Lynna, David, & Emmett's Adventures in Paris

Emmett's buddy Jacques

2005-12-23T16:43:00.000-08:00

One of the best things about our stay in Paris has been the people we've met and the friends with whom we hope to stay in touch.

We had the opportunity to get together with one family several times these past few months. I met Christine through MESSAGE when she hosted a playgroup one morning at her apartment in the St. Germain neighborhood near the Luxembourg Gardens. It turns out that she graduated from Boalt School of Law a few years ago and her mother lives in north Berkeley, not far from our home in Oakland. Christine's son Jacques, who is half-Chinese and half-French, is just 5 days older than Emmett! His older sister Alice is 4 years old.

This family was particularly kind to us as they generously loaned us toys for Emmett, passed on jars of baby food that Jacques would no longer eat, and invited us over several times for dessert and play dates. We invited Christine and Jacques over for one last play date recently (until our next visit!) and the kids were hilarious.

Christine gave Emmett his first graham cracker which he devoured. They horsed around, tumbled over each other, played a friendly game of keep-away with a colorful plastic ring, and discovered how much fun it can be to pound on our French doors. We were endlessly entertained by their antics.

Saying Good-bye to Anabel

2005-12-21T13:43:00.000-08:00

Today was a difficult day for all three of us as we had to say good-bye to Anabel, Emmett's beloved babysitter these past few months. We hired Anabel within a week of our arrival -- she was recommended to us by a MESSAGE mom and she was the first and only person we interviewed. We all got such a good feeling from her and she was highly recommended, so we figured we'd try out the arrangement.

Since that first meeting, Anabel has been taking care of Emmett at least two or three times a week since early September. I very much needed and looked forward to these few hours to go out, run errands, read a bit, write letters, respond to email, etc. Having someone as capable and loving as Anabel whom we trusted was an enormous comfort. Plus, Anabel took care of Emmett at least one night a week which allowed David and me to share a quiet dinner out or see Paris at night on our own.

For the first several weeks, Emmett would cry each time we left him with Anabel. I was certain that it was normal separation anxiety since Emmett was used to spending his entire day with me and I knew that as soon as I left, he would be fine. The first time Emmett went right to her when she arrived was a great day as I remember Anabel exclaiming, "Oh, Emmett loves me, too! He wants to come to me!" I know she has particular affection for babies, and it's become obvious she is quite attached to him. When describing their day together, she has told us, "Emmett kissed me today!", "Emmett and I practiced walking," "He and I danced this afternoon," and "Emmett loves to 'talk' to me."

During a typical day, she would feed him his lunch, take him out for a walk, play at the park, put him down for a short nap, and feed him a snack when he woke up. I know she also sang to him, read books to him, and would crawl around the apartment playing games with him. As an added bonus while Emmett napped, Anabel would do some light housework, something we didn't expect, but greatly appreciated. Throughout these past few months, David and I have half-joked about asking Anabel to come home with us, but because she has relatives in Paris and our house is too small, we knew it wouldn't be possible. We still ask ourselves if it's possible to find someone in the U.S. like Anabel who loves Emmett as much as she does.

Last night, as Anabel was telling us details about her evening with Emmett, she broke down and started crying, telling us that she's going to miss him so much. I couldn't help joining her myself as she told us how much she loves Emmett and how he embraced and kissed her that evening. She also told us that she cried as she watched him sleeping in his bed. I dreaded today as I knew it would be her last time taking care of him. As I took a few photos of her feeding him his lunch, sure enough, we both started weeping.

At the end of the day, before she left, we exchanged phone numbers and addresses and promised to stay in touch. Anabel kissed Emmett several times through her tears and looked like she was trying to remember his baby smell. I told her that we would definitely be back to Paris and would make sure we'd see each other again. The heartbreaking part is that he'll never be this small again and that despite my best efforts, he won't remember all the wonderful times he had with Anabel or how much she loves him. I have every confidence that we'll see her again, but it's just hard to say good-bye (for who knows how long) to someone who shares our love for our baby and who has gotten to know him so well.

I have to go get another Kleenex again now....

My French Language Partner

2005-12-19T18:18:00.000-08:00

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

Churros

2005-12-18T20:27:00.000-08:00

David captured this funny photo of Helen, Jen, and me happily enjoying our churros at the Sunday outdoor market at Bastille. (Emmett's in it, too, but hidden behind me in the backpack). Jen's standing at some strange angle that makes her look like a glowing giant next to two churros-munching hobbits.

Speaking of churros, this past Sunday we sadly said good-bye to the wonderful grandpère-like gentleman who makes the churros (or chichis as they're known here) at the Sunday market. Going to the market together each weekend has been one of our favorite traditions here and we've gotten to know our favorite vendors and merchants. Most first began to recognize us because of Emmett perched in his backpack.

Each Sunday morning, David invariably makes a beeline to the chichi stand the second we emerge from the metro station.

When we arrive for our 3 freshly-prepared, crunchy, hot chichis, the kind monsieur always greets us with a big smile and a friendly greeting ("Ça va?"). He and Emmett invariably have a chat as we wait for our churros to fry. I have a little trouble following some of the conversations, but Emmett seems to understand quite well. After his daughter (or granddaughter?) rolls the hot chichis in sugar and hands us our treat, le monsieur says, "Bonne dimanche!" and gives Emmett a pinch on the cheek or a pat on the head.

This past Sunday, as we waited for our chichis to finish frying, he told us that he would not be at the market for the next two weeks because of the holidays. Sadly and in my broken French, I told him that we would, in fact, be leaving for the United States next week so we wouldn't be visiting for a while. I quickly added that we hoped to be back soon, but I think he sensed our reluctance to say good-bye.

We asked if we could take a photo of him and with a big smile, he leaned over the table, gently stroked Emmett's hair and gave him a tender kiss good-bye on his cheek. It broke my heart, that unexpected display of affection from Monsieur Couteau. It captures perfectly the kind of love and warmth we've experienced from friendly strangers and residents over and over here in Paris, and I'll never forget it. I wish Emmett could remember all of this.... We'll just have to tell him these stories when he's older.

Apartment quirk #5: All-in-One Washer/Dryer

2005-12-18T05:49:00.000-08:00

One of the our favorite appliances here in our apartment is the Arthur Martin Electrolux all-in-one washer/dryer. It's compact (sits in a corner in our kitchen), efficient, relatively quiet, and effective. The interior of the washer holds LOTS of clothes and the clothes come out very clean, albeit a bit stiff because of the hard water here.

The best part about doing laundry is the laundry detergent capsules. One handy little pre-measured capsule of detergent is all we need to clean an entire load. We simply throw a capsule into a cloth mesh bag, zip it up, and toss it into the washer. The outside coating of the capsule dissolves in the water, releasing the soap. The fragrance, although a bit strong, is pleasant.

Once programmed, the dryer begins working after the wash cycle is completed. However, we rarely use the dryer feature as we've found that it takes a while to dry the clothes. We decided it was more energy efficient to line-dry the clothes ourselves. When we first arrived and it was warmer, we would just open the windows. Now that the weather is chilly and we're using space heaters, we just dry our clothes next the heaters. Here is the result (mostly Emmett's bibs, as you'll see).

Glaces et Macarons

2005-12-17T15:29:00.000-08:00

Everyone knows that Paris is known for all of the excellent French cuisine--the fresh ingredients, the myriad variety of cheeses, and of course, the ohhh-so-wonderful desserts. Being the ice cream fiends that we are, we couldn't live in Paris and pass up what is possibly the best ice cream in the world from Berthillon. Our last visit there only served to whet our appetite for another visit.

Last week while on one of our many walks around town, we decided to go to Berthillon and get some ice cream to-go since their Salon de thé closes down rather early by Paris standards (8 pm).

We decided to get three (yes, three!) different flavors in little half-liter containers. The friendly staff behind the counter asked us if we wanted them in boites and since it didn't cost anything extra we said "sure". They packaged each little box into it's own little styrofoam container to keep it cold on the way home; what a nice touch.

OK, so here are the flavors that we got: chocolat noir (dark chocolate), caramel au beurre salé (salted butter caramel), and poire (pear) sorbet. When we got home and opened the boxes, we were delighted to see that the ice creams were fashioned into perfect little square molds. We couldn't wait to try our triple flavor combination.

We decided that rather than try and scoop the ice cream, we'd slice it and this actually worked out great as you can see. It's a good thing that our friends Helen and Jen are here to help us eat all that ice cream this week.

Berthillon
31, rue Saint-Louis-en-l'ile
Metro: Pont Marie

Another absolutely decadent Parisian delight are the elegant little French macarons, cookies that are made of egg whites and pulverized almonds, filled with butter cream, ganache or a fruity filling of jam. Pastry chefs in Paris delight in creating the cookies in various fun and seasonal flavors, including classic chocolate, vanilla, coffee, strawberry, mango, passion fruit, salted caramel, black pepper, and violet, to name just a few of the many possibilities. Lynna calls these delicate sandwich cookies France's answer to the Oreo!

I have to admit that on previous visits to Paris, Lynna and I didn't fully appreciate these airy, nutty, and somewhat expensive little treats. But that has all changed on this trip.

A few weeks back we sampled some of the fabulous macarons from Ladurée while on a walk in the Latin quarter. For the first time, it seemed, we really tasted how good macarons can be. Truly well-made, Ladurée's version are known the world over, for good reason. Each fancy cookie had the perfect balance of filling to cookie. But we had heard that some of the best macarons in Paris can be found at Pierre Hermé.

So this past Thursday, we visited one of Pierre Hermé's shops located on rue Bonaparte and got a sampling of ten different macarons. Some of the flavors were: fruit de la passion et chocolat au lait (passion fruit and milk chocolate), truffe blanche et noisette (white truffle and hazelnut -- which I couldn't eat as je suis allergique) -- and rose. We parked ourselves on a little bench at a little Christmas bazaar and shared a few of them. They were absolutely incredible.

Each delicious bite was greeted with the tender crumbling of the airy, fragile cookie followed by the intense flavor of the filling. Pierre Hermé's unique flavors were absolutely divine and Lynna and I remarked how we didn't expect to like some of the flavor combinations, but were pleasantly surprised by many of them.

My favorite was the passion fruit and milk chocolate and Lynna's was the milk chocolate with praline filling. We were also delighed to find a little guide featuring a color photograph and description of each macaron from the Autumn/Fall Macaron Collection tucked inside our box. Perhaps we'll attempt to make some after we've settled back into our house. We're gathering recipes and tips at the moment because they are apparently not easy to make. Meanwhile, we cannot wait to treat ourselves to a few more of these delightful little treats before we head back to California in (gulp) a week.

Pierre Hermé
72, rue Bonaparte (6th arr.) and 185, rue de Vaugrigard (15th arr.)
Paris

Mexican Food in Paris with Tatiana and Reynaldo

2005-12-17T14:41:00.000-08:00

After hearing from a classmate of mine that there "isn't any good Mexcian food in Paris," I wasn't sure what to think when another classmate of mine (from Venezuela via the Haas School of Business in Berkeley) called up and asked if we were up to meeting for dinner last Sunday for Mexican food. "Ummm, Tatiana, I heard that there isn't any good Mexican food in Paris." She assured me that this place was so crowded on Saturday that she and her boyfriend Reynaldo couldn't be seated. Plus, it had gotten a good rating in our dog-eared, marked up, constantly-referenced guide the 2005/06 Paris Zagat Guide, a gift from our friends Vicki and Stew. So, we packed up Emmett and headed to the 5th arrondissement to Anahuacalli.

