opening reservations

the moms of kids in the “adaptation” program of the school got together for coffee this morning. it’s always nice to see everyone. 

while i was there, the chef of “le veraison” restaurant called. he said that there were not enough reservations to allow him to offer brunch for the opening. so far he only had 2. i told him i’d send out an email to tell people the situation and that whoever was planning on coming should make a reservation. then, we’d see what the number was by friday evening to decide what to do.

scouting new kennel

we are going on a trip to italy soon. i went out to check out another kennel for maynard. it was slightly easier to get to (than the other kennel in normandy), being just outside of paris on the RER train. it was a nice location on one of the many islands in the seine river. it seemed ok. their “rooms” were of course, cage-like. there was a green in the middle of an L shape building. the man said that the dogs get out 3 times a day for around 15 minutes, but that didn’t seem very long. i booked him in at first, because i was afraid of not having a spot for him. but p. objected and said he would take him back and forth from normandy himself. i guess it’s not that much more time going up there.

conversation "all you can eat"

our conversation group met at “le cave de l’os a moelle” – an interesting restaurant where you sit at big tables, sharing with strangers. there are huge dishes of appetizer foods in the middle (probably 8 different dishes), from which you help yourself. then you go over to the stove to ladle out the main course for yourself and then to the dessert table or cheese cupboard. there are wine bottles lining the walls, and you can choose a bottle (that they will charge you additionally). a french “all you can eat” restaurant. was a lot of fun, though we didn’t meet anyone new, because we filled the whole table.

uk university meeting

there was a meeting earlier in the year about UK universities, that i missed. another mom missed it too, so she scheduled a meeting with the man at the school who is the specialist. she invited me and another mom to come along. it was very interesting, especially for me, who really doesn’t know anything about the UK system. some of the more interesting things he said:

- the UK university education is completely different from the US university education

- the last year at UK high schools is equivalent to the first year of US colleges and that is why the UK university education is only 3 years long. the UK students have already decided what subject they are going to study.

- a student should apply to the universities based on the subject that they want to study – because each university has its specialties.

- after each year at a UK university the students must pass an exam to be allowed to continue the next year there.

- students can go to the websites for the universities and there are pages that explain the majors and describes what they can do professionally with those majors. this seems to be such a logical idea – to give ideas of what one might like to do – by LISTING things, to help kids decide what path to take.

- he can quite accurately predict what score a student will get on the International Baccalaureate exam (at end of senior year) and therefore to what schools he/she can apply (because the schools have fixed score requirements for entry)

a UK education for jj is not something we would rule out. she could be eligible for it and it is MUCH cheaper than a US degree. just keeping our options open.

scallops recipe; sea bass recipe

stopped by the marche to pick up fish. after so many restaurant meals, i’m feeling a bit heavier than before and wanted to eat in. i bought “bar” (sea bass) and scallops. the lady put fennel branches into the center of the fish and told me to put on olive oil, salt, pepper and lemon juice. then to cook with tomatoes in a hot oven – 200 c (400 F) for 20 mins. p. offered to cook, so i gave him those instructions. it was fantastic. the fennel flavor totally infused the fish. the tomatoes added extra flavor. must remember this recipe.

scallops are always very expensive in the restaurants. typically a dish with 4-6 scallops will cost 15 – 25 euros. i saw scallops in their shells in the marche. couldn’t tell for sure if it was 5.95 or 15.95 a kilo because the price tag was a bit buried. plus, i didn’t know how many scallops would BE in a kilo, with the weight of the shells. so i asked for 6 shells and that weighed a kilo. in fact, it was 5.95 per kilo plus there was a special of 3 kilos for 15Euro. the fish lady deshelled them for me, carefully placing them with the orange part, in 2 half shells and wrapping it up. they were so beautiful. i looked up various recipes and basically found that they could be cooked by themselves in olive oil or butter in a frying pan for 1-2 minutes a side. i found a recipe that added mango and a mix of oil, vinegar, coriander and some other things. (http://www.taste.com.au/recipes/6755/scallops+with+fresh+mango+and+saffron+sauce or go to www.taste.com.au and search for “scallops with fresh mango saffron sauce”)

since i had most of the important ingredients, i improvised from there to make the sauce. p. cooked the scallops. it was fantastic. i will try not to order them in restaurants anymore.

i helped jj with her violin practice today. she was having problems with one exercise and i decided i needed to work with her. haven’t done that for a while for a couple of reasons. – she is good at doing it on her own and doesn’t like me interfering, but also, just got out of the habit. always busy doing something, though will stop in and interject comments when i am home and listening. actually a good way of doing it – she should be more independent now anyway.

jj and f around paris

jj went with f. all over paris again. they went back to the eiffel tower and went up, then to bon marche (jj’s favorite macaroons are there) then back to ile st louis; we went to meet up with them for dinner at our favorite chinese restaurant, mirama. afterwards we went for sorbet at berthillon.

