A roundup as unpredictable as the "spring" weather
Celebrating the arrival of spring — sort of — twice: In Paris and Connecticut
Hello! Hello!
When I left Paris in the middle of March, the forsythia were neon yellow, the crocuses were beautiful, but already old news, the magnolias were glorious, the weeping willows were pale green and something was blooming at every turn. Back in Connecticut, I know that spring will come — there are daffodils and hyacinths, the air smells green — it’s just not possible to know when. I tell myself that when spring is finally here, I’ll count myself lucky for having been able to welcome the season twice. In the meantime, I’m still wearing my frayed “writing sweater” and waiting.
I was happy to get a taste of the last of the black truffles and the first of the morels and white asparagus before I had to leave Paris. Now I’m watching as my French friends revel in the arrival of all the wondrous spring produce. Soon the taste of spring will be here, too.
For now, in a spree of randomosity, here’s a peek at some Paris moments as well as a few of the salty things that I loved. If you missed dessert, you can find some here.
Happy almost spring!
The Quiet Moments
Michael and I usually eat dinner late, which means that by the time we get to a restaurant, it’s in full swing. And yet, it’s the early hours, the calm-before-the-storm times that I find beautiful. I’m a sucker for anticipation, for those intervals of uncertainty when anything is possible. Here’s what one of them looked like in Paris at Les Deux Magots — this picture of Simone de Beauvoir hangs above the back banquette in the front room to the left.
For years, I lived across from Deux Magots. I’d write in the morning and go there to read and edit my work in the afternoon, sitting under the portrait of de Beauvoir or, at the opposite end of the banquette, watched over by Ernest Hemingway and Janet Flanner. Those were the days before Emily in Paris, when there were no velvet ropes and no long lines to get in. I could, like de Beauvoir and Jean-Paul Sartre, shuttle between les Deux Magots and the neighboring Café de Flore without ever worrying that there wouldn’t be a quiet table for me.
The Soup That Inspired Me
Sometime, maybe around 2008, I had a mushroom soup at a small bistro in a part of the 5th arrondissement that was an easy walk from our apartment. It was called Les Papilles and it ran in an unusual way — it was a wine shop, so the “wine list” was the bottles on the walls: buy a bottle, pay a little extra for corkage, and order the menu, which was a single, set menu for the evening. The night I had the mushroom soup, I was presented with a bowl that had a pretty arrangement of raw mushrooms and herbs in the center and a large terrine of very hot pureed mushroom soup.
I was to ladle the soup over the little mushroom landscape and dip back into the terrine if I wanted more. I loved the ritual of it so much that I recreated it for my book, Around My French Table. On this trip I returned to Les Papilles and yes, you still buy your wine from the wall, have the day’s menu and pour your own soup.
Last of the Season / First of the Season
When it’s truffle season, the Bistrot Paul Bert makes a dish my husband loves: eggs sunny-side up with a drizzle of warm heavy cream and a shower of black truffle rounds. He had the dish this season, of course, while I opted for a salad with truffles and Comté cheese. You don’t get the same aroma from room temperature truffles as you do from warm ones, but you get the flavor and a slight little crackle — think chips.
At rightly beloved Mokonuts, a perfectly poached egg - with a yolk so round it looked as though it had popped out of a painting — formed the based for tender, deeply flavorful morels, some of my favorite mushrooms. And then there were the white asparagus, expertly cooked by Romain Roudeau at Juveniles, one of our long-time favoritest bistros.
One of My Favorite Meals
Hanz Gueco is madly talented and I’ve loved his food for years, but maybe never more than I love it now at his new restaurant Cheval d’Or (take a look at the review in
). It’s a little French, a little more Asian and a lot more its own, individual, crazily delicious, un-buttonhole-able style. Some of the dishes I loved included custard-filled eggs with potato wafers (standing in for toast soldiers); Salsifis frits à Victor Liong, fried salsify with sweet chili sauce; Cannelon de riz, rice noodles filled with a potato mixture that was a little like hash browns and a little like Michael’s grandmother’s potato pancakes; Bouchées de Saint Jacques, scallop dumplings with beurre blanc and trout roe; and Koulibiac de saumon, Russian coulbiac Asian style. I can’t wait to go back. And next time I want to go with a crowd, so that we can have everything on the menu!Small Plates and Indoor Picnics
Paris is paradise for those of us who are mix-and-match eaters — more and more restaurants are offering small plates instead of traditional menus and there are endless shops with prepared foods to bring home for what I call an indoor picnic. Last month, when friends were coming for lunch, I decided to leave my neighborhood and go to Lastre, a charcuterie that had been recommended to me for its pâté en croute. I bought a couple of pâtés — I loved the chicken with preserved lemon — and some pork rillettes that were adorably (if a little disconcertedly) molded into the shape of a pig and covered in white pig fat, but the unexpected star of my haul was Lastre’s tarte Tatin – it was terrific! File this under “go figure.” (Oh, and there were croissants, not for the charcuterie, but there representing the “br” part of brunch — they were from Pierre Hermé.)
Also fun was the falafel and ham from Maison Cluny, the wonderful gnocchi from Ake (everything from Ake was delicious! — I wish they’d open around the corner from me!) and the chewy, cheesy impossible-to-stop-eating dumplings (called jiaozi) and the Hongshao eggplant from Mao Dumpling Bar near the Marché les Enfants Rouges (yes, I’d like them to open around the corner from me, too).
Random Deliciousness, Pretty Pictures and Fun
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Dorie, you’re irresistible, making us each feel we know you from a distance! Your messages transport us to Paris or Connecticut or New York. Your open-hearted admiration and affection for the people you rub shoulders with is so neighborly and kind. Thank you for being so positive and encouraging. You make the world a nicer, gentler, more comfortably delicious place.
Your writing and photos make me want to book a trip to Paris and quick.