Much to our surprise, the restaurant was pretty empty. We were warmly greeted by the staff in both French and Spanish. We were pleasantly surprised by the menu and Tatiana assured us that everything on the menu looked fantastic. Lynna and I shared the tortilla soup and ceviche as our starters.

For our main course, I had the flautas and Lynna had this fabulous beef dish with zucchini blossoms and cuitlacoche (a mushroom-like fungus from Mexico). After Emmett finished the food we brought for him, he tried his first tortilla chip and absolutely loved it!

For dessert, we shared bananas flambé with cajeta (a Mexican caramel made with goat's milk), poached pears with ice cream and a polenta cake with ice cream. They were all delicious.

It was a lot of fun to get to know Tatiana and Reynaldo better. They are living here in Paris not very far from our apartment. Reynaldo recently started a new job with L'Oreal and Tatiana is getting a dual-degree MBA from HEC and Haas. We hope to see them again before we leave. Emmett especially loved Reynaldo, as you can see here.

Anahuacalli
32, rue des Bernardins
Metro: Maubert-Mutualité

Apartment quirk #4: Stove/Oven

2005-12-11T18:56:00.000-08:00

We love the restaurant-quality gas stove/oven the owner bought for her kitchen here in the apartment. The flame underneath the burner roars to a superior scorching hot temperature, perfect for quickly searing meat and seafood in a cast-iron skillet or for sauteeing vegetables. We have a gas stove at home as well, but the flame doesn't get nearly as big or as hot.

The quirky part is the gas oven. For the first two weeks we were here, David and I were stumped as to how to light it. We sent an email to the owner, but didn't receive a reply. We experimented with trying to light it our own way, but stopped quickly fearing that we would cause an explosion of some sort. We tried searching for a downloadable instruction manual on the internet, to no avail. Finally, the owner replied to our query and here are her instructions:

"Here's how to light the oven. For that I use a match (as opposed to the "sparker"--I don't really know what to call it--which I use to light the burners). There is a hole at the bottom of the oven floor. Turn on the oven burner, remembering to hold it in as you do for the burners, and insert the match in the hole till it lights. Keep holding it in and on for up to 30 seconds, to be sure it stays lit. As with the burners, if it shuts off, start over. Look carefully at the setting for the oven when it's turned off. As I recall, that position is rather counter-intuitive. I can remember once or twice thinking I had turned the oven off, but I had really turned it to the highest position. The shelf has become warped, if the word is appropriate for metal, so usually when it begins heating, you hear a loud noise from the metal responding to the heat. The store that sells it is up near La Villette (because there was once a slaughterhouse there, and certain restaurant supply stores were located nearby, as with Les Halles). But I noticed that a Restoration-Hardware type store called Resonances, located near La Madeleine, sells that make of stove, so if you had other questions, you might have them answered there."

Lighting the oven is a two-handed job and still somewhat of a challenge, but we've finally gotten the hang of it. I can rarely light the oven on the first try -- it usually takes at least two to three attempts for me.

But here's the other funny thing: we still haven't figured out how to set the oven at an exact temperature because the oven knob has numbers in place of temperature settings. So when I roast vegetables, I've discovered it's best to set the oven to '6'; for reheating roast chicken or fruit tarts, I use 'somewhere between 2 and 3'. For roasting seafood, I use '4' or '5' depending on the thickness and type of fish. Because I haven't figured out the intricacies and nuances of this fancy oven yet, I've been a little hesitant to embark on any big baking adventures while here.

Apartment quirk #3: Tiny refrigerator

2005-12-10T17:44:00.000-08:00

We are incredibly fortunate to have found an apartment with a cuisine Americaine (large, American-style kitchen). However, we've been confounded by the tiny refrigerator, smaller than those found in even smaller kitchens.

If it were just the two of us, we would probably be able to manage. But because we've been making most of Emmett's baby food and storing it in the freezer, a slightly larger fridge with more freezer space would have been helpful.

On a positive note, living here has made David and I resolve to keep a more efficient, less cluttered refrigerator when we return to the U.S. No more containers of mystery meat, bags of science-experiment worthy produce, and packages of unknown, unmarked frozen food (as much as we can, anyway). That means more trips to our favorite grocery store and our local farmers' markets.

"Forks are for wussies..."

2005-12-10T12:44:00.000-08:00

On my daily walks with Emmett, we often wander over to the Jewish quarter located just an easy 10-minute stroll from our apartment. There are a plethora of kosher delis, bakeries, and falafel shops in that neighborhood alongside clothing and jewelry boutiques, neighborhood cafes and bakeries, and a branch of our beloved Amorino gelateria.

Pastry chef David Lebovitz recommended that we go to his favorite place to get falafel -- L’As du Falafel.

The first time we went was for lunch and the little restaurant was packed, not to mention the line outside for falafel sandwiches to-go. David ordered the lamb shwarma – a warm pita packed with roasted vegetables, cucumber and tomato, succulent slices of roasted lamb freshly shaved off the rotating spit and topped with tahini sauce.

I had the vegetarian falafel plate: a pile of hot and crunchy balls of falafel set in the middle of a plate surrounded by little mounds of hummus, pickled red cabbage, roasted eggplant, cucumber and tomato salad, and baba ganoush. Because they wouldn't allow us to feed Emmett the baby food we brought with us (because it was non-kosher, we believe), Emmett shared the hummus and pita with me which he enjoyed. Along with our side of maison frites (house fries) and a bottle of Nectar d'Israel (turned out to be mango nectar), the bill came to 29€ ... pricy for lunch, but delicious nonetheless.

How delicious?

So delicious that we returned a few days later for a late afternoon snack. This time we stood in line, got our sandwiches to go, and joined the crowd standing in front of the restaurant carefully eating their sandwiches.

David suggested that we might want to ask for forks, my response being the title of this post. It surely wasn't easy to eat our giant stuffed pitas without dropping a few slices of meat or vegetable here and there.

David noted that I even managed to get sauce on my nose. I also thought I heard him say something in reference to me that ended with what sounded like the word "caveman". Hmmph.

And because we happened to be so close to Amorino gelato anyway...

L’As du Falafel 34, rue des Rosiers (M: St. Paul), closed Friday pm and Saturday.

David Decides to Visit a Museum

2005-12-09T13:46:00.000-08:00

I've been here for over three months and hadn't stepped into a single museum in Paris (Lynna went to the Rodin Museum with our friends Chris and Emmet), until this past Thursday. While Anabel watched Emmett in the afternoon, Lynna and I visited the Musée d'Orsay, a museum which houses some of the most amazing Impressionist paintings and sculptures from the 19th century.

I (David) really haven't felt the need to visit any museums since on our previous trips to Paris in 2001, 2002 and 2003, we visited many of the museums multiple times and several of them are still pretty fresh in my memory. But nevertheless, no stay in Paris is complete without a visit to the beautiful d'Orsay, housed in a former train station, so off we went.

There were a few new things in the museum since I last visited it including a current exhibiton that contained this strange contemporary art display with a wheeled fruit stand and plastic oranges and lemons along with two of Van Gogh's self portraits. Apparently, it's some sort of post-historic tryptic. Go figure.

As usual, Lynna got herself the audio tour so she could maximize her museum-going experience. I wandered around the museum and managed to snap a few pictures of some of my favorite paintings (sans flash of course).

The first one is Monet's Gare Saint-Lazare, an absolutely amazing piece of work and this picture doesn't do it justice at all. When you approach this painting up close, it's hard to believe that it's a painting of anything discernible--it's rough and the colors and shapes all seem to blend in a very haphazard fashion; but as you step back, you get a very clear impression of the Saint Lazare train station, the bustle of the people waiting for the trains and the movement of an actual train into the station. It's a truly stunning piece of work.

The second piece that I really like is one of Van Gogh's final paintings before his apparent suicide. The piece is called L'église d'Auvers-sur-Oise, vue du chevet (The Church in Auvers-sur-Oise, View from the Chevet). It's a haunting painting of a church with an ominous dark blue sky. The road in front of the church forks to the left and the right, both seeming to disappear behind the church. For me, this painting seems to represent the turbulence and confusion in Van Gogh's final months. It's eerie and beautiful at the same time.

I also managed to snap a picture of Lynna with one of Monet's famous Water Lilies paintings. One memorable picture that I took of Lynna during our honeymoon in October 2001 was of her in front of a sculpture of a white polar bear, listening to her audio tour guide. Since she got the audio tour again this time, we thought it'd be fun to take the same picture.

Here are the 2001 and 2005 versions:

La Cathédrale Notre Dame de Paris

2005-12-08T16:15:00.000-08:00

On our walk home from running errands a couple nights ago, we decided to pass by Notre Dame Cathedral. Dusk had just set in and the sky behind Notre Dame looked stunning (hard to tell with these photos...we have yet to unleash the full potential of our camera). Emmett had been sitting in the stroller for quite some time, so he was happy to be freed.

A few nights earlier, we had watched as workers on a crane decorated the giant Christmas tree in front of the cathedral, so we were interested in seeing the finished product.

We also gave Emmett a chance to crawl to the very center of France, known as 'Point Zero.' Set in the pavement a couple yards from the main door to the cathedral is a brass marker, and distances from Paris to other cities in France are measured from this point. A few people had left coins on Point Zero which Emmett mistook for playthings and subsequently scattered all over with his little covered paws. Ooops. We pushed all the coins back and took that as a sign to move on....

After hearing part of the beginning of 6:15 pm mass and signing their Book of Life*, we headed home.

*Sad news from home...For those of you who live in the San Francisco Bay Area, you have probably heard about the story of a missing San Francisco man named Jerry Tang. He is a close childhood friend of good friends of ours and someone I had the privilege of hiking with last year. Volunteer and search efforts have been tremendous and are ongoing. It's hard for us to not be able to help out from afar, but we are keeping close tabs on events. Our thoughts and prayers are with him and his family.

Paris: the City of Light indeed....

2005-12-08T05:58:00.000-08:00

Paris is often popularly referred to as the "City of Light". Being here during the holiday season has really emphasized this aspect of being in Paris even more. Although we don't get to go out at night as much as we would like--since Emmett sleeps at around 9:00 pm or thereabouts--we have had a few chances to catch some of the city lights.

The Champs-Élysées has Christmas lights lighting the main stretch of road all the way up to the Étoile and the Arc de Triomphe. Additionally, the Tour Eiffel is lit up at night and every hour, it glitters for about 10 minutes. We were fortunate enough to catch this event one night as soon as we finished up our dinner at Au Bon Accueil, a great restaurant in the 7th arrondissement.

And as you've already seen, Notre Dame can be incredibly beautiful at night when it is all lit up as well. Keeping true to its name, Paris sure can be one pretty city long after the sun has set.