school lunch break

jj asked f to come over for lunch with she and her friends during school lunch break. since f’s mom had to bring her over anyway, i said we could go out separately for lunch. we all ended up at cafe commerce, though of course, at separate tables. it was sunny and nice. it’s actually quite warm out and we sat outside in the sun.

eiffel tower evacuation

jj had her first french lesson today. the teacher did most of the talking, but i think she was just trying to make jj comfortable. she even mentioned that, and assured me that over time jj would do more talking. 

afterwards, i walked the dog over to the eiffel tower with jj to meet f. and parents. they were planning on going up. it was so crowded. we couldn’t find them, maybe they were late. so i got in line with the dog, while jj went around looking for them. more than one french person came to tell me that dogs weren’t allowed up to the top. i thought it was very nice of them. i was just a place holder. we met our friends, but before i could even tell them i was holding their place in line, i heard a guard say that they were evacuating the area. since the last set of various warnings, i felt that i wanted to avoid being in touristy places and had avoided being under the eiffel tower. p said i was being over-neurotic. especially since i hang out NEXT to the eiffel tower all the time. anyway, there was an unaccompanied package and a telephone call, so they evacuated. you may have heard it on the news. so we got out of there quickly and walked along in the park. then we had a coffee in a nearby cafe.

opening invitations

the chef of the restaurant with my paintings, got back to me concerning the possible opening party dates. either this coming sat afternoon, or next sunday morning with brunch. this saturday is much too soon. people all have their plans, so i chose next sunday. it’s hard to pick a perfect time. during the weekday, people are working, during the week evenings, people with families don’t find it easy to go out. weekends people go away, have plans and kids have sports. sunday morning doesn’t seem ideal – people may go to church or sleep in. anyway, we’ll do what we can. i sent invitations by email to old time friends, people i met through the school, the smith club, dog people from the park. it was around 100 invitations. i worded it as an exhibition opening party with the chef proposing a brunch at 19 euros following. normally the restaurant is not open on sundays. he told me that in france, if people work on sundays, they get paid double, by law. hmm, i guess that explains why so many things are closed on sundays. anyway, hoping people come, so we can have a nice get together. could be fun.

conversation group champagne tasting

today i hosted the conversation group for a mini champagne tasting pot luck. i had some extra bottles from the last tasting, when many of the group had wanted to come and were not able to. we tasted 3 bottles and it was interesting. one bottle was sweeter, one was drier and one was in the middle. they were all “grandes maisons” – big producers, so the product was good quality and will be consistent from year to year.

job interview...

so i had my job interview today. the first part i did in french. it went ok, but of course, you can never tell. i spoke with 3 different groups. we’ll see. i liked the people i met. i won’t elaborate anymore, till i know.

rue mouffetard; neighbor's cocktail

girls girls girls. three girls and a slumber party – they stayed up late talking and talking, with s and f getting to know each other.

today, jj had to study, so p and i brought f back to her apt. we walked along the river and then through the 5th arrondissement, to rue mouffetard. (we thought of you, joel – being in your old neighborhood, walking by your apt). i always thought of rue mouffetard as much too touristy, but today, i saw it as a very nice and charming pedestrian road. it wasn’t too packed. we stopped at a vietnamese shop, and i had a vietnamese sandwich. i love these. i had learned about them while living in san francisco. this sandwich was one result of having the french in vietnam. it is french bread with butter and then stuffed with a meat and fresh salad vegetables and an asian dressing of rice vinegar, oil and sugar. it is fresh and delicious.

afterwards, we went home to prepare for a cocktail we were hosting. i referred to it as the “neighbors cocktail”. i wanted to have a social get together where we got to know better some parents from the school who lived nearby. when i had gone away in february, p had been mildly sick. there was no one we could think of that he could call if it took a turn for the worse and he needed some help. so i realized that we (and others) needed to have a network. all these parents are also either ex-pats or recently returned french people. we are all sort of on our own. we had 12 people altogether and it was very nice. we drank several bottles of champagne that people brought. we said we must get together again.

independent 14 year olds; a culinary enlightenment

the girls stayed up late talking last night. jj is so happy to have her good friend visiting.

this morning, she took her out to show her around. first, they went up and down our road, rue du commerce – which is a shopping street. then, they went to the champs du mars and took bikes under the eiffel tower and across the river to trocadero. going to trocadero involves crossing a really big road, so this was a little more adventurous than i was prepared for, but jj insists it was not a problem. jj called p to help her find a drop off spot for the bikes. then they took the metro to the department store, printemps. jj wanted to take f to the roof deck to see the view, but she had to call home twice for help finding it. she hadn’t realized that there were two buildings connected by a bridge, and she was in the wrong one. when they found it, they had lunch in the little cafe there.

amazing, isn’t it? jj, a 14 year old american girl, freely wandering around paris, showing her friend her favorite places. she’s not totally independent. i laugh that she calls me to ask me questions – like, “where is the roof deck at printemps?” instead of being so independent and asking the salesclerks. she calls or texts over and over, with various questions like this. she still has problems seeing things that might be right in front of her. i roll my eyes, when i get these calls, but at the same time, am pleased to still be connected to her, to still be needed by her. she has a range of allowed places, it’s just that the range is getting bigger and bigger. she knows how to use the metro, but we review ahead of time, how to go somewhere. i ask her to send me status reports – where she is, what she is doing. cell phones are wonderful for allowing more independence, while still keeping tabs on her. paris is very safe, but i know that nowhere is perfectly safe. i still tell her to be careful crossing the road. anyway, we marvel at how lucky she is to be able to do this.

