feldmanlarry

Just being in Paris is wonderful. When I was a teenager, I was with my parents in Paris and found the book “Tropic of Cancer” by Henry Miller. At that time it was not available in the US since it had been censored. I bought the book in Paris and somehow got it sent home. It may have been one of the few copies in the US. In January of this year, Michael and I went to the Henry Miller library on the coast between LA and San Francisco. Michael bought me a copy of the book as a souvenir. This story came back to me as I walked among the book sellers along the Seine.

This person looked so interesting I asked to take a picture. He/she said it was OK since I asked so politely.

Hearing live classical music in a church in Paris was one goal of mine.

There was a string quartet plus the soloist / director. This is the soloist warming up and trying to decide whether the sound was better if they moved back a little.

They played three of my very favorite pieces: Vivaldi’s “4 Seasons” (the highlight piece), Mozart’s” A Little Night Music”, and Pachelbel’s “Canon”. I got a seat in the very first row and was maybe 4 feet from one of the violinists. Two of the performers looked at me and smiled.

After the concert, I ran into the Pont Neuf where people put their names on locks and attach it to the fence. I called Margaret on FaceTime so she could see me putting our locket on the fence. My goal now is to return to the same spot and find it sometime in the future. I’m not sure if they remove them after a while.

I used Patricia Wells’ “Food Lover’s Guide to Paris” that Francisco recommended to me to find a gourmet restaurant near the Pont Neuf and came up with Les Bouquinistes with a famous chef called Guy Savoy. Instead of ordering an entrée, main dish and desert, I ordered a “Degustation”, which is half orders of 6 dishes. Since French portions are small anyway, it wasn’t way too much food. It cost 113 Euros or about $120 plus a tip, including wine. The server recommended 2 glasses of white wine and 2 glasses of red wine. I cut it down to one of each. For my own sake, I’m going to show each of the 6 dishes so probably you’re going to want to skip this.

The first dish was foie gras made with red wine and spices with apricot grape chutney

The second dish was whiting fish and tartar of oysters, curdled cheese, and garden peas.

The third dish was Ravioli of gambas and lemon zucchinis with a ginger and lemongrass emulsion.

The fourth dish was called “Pollock of line with mushrooms, romanesco cabbages, and razor clams” I think they mean Pollock freshly caught.

The fifth dish was Braised Suckling Pig with mashed potatoes.

Finally, Fresh Strawberry, tea matcha meringue, with strawberry and tea matcha sorbet.

This was worth $125. Every dish was a flavor I had never had before, except the strawberries. I’m used to interesting food having strong spices. Nothing was spicy but everything was filled with flavor.

Paris is beautiful. I took this on my walk back to the apartment.