I hear that an evening bus ride is supposed to be one of the best ways to experience the city lights, but we haven't had the opportunity to do this yet. Hopefully, we'll get a chance to figure out the bus schedules and routes before we leave so that we can take our evening tour around Paris. We'll keep you posted.

Dinner at Bistrot Paul Bert

2005-12-07T14:52:00.000-08:00

For my parents' last evening in Paris a couple weeks ago, David and I took them to Bistrot Paul Bert, a short metro ride from our apartment. Neither of us had been here, so we were a bit nervous about bringing my parents and Emmett, not knowing how close together the tables were situated.

We have been in some tiny restaurants where Emmett's portable booster chair is pushed up *right* next to another table making us nervous that he'll reach over and grab something or someone. We needn't have worried because we were greeted warmly and seated at a roomy table where Emmett sat comfortably at the head.

The daily-changing menu was brought to us on a chalkboard, propped up on a chair.

Here's what we had:

Carpaccio de veau et rognons aux girolles confites (veal and veal kidney carpaccio with chanterelle mushrooms which David thoroughly enjoyed)
Salade de cresson et son oeuf poché à la creme de lardons (watercress salad with a poached egg in a creamy bacon dressing that was a refreshing change from the usual frisee salad with bacon. The cress added a spiciness and different kind of crunch which I loved.)
Feuilleté de ris de veau à la crème de cepes (Veal sweetbread in a puff pastry with porcini mushroom cream -- very decadent, but my mother ate every bite. She loved this preparation.)
Tartare de cabillaud à la citronelle (Hearty chunks of cod and perfectly diced little vegetables in a fruity citrus-olive oil dressing)
Lievre à la royale et sa purée maison (Wild hare with foie gras and celery puree)
Tournedos d'agneau à la huile de poivre et sa polenta (Bacon-wrapped lamb seared in olive oil with a crunch polenta cake)
Entrecote de bouef à la moelle et ses frites maison (David and I both ordered this rib-eye steak that was perfectly charred on the outside and sprinkled with sauteed shallot and topped with chunks of bone marrow. The fries were the only disappointment as they were very thickly cut and not fried long enough in my opinion.)

Dessert:

Croustillant aux pommes et son caramel au beurre salé (slivers of apple baked in a filo dough 'purse') with a sauce of caramel of salted butter
Fondant au chocolat (chocolate cake in a luscious pool of vanilla bean creme anglaise)
Fontainbleau au coulis de fraise (soft sweetened cheese enriched with whipped cream in a strawberry sauce)
Nougat glacé maison et ses coings confit aux epices (Nougat ice cream with spiced quince confit)

My parents exclaimed several times during the meal how much they loved the food and the restaurant. My dad, who is usually rather reticent, told our servers twice that the food was excellent. My mom who can be a tough critic to please, asked me, "How did you ever find this place?" Emmett even shared his appreciation by clapping for one of the servers which made her laugh out loud and run to bring the other server over to have him come see.

The service we received was very warm, the two servers doted on Emmett throughout the night, and the terrific menu had a little of everything: standard Parisian and contemporary French fare. Every dish was executed perfectly, and to us, it perfectly represented what typical Paris bistros are serving these days: one or two very fresh ingredients highlighted simply and creatively with not too much fuss or muss.

We will definitely return.

Bistrot Paul Bert
18, rue Paul Bert (11th arr.)

Another Great Picture of Paris

2005-12-07T01:58:00.000-08:00

Last week we went to the Montmartre district of Paris to check out a few linen stores nearby and it was just a beautiful day. As we approached the Basilique du Sacré Cœur the sun was low in the sky and the reflection off of the clouds to the west created this brilliant pink-colored light, which shone off of the white church building. Since it was a weekday, Montmartre wasn't overrun with people either, so it made for a perfect picture opportunity. Here's the picture I took from the bottom of the hill.

Quirky Things About our Apartment #2: Houseplants

2005-12-06T15:11:00.000-08:00

(Sorry we've fallen behind on this "Apartment Quirk" series. There are too many to list, but we'll try to share a few more before we leave.)

We are the reluctant caretakers of 100* houseplants...

Our apartment has 5 large, almost floor-to-ceiling windows. Outside of each of these windows is a narrow ledge on which the owner of this apartment has crowded with a myriad of potted plants, including rose bushes, geraniums, a grapevine, a willow tree, herbs, ivys, fruit trees, and ferns.

Yes, they add beauty and charm to the outside of our apartment, but I spend way too much time watering and fertilizing these plants. This was not part of the description of the apartment, but I'm terrified of killing them** lest I incur the wrath of the professor, so I fret and worry about keeping them alive.

To make this task even more formidable is the fact that she only has two small watering cans. Thus, each window full of plants requires that I fill two cans, carefully walk to the chosen window so as not to spill a drop of water on the hardwood, water the plants, go back to refill both watering cans, and water the remaining plants again. Multiply this by 5 windows and multiple this again by 3 times a week (at her request) and you can understand some of my frustration. On top of this, the instructions from Professor X state that I must fertilize these plants with two different kinds of fertilizer (one for the fruit trees, the other for flowering plants) every fourth or fifth time I water these plants.

* Okay, maybe it's not 100, as David's mom pointed out to me, but a cursory count indicated there were at least 70.
** I started this entry in September. As of today, I think I've already killed at least 4 of her plants :( And I don't think the leaves are turning brown, drying up, and falling off because it's fall. Sorry, Professor X!

Le Salon Saveurs

2005-12-04T13:13:00.000-08:00

The first Sunday of each month is free museum day in Paris. We've been meaning to take advantage of this opportunity since we arrived and our plan was to go to the Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris's museum of modern art.

However, on our way home from running errands on Saturday night, I spotted a billboard in the metro station for a salon taking place over the weekend. Impulsively, we decided to postpone our trip to the Pompidou and go to the salon instead.

One of our favorite things about living in Paris is the myriad of salons that take place seemingly every weekend. A salon can best be described as an indoor exposition or show, and they're usually held at a convention center or exhibition hall. We've only attended two salons, the Salon du Chocolat and the one I'm about to describe below, but we've seen billboards in the metro stations and around the city advertising others that usually take place over a weekend. These include salons devoted to tea; cheese; weddings; certified organic products (known here as Agriculture Biologique or AB); farmers' and artisanal products; swimming and aquasports; women's health; sports and fitness; and a salon devoted entirely to celebrating Christmas!

On Sunday, we attended the Salon Saveurs des Plaisirs Gourmands, a food show focusing on (mostly) French artisanal products. Here, purveyors and producers set up elaborate tables and displays and come to talk about and sell their products, most of them offering samples.

This twice-yearly food show held at the Espace Champerret in the 17th arrondissement was a food lover's fantasy come true! Over the course of a little over 3 hours, the three of us tasted our way through stalls upon stalls of delicious products, met friendly food artisans from all over France, and filled up on some tasty goodies to bring home. The December edition apparently has a special focus on Christmas delicacies in France -- foie gras, oysters, truffles, glazed chesnuts, chocolate, champagne -- and there was a section this year with specialties from Italy.

We made an effort to arrive on the early side, and it's a good thing we did because by the time we left, the exhibition hall was rather crowded, being a Sunday and all. The show was set up in two huge halls, with a myriad of small stands at which you could taste and buy a great variety of products. The moment we walked in, we were immediately offered samples of cheese, charcuterie, fresh and canned seafood, condiments, foie gras, olive oil, cookies, fresh fruit juices, honey, jam, chocolate, dried fruit, bread, cakes, pastries, candy, cooking equipment, wine, beer... and a host of other foods too many to remember. The food producers were very friendly and helpful, not to mention generous with their samples.

All that sampling tired us out after a bit, so we decided to sit down and relax with a cleverly designed plate of a dozen raw oysters, complete with a lemon wedge and a built-in cup holder for a bit of white wine! We were also given some butter for the slices of wheat toast that were neatly placed in baskets on all of the tables.

David noticed a cluster of people gathered around eating something creamy, gooey, thick out of bowls. We watched the servers stirring a vat of what looked like mashed potatoes with an oar and decided we had to have some. Indeed we found that it is the best thing to have happened to mashed potatoes.

Aligot (pronounced "ah-lee-go") is a specialty from the Auvergne region of France and is a mixture of mashed potatoes, tomme cheese, cream, butter, and garlic. The result? An elastic-y, out-of-this-world version of mashed potatoes that's warm, filling, fun to eat, and soooo delicious!

Emmett enjoyed a few bites, too. Not only have we found a restaurant that serves it in Paris, but we found a recipe, too, so we'll definitely make it for you once we perfect this elastic-y version of mashed potatoes. We've been dreaming about aligot ever since we got home (and kicking ourselves for not ordering another bowl...).

After sampling more tasty treats, we shared a bowl of the most delicious little raviolis ever, simply bathed in just a few swirls of olive oil. The little pillows were warm and tender and filled with the perfect ratio of cheese to pasta. Naturally, we had to sample the ice cream so we backtracked through the hall until we located the one vendor selling ice cream, Monsieur Fabien Foenix, a.k.a. Mister Ice. I had a scoop each of the chocolat mendiant (chocolate with bits of almonds and dried fruit) and the caramel au beurre salé (caramel of salted butter) while David had a scoop each of the cassis (red currant) and pomme verte (green apple) sorbets. He also sampled some wines and a delicious cognac he's still talking about today.

Best of all, because the subject matter was delicious food, everyone was in a festive mood! A woman accidentally brushed against me and apologized profusely; another woman picked up Emmett's little container of food that rolled away from me; a man backed into me and said "pardonnez-moi" twice; lots of people "tres mignon"-ed Emmett; and a woman tasting wine next to us struck up a friendly conversation. Artisans and purveyors were welcoming and took their time answering our questions. It almost felt like one big cocktail party with everyone standing aroung munching, drinking, and chatting happiy about the food. We saw many people pulling caddies and small dollies, filled to the brim with their favorite treats, perhaps to give away as gifts.

The three of us all went home exhausted but happy, with Emmett's backpack full of goodies (move over, diapers!). Here's what we brought home:

A jar of marron glace confiture (candied chestnut jam) that I was told would be good on my morning baguette with butter, on a crepe, or with yogurt or fromage blanc.
A little sack of chocolate-covered Sauternes grapes. David took one sample and had to buy some to take home.
A bag of pruneaux d'agen, the best prunes we've ever tasted. They are moist, tender, and sweet with a hint of chocolate. I made a lamb tagine last week that called for prunes and David loved it, wondering why we've never cooked with prunes before. This trip has opened my eyes to the possibilities of prunes!
Two kinds of dry-cured pork sausages (the green one is covered in herbs). This was our first purchase because it was one of the first things we sampled.
A little jar of pavés de raisin (pâte de fruits). Little cubes of fruit jellies that taste just like eating Muscat grapes.
A pot of creme de marron or chestnut creme. I've been eating and buying all the chestnut products I can while I'm here because it's such a French food and much more expensive in the U.S.
A small bag of a dried herb mix for rubbing on lamb. Our friend Jim loves lamb, so we picked this up for him.
A block of demi-sel beurre or slightly salted butter from Monsieur Jean-Yves Bordier. His butter -- le Beurre Bordier -- is a beurre de baratte which is butter that's taken at a certain temperature/texture, then beaten/worked/relaxed with two small wooden paddles. It was fun to watch the gentleman shave a hunk off of a huge block of butter and pat it into a perfect rectangle with his paddles. We came home and immediately spread this on some fresh campagne bread...so simple and so decadent. David keeps asking, "How does pure butter get so yellow?"
A bottle of muscat wine from the Alsace region that David sampled and loved.