the girls came back because jj had to go to orchestra rehearsal. she went to meet her friend, s, at the metro, and i took f. back to the ile st louis. they have rented for the week, a gorgeous tiny apt, in a 17th century building. the stone stairs were very worn down with the centuries of feet climbing them. the apartment had probably 14 foot ceilings, a large gilt mirror with all the baroque details and a tall window and balcony looking right out at the river. i was going to do an errand after i dropped her off and then go work on my blog, but f’s mom suggested i look at a gallery on the middle road of ile st louis. i haven’t walked down that road for ages and it’s really lovely. there were several galleries, 3 of which i thought were very interesting. one was the one f’s mom recommended but there was also one selling cool japanese children’s fantasy watercolors and another one that was selling paris rooftop paintings. in fact, i really felt that my rooftops were better than some of the ones they had there, so i am feeling confident that i should show them mine. afterwards, i went to do my errand at BHV which is a department store with an amazing basement – which is like a mega hardware store. by the time i was done, i didn’t have time to work on my blog and had to go pick up jj at orchestra. we went home and then met f and family for dinner at “le veraison”, the restaurant where my paintings are hung.

i mentioned already that f’s dad was into old french cooking of innards and such. on the menu was “riz de veau” and we got into a discussion of it. i had thought it was something like veal kidneys or brains or something like that, but he and the chef explained to me that it was the “thymus” of the veal – the gland that allows the calf to digest its mother’s milk. they told me it was very subtle and light. this is probably the most objectionable thing to eat for principled vegetarians (the ones that are vegetarians because of principle). sorry to them for this, but i decided i needed to be daring and have a new culinary experience. i asked the chef to recommend a glass of wine to go with it. i was given a choice of red or white, because, both go with these. i chose white. now, i have tried kidneys (by accident) and i have eaten livers and even a taste of brains. i am not a fan, but this was totally different. as they promised, they were light and subtle. they had the texture of pure animal fat. this might not sound appetizing, but they were delicious. the combination with the wine, was amazing. it was, as they had promised, light and subtle. fat has a lot of flavor, but i have been trying to live on a low fat diet. i was concerned about this. i asked the chef how much fat there was and he told me “none”. i told him (in french) that i felt enlightened and that it was the beginning of a new era for me. i admit, i was exaggerating a little and i’m not going to be eating these often but they really were great. f’s dad assured me that it was difficult to cook them and this chef had done an amazing job.

jj wanted f to meet her friend, s, and stay overnight too. s is jj’s twin from boston. s had been at orchestra practice that afternoon too, but went home first. i think that she didn’t want to impose on our dinner. they were trying to figure out how s would come over, since it was getting late. the parents of s decided that they would bring her and then go to a movie nearby, afterwards. by the time they arrived, it was too late for the movie, so we invited them to stay for dessert. it was great, it was a very festive feeling evening. we had good food and good conversation. i had wanted jj to taste the caramel creme brulee that this chef made, but jj ended up ordering ice cream, and getting a caramel flavor. it too was very good.

i liked this restaurant from the beginning because it was charming and had a reasonably priced menu. however, one CAN rack up a bill if you order the more expensive items. the evening ended up not being cheap, but i shouldn’t complain, since it included enlightenment.

s and f got along fine. they are all boston girls.

2 events and new visitor

i heard back from studio today and i have an interview scheduled for monday. i’ll try not to get too stressed about it. it is what it is.

today i had two interesting social engagements. the first one took place at the american ambassador’s residence which is on one of the fanciest streets in paris. it is a few doors down from the elysee palace, (where the french president lives), and has a HUGE garden in the back. (it’s surprising how many hidden gardens paris has. now that google satellite allows you to look down over a city, they are no longer so secret.) the building itself was beautiful, of course. gilt ceilings, beautiful furniture – the whole baroque thing. anyway, the event was organized by the smith college club in paris (my alma mater). the president of the club had been in istanbul and had heard a young smith alumnae speak. her name is farih pandith, and she has been assigned to a newly created position called the “special assistant to the secretary of state for the muslim communities”. hillary clinton is her boss. her job is to have conversations with muslim communities around the world. she travels to all the countries that have muslim communities. many of the countries are not normally associated with islam. scandinavian countries, south american countries, as well as the more traditional muslim countries. her job is to talk to the ordinary people and listen to ideas and connect people to others to help the ideas move forward. she is a very energetic and dynamic woman. i was very proud of her. unfortunately, today the u.s. just started bombing libya. don’t think that will help the conversation too much. the host of the event was the wife of the american ambassador, who is also a smithie. i looked up the ambassador, to find out who he was. amazingly – he used to work in media. he worked at a computer graphics production company i had contact with years ago in san francisco – “wild brain”! he also was CEO of the muppets! his wife is beautiful, poised and well spoken. gladly, it is now recognized, how much the spouse of a diplomat can contribute to the job.

