other internship story

had lunch with sandra & sara at” le timbre”, the restaurant near luxembourg gardens and vavin metro. the chef is british. (i've written about this restaurant already - but "le timbre" means postage stamp and it is a tiny restaurant). we all ordered the "rouget" - red snapper on top of mashed potatoes and it was excellent. sandra said it might have been one of the best meal she’s had in paris! it was delicious and the white rhone wine they recommended went just right with it. we also all had the home made "mille feuille" - napolean for dessert. that was fantastic too. just 3 pastry wafers with pastry cream between them. it was an indulgence for me. when we were leaving, i asked the chef what the special subtle taste was in the mashed potatoes. he said it was just parsley, but i had tasted something almost nutty. he said with a little embarrassed look, “well, it had a LOT of butter”. god. if a chef calls it a lot of butter, it was probably insane amounts. not good for the cholesterol, i’m afraid. and that, in addition to the dessert...

during lunch, sara told us about her son’s first day at his internship. he was working with an architect too. the architect called last week to say that he had to go out of town, “on-site” at his architectural project. he said that the son could go with him. they agreed to meet at the train station early monday morning. she had told us about this before, and we asked if she had ever met this man, who would take her 14 year old son to a remote corner of france. she had not, and she got a little nervous... anyway, she figured she’d meet him that morning and make any assessments. she told her son to be all packed and ready to go monday morning at 8:30 and to have the architect’s phone numbers. monday morning at 8:00, the son asks the mom, “where are the suitcases?” “what!? i told you that you had to be all packed and ready to go!” so they went down into storage to get the cases and were late arriving at the train. they did not have train tickets but knew at which carriage to meet him, but they couldn’t find him. she asked the son for the phone number, but he had only taken the HOME phone number. the son got on the train and the train left the station as she scrambled to call her husband to find the number. her son called to say that he was asked to leave his seat because it was a reserved seat of someone else. luckily, her husband found the email and the cell phone number. she got hold of the architect who was in the dining car getting a coffee, and he apologized to her. it all was fine in the end, but what stress watching your son leave on a train like that! the kids are still kids, but hopefully, they are learning to be more in charge of themselves.

marianne left today and her older son, eric will come over to stay. libby and he will leave in the wee hours of tomorrow morning (5am) to catch the bus to the airport in beauvais where they have cheap flights back to parma. libby is going to travel with eric around a few cities in italy. it has been so enjoyable spending time with libby and getting to know her. she has felt like a younger cousin to me and an older cousin to jj. it was cute to see them go off together shopping and hear them planning rendezvous after jj got off of work. she has invited jj to go visit her on her own, in parma sometime.

dinner with cousins

met my cousin and family and brought them to “cafe du commerce” across the street, since it was another brasserie that could handle 8-9 people. it wasn’t great. i have voted against them for a while now, as each time i go i am not too impressed. i tried something new tonight – cuttlefish, which i thought was the same as squid. i didn’t like it at all. it had a weird texture. some ordered the roast chicken which actually was very tasty. i still love their oysters also. afterwards, they went off to see the eiffel tower. again, i woke up at 3am, and libby was not home. i figured she was having fun at the champs de mars where a lot of young people hang out on a summer’s eve. again, they had gone to get velibs, even though we live close by, but they walked in the wrong direction and eventually walked in a big circle to get back.

fete de la musique

for many years now, paris has had a party on the summer solstice. it is the “fetes de la musique” or “festival of music”. apparently, there had been a blossoming music scene in paris many years ago but it was squashed when the government decided to tax any live music performed in public. the fete de la musique is an evening when anyone who has access to an instrument can bring it out and perform in public without “authorization”. the french love music, but mostly are really bad at it. the worst musicians, if you can even call them musicians, come out on this evening. jj’s violin teacher says that any real musician cringes and hides on this evening. but it is a BIG party. everyone is out wandering the streets, dancing and partying. it was such a success that it has spread around the world to different cities. i am all for celebrating the longest day of the year.