Here's a picture of our loot!

I hope we can come back for another show in the near future. This was definitely not to be missed....

A Virtual Trip to Jouy-en-Josas

2005-12-01T15:42:00.000-08:00

Now that I only have two weeks of school left, I thought that I'd finally post some pictures of my campus and the long trek that I have to make there to go to class. This past Wednesday, I took pictures of my commute and thought I'd take you on a "virtual trip" to HEC in Jouy-en-Josas. So, here we go!

11:46 am: I first board metro line 9 at Oberkampf, which is about a three minute walk from our apartment building. I take this metro line two stops to the Strasbourg-Saint Denis stop and then transfer to metro line 4 towards Porte d'Orleans.

12:07 pm: I arrive at the Montparnasse-Bienvenue metro stop and have a long walk through the underground metro tunnels until I arrive at Gare Montparnasse (train station), which services the suburban commuter trains, but also the high-speed TGV trains bound for south-western France.

12:15 pm: I catch the SNCF "ter Centre" train bound for Chartres, which makes its first stop at the Versailles-Chantiers train station. This train arrives at Versailles-Chantiers remarkably quickly and I have my good friend Michael R. who was on exchange at HEC last fall to thank for the tip on this secret "fast train".

12:28 pm: I arrive at the Versailles-Chantiers train station and make my way down to platform J to catch the "VICK" RER C train which will take me to Jouy-en-Josas.

12:38 pm: The RER C "VICK" train departs from Versailles-Chantiers and after a brief stop at Petit Jouy Les Loges, arrives at Jouy-en-Josas at 12:46 pm.

12:48 pm: I catch the Z bus from the train station at Jouy-en-Josas, which will take me directly to the HEC campus, where I arrive a few minutes before my 1:00 pm class.

The HEC campus is relatively small, but it's situated in a very beautiful location. All of my classes take place in the MBA building, a round building that has about six large classrooms on the ground floor, another six to eight smaller classrooms upstairs and administrative offices on the third floor (the second floor in France, since the ground floor here is considered floor zero). Here are a couple of other pictures of the campus.

These last couple of pictures show the route I have to take if I need to walk back to the train station from campus, which is pretty much every day that I go to class. The first picture is of the back-road short-cut which is a very dimly lit path with occasional stairs that leads down to one of the main roads, rue de la Libération (second picture). Note: this path can be pretty trecherous when it's dark and raining out -- luckily I haven't faced those conditions very many times.

Getting back home to our apartment in Paris from Jouy-en-Josas is another whole ordeal which I won't bother with since this is already probably more information than you'd like to know about my trek to HEC. Overall, it's not a bad commute and I definitely like the convenience of living in Paris as opposed to Jouy-en-Josas, which is pretty much a one street town with one bakery, a pharmacy, a couple of banks, a grocery store and fewer restaurants than I have fingers on my right hand.

Our Version of the $50 Burger

2005-12-01T12:39:00.000-08:00

About a week ago, we bought about a half a kilogram of foie gras de canard*, the liver of a fattened duck. I seasoned it with some salt and pepper and marinated it in some Calvados apple brandy. We seared some of it last week when Lynna's parents were here and served it with small toasts, some sliced melon and pistachios. It was pretty delicious. Since we still had some foie gras left over, I invited my friend Justin (also on exchange at HEC from USC's Marshall School of Business) over to help us finish it off.

I had heard of a "$50 burger" that has foie gras in it served at some swanky restaurant in New York and after a little bit of research on Google, I found out that Daniel Boulud serves a $50 burger (db Burger Royale) at his restaurant db Bistro Moderne. Apparently, it is made of ground sirloin, wrapped around braised short rib meat with foie gras and black truffles with slices of black truffle on top.

Feeling much less ambitious and not needing the excess of db's "Royale", we decided to just put some foie gras inside our burgers and a slice of seared foie gras on top. It's hard to find hamburger buns here in Paris, but Lynna was able to find these small brioche buns that would probably do the trick.

So we bought some ground beef and ground veal and seasoned it with shallots and sautéed mushrooms. We then placed a thin slice of foie gras inside the meat patty, seared it in a frying pan and then baked the patties in the oven to cook them through. Meanwhile, we seared another slice of foie gras to go on top of the burger. Once everything was ready, we assembled the burgers with the slightly toasted brioche buns, some mache (lamb's lettuce), a slice or two of tomato, some thinly sliced red onion, and some mayonnaise and mustard.

I don't think that I'd pay $50 for the burger we created, but boy was it tasty! I'm not usually one for messing with a simple formula like the classic American hamburger, but I must say that the addition of foie gras really made the burger nice and moist and gave it a great, luxurious flavor. It was definitely a fun way to polish off the rest of that half kilo of foie gras.

* For those of you who feel that eating foie gras contributes to animal cruelty, I apologize. I do understand your concern that force-feeding ducks and geese in order to grow their livers unusually large is inhumane. We all make our own decisions and I, unfortunately, have decided that foie gras is delicious and no more inhumane than the conditions in the mass factory cattle and hog farms that go to support the fast food industry in America. We will just have to agree to disagree. One last footnote: apparently it is now illegal to produce foie gras in California (or at least it will be in six plus years), which is all the more reason for us to take advantage of its abundance over here in France while we're here.

David's last editorial on the subject: Perhaps the California legislature can also find some time (in addition to worrying about the humane treatment of ducks and geese) to tackle equivalently important issues like healthcare, education, the budget deficit and disaster preparedness.

Un petit monde...

2005-11-30T14:34:00.000-08:00

I recently began work as a volunteer doing PR and editing work for MESSAGE, the English-speaking mothers' group I mention all the time as my constant resource. The reason we've gotten so much out of our stay here in Paris is because of this wonderful support network of 1500+ English-speaking parents in and around Paris. Through MESSAGE, I can post questions and get instant advice about anything related to living in Paris, feeding Emmett, where to find XYZ. Best of all, I've had the privilege of meeting and bonding with mothers from such countries as England, Ireland, Scotland, Australia, South Africa, Canada, and the U.S. I feel like I've lived such a sheltered life.

Anyway, last night I attended a PR committee meeting at someone's house where ten of us had dinner and talked. The woman sitting across from me, Cathy, reminded me of someone and I grappled with who it was on and off throughout the night. Her manner of speaking, the inflections of her voice, her mannerisms... I finally realized she reminded me of my first piano teacher in Berlin, Wisconsin named Mrs. Swan.

Background: Berlin (pronounced BER-lin) is a tiny rural farm town of about 5,000 where I lived for 12 years. I loved growing up there and I had a hard time moving to California when I was 13, even though I had relatives there and visited about once a year.

Back to Paris: As we were all bundling up to leave at around midnight to catch the last metro, Cathy turned to me and asked me where I'm from. She told me that she has been living in Paris for 7 years. She married a Frenchman and has twin 4 year-old boys, but most recently lived in Chicago and grew up in Wisconsin.

L: "Really? I grew up in Wisconsin, too... near Oshkosh."
C: "So did I!!" ... (our mouths dropped open when we realized that we're both from Berlin)
L: "You remind me so much of my piano teacher, Mrs. Swan."
C: "My mom is a piano teacher! I'm her daughter, Cathy! I remember you now -- she used to talk about you all the time."

We were dumbfounded and yet ecstatic to have found each other. If I hadn't come to this meeting, if I hadn't been standing where I was standing, if Cathy hadn't struck up a conversation with me or mentioned that she's from Wisconsin....

Needless to say, I hope to be back in touch with Mrs. Swan very soon. I saw her last in 2001 when she came to Oakland to attend her son's wedding and apparently she visits the Bay Area at least once a year, so I hope we'll see each other on her next visit. I felt instantly comfortable with Cathy, whom I vaguely remember seeing at her house when I was younger (Cathy was probably in high school when I was in elementary school.) On the metro ride home, Cathy and I talked nonstop about friends we have in common, including a family that is very close to both of our families, the Field's. These are photos taken during our visit to Berlin in 2002 -- David's first visit to Wisconsin -- when we stayed with the Field's in their home that has been designated as a historic landmark. We used to have Thanksgiving dinner at their house each year.

Emmett's First Hair Cut

2005-11-29T15:07:00.000-08:00

You've probably noticed that Emmett's hair has been getting really long. He's been sporting tails in the back for quite some time and his sideburns have really been in need of a trim. After Lynna did some research on the MESSAGE website for places to take little ones for a hair cut, she found Coup' Kid, a hair salon just for infants and children. On my day off from school, we decided to take Emmett in for his very first haircut at this hair salon in Paris.

Coup' Kid is located in a little plaza of toy stores in the 8th arrondissement on Boulevard des Italiens. When we opened the door to the shop, we were immediately greeted by one woman and noticed that there was a middle-aged man getting a haircut by the lone hairstylist. Why a grown man was getting a haircut in a hair salon for kids was beyond us.

While she finished with the gentleman's hair, we played in the play area filled with toys. When it wa our turn, the receptionist gently placed Emmett into a very comfortable and tall chair, strapped him in and put a shoulder cape around his neck. She also hit the "play" button on the DVD player and a Teletubbies episode (in French) started playing on the small TV screen in front of Emmett. She then spritzed his hair with a little bit of water and the hair stylist got down to business.

While I was videotaping the whole experience for posterity, Emmett was entranced by the Teletubbies show and didn't seem to mind that the hair stylist (whose name we later found out was Sandrine) was busily snipping away at his hair with a very light and deft touch. He wiggled in the chair a couple of times to try and see what she was doing, but he would quickly turn his attention back to the television screen.

Sandrine worked quickly, starting on Emmett's right side, moving towards the back and then on his left side. Then she trimmed the front and top -- Lynna and I were both afraid she'd cut his hair too short and that he'd look naughty afterwards. When she was done cutting, she used a blow-dryer to get the hair off of him, dry his still damp hair and style his new "do". The hair dryer must have scared him a it because he actually started to cry until she was done.

Soon enough, he settled down again and was his happy little self. Emmett also received a "Certificat de ma première coupe" with a little bunch of his hair (about an inch long) taped on. Overall, it was a fun experience and Emmett did a great job sitting still even if he was watching Teletubbies. Here are the results of his first ever hair cut -- we think he looks pretty handsome, even if those ears do seem to stick out even more now!

Allo? Anyone there?

2005-11-28T07:05:00.000-08:00

Emmett mostly plays in our living room where he can crawl all over the hardwood floor and pull himself up to standing on various pieces of furniture. Most of his "toys" are on the floor in the middle of the room on a blanket. One toy that he's taken to is a small Tefal telephone. He likes to pick it up, examine it and then bang it on the floor or throw it. But today, it seemed like he actually figured out its function. All by himself, he picked it up, tried to hold it to his ear and started talking. What a silly little guy.

