liamsaunt

One hour to go on the flight and the WiFi is actually working so…honestly the traffic in Paris is really bad, but the traffic where we live is just as bad, if not worse. It does not matter how far you are going, it always seems to take a minimum of an hour to get there. This is true in the city itself or in the surrounding towns. When I was still working, my job was in Boston right by Fenway Park and I actually stopped transferring to the subway from the commuter rail to get to my office because the subway was so slow I could just walk there in the same amount of time. And the commuter rail took just as long and cost almost as much as driving in would have, but at least you could read the paper or a book while you rode in on the train, assuming the WiFi worked and you could get a seat (both debatable). One interesting thing about cars in Paris is that the mayor recently closed many of the inner roads to cars. Only taxis and busses can use them now. She wants more people to bike and walk. It was really pleasant for us pedestrians!

Well we certainly got our steps in yesterday. We walked all over St. Germaine and then all the way up to the Arc du Triomphe. Shopping on the Champs d Elysees was not for me. It’s mostly chain stores and mostly featuring three things I do not not like: perfume, fashion, and jewelry. I did go briefly into the Galleries de Lafayette because they had a Wicked exhibit and I wanted to take pictures for my niece. The perfume smell quickly drove us back out This is one of the costumes Ariana Grande wore. I cannot tell you how excited I was to find out by walking up to it that she is shorter than me. Everyone is taller than me! OK, I only have half an inch on her but it’s something 😂 I took this photo of a Ferrari you can rent for my nephew. No I will not be allowing him to rent it when we come in April, but he can dream haha Neither of us wanted a full dinner so we just went to a cafe. I had a slice of spinach quiche And husband had a slice of pate en croute We somehow found room for dessert and split a coffee sundae. And that’s it for this visit. We are on the plane waiting to fly home, so I best wrap this up. Thanks for following along, and if anyone has tips for my April trip, I am all ears!

Thanks! We get sick a lot on vacations too. I don’t know why. I did end up getting sick too, but it’s just a cold, and could be a worse one. We spent the day walking around and trying to shop, but I didn’t really see anything I wanted to buy. I brought a completely empty suitcase with me, and it looks like it might be going home almost empty too! We did make it to Shakespeare and Company though, where I bought a few books. There are signs everywhere saying not to take photos, but my husband snapped one anyway. He says he did not see the signs, and he thought this area was staged for photo ops. Since he took it, I made him send it to me to include in this report. It is definitely possible that he did not see the signs. It’s happened before. We decided we felt well enough to eat out, so went to the reservation I made at Le Soufflé earlier in the vacation. We opted for a salad and two soufflés instead of the suggested three courses of soufflés on the menu. Salad Cheese soufflé for me spinach soufflé for husband Grand Mariner soufflé for dessert. They leave the bottle on the table so you can add as much or as little as you want. Coffee crème for me, brandy for husband Followed by another walk through the Christmas market Last full day tomorrow. We have much walking planned.

That’s very cool that you know the location! We are here until Saturday. I was aware of some of the history, though I did not know Julia Child hung out there. I knew about Hemingway and Joyce though. Yesterday we headed out to the Orsay Museum. We stopped at a little cafe on the way over called Au Sauvignon. Cafe creme I had a plate of smoked salmon with Poilane bread Husband had a toast with ham and truffle cheese I love the interior of the Orsay museum. We had reservations for dinner at a Michelin starred restaurant last evening, but it turned out that my husband accidentally made it for this date but next month! They were of course completely full, so we were out of luck. He was starting to feel under the weather, so it was just as well. We walked home and checked out the side streets near our apartment. We ended up just sharing a plate of some of the food I had purchased at a nearby market earlier and calling it a night Today was a wash for food too, because husband woke up feeling like he had a cold. We luckily have n95 masks with us as part of our post-covid packing protocol, so we’re still able to get out, but decided not to dine out in case he is contagious. Luckily we had no set dining plans, so nothing to cancel. We spent the day relaxing at the apartment to see if that would help him feel a little better. This is the living room. Note the blankets on the sofas. The apartment is a bit chilly at times so we sit under the blankets at night. And the view In the afternoon we went over to the Louvre. No photos from inside, but here’s a few scenic shots from when we were leaving and our walk home Hopefully husband will wake up feeling a bit better tomorrow and food plans will be back on track.