my second event was a potluck dinner organized by the parent group. it took place at a function room for the australian embassy. the host was australian ambassador to unesco and his wife. they were very nice and friendly. the apartment was so close to the eiffel tower that you could only see the bottom half, unless you walked right up to the window. i made a kilo of garlic-lemon shrimp. there was champagne and good wine and very good food for the 50 people. it was a good group and the evening was a lot of fun.

meanwhile, jj’s friend, f., arrived from the u.s. jj went after school to meet her on her own. her parents have rented an apartment on the ile st louis, looking out on the seine, probably the most exclusive spot in paris. jj brought the whole family back to our neighborhood and took them across the street to the “cafe du commerce” an old and authentic brasserie. it was perfect for them, since f.’s dad and friend of his who is also visiting, love the old fashioned french cuisine – all those innards and extremities of animals – kidneys, livers, heads. afterwards, jj took frankie to our home to stay the night. p. left the potluck a little earlier, to go and be with them.

handsome dentist, paddy's day & french homework

jj went to the dentist today. it was an appointment i had made before her ski trip and i was glad that she could go – 3 weeks after her accident – to have her teeth checked. it was an excellent check up. first of all, the dentist was EXTREMELY and SHOCKINGLY handsome. he had steel blue eyes and looked like they should create a part for him on the series “Grey’s Anatomy” – which p.had nicknamed “sexy doctors”. but aside from that, he took another xray and jj’s teeth are fine – no damage from the accident. not only are they fine, but he was quite surprised at how good they were. he asked if she had had braces – because they are so straight. “no.” he asked if she flossed regularly. “yes”. “oh, the americans are good at that. unfortunately the french don’t do it.” he said he didn’t even need to clean them because there was NO plaque. in the states they would’ve cleaned them anyway and charged for it. we left after paying our TWENTY SEVEN euros, which will probably be reimbursed.

today was st patricks day. as a former resident of the republic of ireland, i am ashamed to say, i forgot. p. went out to a pub with his colleagues, which allowed him to leave work at a reasonable hour and so we could go out to eat. i have a long list of little restaurants i want to try. the other day, when tove was here, we went to a 1 star michelin restaurant that ended up costing around 60 euros each. it was a little more inventive than the rest, but not fabulous. but it was one of 4 restaraunts started by the same chef, christian constant. the one we went to was called “fables de la fontaine” –right next to an old fountain. he also has another one star michelin restaurant called “le violon d’ingres” which is supposed to be very good. there is another fashion in paris which is the little down to earth cafe owned by a big famous restaurant. so on the same street this same chef has “les cocottes” (translated “the casseroles”) which just serves the french version of casseroles. it is very reasonably priced. three doors down from that is his other cafe, the “cafe constant” with the mission of feeding the locals croissants in the morning and down to earth food in the evening. neither bistro take reservations, and in paris if you get to a restaurant by 8:15pm, you are the first ones, so that is my often used strategy. i wanted to go to “les cocottes”, and we arrived at 8:15, but strangely, it was already packed. so we went down the street and went into “cafe constant” which was almost empty. we got a nice table and within 15 mins it was also full with a waiting line. it was a lovely evening. simple, reasonably priced meal. p. had a sea bass, or “bar”, in french. crispy skin, delicious. served over mashed pumpkin or sweet potato. i had the duck with fried potatoes and jj had chicken. dessert was profiteroles, apple tart and creme caramel.

jj was doing her french homework since she had a lot that night. she started chuckling and said, “only in france”. she then showed us the chapter in her french vocabulary book titled “L’AMOUR- LES EMOTIONS”. with all the new vocab words in bold, it translates as follows:

gabriel meets mathilda at the home of some friends. he falls in love with mathilda. mathilda, who was alone, falls in love also.

one night, gabriel invites matilda to his home. he kisses her, they kiss. then they spend the night together, they make love. gabriel says “i love you” to mathilda.

they begin a relationship. gabriel is single, he lives alone, but after some months he accepts to live with mathilda. they take an apartment together.

gabriel and mathilda decide to marry. gabriel would like only a civil wedding, but mathilda would like also a religious wedding.

simon and alain are homosexuals. they are living as a couple for the last 5 years. now, in france, their partnership can be official, because now there exists “pacs”(civil union).

we laughed at the passages and even showed it to the waiter who rolled his eyes.

afterward dinner, we got bikes (free city bike system) and crossed under the eiffel tower, which was sparkling at that moment with the new special flashing lights that only go 10 minutes on the hour. we rode diagonally across the champs de mars and then down our little market street home. it was a very fun evening. it was everything special that we love about paris.