Bon Dimanche

2005-11-27T05:44:00.000-08:00

We had many things to celebrate on Sunday: the end of the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, our first snowfall and a brief respite of a couple weeks until our next visitors. After a Saturday of light snow on and off throughout the day, we woke up to blue skies and puffy white clouds. Emmett had been under the weather this past week, so we'd kept him indoors since Monday. We figured it was time to give him some fresh air, so we bundled him up in 5 layers and two hats and set out.

We started the day with our usual Sunday ritual of going to our favorite outdoor market near our apartment, the Richard-Lenoir marché. Located near Place de la Bastille, it is one of Paris's biggest and best outdoor markets with over 200 merchants. It is a riot of smells, colors, and sounds and we've always loved it. In the past couple months, I've found my favorite seller of fruits and vegetables (always a huge line, but always the sweetest, freshest produce); my favorite fromager whose not only patient with my French, but warm and gracious each time we see each other; a terrific stand that carries only mushrooms and herbs; and the only pâtisserière in the entire market who sells beautiful tarts, cakes, and pastries.

For David, no Sunday is complete without chichis (churros). For me, no visit to the market is complete without a stop at the Jacky Lorenzo seafood stall.

Did I ever tell you that I buy all my seafood from Tom Cruise? We buy seafood from him twice a week and try not to make it look too obvious that I'm there to not just ogle the fruits de mer (seafood).

Since we share a common passion for ice cream, a celebration in Paris must include a trip to Berthillon, known to many ice cream lovers as the best ice cream in the world. It is certainly Paris's most famous ice cream.

Berthillon is located on the l'Ile-St.-Louis, a little island within the city of Paris surrounded by the Seine River and accessible by several bridges; it is a leisurely 20-minute walk from our apartment. Instead of getting ice cream cones to-go this time, we decided to sit in their salon de thé and enjoy a more leisurely treat. The three of us were seated next to a friendly woman and her 13-year old daughter with whom I practiced my French and they practiced their English. Emmett, (le petit jambon) smiled and played peek-a-boo with them...until our desserts arrived and then he was all business.

David had a Vacherin: one scoop each of framboise (raspberry) sorbet and chocolate ice cream with raspberry sauce, créme Chantilly, and meringues. I had three little scoops of ice cream -- chocolat, caramel au beurre salé (caramel of salted butter), and marron glacé (candied chestnut) -- with a tiny pot of warmed chocolate sauce. (The caramel ice cream was my favorite of the trio.)

Even Emmett got to enjoy a treat on this special day: a thick slice of pain perdu ("lost bread", a.k.a. French toast). It was, by far, the best French toast I have ever tasted: a thick slice of brioche bread that had been dipped in a mixture of egg, vanilla, and sugar and then pan-fried until caramelized and buttery. Emmett required no coaxing whatsoever to open his mouth wide for the warm chunks of lightly sweet toast.

Berthillon
31, rue Saint-Louis-en-l'Ile (4th arr.)

Now He's Really French

2005-11-27T04:25:00.001-08:00

This post is for Aunties Jen C. and Joyce B-Y who have each prodded us to find a beret for Emmett. When we first arrived in Paris, we searched in vain for a baby-sized beret. Whenever we were out and about, we checked in department stores, outdoor market stalls, upscale children's boutiques, hat shops and had no luck. When David's mom visited, we told her about our quest and of course, she managed to find one immediately at a little shop in Montmartre after seeing Sacre Couer.

Here you are, Aunties!

We've had the beret for three weeks and it's taken us this long to take a picture of Emmett where he's looking even moderately unhappy. He *hates* wearing the beret and tears it off his head the instant we put it on. For the sake of "journalistic integrity", I'm posting his usual reaction to the beret:

If Emmett could speak French: "Je déteste le béret!"

SNOW!!!

2005-11-26T13:28:00.000-08:00

We had our first snow of the year here in Paris today. When we woke up this morning it was coming down lightly, but Lynna's parents told me that it was snowing a lot harder earlier in the morning. After about 15 minutes of small snow flurries, the snowflakes started to get bigger. But the ground wasn't cold enough for any of the snow to really build up -- it pretty much melted immediately.

I think it's a bit unusual for it to snow here this early in the winter. When I was working in Paris in December 1998, it snowed quite a bit and everyone at that time told me it was unusual. Luckily there isn't much rain or snow forecast for the next week or so. It was fun to watch the snow coming down this morning, especially for us Californians. Here are a couple of pictures from our apartment window and from the front gate of our apartment complex. The last one looks a lot worse than it really was.

Happy 1st Birthday, Emmett!!

2005-11-19T02:08:00.000-08:00

My parents came to stay with us for an 8-day visit, just in time to celebrate Emmett's first birthday. Before they arrived this afternoon, David, Emmett, and I made a short trip to La Maison du Chocolat, one of our favorite chocolate shops. David chose the chocolatier as a topic to research and write about for his Consumer Knowledge class, so we asked for permission to take a few photos and ask questions. The staff was very warm and gracious with our requests. Incidentally, the store was filled with mostly Japanese tourists.

Here are some photos that hopefully convey the warmth and elegance of the store.

After our our visit, we trekked up to the tiny village of Montmartre to go to Pâtisserie Arnaud Larher, recommended personally to me by David Lebovitz.

The little jewelbox of a shop exceeded our expectations... it practically glowed. The storefront is a deep red and warm orange, the interior is the color of warm butter; and the perfectly placed spotlights made the desserts sparkle! Fortunately, we were the only customers in the little shop for a while, so we were able to take our time asking questions and selecting our cakes.

Our intention had been to buy one little cake for Emmett and a bigger one for us 4 adults to share, but after seeing the tremendous varieties of cakes and not being able to make a decision, we decided to buy 5 little cakes instead.

La Maison du Chocolat
Multiple locations in Paris, one in Tokyo, and one in NY

Pâtisserie Arnaud Larher
53 rue Caulaincourt (18th arr.)

For dinner that night, I made a braised beef recipe from one of Patricia Wells' cookbooks that calls for two full bottles of red wine (!!). Emmett had petits pois et cuisse de canard (baby peas and duck leg), spinach, carrots and whole wheat bread.

After dinner, we used video conferencing technology from SightSpeed and thanks to the wonders of technology and the internet, David's parents were not only able to sing Emmett happy birthday from over 5,000 miles away, but they watched him devour his birthday cake, too! Emmett was lucky to have all four grandparents watch him enjoy his first birthday cake -- the Coquelícot -- raspberry genoise, raspberry mousse, red berry gelée enveloped in a white cake.

Thanks to all of you who remembered his birthday! It meant the world to us to receive your warm greetings. What a fortunate baby he is to have so many people who love him.

Beaujolais Nouveau has arrived indeed!

2005-11-18T13:40:00.000-08:00

Here is a sampling of all the posters we've come across around the city, each advertising a different makers' Beaujolais. Like the wine, each poster has its own unique character.

Just a Really Nice Picture of Paris

2005-11-17T16:33:00.000-08:00

Anabel watched Emmett this afternoon while Lynna and I headed out to do some shopping. Along the way, we came upon the Pont des Arts, a pedestrian bridge across the Seine, just west of Pont Neuf and the Ile-de-St. Louis. Lynna took this most excellent photograph just as the sun was starting to set behind us; it pretty much sums up Paris for both of us: simply beautiful.

Le Beaujolais Nouveau est Arrivé!!!

2005-11-17T15:46:00.000-08:00

It's the third Thursday in November and that can mean only one thing in France: Beaujolais Nouveau. (For more information on Beaujolais Nouveau, click here or check out the website for the Beaujolais region in France.) To celebrate the arrival of this very drinkable wine, we decided to try out the restaurant across the street from our apartment called "Le Vin de Zinc". They had a special "Beaujolais Nouveau" menu for lunch so we packed up Emmett and his booster chair and headed over.

Our landlady told us that this place was probably the best restaurant on the block, but it's taken us awhile to actually try it out. We were pleasantly surprised with the food. They have a set menu where you can choose one of two entrées, one of two plats (main dish) and one of two desserts. We decided to try each of the appetizers and main dishes and then ordered just one of the desserts.

For starters, Lynna had the salade de pót au feu (beef stew with vegetables) and I had the terrine de lièvre (wild hare paté with cornichons and caramelized onion confit) -- both were very good. For our main dishes, Lynna had the petit sále aux lentilles (salted pork with lentil beans) and I had the poitrine de veau (veal chest--sort of like bacon) which came with stewed parsnips. For dessert, we shared the entremet au chocolat, a chocolate dessert that was between a chocolate mousse and chocolate cake. You can see that Emmett wasn't too happy about not being able to share in our dessert.

Of course we had to have two glasses of beaujolais nouveau to wash everything down. I was pleasantly surprised with the quality of the food -- everything was tasty and well-prepared. And for 13 € for the appetizer and main dish, I think we'll be back again, especially since it's so conveniently located. If you look closely at the picture of Lynna and Emmett below, you can see the big iron gate that leads to our apartment complex across the street with our address (22).

2005-11-16T14:46:00.000-08:00

The Christmas (shopping) spirit has officially descended upon Paris!

We stopped by the Galeries Lafayette this afternoon and discovered that they had put up their Christmas tree and set up elaborate, fantastic displays in all of their storefront windows. Much to the delight of adults and children alike, the displays were each unique and amazing -- at least a dozen windows were decorated, each the size of a small room. There was quite a crowd around the outside of the department store admiring the spectacle.

Emmett was enthralled with the music, lights, and characters moving and dancing around.

All those lights really put us in the mood for gelato :) Fortunately, there was an Amorino located inside the department store to satisfy our craving.

2005-11-15T16:04:00.000-08:00

Autumn is here and the temperature keeps dropping and dropping. It's been cloudy in the mornings, but often sunny during the day. We've had a few days of drizzle here and there, but nothing that's really kept us indoors much. We finally started using the heater this week.

We experimented with putting Emmett in a purple full-body bunting. Here was the result....

Emmett's reaction was swift and violent -- total disdain for the outfit. I know I look like an insensitive mother, smiling at his distress, but David and I couldn't help laughing. He wanted 'out of there'!

It probably didn't make matters any better that the bunting was a bit on the tight side....

2005-11-15T13:50:00.000-08:00

David's Tante Wenny and her family came to visit us from Sandhausen, Germany over the weekend. Tante Wenny, Uncle Siegfried, Ulrike, her boyfriend Timo, and Karsten drove 5 hours to Paris and stayed at an Etap Hotel a few metro stops away from our apartment.

I (Lynna) first met Tante Wenny back in 1999 when she came to Southern California to attend David's cousin's wedding. She is David's mom's first cousin on her father's side. I met Tante Wenny's daughter Ulrike briefly in 2000 when she passed through the Bay Area on a backpacking trip with friends. She is now finishing up medical school in Germany. This was my first time meeting Uncle Siegfried, Ulrike's older brother Karsten, and Timo.

We had a great visit with them and it was fun sharing meals as a large group, both at home and out and about. They arrived on a Friday night, so we made dinner for them at home, all of us squeezed, elbow-to-elbow, around our little dining room table.