Yesterday we slept a little later than normal, but that’s ok, we had no set plans. We ended up going to a cafe around the corner that was recommended in the apartment guidebook. There was a line of people waiting to be seated, but the host took us right away, so the other groups must have been larger parties. We just wanted coffee and sandwiches Vegetarian croque monsieur (spinach and mushrooms swapped in for ham) and standard croque monsieur for husband I looked up the cafe when we got home to see why it seemed so popular, and apparently it was featured in the show Emily in Paris. Who knew? Not me. I thought this was interesting. It is a huge receptacle for recycling glass bottles. They are all over. The apartment building has paper, metal, and plastic recycling bins, but if you have glass you need to bring it to one of these. Scene on the way to our destination The Cathedral of Notre Dame, recently reopened The line to get in was long but moving quickly so we jumped in it since we had never bothered to go inside before. It only took ten minutes of waiting before we were inside. It’s stunning. Once you are in you can stay as long as you like. Entrance to the cathedral is free, but we paid 10 euro each to go into the sacristy and see the treasures. They have some really fascinating stuff in there. These are the robes that Napoleon and Josephine wore when they were crowned Emperor and Empress We ended up spending much more time in the cathedral than we thought we would, so scrapped plans to go over to the Orsay. I wanted to go to Shakespeare and Company but there was a long line to get in, so instead we checked out the Christmas market near the cathedral It was small but charming and not too crowded hot chestnuts lots of cheese Kintoa pork Sweet pretzels Glaceed fruits By this point, husband was feeling a little tired and it was getting late, so we headed back to our apartment to rest for a bit, then went to another cafe recommended in the apartment guide for a quick, late dinner Husband’s Negroni and olives We both had a bowl of vegetable soup I just had a big bowl of mixed mushrooms and husband had John Dory with truffled risotto It was after ten when we finished eating so no dessert for us!

Sunday we spent the day getting acquainted with our new neighborhood and taking in the sights. We stopped by the nearby Christmas market to see what foods were on offer. It was actually mostly crafts and similar. impressive nougat display we stopped in at a random cafe for coffee and eggs Most of the bakeries were closed because it was Sunday, but we did eye some storefronts with tempting treats on our walk to the Eiffel Tower In sight Tower achieved. The last time I was in Paris you could just walk right under it, but it’s all walled off now. I guess it’s been a while since I was last here… We went into the Christmas market at the base of the tower but it was way too crowded, and we only stayed a few moments before leaving. I did take pictures of this pretzel booth with many flavors. We will try again another day. Less crowded scenes We noticed restaurants in barges on the Seine, but did not go down to look closely. This one was a combo art gallery and restaurant Wild rose ringed parakeet hanging out in a tree on the river. Another one for the Merlin bird ID life list (like so many others, I became a bird watcher during COVID times haha) Our walk somehow brought us back to the Plaza de la Concorde And the holiday market for a cafe creme Dinner was at Brasserie Lutetia. Here’s the menu The inside of the restaurant was very bright and loud, so we asked to be seated in the outside area, which was heated and enclosed, and so pretty with lights. There were a few other parties out there too, but I snapped a photo of this empty corner to show the ambiance. Drinks. I had a mocktail with clementine and mint, and husband had some sort of champagne drink Oyster sampler for husband I opted for the sea bass tartare. The tartare was outstanding, I had to share because it was too good to keep to myself, Husband chose the flambéed lobster. It came with frites. I had the sole grenobloise style, and forgot to take a picture! It was so good. For dessert we just shared some berries with chantilly cream