along the seine, under eiffel tower

wednesdays are half days for jj and i want to try to take her on regular wednesday afternoon outings. she didn’t have too much homework today and she wanted to sit down at her architecture software and design a bit. so it was 3:00 by the time i dragged her away. it was a beautiful day. i had wanted to bring her to the museum on the quai branley (musee quai branly) which sits on the seine. it is a museum of primitive art, but also notable for its modern architecture and gardens. it also includes a park and cafe and restaurant with views of the eiffel tower. jj needs to see more modern works before her architecture internship starts in june. it also was time for maynard’s walk and we decided to bring him. unfortunately, dogs are not allowed in the park around the museum, so we decide to stroll along the river instead. but before we left, we took pics of maynard sitting in front of the museum sign with the name of its new exhibit called “DOGON”.

we made our way along the side of the seine, just on under the eiffel tower and found a place to sit and have a very bad tea and a very bad crepe. but it was a nice spot so we sat. jj did some homework and i worked on my computer. suddenly, a crowd of identifiably immigrant men (from various origins) flooded down the riverwalk, each carrying large bags or large cloth bundles. they were the souvenir sellers, that hang out under the eiffel tower selling tower replicas. it was like a computer graphics simulation on flocking. like birds chased by hawks, they were running from the police. we saw a cop standing on the stairs waving his arms like he was shooing them away. many of them were smiling - it was like a game. they ran and then stopped to see if they were being chased and like the tide, slowly started going back, then ran again, then slowed and peeked back. suddenly they were running again, 2 cops appeared on bikes. it was like a “running away” nightmare. later we saw the 2 bike cops walking back with 2 sellers. the other thing we saw were 5 men standing on the other side of the river, along the side. they were exactly evenly spaced, all wearing black and facing the wall. 5 men all peeing at the same time and for what seemed like a long time.

french tutor

jj needs to work on speaking french. she hears french all day at school, so she understands pretty well. but kids are not asked to speak much in class. her friends are english speakers so that’s all they speak to each other. the french kids in her grade have mostly been learning english since kindergarten and all speak it quite fluently. their english is so much better than her french that whenever she has contact with them, they go to english. we are more than halfway through the school year, so it’s time to get proactive. i called a recommended french tutor, a lady who was formerly a full time teacher. when i told her that jj was 14, she told me that she normally taught younger children, and wanted to meet her first to evaluate her level, to decide if she could help or not. i actually think she wanted to see if jj was one of those evil teenagers, before she committed. so today, the teacher came over. she seemed nice enough, though a bit nervous. she talked very fast, but we mostly understood her. she has accepted jj as a student and told me she thought jj was very nice.

i also finished updating and translating my artist profile and brought it in to “le veraison”, the restaurant with my paintings. we put it into the back of the wine list.

sent resume

sent in resume.

resume writing

so my weekend task was to update my resume and find my reel. just thinking about my past experiences dredged up all kinds of unfinished and unresolved business in the deep recesses of my brain. i slept badly, thinking about all kinds of job related stuff including wondering how to balance work and family life. but, i had to get down to business writing my “new” resume – knowing that a good resume today is different than the last one i wrote. so i stayed home while m & kerry left early to go sightseeing and p & j went to meet up with them later. they all went biking along the seine, on the closed highway, and then to the marais for lunch. they came back in the early afternoon to pack and leave. happily, i did get it together and p helped me rewrite some more, that evening.

visitors arrive

jj’s friend from her school in boston, m, and her mom, kerry, arrived in paris today. they were visiting friends in switzerland and popped up for the weekend. they are staying with us – m with jj in her room and kerry on the sleeper couch. fun – sort of like college days. it’s great to see them. they were due in around lunchtime, and i realized that they might not know how to use the digital entry. i was going to go down and wait for them. jj was home for lunch. i stuck my head out the window to see if i could see them, and jj stuck her head out the other window. i was about to grab my keys to go down when i heard someone yelling “JJ!!”. and there they were, across the street at the cafe looking up, kerry with her phone to her ear – just about to call us. i ran down to let them in. what luck to have been looking out just at that moment. they came in to drop their bags and went off exploring. jj went back to school and i scrambled to get my resume together and find my reel. the assistant to the producer called me back, late in the afternoon and asked me to send in my resume. my task for the weekend. later we all went out to the cafe on the corner of the park to have dinner.

afterwards, we walked by the restaurant with my paintings to look in the window, but the chef waved to us to come in. so we went in and did a tour to look at the paintings. i was pleased.

hung painting exhibit; possible job

i brought my paintings to the restaurant today, and put them up on the walls. it was really fun. i originally was going to put the chimney paintings in the back room but the chef, rightly recommended putting them in the front where there is such nice light. i put up all the paintings i have done since being in paris, except for the one of tasha, the cat, which i have already delivered. our apartment walls look so barren now. i am waiting to hear from the chef when we can do an opening party. this was a big deal for me. the first time my paintings are exhibited in a public space.