For lunch on Saturday, we (minus Ulrike and Timo) had crepes at Chez Imogene Creperie near our apartment. Again, we sat cozily next to one another. Then we embarked en masse on a walk down the Champs-Élysée from Place de la Concorde to the Arc de Triomphe. Uncle Siegfried wanted to stop for a look inside the Mercedes-Benz display store, so we joined the throng inside and ogled the new line of cars, many available in Europe only. (On a tangent -- I'm not a big fan of Mercedes vehicles (as if we could ever afford one!), but David and I found a car that we would have loved to own: the B-Class Sports Tourer It's compact, tall, and sporty -- with 4 doors.)

Dinner was back in our neighborhood again at our old favorite (site of our Yoko Ono sighting!) Chez Omar. The staff and owner, Monsieur Omar Guerida, recognize us now, thanks to Emmett and his handy booster seat. The 10 of us were seated at our usual table in the Club de Non-fumeurs. Eating hearty North African grilled meats, couscous, and vegetable stew family-style was so much fun. Emmett sat comfortably in his usual spot near the emergency exit door and happily ate what the rest of us were eating. (It's a break for me, too, to not have to pack food just for him. We just ask for un petit bol et une petite cuillère.)

Too full immediately afterward for dessert, the 10 of us walked back in the direction of our apartment and ended up stopping at another favorite establishment of ours around the corner, Ba-Ta-Clan Café. There, David, Emmett, and I were greeted like old friends by one of the servers who recognized us solely because we are the parents of Emmett and his petite chaise. Once again, the ten of us shared a few desserts, coffee, tea, and beer while watching a soccer match between France and Germany on the big-screen television above the bar. That's something we'll miss from Paris: small, neighborhood casual café/bars that serve incredible meals and desserts.

Sunday was more of the same: Tante Wenny and the family came over to check out the Sunday farmers' market near our apartment and had lunch here before piling into their tiny rental car to head back to Germany.

I think Emmett loved the commotion and buzzing activity this weekend. Best of all he got to meet his doting Oma Wenny and Tante Ulrike. Ulrike and Timo introduced Emmett to a new friend we all named Jean-Louis the donkey. Jean-Louis now sleeps with Emmett in his Pack-n-Play, next to his beloved Bumby from Molly and Alice. Along with Bumby, he'll be a cherished and well-loved friend for years to come, I'm certain.

Dinner at Fish - La Boissonerie

2005-11-11T15:58:00.000-08:00

We had dinner out with David's parents, sans Emmett who stayed home with Anabel, earlier this week at a restaurant called Fish - La Boissonerie, located in the 6th arrondissement in the neighborhood of St. Germain.

The restaurant is co-owned by an American which explained why we heard American English being spoken at several tables nearby. The atmosphere was casual and hip and the service was smart, warm, and efficient. We loved our meal there and would happily return. David and I both felt that the menu reminded us of many we've seen in San Francisco restaurnats, more than any other restaurant we've been to so far in Paris. The chef, Matthew Ong, is Asian which explains the fusion-y creations.

Prices were reasonable as well. 2 courses for 28 Euros, 3 courses for 32.50 Euros. Our meal started with an amuse-bouche: a bowl of paper-thin slices of radish sprinkled with salted ground toasted sesame seeds. (We should make this at home, I thought.) We all couldn't get enough of the bread, brought into the restaurant in baskets throughout the night by our servers who would run to the bakery across the street when the bread supply was low.

We started with some great entrees (appetizers): (Sorry, the photos just don't do justice to the food)
Gambas frit et tomate farcie à la mozzarella di bufala (Fried prawns with a warm tomato stuffed with buffalo-milk mozzarella); Carpaccio de thon à l'huile parfumée à la sauge (Tuna carpaccio with sage-infused oil); and Salade de crabe avec vinaigrette à l'orange (Crab salad with orange vinaigrette).

Everything we tasted was fresh and clean-tasting, and the presentation of each dish was so pretty -- not too fussy, but still done with care.

Our plats consisted of Rascasse rôtie, pomme de terre ratte et prunes sèches sautées, jus de volaille aux noisettes (Roasted red snapper with sauteed small potatoes and dried prunes in a poultry broth with hazelnuts); Cabillaud, pâte imprimée d'herbes, sucs de légumes (Cod with fresh herb-imprinted pasta in a vegetable broth);

Daurade, foie gras poêlé avec confiture d'endive et champignons de bois au cacao (Daurade (fish variety) with panfried foie gras, braised endive, wild mushrooms and cacao); and finally, Truite cuite à la vapeur, risotto aux calamars et mousseline au wasabi (Steamed trout with calamari risotto and wasabi mousseline).

Again, the flavor of all four of our fish dishes was highlighted by the unique ingredients and combinations of flavors. Every morsel was cleaned from our plates.

Believe it or not, we had room for dessert: Terrine de chocolat et cafe, coulis, glace aux lentilles and Crème brulée à l'orange.

We'll definitely return and recommend Fish despite the mostly English-speaking crowd and the smoke.

Fish - La Boissonerie
69, rue de Seine (6th arr.)

Using his noodle...

2005-11-10T14:57:00.000-08:00

Emmett proudly figured out a way to eat noodles tonight... slurp!

Quirky Things About Our Apartment #1: Dresser

2005-11-10T03:38:00.000-08:00

I (David) wanted to start a fun little segment on our blog about our apartment here in Paris. Since things are somewhat different here in France, I thought it'd be fun to highlight some of the quirky things about our particular apartment. Not everything that is quirky about our apartment is necessarily due to the fact that we're in France though -- it could merely be a quirk about the professor from whom we're renting our apartment and the things she buys and collects. I thought I'd focus this first installment on one of the dressers in our apartment.

When we first moved in, we found this dresser in one of the rooms and it was completely empty, made available for our use by the Professor. There are seven drawers, but the peculiar thing is that there are no handles to open the drawers, nor is there anything to grip to open the drawers, which when closed, are completely flush with the rest of the dresser.

Instead, there are four keys that can be inserted into key-holes and then partially turned to open and close the drawers. The other peculiarity is that there are actually three different keys and they don't all fit in each key hole. There is a different key for the top drawer and a different key for the bottom drawer, while the five drawers in the middle are all opened by the same two keys. Strange. But I'm happy to say that we're pretty much used to it now, but every now and then I do still find it strange that I have to pull a key out of one drawer and insert it into another drawer just to open and close it.

Normandy -- Day 3 (Last Day)

2005-11-09T13:10:00.000-08:00

We checked out of our bed and breakfast in the morning after a leisurely breakfast and drove around the countryside to visit some chateaux and taste some Calvados straight from the source. Our first stop was to Château du Breuil, a well-known Calvados distillery in Normandy.

We arrived 30 minutes before they were to close for lunch, so we only had time for a quick walk around the grounds and a tasting (Grandma generously stayed in the car with napping Emmett). Akung (Grandpa) bought a three-pack which contained three half bottles; an XO Calvados, a 12-year-old Calvados, and a Calvados Liquer.
Next, we stopped at the Château Saint Germain-de-Livet, a beautiful castle recommended to us by the proprietor of our bed & breakfast. We didn't have time to take a tour of the interior, but the grounds were absolutely breathtaking and lovingly maintained: a manicured lawn and elaborate flower garden, lush greenery, a duck pond, and wildlife of all sorts -- we saw black swans, white geese, peacocks (including a white one!), and a friendly cat.

Emmett continued napping in the carseat, so he unfortunately didn't get to see this chateau either! What he really needed was to catch up on some sleep and he ended up napping for about 2 1/2 hours!

After a brief stop at Carrefour, the French equivalent of Safeway + Walmart + Circuit City, to pick up some baby food for the train ride home, we drove back to Caen to explore more of the city. Just as we began exploring the Château Ducal, it suddenly started to rain.

Rather than make the trek back to our car, we searched for a place to sit and wait for the rain to die down -- and we were in luck. We wandered into a museum built on the grounds (Musée des Beaux-Arts de Caen) and found to our great surprise that admission was free! "Gratuit -- I think that's my favorite French word!" exclaimed David.

We wandered around the museum and because it was nearly empty, we decided to use that as an opportunity to let Emmett out of his backpack to expend some energy. The floor looked clean enough so we let him crawl around the museum. He loved it, but his squeals of joy and glee were heard by the lone security guard who eyed him suspiciously (and us disapprovingly). The guard kept a close eye on us....

After returning our rental car and picking up some take-out Chinese food, we boarded our train later that evening and made it home to Paris by a little after 10:00 p.m.

Normandy -- Days 1 and 2

2005-11-06T00:47:00.000-08:00

We're back from a 3-day trip to Normandy with David's parents. The SNCF train system here makes it really easy, comfortable, and relatively inexpensive to travel to different parts of France. The trip to Normandy was only 90 minutes long and a steal at 32€ round-trip per person.

We arrived in the city of Caen in the heart of the Normandy region. After renting a car, we drove about 25 miles to our bed and breakfast in the tiny village of Saint Philbert des Champs. La Ferme des Poiriers Roses is a B&B in a restored farmhouse run by Madame Lecomeur who greeted us warmly despite the drizzly, grey weather. The land surrounding the farmhouse was lush and green and filled with apple trees. (We learned that Normandy is a top producer of apples in France and is the place of origin of Calvados--a distilled apple brandy.)

We found our rooms to be full of character and quite unique... David and I have never stayed in a room where the bathtub and toilet are located *in* the room with only a curtain as a separator, and David's parents have never stayed in a room where the bathroom door was padded (like the lid of a coffin!, said David's dad). But the beds were warm and comfortable, the grounds were beautiful, and we enjoyed two wonderful breakfasts consisting of homemade crepes, fruit gratins, fresh-baked bread, yogurt, and apple tarts.

David has become a pro at driving rental cars all over the countrysides and cities of France. On our honeymoon, he drove us around Provence; last month we explored Lyon and the Rhone Valley, and this time, the 5 of us piled into a little Renault Modus and explored cities around the Calvados and Normandy area. On Friday night, we drove around the seaside city of Honfleur, looking for a restaurant recommended by Madame Lecomeur called Au Vieux Honfleur.

All four of us ordered the prix fixe dinner consisting of a starter, main course, and dessert. Our starters (entrées) consisted of feuilleté de sole (Dover sole in puff pastry); rillettes de poissons aux herbes (finely minced fish and herbs over a perfectly dressed salad); raw Normandy oysters.

Our plats (main courses) included raie beurre noisette et capres (skate wing in a browned butter with capers); paupiette de poularde aux morilles (rolled chicken topped with morel mushrooms); and poisson de la Marée a la Normande (cod with mussels and shrimp in a creamy Normandy-style sauce).

Finally, desserts! Délice au chocolat (terrine of chocolate mousse); fruits melba; sablé aux fruits rouges; and an assortment of sorbets. Everyone agreed that our meal here was perfect in every way. Even Emmett enjoyed some jarred baby food (a special treat for him reserved for traveling) that the staff kindly heated and presented with little bowls and spoons.

On Thursday, after a yummy breakfast at our B&B, we headed out to Le Mémorial, the World War II museum on the outskirts of Caen. While David and his parents went through the museum, Emmett didn't seem too interested in the World War II history and much preferred playing in the incredibly well-outfitted halte-garderie (child care center). I'm not sure how it's usually run (it looked like there were regular staff members who work there), but it was empty for most of the time Emmett and I were there. He loved being in his very own little amusement park.