in fact, jj was supposed to have her last orchestra concert tonight. we had been toying with letting her quit the orchestra because it was much below her level and was demanding more and more time. i felt that she should finish out the year, as the conscientious thing to do. i figured we could go out to fete de la musique after her concert finished, but i assumed that the concert would be in paris. when i found out that in fact, it was out in the suburbs and did not start until 8:30 and knew their habit of having ALL the concerts play at the same concert for hours and hours, it was the straw that broke the camel’s back. we decided to blow it off. it was just too much to ask of her, with her full time internship.

we planned to meet my cousin, marianne and the family (husband and sons) at brasserie balzar, located in the latin quarter, a great animated neighborhood. the metros were packed at 8:00 in the evening, a hint of things to come. brasserie balzar had been a famous brasserie in the old days. about 15 years ago, it had been bought by a big chain. there had been an outcry that such an institution should become part of a corporation. as i recall, the faithful clients decided to protest, by going there and having dinner... they were unable to stop the deal from going forward in spite of their radical action, and as they had feared, the quality went down. dinner tonight wasn’t great, but it was a place where 9 people could sit together for a french dinner. the young men of the group ate impressive quantities of food.

they told us about their tourist day from hell at versailles. it was quite an interesting story for us to frame our life here.  my cousin's husband is an upper level manager in new york. i always knew him as an easy going guy, but now he has spent many years as a manager. he admitted that certain things push his buttons and one of them is workers talking on cell phones when they should be working. the ticket seller was making them wait while she talked on the phone to her friend and it made him mad. he had very limited french so all he could say to her was “vite!” [quick!], which of course made it a situation. it pissed her off and she sat there and stared at him, refusing to sell his ticket. the two of them stood there for minutes angrily staring at each other while the guard asked the ticket lady, what was going on. finally, my cousin and family just walked away. so, she won, they lost and all had bad vibes. i didn’t get a chance to tell him about p’s theory of the basic difference in attitude between france and the US. the US is a CONSUMER favored society, where the customer is the important party. making the customer happy is the goal. france is a PRODUCER society, where the producer is favored. the worker is most important. it’s more important to make the salesperson in the shop happy, rather than the customer. it favors the teachers over the students, the salespeople over the customer. this actually explains why the teachers don’t seem to care if the students learn.

in day to day life in france, it’s not worth the confrontation. it’s like in martial arts, when you are taught to take the negative energy (from a punch or a kick coming at you) and divert it or redirect it, rather than try to confront it head on by force. sometimes, though, it’s hard to resist getting mad. i had a phone interaction with a big store the other day, and finally hung up in frustration. “pas de tout” (not at all, no way) they always say, when you ask if it’s possible to get some sort of satisfaction for bad service or unclear conditions.

after dinner, we walked to the ile st louis to have berthillon ice cream and sorbets. i have to agree with popular opinion that this is one of the best ice creams and sorbets in the world. i also love having it while standing at the side of the seine on the ile st louis, looking over at the back of notre dame cathedral on a summer’s evening. libby’s cousin sam came to join us. sam grew up in greenwich connecticut, had gone to john hopkins and was currently doing an exchange at science polytechnic in paris – the harvard of france.

on the way to ice cream and while standing there, we heard some really bad music, but it was a real party. jj loved it. she wanted to stay out all night, but it was 11:30 and she had to go to “work” the next day. so i dragged her away from our little party. we walked to our subway line and the trains were on their normal late evening schedule – namely, not so often. the platform got more and more crowded with people heading home (even though the streets were still full). everybody pushed onto the train, which was already quite crowded. the doors had trouble closing. we were glad to be on the train. at the next stop many people got off, as they were just starting their evening and we were able to get seats, while the train refilled to the brim. we were lucky. jj admitted to me as we got to our street, that she was indeed tired and was glad to be home. p had gone off to wander some more that evening and when he came home he could barely get on the train. libby stayed longer with the family and they ended up in a bar where a few of them were smoking flavored tobacco from water pipes! that is a recent fad around here, but i couldn’t imagine the family hanging out around a hookah...