then, with that landmark in my life accomplished, i called the local computer animation studio, to make contact and see about possible jobs. i guess i should mention here that we have decided to stay in paris for another year, if we can. p has good work and i could possibly work at this studio. jj has accepted the idea. our decision seemed to revolve around whether the school was really a terrible idea and would be damaging to poor little jj’s sensitive soul or brain. we have ascertained that she will survive another year. we all love paris. my friend, jane, who i mentioned above, is in education, and assured us that coming back for 11th grade would be fine. coming back for only the last year, 12th grade, wouldn’t be a great idea. so we will put off the decision of whether to have jj graduate from this school or return to boston for the last 2 years of high school. so knowing that we will stay another year, allowed me to entertain the idea of working. our friend, roy, who works for disney told me i should talk to this studio – he has a good friend who is producer there. it is about 3 blocks from our apartment and jj is older and more independant now. i certainly have concerns about how much time i’d be away from her. i don’t want her to be a “latch-key” kid. but the studio IS just 3 blocks away. and then there is maynard, the dog. but he’ll just have to adapt. anyway, i called them and left a message.

crepes with karen, joel and anna

karen and joel and anna came to paris and jj and i met them for lunch near jj’s school. it is wednesday, so jj has half a day.  i was friends with karen and joel when i lived in nyc. i met them through my friend, jane, who lived in the same building. back then, their son aaron was around 5 and later anna was born. aaron is now in medical school and anna is a gorgeous young woman, living in florence for junior year abroad. just a reminder of time passing. it was really fun to see them and to talk to anna. they picked a crepe place that is called “crepe contemporain” and it was great. i had passed the place before but ignored it because it was crepes. the normal crepes around here are pretty standard – ham, cheese, or ham and cheese. maybe salmon. but this one had much more interesting stuff – sort of like a continuation of the “american” crepes that were fashionable in the 70’s. i had a mushroom crepe. jj had a duck, potato and apple crepe.

katie perry

we had gone to a rock concert with jj last fall, at a small venue in paris, and had loved it. it was a special pleasure to go to a small concert hall and have such an intimate performance. so, carried away by this spirit, we booked tickets to katie perry for march 7. the concert hall was in a big public park with a science theme, called parc de la villette. venue was bigger than the last place we went, though not huge. it seats 3000? people, so we thought we’d try it. jj’s friend, amber was going too. i bought tickets for the 3 of us, and p decided not to go, so we offered to another of jj’s friends who said she’d take it. then the weekend before, she said she wouldn’t go after all. my mistake for not getting a commitment in the form of cash. i think she never even mentioned it to her mom. anyway, we were going to try to sell the ticket when we got there.

the concert was scheduled to start at 7:30. jj wanted to get there as early as possible, but there was a school fair at 5:30 presenting summer camps, that i wanted to take her to. we would not be able to leave until 6 or 6:30. amber and her mom were going to drive over at 6:00, so jj asked them to save us seats. we left at 6:30 and took the metro. the concert was at the most distant point from us, diagonally across paris, but the metro was fairly efficient with only one transfer, we were there in 40 mins. meanwhile, it turned out, amber’s dad was driving and through the miracle of cell phones, we discovered that they were driving around and around looking for the park. we ended up arriving first and saving them seats. but happily, amber’s dad, who did not have a ticket, decided he would buy ours and stay for the show. they did not arrive until after the warm up band had played and the dj had played – around 8:30, so it took them 2 and a half hours to get there!. according to jj, katie perry is a teeny bopper idol, so there were lots of younger girls in the audience and lots of older parental types. amber’s little sister came too, and the 3 girls sat together and screamed and waved their hands and rocked their fists. we parents were smiling, watching them and amber got mad at her parents and told them to stop looking. katie perry was ok. a bit too teeny bopper, many pieces seemed to lack structure, or much melody. i don’t know her music much, but there were a couple of big hits that were familiar. she has a strong voice. there were a lot of loud pieces and then she sang a quiet piece with acoustic guitar that was quite beautiful. the theme was candyland and the decor was all sugary and sweet giant pieces of candy. it was more disneyland than rock and roll. i laughed that her handsome male band members were clean cut and dressed in white suits with pastel trim and white hats and shoes. they looked VERY 70’s.

there were videos in between pieces that gave her time to change outfits and tried to stitch the songs together into a “wizard of oz” type story. not my type of music, but entertaining enough for me to sit through.

jj sick

jj has been home sick since wednesday. unfortunately, she caught the little tummy bug that both p and had before vacation. she slept very late yesterday, and i, the very devoted mom, woke her up at noon just to say, “here is some bread and ginger ale. i’m off to the champagne tasting.” then, that evening, we left her to take tove to the restaurant where i am hoping to have the art show. she was feeling better when we got back, but i’m afraid she’s had a relapse overnight. it doesn’t surprise me, since it took p and i a week to get over it. anyway, about the art show - it’s a “go”. i am going to bring my paintings by next week and hang them! need to work out the details with the owner.

champagne tasting

with the danger of sounding much too decadent, i need to tell you the following.