Enclosed within the glass walls and windows was a sunlight-filled room filled with puzzles, wooden and plastic infant/toddler toys, a train table, books, games, a diaper changing area, little cots, craft supplies (for older children up to age 10) and child-sized chairs and tables. I told David that I would have gladly paid admission to go into the museum the following day just so that Emmett could have another day to play.

Afterwards, we went to Bayeux to see the Tapisserie de Bayeux (Bayeux Tapestry) which dates from the 11th century and tells the tale of William the Conqueror's (or William the Bastard, depending on how you look at it) military victory over England and the betrayal of Harold.

Then we drove north to see Omaha Beach, the landing site where the U.S. Infantry divisions suffered the most casualties on D-Day (June 6, 1944). Omaha Beach looks just like any regular beach now with long stretches of beautiful sand, except for the towering metal monument that serves as a reminder of the sacrifices made on D-Day (Jour-J in French).

It was incredibly moving to all of us to step foot on the beach, especially after having seen reenactments of the bloodshed that took place there both in the museum and in movies (David wants to watch "Band of Brothers", the HBO mini-series when he returns home). As it was starting to get cold and windy, we only made a brief stop at the U.S. Military cemetery in Colleville-sur-Mer, but it was still worth the visit. Set against the sea, it is a beautiful and fitting final resting spot for soldiers who lost their lives during the war.

2005-11-06T00:03:00.000-08:00

We just returned from our trip to Normandy and apologize for not communicating in the midst of the riots. Fortunately, we haven't been impacted by the rioting as it's all been centralized in the suburbs surrounding Paris.

We're reading that racial integration is much harder here in France than it is in the United States. Immigrants of Arab and African origin feel marginalized in many parts of France. Unemployment is disproportionately higher in the minority communities and it is comparatively much more difficult for immigrants to move from working class to middle class because of negative attitudes toward them.

Here is a quote from one MESSAGE mother who thinks that part of the problem is that France never seems to have properly recognized and dealt with its failings, particularly during colonial times and the Algerian war. "There seems to be a sort of mass denial, and it's not something which people in France like to discuss or analyze. That for me is the difference with the USA. In the States, there has been the will to lay bare even the ugliest parts of history, including slavery, and to try to repair the damage done (whether or not it has been successful is, of course, another debate). That has just not happened here and many people are ignorant of what the French colonies went through. They are simply not aware of France's responsibility."

I think that sums up some of the history behind the unrest and violence, as pointless and unnecessary as it is. Thank you for checking in with us, and as soon as we unpack we'll be sure to post more details from our travels during the past week soon.

We love Amorino!

2005-10-29T17:05:00.000-07:00

We found a small chain of gelato boutiques in Paris that we don't think existed on previous trips. Amorino makes artisan gelato in the most delicious flavors. If we lived closer to one of their six boutiques around Paris, I would no longer fit into my pants. If I could, I would have a medium-sized cone (moyen cornetto) (which they'll fill with unlimited flavors!!) every single day.

It's a feast for the eyes, too. They use a flat spatula to shape the different flavors into petals, so what they hand you is a huge flower-on-a-cone. And the flavors! I usually go for the chocolate, caramel, and pistachio, but occasionally, I'll mix it up a bit and go for coffee, coconut, Nutella, and/or stracciatella. In addition to coffee and stracciatella, David likes their fruity sorbets: pineapple, strawberry, mango, and pink grapefruit. Today, Emmett got to sample little tiny tastes of David's mango and pineapple sorbets.

Come visit in Paris and we'll treat!! That's our promise.

Long live Coquilles St. Jacques!

2005-10-29T16:39:00.000-07:00

I love scallops in any form: baked, BBQed, raw, pan-fried, deep-fried, in seafood stews, in salads, in pasta, in sushi. You name it, if it contains scallops, I'll eat it. (Kathleen and Nina, you may want to skip this entry as I know neither of you are fans of scallops :) )

Last week, we ventured into the territory of the Coquilles St. Jacques, as scallops are known here in France. Amazingly, one can purchase live scallops still in the shell. We invited Kyra's friend Lauren over for dinner and as I described in a previous blog entry, David shucked the live scallops himself. Apparently, having that one meal of scallops wasn't enough because I went to our local outdoor market and picked up more than 4 kilos of Coquilles Saint Jacques on Friday morning from our favorite fishmonger (at a great price because they were packing up!).

David spent about 30 minutes shucking the scallops -- not a pleasant task, but definitely worth the effort. Each scallop that emerged from the ooey-gooey mess was white, pristine, and sweet-smelling. It was a shame to throw away all those beautiful coquilles shells (did you know that they were once used for currency?). Our next task was to figure out what to do with 24 beautiful scallops.

Typical of how we cook together, David wanted to make some his way, and I wanted to make some my way.

David transformed his scallops into Scallop Dynamite, his version of a Japanese appetizer we've enjoyed in restaurants. It consisted of scallops, sauteed mushrooms, shallot, mayonnaise, soy sauce, sesame oil, black pepper and paprika combined and baked in a scallop shell in the oven and topped off with a squeeze of lemon juice and some chopped parsley. The result was delicious: savory, sweet, creamy, and rich.

I have been re-reading my Gourmet Magazine 2001 Paris issue. In it were two coquilles recipes that I tried: seared scallops with a beurre blanc sauce and baked marinated scallops with herbs and butter. Both recipes were very simple to prepare (I was able to do it with Emmett hanging out in the backpack) and both highlighted exactly what I love about scallops: they were sweet, tender, and meaty.

We polished off our remaining scallops for dinner tonight. My biggest regrets are that I didn't take any photos of our finished products and that Emmett is still too young to have some with us.

School Update (Dave's first blog entry)

2005-10-29T15:14:00.000-07:00

Ok, ok, ok, it's been almost two months and I haven't written a single blog entry. So now that I've already completed 5 classes and my school schedule lightens up considerably from here on out, I hope to be able to make more regular contributions. For my first entry, I thought I'd let everyone know what business school has been like over here in Paris since people are always asking me "how's school?" and I guess it's one of the main reasons we're here in Paris.

I'm currently doing a semester abroad at HEC (Hautes Etudes Commerciales), which is located in Jouy-en-Josas, just outside of Paris. It takes me anywhere from an hour and fifteen minutes to an hour and a half door-to-door. I usually take the Metro to Gare Montparnasse, where I catch a non-stop SNCF train to Versailles-Chantiers, where I then catch the RER C train to Jouy-en-Josas. From the train station at Jouy, I either take a bus or make the 15 minute walk to campus. It sounds complicated, but it's not so bad once you get the hang of it.

The HEC campus is really nice, although it's sort of in the middle of nowhere. I feel bad for some of the exchange students who are living on campus because they have to commute the hour and a half just to get to Paris. At least on the weekends, I can step outside my door and I'm in Paris.

I thought I'd give a quick re-cap of some of my classes so far:

Marketing of Luxury and Differentiated Products (taught by Vincent Bastien): This class has been really great. The teacher is the former CEO of LVMH (Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy) and the former CEO of Yves Saint Laurent as well. He's energetic, smart, honest and realistic. It's been a real eye-opener learning how to market luxury products and how the strategies and issues are very different from marketing "normal" differentiated products.
Consumer Knowledge (taught by Corinne Dauger): The teacher for this class really made it worthwhile. Ms. Dauger used to work for Proctor and Gamble here in France and also worked at Hermes. She told us a great story about the genesis of the "Vizirette", a small ball that was introduced to slowly release liquid laundry detergent in washing machines in France. This class may not have been as "academic" as a comparable class at Haas, but the real-life experience of Ms. Dauger more than made up for it.
Customer Lifetime Value Management (taught by Janghyuk Lee): This class was crammed into five sessions over the course of about a week so it went by really fast. Some of this class was review from the fabulous Information and Technology-Based Marketing Class that I took at Haas last semester, but I found the class materials and the approach valuable. It was good to re-visit the subject of calculating customer lifetime value and get some new perspectives from Prof. Lee.
The Hidden Side of Organizational Dynamics (taught by Gerard Pavy): If you can figure out what this class is about, please let me know. In addition to the fact that it was difficult to understand Mr. Pavy's English, he also colored our class material with such flowery terms as "diachronically" and "intersubjective". There were also lots of fun-looking, complicated diagrams that didn't make a lot of sense. We spent an entire class period on differentiating between hysteria and obsession. Mr. Pavy also talked about "being nasty", "perversion", "sado-masochism" and the Oedipal complex. Fun, eh? Wait, maybe this class wasn't so bad after all.
International Negotiations (taught by Stephen Weiss): This class was crammed into two full days from 9 am until 6 pm, but boy was it worth it. I had never taken a negotiations class at Haas, so I was anxious to take this class and Mr. Weiss made it worthwhile. He moved really quickly, but we still managed to work in several role-plays including a one-on-one, a three-on-two, a three-on-three and a multi-laternal (two-on-two-on-two) negotiation. I really got a lot of practical skills out of this class that I'm sure will come in handy in the future.

So, that's my school round-up so far. I'm also taking a beginning French class which has been a lot of fun. Additionally, I'm in the process of reading Trading Up and Sixty Million Frenchmen Can't Be Wrong during my commute to and from school.

David's parents have arrived!

2005-10-28T16:49:00.000-07:00

They arrived on Wednesday for what will be a three-week stay. They're in Amsterdam for four days right now visiting friends and relatives, so we haven't had a chance to see much of Paris with them yet. I'm sure we'll have many adventures with them when they return on Sunday.

On their first day here, they accompanied Emmett and me for a walk around our neighborhood to a couple of our favorite parks, including the Place des Vosges.

To my great surprise, we actually ran into a MESSAGE acquaintance while there, my first time running into someone in Paris (I know so few people here so far). As we were leaving the park, a woman approached us and told us in French how happy she thought we all looked together. Apparently she had been observing Akung holding Emmett as they watched the toddlers play in the sandbox. The woman sitting next to her was the acquaintance I had just met recently at a MESSAGE event. Kirsty explained that she and her mother-in-law (the friendly woman who approached us) had been watching the doting grandparents for a while and thought "they looked just lovely together. I wish I'd had my camera with me!"

Running into Kirsty and her family encapsulated what we love so much about this city. We've found Paris to be incredibly warm, friendly, welcoming and gracious, and we're cherishing each moment here. These spontaneous acts of graciousness have been regular occurences for us, thanks in large part to Emmett, I'm sure. Who couldn't love a city that treasures children as much as the Parisians do?

I Found a Job!

2005-10-26T16:34:00.000-07:00

Well, it's just a temporary job, but I'll take what I can get!

Thanks again to MESSAGE, my lifeline here in Paris, I responded to a job posting on the forum. A France-based marketing company called DMS was looking for native English speakers to proofread and edit a set of questionnaires for one of their clients, Louis Vuitton. I went in for an informal interview and briefing session a couple weeks ago and started work almost immediately. The best part (and the only reason I could take the position) is that I can do all the work from home and submit everything on-line. I get paid 6 € for each questionnaire I edit. It won't be a lot of money, but at least what I earn will add to our babysitting fund and allow us to splurge on a couple of meals.