her cousin, sam brought her to the subway, which at that point had stopped running. there had been talk about the subway running all night, but it seemed unimaginable that the french workers would accept that. they tried to take velib bikes back, but there were none of those around either, of course. not knowing the city at all, she was very nervous about how she would get home. sam ended up walking her home and she got back around 3am. i was a little concerned when i woke up and she wasn’t home, but then i heard her coming up the stairs and figured she just had a good party evening.

lunch and dinner out

today, school moms from adaptation group, at “leo le lion” in 7th near rue cler. was told they have a 12.5 euros menu which includes main course and glass of wine. originally set for 1:00, one mom asked to make it at 12 so she could get to her other activity. so we did, begrudgingly, and of course, she never showed up. i asked for the “carte” and they brought the “a la carte” board which had plates at 22-28 euros. hmm. sort of pricey. there were no prix fixe meals shown– so i learned, you have to ask for the “menu” where the “formules” are shown - 3 course meals for originally 25 euros, but that was crossed out to a sale reduced price of 22 euros, too much food and still not what i was looking for. so finally, i asked, “i heard that you have 12 euro menu “ – “ah oui – but only a plate of the day and a glass of wine for 12.50 “– choice of confit canard or salmon. exactly what we all wanted. we all ordered that. it was delicious and a great deal!

then – dinner at virginie’s, the friend that p met in cuba many years ago. she wants me to do a portrait of their daughter as a modigliani. got to meet her brother for the first time. raoul, her husband is from senegal and is in restaurant work. he made a delicious fresh linguini with homemade aioli (garlic mayonnaise) and fresh shrimp and raw veggies. doesn’t sound good, but was excellent. i made apricot almond tarte, which i was pleased to see finished off.

florence

the last time we stayed here, we were in the newly renovated stables. this time we are staying in another newly renovated building. i went for a run and went up to the old stables. it’s so beautiful here. i got back and p had gone to the small nearby village to get some breakfast for us.

