My French Language Partner

For the past couple months, I had the pleasure of meeting and getting to know a lovely French woman here in Paris.

Back in early October, I posted a query to the MESSAGE (my English-speaking mothers' group) online forum: "What is the best way to go about finding a French language partner who might be interested in practicing English?" I immediately received a response back from Suzanne, a British woman who teaches English at an institute in Paris, who said she had a couple students whom she thought might be interested in practicing English with a native speaker. She suggested that I write an introduction about myself and that she would forward it on to her students.

Within a week, I was in email contact with Anne G., a student in Suzanne's class who said she had been born and raised in La Rochelle, a little city on the French Atlantic coast. She was interested in getting together, and this is how we met. Each week for at least 2-3 hours, Anne and I meet at a Parisian cafe and talk. I can't say that we actually converse in French (as I'm not capable of holding a conversation beyond transactions with the vendors and merchants at my local marchés), but fortunately, Anne takes pity on me and patiently answers my questions about French grammar and punctuation, as well as about how systems work in France (education, government, laws, etc.). Anne's English is excellent which has made it possible for us to have wonderful, long conversations, and I feel like we're at the beginning of a long friendship. I have encouraged her and her boyfriend to visit us in the San Francisco Bay Area and they have agreed to come in the future!

This past weekend, David and Jen were able to meet Anne and her boyfriend Damien for the first time. We met at a cozy, homey restaurant in the 15th arrondissement called Cave de l’Os à Moëlle. This buffet-style restaurant was the perfect setting for our first dinner together because all of the dishes were served in big platters or terrines set right on the table or out of pots heating on the gas stove. Desserts lined the entire wall with the fromage (6 different kinds of chevre) on a little cabinet on the wall! We sat at one of three large wooden tables and ate off of charmingly mismatched plates and drank a bottle from their selection of affordable and yummy wines. (N.B. to Emmet and Chris, I now refer to this restaurant as "poor man's Cartet".) We started by helping ourselves to crème de legumes soup, ladled out of a pot on the stove. The soup was tasty, creamy, and warming.

Next, we tackled the dishes on our table: a delicious shredded beet salad in a perfect vinaigrette. All of us loved these beets as they were still crunchy – the best preparation of beets I have ever had. There was a cold lentil dish with small chunks of bacon, also very good. Two kinds of terrines followed: boudin noir (blood) and a terrine campagne (country). I didn’t try the boudin noir terrine, but David and Jen both said it was good. I loved the terrine campagne, enjoying it with homemade cornichons and pearl onions which we could help ourselves to at the table as well. David and I also enjoyed a few tiny sea snails before moving on to the main course: pork cheeks in a pot-au-feu. We served ourselves from the stove again and ladled a rich broth filled with tender pork cheeks and chunks of parsnips, carrots, and brussel sprouts. We were all getting full from the entrées, so none of us could eat more than a ladle full of this soup, but it was still hearty and delicious.

Fromage was next: each of the 6 chevres we tried was so different from the next and each so good. It made me question why I don’t eat chevre every day. We all indulged and exclaimed about how much we love cheese.

Dessert was amazing also: too many to count, but I had two servings of the riz au lait (rice pudding). We also enjoyed the iles-en-flottante (floating islands); the homemade confitures (jams) with a sweet (banana?) bread; apple crumble; fromage blanc (still not my favorite); and a crème de chocolat (a cross between chocolate pudding and rich chocolate milk), served in a little glass jar. I didn’t even get to the crème caramel; stewed prunes; tarte tatin (David and Jen pronounced it “excellent”); fruit compote.... All this for 20€ – a steal! We all left happy and content, feeling that we were sharing the first of many more meals with our new good friends.



Cave de l'Os à Moelle
181 rue de Lourmel (15th arr.)
Metro: Lourmel