Well, as I said, food is not the top focus of this trip. We will be making reservations when we bring my niece and nephew back with us in April. But for now, we are in a nice part of a big city with lots of dining options. I am sure we will be fine 😀 I have not tried it yet, but might at some point. If I do, I will let you know what I think! Saturday we checked out of the hotel and went to the Orangerie Museum before heading over to the apartment, which is in St. Germaine. It is a very cute building, each floor is one apartment. There are three bedrooms (2 small ), 2.5 very small bathrooms, a living room, dining area, and kitchenette. Here is the little kitchen. It is micro but has everything you need. It’s a very old building and has charming slanted floors and high plaster ceilings, but also modern conveniences like laundry in the apartment, an elevator, and fast WiFi. Pretty perfect other than the fact that we can hear the Metro going under the building, but it’s not bothering us. The commuter train to the Boston and Acela to NYC runs close enough behind our house at home to hear, so we are used to train noise (this is a lot louder though haha). Saturday evening we went to a restaurant near our apartment called Shiro, which is Japanese-French fusion. They offer an omakase menu which sounded perfect for our indecisive selves. They called right after we made the reservation to ask if we had any restrictions and my husband asked if I could swap the meat course for vegetarian or fish and they said no problem. I thought that was really nice. I was just planning on skipping it (I intensely dislike most meat and won’t eat it unless I really, really have to). This was the shared amuse bouche. I unfortunately did not write down notes later that evening, so don’t remember exactly what each was. I can say that the center was a cheesy tasting biscuit topped with smoked salmon and truffle, upper right was a fish tartare, and the left one was a yuzu cream in a crispy shell. That was the order they told us to eat them in, and the last one was my favorite. Next was a salad with raw sea bass and radish. This was really delicious followed by a pumpkin soup. My husband’s had foie gras on top. Mine had a sea scallop. The flavors were very nice, but the soup could have been a little hotter. Next course was lightly cooked haddock in a bouillabaisse sauce. Then our main courses diverged. I was given turbot with truffles, which made me very happy. Husband’s was veal. He’s not a huge veal fan to begin with, but I also think he was jealous of my turbot. Then dessert was a chocolate mousse with strawberry gel and brownie. I would not normally pick chocolate for dessert, but this was very good Some festive lights in the neighborhood on the walk home

Friday got a bit messed up because we way overslept and did not wake up until noon. This is why we flew in early! We got outside and went for a long walk, which helped to get us back on schedule, I think. Some scenic views We popped back into the Christmas market for a cheesy pretzel to share. I think it was only around 3 pm but already getting dark. This sign on one of the festival rides cracked me up. Of course everyone was screaming on the ride. It went upside down. Then we had pre-dinner drinks at the hotel bar (which was always completely jammed for some reason). Husband had Sancerre, and I had a mocktail made from jasmine tea syrup and na sparkling wine We went around the corner to Chez Flottes for a late dinner. Here’s the menu husband wanted foie gras to start I ordered the goat cheese and spinach toast. It was much larger than I was expecting or wanting it to be. I only ate a little and the waiter thought I disliked it. It was actually quite good but I only wanted a bit of it. Husband had the coquilles St Jacques for his main course. I had the sole meuniere, which they offered to filet table side. I am actually pretty good at doing this myself, but let them have at it. We shared a coffee ice cream with coffee syrup and chantilly cream for dessert

I am in Paris for a little pre-holiday visit. The main purpose of the trip is to visit the museums and Christmas markets. We didn’t make any dining reservations before coming over. We are coming back in April and will plan more tightly for that visit, this one is more improvised. We arrived Thursday on the overnight Jet Blue from Boston, and spent a few nights at the Soiftel Faubourg before moving to an apartment for a week starting on Saturday. Here’s the plane menu from Mint class. I did not eat or drink anything because we took off during a bomb cyclone and it was a tad bumpy. Plus, I slept most of the way. Complimentary macarons and a bottle of red wine were in the room on arrival. I don’t drink alcohol, but my husband enjoyed part of it. After crashing for a few (ok, four) hours, we went out to the Christmas market in the Tuileries. We were going out to dinner later, so just walked through to see some of what was on offer. We did not get through the whole thing, but will be back. many dried sausages more sausages and potatoes I loved this rotating windmill with the Three Wise Men inside chocolate “Potato tornado” Many kinds of cheese. They said they could vacuum wrap anything to bring home, but I am not going to risk smuggling anything back. We did buy some to eat while here once we moved to the apartment. We had dinner at L’Ardoise near the hotel. It’s a three course prix fixe at forty euros. We ate here about ten years ago and not much has changed. Menu I had the goat cheese salad to start husband had chestnut soup I had the cod dish and husband had duck We chose the apple fianancier and Paris Brest for desserts. Unfortunately we had to leave most of these behind after finishing the prior two courses. Holiday lights on the way back to the hotel

Spinach, tomato and paneer curry with maharajah rice and naan

It's all the ingredients in the original recipe, with the addition of 1/8 tsp. cayenne and 2-3 tsp. Old Bay seasoning. Doesn't sound very spicy to me, but then again this is a New England cookbook! 😂

Mezze rigatoni with turkey meatball

Sorry it took me so long to get back with these recipes. It has been a bit crazy here. It has been at least 10 years since I have made this casserole, but my note to precook fish referred to the haddock. I used to leave it in bigger chunks and poach it briefly before tossing it with everything else.

Roasted butternut squash and kale soup

Miso broiled salmon with scallion rice and roasted harukei turnips from my farm share box