we had pastries and coffee sitting on our little patio, looking at the olive trees and the distant town on the hill. we hung out for a long time and eventually decided it was time to go into florence. it took us 45 mins and we parked in the train station garage – these are all things we remembered from our last stay here. we grabbed some lunch at a place on a smaller road behind the station. it was ok. not great, but we were very hungry. then we wandered down along the river to the ponte vecchio – the old covered bridge – covered with high end jewelry stores. then over to the uffizi gallery which was closed (monday) and into the palazzo vecchio. they had an exhibit of damien hirsch and i thought it would be interesting. it turned out to be just this one piece that he had spent 18 months working on – except that he had jewelers actually doing it. it was a human skull totally covered with real diamonds. it looked like sequins. we had to buy special tickets. there was no line, but they made us wait. when we walked through the door, it was a very small dark room with just this diamond covered skull sitting under a glass cover, lit brightly. 2 security guards stood by the exit. and then we left. we realized that they only let one group in at a time. it was a bit absurd – but that’s the low-art artist in me talking. tshirts of the skull cost 48 euros. i guess he has to pay for those diamonds somehow... we walked through the rest of the palace – incredibly ornate, walls and ceilings covered in renaissance paintings/frescoes. very beautiful, but we sped through it. afterwards, we made our way in search of the famous gelato store. i remembered it was near the church st croce – and we found it, but it was closed on mondays too. so we went and found another gelato stand instead. we wandered over to the duomo and walked around it and the baptistry. we were too late to go in. i led us on a search for some previously favorite florence shopping spots. then it was time to look for another old favorite. as we were preparing to come to italy, i could visualize the restaurant where we had had the bowtie pasta with fresh peas. it was so delicious, that, over the years, we have tried to replicate it over and over, without success. i suddenly could see the place and remembered that the name started with “coco” something. with the miracle of the internet, p picked up his ipad and typed in a couple of things and voila! he found the name of the restaurant. so we made our way over to “coco lezzone”. i had failed to write down the exact address, but p remembered from the google, that it was in a certain neighborhood near the river. there, we asked a few people, some of whom did not speak english, but understood my bad italian and knew the name of the restaurant. (it is amazing that we can figure out what people are saying, not knowing italian). we found the restaurant and it was just as we remembered. the first dining area looked sort of like a bathroom with its white and yellow tile. we were seated in the interior dining room. amazingly, the bowtie pasta with peas was on the menu! farfalle a la pissole. we all ordered a plate. p also ordered soup – he couldn’t decide between 2 different soups so the man said he could have half half. the soup was so thick, that it came in its bowl half/half and didn’t mix. one was tomato bread soup and the other ribolito – meaning re-boiled soup – made of cabbage and vegetables. i was glad he ordered it because i had wanted to try ribolito. it wasn’t my favorite, but the tomato bread soup was great. meanwhile, the farfalle with peas was amazing. i will try again to make it. i think i needed many more peas and some are pureed and act as a sauce. jj ordered roast chicken that we shared. i had an order of beans which the florentines are famous for –even being called the “bean eaters”. these were pretty expensive beans, being that a plate of them cost the same as the pasta. later when we calculated the exchange rate, we realized that this is NOT as cheap as we thought. each small pasta plate and bean plate cost 12Euros which is equivalent to $18. anyway, the waiter then asked if we wanted dessert, but jj was so enamored of the farfalle (which has always been her favorite pasta shape) that she ordered another plate of it instead of dessert. i think she is growing. the best was the response of the waiter, who said “mama mia!” or something like that. the only thing we didn’t like was that at the end, when the waiter gave us the bill, he told us that the service charge was not included, so we dutifully left a percentage tip. typically in france and italy, it is included and we realized later, that he just told us that because we were not italian. he would never tell an italian that, because it was a normal menu. maybe we were being too typically american by not ordering 3 or 4 dishes each, and he felt he had to subsidize things, even though the total wasn’t cheap.

pisa and tuscan countryside

when i woke up this morning, i looked out a little low window in our room and saw a big garden. later found out it was a fancy public garden next door. while jj slept in, p and i went to breakfast across the way – orange juice, cappucino, italian croissant (less buttery but better for the diet) and the whole breakfast was 3 euros each. it was a special deal with the hotel. we had an extra cappucino for 1 euro!
it was empty out on the streets. it felt great. then we got jj up and got her breakfast. we waited for a free walking tour that was supposed to meet at our hotel, but after ½ an hour of waiting, we gave up. we went straight to the shops next door, where we had seen some good stuff. i bought 4 leather bags for presents and a handmade something for a christmas present. (so unlike us to be thinking so far in advance) it was made by the storekeeper and we had him sign it. i gave him a postcard of one of my paintings and he had me sign it. we put our things into the car and then went to the tower. by now, 11:00, it was– very, very crowded. they only let a certain number of people into the tower at a time. they recently stabilized it because it was leaning so far it was going to topple over and then they’d lose their biggest tourist attraction. so we had to wait to go up. so we went for a little walk around town. very nice little town.
the tower is a cylinder, and inside, the stairs spiral around the outer wall. they have been climbed for so many centuries that each stone step is worn down. the funny thing is that because the tower is leaning, the part of the step that is worn is the downhill part. as you walk up the stairs, you are walking in a circle and the worn part of each step shifts slowly from the left part of the step to the right part of the step, depending on which side of the tower you’re on. it’s a weird kind of animation. finally we emerged on the top of the tower which is a bit unnerving, being so high on something that is so obviously leaning.
afterwards, we visited the cathedral, which is huge and built of 2 different colored marble in stripes. it is quite beautiful with intricate carvings on the inside and outside.
meanwhile it was getting quite hot. there were lots of tourists. we wanted to get going to tuscany before it was too late. but before we could leave, we had to rent one of those bike cars, little carts that you peddle. we got the 3 person version. we biked around for a half hour and even let jj drive, though she wasn’t allowed to. we just peddled a block away and swapped seats. then before leaving, we all got a gelato. on our way, we took a shortcut off of the main highway, and of course, it took much longer. we went through lots of little towns and got lost when the main road disappeared and were blocked at a train crossing where the train took 10 minutes just getting there. finally we arrived at our tuscan apartment on an olive farm and vineyard.

