their stay includes cooked meals, 4 walks a day, daily brushing and lots of playtime in the dog-gym. I don't know who will miss each other more, Mimi or me?
It has been an eventful year for all of us. For husband, his work keeps him busy and challenged. His facility with the language has meant that he had the least trouble adjusting to the life here but still, he's had his share of frustrating encounters with bureaucrats and contractors. He would probably be the last to admit it, but he is acquiring some fashion sense and is starting to understand when I chatter on about fall/winter colours, textures, etc; living smack in the middle of the fashion district does rub off a bit. If you ask him he'll probably say that one of his most pleasant discoveries is his wine adventures, he now rhapsodizes about Cahor, Jurançon, Vouvray, Alsace and the latest trend in biodynamic wines.
As for me, I've been trying hard not to complain too much.The first few months were definitely very hard: a mostly unheated apartment, zero friends, unfamiliar neighbourhoods, reconciling with the new culture, new systems and the cost of living (everything cost twice as much as in Singapore, which makes it four times as much as Malaysia if we really think about it). Learning French took up a lot of time and effort, on top of my lessons I read, watched French TV and made copious notes. Happily, if I may say so, I can now read and listen better though the conversing switch has not yet clicked in the brain's speech centre.
I've met the nicest and the most horrid peoples, some are French and some are not. It is too easy to pigeonhole the French as rigid, ego-centric, suspicious, rude even, but most people I've met do not fall into all or even any of these categories. The only thing that irritates me is their inability to ever admit their mistakes, "C'est pas moi" (it's not me) is their rallying cry, even if they crash into your car they would blame the car for being in their way because never, ever would it ever be their fault! Your food arrives very late, well it's your fault that you cannot relax and accept the delay.
As for V, she's had the best of times and the worst. Learning to walk and run, gym classes, beautiful clothes and being spoilt by everyone. Happy days at childcare assembling puzzles and riding plastic cars. But her respiratory tract has not been as happy, her nose has been perpetually running after we sent her to childcare, save for a two month respite in summer. She's had two bad 'crises' as they put it, and it is quite worrisome.
Mimi and Rufus took to the food here very well. Rabbit, beef, figs, pumpkins, carrots, chestnuts, even Mimi has put on weight. They miss the sunshine a lot. Otherwise things have not changed much for them.
The food though, how about the food? This is a food blog after all. The cheeses, I would say, are superb. I am officially addicted to aged Comté. Also, the produce are varied and beautiful. This year we enjoyed, as the seasons progressed, beautiful scallops with vivid corals, pretty pink rhubarbes, Gariguette strawberries, fresh green peas in the pods, artichokes, two harvests of figs, also lots of plums, peaches and melons and now in the last quarter of the year we have pumpkins, chestnuts, brussels sprouts and game. We were in Chez L'Ami Jean and we had this conversation with the waiter.
U: The pot-roasted pheasant for two please.
W: Are you sure? It's a game bird, and the taste is very strong (très fort). The chef cooks it only for the briefest moment and it arrives on your plate oozing blood.
U: Yes I am very sure. I've never had pheasant and (by God) I mean to have it today.
After all, I've eaten andouillete twice times and never liked it but now I believe that if I can stomach andouillete I can eat anything. When the pheasant arrived, it looked pretty much like a chicken with extra long and muscled legs. It was not bloody in the least, only the slightest pink showed when we cut into the meat- the chef may have cooked the blood out for our benefit though- and the taste was worth the gamble, a delicious melée of poultry and gameyness, some parts tasted strongly of Roquefort cheese which was totally unexpected but not in the least repulsive.
There are so so many restaurants in Paris to eat at and we're taking our time to discover them. Here is some highlights:
Decor:
Most elegant: Taillevent, for its comfortable banquettes and high ceilings. Every time I find myself in yet another overcrowded bistro being bombarded by the surrounding conversations Taillevents's luxurious space allowance comes back to niggle at my consciousness.
Most "wow": Ledoyen. Especially at night. It's own neoclassical building, glittering entrance, carpeted stairways, carefully faded silks, crystals everywhere, magnificient cheese trolley, army of waiters and sommeliers. Too very bad they do not serve butter with their bread.
Least impressive: La Table de Jöel Robuchon. Something about the dark and gold furnishings that brings to mind boring hotel cafés.
Prettiest tearoom: The Jacquemart-André Café. The room is entirely done up in deep maroon and gold, and overlooks a tiny topiary courtyard.
Food moments:
Strange yet delicious: A Ledoyen pre-dessert amuse of yeast ice cream on a piece of soft bready like thing with white flakes. I loved it! It was neither sweet nor salty and a different taste entirely.
Most moreish: That tomatoey sauce at Bellota-Bellota
I didn't expect to like Pigeon pastilla. Savoury minced pigeon, sweet honey, nuts and cinammon encased in a light papercrisp pastry, delicious if done right, disastrous if not. 404 has kind of ruined it for me, every version I've tried since has not measured up.
I've conquered boudin noire but have not been able to like andouillette, the smell does me in every time. Is it me or did anyone else get the impression they did not clean the smell out well enough?
I like in spite of myself, the cha-chang mian at Korean restaurant Han Lim near rue Mouffetard. The bean sauce is very tasty but short on meaty bits I feel quite stupid and cheated whenever I eat it, paying well over 12 euros for a blob of noodles and near- meatless brown sauce.
Best steak: Inaniwa Umami-An. French beef is usually chewy, even if you order it rare, but at Inaniwa they grill it to perfection, charred outside, juicy inside. But I might be induced to eat at Le Relais de Venise (L'Entrecote) because I am quite partial to their green sauce.