i had the idea of a champagne tasting where i would get a bunch of people to split the cost of several champagnes. i asked my friend, tove, who wrote a book on champagne to recommend some brands. i also got a list from the wine buyer of a british wine club. i have to admit, i spent a lot of time searching for specific names of champagnes and trying to figure out the format of the tasting. i had thought that every corner wine store would have all the names on my list, but it wasn’t as easy as that. it turns out the small vineyards have too few bottles of production to sell everywhere. they find their own little markets, sometimes a few restaurants, sometimes only selling in a small foreign country.

i set a date a few times, but couldn’t get enough people to come, and got some feedback on the proposed cost. so i decided to go “public” and offer it through the parent group. then, tove said she was coming to visit and she agreed to lead a degustation, so i scheduled it for then. i then committed to buying the champagne with hopes that everything would work out and i would get paid back. i found a local shop with several of the specific champagnes and a mail order website with others. i was nervous about ordering from a website and having the bottles shipped, but this particular merchant had them delivered and it was quick and easy.

tove arrived last night. she is a norwegian journalist whom i met when i went to a french language immersian program in montpellier france, many years ago. we got to be friends as we tried to learn about french wines. then when i moved to paris i said, “tove, you should come too.” and she did. then p and i took her to epernay to taste champagnes, and she fell in love – with the champagne. she became such an expert that she wrote her champagne book, (in norwegian).

today was our tasting. it was hosted by giuse, a lovely and classy italian woman who is also a parent in the school. her beautiful apartment is next door to the prime minister’s home. (once, she hosted a potluck for parents and one friend accidently tried to go to the prime minister’s house instead. she saw all the police and thought, “gosh, giuse lives in such a fancy building.” when the police asked where she was going, she said, “oh, isn’t this where the pot luck is?”) in addition to tove, giuse and me, we had 14 people.  cost was 15 euros per person.  these events are usually all women, but one man took off work to come. another woman also took off from work but said she had to leave the tasting early, to go back to work. she said, “we have a new minister now, you know”. gosh! a new minister? i couldn’t imagine she actually meant the new minister of foreign affairs (secretary of state) in france. it’s been in the news – a scandal with the ex-minister and a former prime minister is the new minister as of last tuesday. but, yes, indeed, that’s who she meant, and that’s where she works! i was thrilled that she would take off for work to come. i asked her what her colleagues would think when she came back with champagne on her breath and she said “they’re all jealous. i told them where i was going”.

everyone bought little light things to eat which were very delicious. we had some smoked salmon and duck fois gras – which both go particularly well with champagne. we had a wonderful informative tasting. we had 5 champagnes from different regions, made of different combinations of grapes. i had a fear they would all end up tasting the same. there was really no such danger. it was really fun! here are the notes for the event. 

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PIA DEGUSTATION de CHAMPAGNE, March 4, 2011

rue de Varennes, Paris

Basics of champagne – how it’s made – ferments twice – bubbles made in 2nd fermentation

     - 1st fermentation done just after harvest like normal wine

          o put grape juice in tanks (steel tanks or wood barrels) for a few months

     - assemblage done in feb/march – blend of several years from different parcels and different grapes – know approx ratios to start.

          o a grande maison like Bollinger might use 100 diff wines in their champagne. 8 different villages

          o a small house might blend 10-15 wines

          o blend according to recipe

     - tirage = 2nd fermentation –

          o bottle it with yeast and sugar (know exactly how much for certain pressure)

          o cap with metal cap (like soda bottle)

          o yeast and sugar creates c02

          o fermentation is done in a couple of weeks

          o bottle stays in cellar 15 months min (by law)

          o more time is better, because wine continues to change

          o deposit of “lie” of yeast and sugar goes to bottom, is sticky

     - remuage - when time is decided

          o could be 20 years, but usually 4-5 years, vintage millisime = 3 years

          o need to get sticky deposit to the top of bottle

          o bottle angled down slightly, so “lie” slowly moves toward narrow part of bottle

          o after a little while, turn bottle ¼ turn and increase angle slightly

          o repeat until finally upside down.

          o by hand would take 6 weeks, but now, machines (gyro palette) do it 7-10 days

     - degorgement - when all deposit gathered at top of bottle (pressure = 6x atmosphere)

          o keep bottle upside down, freeze top of bottle to -29C

          o turn right side up, upper part of neck is frozen, remove cap and upper level of frozen deposit pops out. rest of champagne stays in bottle.

          o some houses put date of degorgement on bottle – the more recent the degorgement, the fresher the wine.

     - add liqueur d’expedition or liqueur de dosage – sweet liqueur which determines champagne sweetness – sec, demi-sec, brut (sweet, med sweet, less sweet)

     - cork and label it

4 main regions of champagne

     cote de blanc – only chardonnay grapes

     montagne de reims – primarily pinot noir

     vallee de la marne

     aube – further south ( a couple of hours drive )

Types of grapes: need to remove skins in time so color doesn’t darken wine

     pinot noir (black grape)= marsh/foresty/masculine

     pinot meunier (black grape)– more floral

     chardonnay (white grape) = brioche, butter, vanilla, when older taste = toast, chocolate

RM = recoltant manipulant – only their own grapes

NM = negotiant manipulant – buys other grapes in addition to using their own.