years ago, p and i and our good friend joel, arranged a vacation at a vineyard/olive farm in tuscany called “fattoria casa sola” for 3 weeks. it is halfway between florence and siena. we each invited friends from europe and the US to share in the experience. it was an idea that was hatched after watching the film “enchanted april”. people came for a weekend or a week and most were single. my sister and mother also came for a week. p and i had only been going out for around 6 months at that point. that was one of the most fun times i’ve ever had.
anyway, we have returned to this same location 17 years later and it is just as lovely. we arrived around 7:00, just in time to watch the sunset and drink a glass of this vineyard’s wine. i cannot help sighing deeply at this beautiful countryside and at how happy i am. aware that one must be careful not to try to re-enact past experiences, i was open for a new wonderful experience. the people here are the same, mr and mrs gambaro, the owners, and tullio, the caretaker and his wife, maria, who was the cook. they have more help now too. i remembered there was a wonderful restaurant nearby – i even remembered what joel had eaten there that night, that was so delicious – a wide flat pasta with spinach and ricotta. i have tried to recreate that and have gotten close, but never had the same transportive experience.
i asked about that restaurant and they said, “yes, yes, just up the road and on the right.” but their directions didn’t sound like it was the same restaurant. we went anyway. it was not the same restaurant, but it was fantastic. it was called “ristorante la locanda di pietracupa” and had an outdoor patio. since it was warm enough to eat out, we did. i ordered a fabulous pasta with creamy sauce, truffles and squash flowers. it was subtle and rich and very delicious. jj ordered the pappardelle with duck sauce, which was ok. p ordered whole caramelized onions that were amazing. three entire onions – special extra sweet ones from the south – that were dipped in olive oil, and balsamic vinegar, sprinkled with salt and cooked in low heat for 7 hours. we all tasted them, but other than that, p ate 3 whole onions. i ordered the “tagliatelle of beef” which was thin slices of very good steak, cooked on one side only, so the other side was still rare, sprinkled with cracked pepper and laid onto a bed of arugula. delicious. the florentines are known for their beef. we also ordered 2 side dishes – a chard, chopped up finely and cooked was like a more textured version of shredded spinach and roast potatoes with rosemary cooked in olive oil which was amazing. perfectly done, tasty and crispy. lastly, jj ordered dessert - caramelized pear. the pear was the very pointy kind and was cooked in wine, sugar and cinnamon until it was caramelized, then served sitting in this caramelized sauce with cinnamon ice cream. p was over the moon for this one. i will try to recreate this too. i have access to an excellent cinnamon gelato back in paris.

school rock n roll; jadis restaurant

it was a gorgeous day. it’s getting warmer around here and you can tell everyone is happy because of it. we didn’t get enough reservations for brunch for the opening, so i had to send out 100 emails canceling that part of the opening.