Condiment discovery: Sumec. At my neighbourhood Lebanese eatery Noura, they sprinkle it on grilled chicken livers, the lemony pop it releases is refreshing and when mixed with the meat juices makes a very moppable sauce.
I can't quite reconcile this and it has been bothering me for days: I know coq au vin is a rooster cooked slowly in red wine and it tastes delicious. But when it is served in restaurant, is it normal to serve it with pieces of meat falling apart instead of chicken parts as they did at the esteemed Aux Lyonnais? It was beautifully cooked and highly yummy, but I would have thought a restaurant would make more of an effort in cooking so that it plates up prettier than a pile of leftover stew... but that's just me wondering, perhaps it is the way it should be.
Macarons that are not sweet. Yes they exist, at Pierre Hermé, with such flavours as olive oil, black truffles and chestnuts; all these savoury macarons I loved very much. These, and aged Comté would be the two foods I would absolutely miss when I leave Paris for good. But who knows what I will come across next year, eh?
And for anyone out there who might be coming over for a holiday or prolonged stay, I have compiled a short list of tips which may make it all a little easier for you.
1. Be polite. Say "Bonjour" to everyone. I've seen a bus driver refuse to open the door because the man did not say s'il vous plait (SVP). Be polite but do not set to high an expectation. Politesse, it seems to me, is occasionaly a licence for the French to screw you- for example if you enter a shop and the saleslady 'bonjours' you, she will feel it's OK for her to carry on her gossiping session with her colleague. So you should not feel bad that she's ignoring you, it's she who has the problem not you.
2. When at Tang Freres to buy meat, which everyone knows is available really fresh and very much cheaper than regular bouchers, go early. Let the husband wait in line for a car park space, you should go right inside and take a number from the machine because there will be a lot of people who will buy a lot of meat. If the queue is too long do have a little sit outside with other shoppers. It is strangely therapeutic, sitting on a plastic bench set on fake turf at a corner of a cemented parking lot, the fresh coconut juice in your hands probably contributing some hallucinatory effects. We've had some good conversations with similarly displaced strangers.
Speaking of supermarkets, Carrefour stocks HP sauce, scones, Branston pickles, Heinz baked beans, tinned squids with black ink and our favourite Boland's fig rolls. G20 has Alpen. Franprix has English-style muffins and Tabasco sauce. Japanese products (mirin, sake, miso) are also available, and at lower prices, at Korean grocery stores but Japanese stores have cuter packed foods.
The French of course, shop often at Picard. Picard looks nothing like a typical supermarket, it has nothing, no food items at all, on direct display except for the odd brochure and posters. When you walk in, you will only see rows of chest freezers and customers bent over the freezers to study the contents within. It is open every day, even on Sunday mornings. It doesn't sell bulk packages of chicken thighs, no, they purvey frozen readymade meals that look appetising with non-scary product labelling (BIO, naturel, minimal E and O numbers) and are not too expensive if you stay away from their dessert selection, e.g. very edible pizzas for less than 2 euros. A Picard opened last week round the corner from our apartment and we've seen all sorts of locals go in, not just the expected elderly folks whom one would expect would welcome such offerings, but also many working adults and housewives. It is as French as baguettes, just a lot more low key.
3. Avoid Chatelet métro station at all costs. It stinks of piss.
On the whole, public transport is great here. Bus is a picturesque way to get around but the métro is faster. The RER trains are quite amazing too but I've not taken it often. Walking is best except when it rains. Some buses do not run in evenings, or weekends, and some run only at those times.
Personal driving should be saved for grocery runs or when the public transport workers go on strike. Road traffic on the majority of the city's road is on ONE lane only, the same lane shared with parked cars and double-parked delivery vans. If they would only demolish a few of their handsome sacred cows "pierre de taille" buildings to widen the roads it may help, but this is a most sacrilegious idea.
4. Eau de Carafe is free, and in these days, more politically correct too. The waiter would usually ask if you would like bottled or still water, please do not be shy to ask for "une carafe d'eau" as they are obliged by law to provide it and the flasks they come in are usually quite adorable. To be honest though, when at very high-end restaurants my nerves do fail me and I would succumb and mumble an order for bottled water.
5. It can be quite expensive to visit museums. Unlike London which has many free museums, the ones here are free to enter only on the first Sunday of the month. Recently though, they've made three museums entirely free- Musée Guimet, Musée Galleria and one other, I forget.
6. Gold ring scam: When you are walking on the street you may be stopped by a stranger who would show you a gold ring she or he 'happened' to have found. The stranger may offer the ring to you and while you deal with that the accomplice would take advantage of your distracted self and pick your pockets. This was what happened to my sister C but she wasn't interested in the ring so she was not fooled. Other versions would substitute the gold ring with euro notes. In any case be careful and look after your possessions at all times.
7. Parcs are sandy. Dogs are not allowed in parcs. Therefore I seldom visit parcs. They are so uptight about their stupid grass over here.
8. Cinema. When you purchase your tickets you are not assigned seats or allowed to pre-select the seats. You are supposed to wait for the session, line up and grab your own seat. My French teacher told us that the French do not snack in cinemas but I don't think she visits the cinema much..
9. Best map to carry around: Le Petit Parisien. It has 3 maps for each arrondissement so that you can see the road names, building numbers, bus routes and general outlays, is printed with sensible colours and fonts and comes in a tidy size for stowing in your bag. Husband has asked me to try different maps and I come back to this again and again.
10. Get things delivered. Groceries. Wines. Cherries in kirsch. Fancy salts. Delivery vans get their own parking spots, and if there aren't any, they double or triple park. Husband hates it, but our deliveries get done and we save ourselves a lot of time and trouble.
We have to go now, to drop the dogs off and then dinner and a gawp at the Christmas lights. À bientôt!
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