Terroir – soil gives different flavors

DEGUSTATION

Duval Leroy – in town of Vertus in southern most part of Cote de Blanc area. Currently run   by the widow of Mr Duval Leroy who died in 1991. She is Belgian.

Uses majority chardonnay grapes. Basic champagnes are fairly light. Good aperitif. They do not only make chardonnay wines (todays is not all chard). They own fields scattered around and buy grapes from small producers. They make blends too. They are a fairly big house. They grow only around 1/4 of grapes they use. Produces 16 million bottles (at time of book). (NM)” Fleur de champagne premier cru “(under 30 E)

Pierre Moncuit –from Mesnil in Cotes de Blanc, pure Blanc de Blanc (only chardonnay grapes). RM

“Hugues de Coulmet Blanc de Blanc “ (under 30 E )

Margaine – town of Villers Marmery in Montagne de Reims region– this wine is 90% chardonnay 10% pinot noir, but mainly makes blanc de blanc “Premiere Cru Brut “(under 30 E)

Egly Ouriet – 100% Pinot Meunier “Brut Premier Cru Les Vignes de Vrigny” (under 40 E)

Rene Geoffroy –Pinot Meunier based and Pinot Noir– more floral “Nuance”(under 30 E)

Gosset – vintage 2000, grande maison (chardonnay and pinot noir)– (45E)

on being a foreigner

living in a france, i am a foreigner and am aware of it constantly. even though i speak a passable amount of french, even little things take mental energy. the other day i had an encounter with our green grocer that underlined this feeling. it was around 8:30 in the morning and i was coming back from walking maynard. it was a tuesday, so the first day of work for the green grocer who is normally closed on sunday afternoon and monday. the shop has no glass windows, with the fruits arranged on platters extending into the street and so is very open air. he was putting out and arranging all his new vegetables. i asked if he was open yet. i got some sort of response, which didn’t seem to be negative. he is also an immigrant of some sort and so his french is not unaccented. i asked again and he seemed to nod as he mumbled something. so i entered the shop. i picked out some apples for breakfast and walked up to him, where he was standing arranging fruits. when i analyzed my actions later, i realized that it was a way for me to tell him i was ready to pay. he looked at me and said in french

” madame, do you know the shop?”.

“what?”, i said, not understanding.

“madame, are you familiar with the shop? i know that, in fact you live across the street. so i know you are familiar with the shop?”

“uh, yes, i guess”.

“then, WHERE is the cash register?”

“uh, over there.”

“well then?”

so he wanted me to go the cash register and wait for him. it was actually a pretty rude way of saying it. i wasn’t trying to be pushy, i was just trying to signal to him that i was ready. i was very embarrassed and so avoided going in for a few days. i now refer to him as the “rude dude”.   p. has had his own similar events.

the next time i was in, i tried extra hard to chat with him and be friendly. it’s silly that it was I, who should feel embarrassed. this is just to buy some fruit. i think about how easy it is to go into whole foods in boston, without too much fear of doing something culturally wrong. i know how it works. i know what to say. it underlined how i am a foreigner here. it emphasized how this is not home. there are americans who live their whole adult life here. i guess it is a learning process.

back from boston

the boston trip was very fast. 3.5 days with the family in new hampshire – my brother picked us up at the airport, which was very nice. he was staying with my mother for the week that my sister was away. we got to see him for a couple of hours and the next morning he was off very early. my sister came back that evening, but we didn’t see her till the next day. i finished up a bunch of cleaning of my mother’s house, that my brother had started. it was a very short stay because wednesday we headed down to boston. we stayed with leslie and joel and s. and had a good old juicy burger at jj’s favorite burger joint. these few days were non stop eating and socializing. friday we got to visit our house. i thought it was beautiful! the tenants have added some nice things and the house looked great. we went to the attic to dig through our impossible pile of storage. we found a few things to bring back. then it was lunch, ice cream, dinner with different friends, ending with a mom/daughter joint sleepover at some other friends. then saturday we headed back to leslie and joels to repack. joel then drove us to the airport. i was surprised at how much i enjoyed being back and felt a re-connect with the town. i really liked it. i did not have the feeling i thought i would, that it was boring there. i felt at home. i think we will stay in paris for another year, but then i’d be happy to be back.

this week have been trying to take hold of my schedule. constantly thwarted. i did do some painting. working through my iris group. but i don’t seem to be able to get more than 2-3 hours a day. today jj is sick and i have been cleaning the apt for the arrival of tove. that took all morning – plus having had a bad night, got a late start.

it seems that we are leaning more and more towards staying for another year. yesterday i met an american (walking her dog in the champs de mars) who said her daughter got a wonderful education at this school. she said that right now, part of the problem is that the school system is going through a big change. president sarkozy is cutting the budget and asking the teachers to work more, and they already get such low pay, they are not happy about things. many are just sticking it out until retirement. she said many teachers are buying their own school supplies – but that happens in the states as well. but that would explain some things. according to the lecture i went to, the “renowned” french school system is failing. more and more kids are not getting an education at all. reading problems etc...