jj’s french tutor came today. then jj went to a concert at the school, of a rock and roll band, which included students and some teachers. she said they were really good. the head of the program that jj will go to next year, was in the band. she is a middle-aged woman. i have seen her walking around the neighborhood in her black leather and i could totally imagine her as a rocker. afterwards, jj went to a sleepover. p and i found a cute bar/cafe for a drink. it was south of us, heading more towards the outskirts of town. it was interesting how much CHEAPER the drinks were there. it is on the other side of a main road, which must be some sort of borderline for rent prices. then we went to a well recommended restaurant in the neighborhood called “jadis”. it was very difficult to make reservations. i had tried for a couple of weeks, and finally made it a few days ahead on wed – but could only get late it for 9:30. they have a menu at 25 and 34 euros. i had a shellfish stew – which tasted like a finer version of bouillabaisse. p had carpaccio of daurade – which is very thin slices of raw fish. then i had the “blanquette de veau” which is veal in a white sauce – i think it was the cheeks. having had a recent interesting veal experience, i wanted to try more new foods. this ended up being just pieces of meat. it wasn’t fabulous. p had a fish, which was ok. we shared an interesting dessert made up of meringue boats filled with passionfruit ice cream. tasty. it was good overall, but not memorable.

bhv and felafel

today our conversation group went to the home of a lady who is russian and speaks french pretty well, but wants to work on her english.
afterwards i went over to a store called bhv – bazaar hotel de ville. it is a department store but in the basement it is like a super hardware store carrying everything that you didn’t realize you needed. all kinds of stuff to fix your electric devices, screws, nails, even stuff to fix your own shoes if you want. got some timers for our radiators and all kinds of little things and the bill came up to $150! not cheap but full coverage.
went to the marais (jewish quarter/gay quarter, very old quarter, very hip) to go get some felafel at “ l’as du felafel” on rue de rosier. i had been trying to go there for ages. i heard they were good, and very cheap. even though i am not a felafel devotee, i wanted to try them. in fact, the felafel was fantastic! the bread was fresh, the felafel light and the sandwich included all kinds of nice raw veggies. i highly recommend it! (and i think it cost $5 for lunch).

"le cantine du troquet" restaurant

i had been wanting to try the restaurant called “le cantine du troquet”, since august, when my friend monique came through town and told me about it. weeks went by. finally, we planned to go tonight as a family. the restaurant is in the 14th arrondissement, opens at 7 and doesn’t take reservations. it’s a hot new place, but since the french don’t eat dinner before 8, the plan was to get there at 7:30.
jj came home and said she wanted to go meet her friends for dinner before they all went off on october holiday. ok, that would allow p and i to have a date. so jj went across town on the metro with a friend. (note another step of independance). meanwhile, p was incommunicado – i just could not get through to him. so instead of sitting at home waiting, at 7:15 i headed to the restaurant hoping that he would call me. it was a strange feeling heading to a place not knowing if i would hear from him. felt like long ago days of being on my own. happily everything worked out and p called as i was getting off the bus. he took a tram and then a velib bike to meet me there.
it was a charming, hip, “down home” style restaurant where many tables are big communal ones. it is the 2nd restaurant of the chef Christian Etchebest who owns “le troquet”, a fancier restaurant in the 15th arr.
the menu was written on a big blackboard and was very reasonable. it is billed as a “basque” restaurant, but i’m not sure what that means exactly. it felt very traditional – with kidneys and head of veal, on the menu. i decided to be adventurous and try something old to the world, but new to me. i had the pigs ears for appetizer. they were sliced into shreds, deep fried and served on lettuce. it was sort of like very chewy, slivered bacon. tasty, but the sort of deep fried thing i have been trying to avoid eating in my new low fat stage. that said, for main course, i had lamb. it was tender and tasty, with a nice sauce on it, but just that – a slab of meat on a plate. though a bowl of homemade fries did appear too. p had morille mushrooms with eggs and then a fish called “lieu” (pollack). we walked back along the next road over, which had food shops and restaurants all along. it felt very old fashioned unlike our road with all the new chain clothing stores. we really liked the feeling. meanwhile, jj made her way home with her friend, again on the metro. she got off one stop after her friend and walked home and let herself in. we arrived home just a few minutes after she did.