I haven't actually gotten paid yet, so we'll see how French bureaucrazy works with this endeavor.

Our First Playgroup

2005-10-25T17:03:00.000-07:00

Emmett and I attended our first playgroup ever this morning, and I left wondering two things, "Why did it take me so long to do this?" and "We really don't have enough toys for him." (As I mentioned in an email later to my friends Anne and Kathy, corks, uncooked potatoes and green beans, and water bottles filled with dried lentil beans can only be amusing up to a point.)

Emmett played *hard* -- he loved being around the other babies, one of whom was his age; he had a blast playing with all the toys; and he surprised me by playing quite independently, unlike how he can be at home when it's just the two of us.

The playgroup is hosted each week by a group of MESSAGE members who live in the vicinity. The host this week happened to be a Boalt graduate ('93) whose mother lives in North Berkeley. Christine is Chinese-American and married to a Frenchman. The other mothers were from Australia and Oregon. I was warmly welcomed and left with some great advice about schools, train travel, and a mother-baby spa in western France! I hope to continue attending this playgroup until we leave as I think Emmett needs more opportunities to play with other kids. AND, I appreciate the chance to talk to other moms, all of whom share a love of this beautiful city.

Salon du Chocolat

2005-10-25T13:20:00.000-07:00

This past weekend we attended Paris' annual Salon du Chocolat. I had high hopes for this event, but it was, alas, quite a madhouse with wall-to-wall people in a expo hall that was too small. (Notice the line behind us in the photo. It was like being at an amusement park, but fortunately the line moved quickly.) We sampled a few chocolates and chocolate treats from some of our favorite chocolatiers and witnessed chocolate-dipping and part of a cooking demonstration. David arranged to have us meet up with some classmates of his from HEC which was fun.

The highlight of our visit was meeting Monsieur Pierre Hermé! David said, "There's something going on over there... people are snapping pictures with someone who might be famous." I looked over and recognized him immediately! My first introduction to him was a guest on an episode of Martha Stewart Cooking. He's written a few dessert cookbooks which I'll need to examine the next time I'm at the bookstore.

Coincidentally, I had just visited his pastry shop last week to pick up some decadent desserts for Emmett's 11-month birthday. He was autographing books, but I requested a photo with him because I couldn't afford to drop over 120€ on his latest book, Ph 10: Pâtisserie Pierre Hermé. I told him how much we enjoyed his desserts and David said he seemed pleased when I reeled off the three we had. I'm sure I blathered on for too long, but I didn't care: I was standing next to Pierre Hermé himself!

Near the end of our visit, there was a fashion show which Emmett watched from my shoulders. David took a few photos of the models on the runaway wearing "chocolate-themed" fashion.

2005-10-22T09:15:00.000-07:00

I'm happy to report that I can knock a few items off of my "confessions" list, based on events from the last couple weeks:

1. I may have found a couple potential language partners through MESSAGE (the English-speaking mothers' group). One mom teaches English and forwarded me the names of three students (all adults) who are interested in doing an exchange. I will keep my fingers crossed that this works out!

2. I rode the bus! Emmett and I took the metro to a suburb of Paris to attend the MESSAGE (my English-speaking mothers' group) Fall Bring & Buy sale located at a Hotel Ibis in Neuilly-sur-Seine. It was great to meet the other mothers, especially those whose names I recognized from the online forums. I also picked up a couple secondhand items for Emmett and me.
But back to the bus: I got off the metro with Emmett in tow and walked too far in the wrong direction trying to get to Avenue Victor Hugo when in fact I needed to be on Blvd. Victor Hugo. When a kind gentleman pointed out my mistake, he suggested I take the bus across town-- and it was easy! We need to take it more often.

5. David and I finally had dinner out together alone and it was a relief to not have to worry about packing up baby food, disrupting other diners, or looking at our watches to make sure we weren't keeping Emmett out too late. Anabel came over to watch Emmett, and the two of us enjoyed a leisurely dinner at Les Olivades (see blog post).

7. Our cooking recently progressed beyond roasting, broiling, and searing. Our good friend Kyra's friend Lauren O'Hara has lived here in Paris for about nine years and she came over for dinner. The prospect of cooking for a Parisian was enough to jumpstart our culinary exploits. David made mussels and bought live scallops which he shucked and prepared himself.

6. I am the proud owner of two Parisian coats! My Aunt Ellen bought herself, Nancy, and me the same khaki-colored trench coat which I've already worn twice. It's exactly what I wanted. Last week, Scotia and I did some late-night (11:30 p.m.) shopping along the Champs-Elysees and I picked up a red pea coat. It's time to let go of my tired old coats from home.

8. We broke down and bought a microwave! It's an inexpensive one from our neighborhood supermarket Shopi (35€), and we debated about whether to do it ("We can do without a microwave for a few months, can't we?!"), but are we glad to have it. Meal prep for Emmett takes a few seconds, as opposed to a few minutes -- a big difference when everyone's hungry. Leftovers can be re-heated instantly, all on one plate, as opposed to one bowl at a time in the our steamer pot. Heating hot water for tea is a snap.

13. I have definitely eaten my fill of cheese, and then some, thanks to Scotia. In fact, I'm certain that I ate more cheese last week with her here than I did the entire month of September. I'm also getting lots of use out of my book of French Cheeses.

15. I didn't think I missed Asian food...until my Aunt Ellen and Uncle David from China Bee visited and cooked for us. They made us a pot of Chinese pork noodle soup with napa cabbage which was so comforting and nourishing. They also bought us a small bag of jasmine rice and some Asian vegetables from the Chinatown here in Paris. When they sauteed everything and plated it up, it was all delicious and I wasn't sure if I could have enough! We haven't purchased Chinese food here yet (I hear it's not good), but I did have a bowl of Vietnamese pho (for 8 Euros -- yikes!) which wasn't great, but wasn't bad.

17. I've made a friend, or at least Emmett has. Ella and her mom Nicole from MESSAGE came over to our house last week to talk about work (I have a temporary job -- more on that later). Nicole is from Wisconsin, but has lived in Paris for over 9 years, first as an au pair and later married to a Frenchman. Her 8-month old daughter Ella is a happy adorable little cherub, and she and Emmett enjoyed each other's company for the most part. I was a bit horrified when Emmett grabbed at something she was playing with (twice) and thought to myself, "I think it's time we joined a playgroup." We attend our first one later this week.

Dinner at Chez Georges

2005-10-21T22:50:00.000-07:00

Our first attempt to have dinner at Chez Georges was back in 2003 with Jen and Helen. We walked in with no reservation and were turned away because the entire restaurant was full. Dejected, we had pizza for dinner that night.

This time, we successfully made a reservation for three -- David, Scotia, and me.

For our starters, we shared their famous salade aux frisée, lardons, et ouef poche (frisee salad with bacon and a poached egg) and a foie gras d'oie maison.

Scotia had the Coquilles St. Jacques Sauteés avec eschalotes. (Scallops seared in butter with shallots) The scallops were incredibly sweet and tender -- perfectly prepared.

David had Ris de Veau aux morilles et pate (Veal sweetbreads with morel mushrooms and fresh pasta)

I had the entrecôte grillée a la moëlee avec frites. (Rib-eye steak with fries and a side of bone marrow) I felt like I scored the jackpot here when this dish was presented to me. I have only eaten bone marrow at a restaurant twice -- once at 42 Degrees in San Francisco, spooned straight out of the roasted marrow bones, and another time in Paris at Baracane-Bistrot de L’Oulette. It is pure indulgence when prepared correctly -- soft pieces of buttery, creamy marrow that melt in your mouth. I like to spread it on toast, but on this occasion, I went whole hog and just ate it straight out of the heated dish. Each piece was perfectly salted, the ideal companion for my smoky rib-eye steak. I don't think anyone could believe that I polished off almost every morsel of food... and had room for dessert. I justified it by thinking about how much I ran over the weekend, but still....

Dessert: The three of us shared the world's most amazing profiteroles filled with vanilla ice cream. There were 6 perfect little profiteroles sitting in a pool of warm bittersweet chocolate sauce. See how happy David looks? Scotia and I each threatened to lick the plate. I was serious, and I think Scotia was, too.

Chez Georges
1, rue du Mail in the 2nd arr.

Scotia was here!

2005-10-21T21:27:00.000-07:00

After the race last weekend, Scotia and I got dressed up and went to the Theatre des Champs-Élysée to see my one of my favorite operas, Le Nozze di Figaro. Unfortunately, jet-lagged Scotia and race-exhausted Lynna fell asleep in the warm, dark opera house, despite our uncomfortable seats in the nose-bleed section. During the intermission, we discovered an empty private box with an obstructed view of the stage, so we settled ourselves in and napped some more to the strains of Mozart. Shameless, but I greatly enjoyed the parts for which I was able to stay awake. Afterward, we had a leisurely dinner at Bar du Theatres across the street from the theatre on swanky Rue Montaigne. (Thanks for babysitting, David!)

It was great to have a girlfriend here to play with: besides rubbing elbows with Yoko Ono, we went for long walks in our neighborhood, did a little shopping on the Champs-Élysée at 11:00 p.m., indulged in fabulous pastries together, and had some memorable meals out. I had to sacrifice and force myself to partake of these treats ... all in the name of being a proper hostess.

We celebrated Emmett's 11-month birthday together on Wednesday the 19th. (Can he already be almost a year old?? I refuse to believe it.) The indulgent dessert for this month's birthday was actually 3 desserts from Pierre Hermé! Our selections were:

Émotion Mahogany: Lychee, mango, vanilla cake, caramel mascarpone, and coconut marshmallows layered into a short highball glass.
Carrément chocolat: Layered chocolate cake, chocolate mouse, and chocolate ganache.
Tarte au café: Coffee-soaked shortbread, coffee ganache, and coffee chantilly.

For Scotia's last night in Paris, she requested that we go somewhere with a cheese platter, and boy, do we know the place. Remember Restaurant Astier and their "wheel of cheese"? It is hands-down the best cheese platter in all of Paris, and fortunately, Scotia agreed.

Emmett models the latest in Parisian fall fashion...

2005-10-20T15:31:00.000-07:00

Onesie Couture!

(Emmett, when you read this someday, please forgive us for being the silly parents that we are, taking and publishing photos of you looking ridiculous for the world to see on our blog! I'm sure you'll find a way to get back at us....)

Dinner at Les Olivades

2005-10-20T06:59:00.000-07:00

Based on a glowing recommendation from our good friends Joyce and Jeff, we had our first dinner out alone in Paris at Les Olivades. Anabel came over to take care of Emmett for a few hours. It was our first time really seeing Paris at night and we relished every minute, especially knowing that Emmett was in such good hands.

We ordered the Menu découverte (Discovery Menu) and a couple other items off the main menu. We savored every bite and appreciated that each dish was both a treat for the eyes as well as our mouths! Our meal consisted of (I took a few notes along the way for future reference):

Bisque de Homard (Lobster Bisque): Deep orange color with the consistency and richness of heavy cream. Drops of basil oil and a few drops of balsamic vinegar enhanced the flavor. True lobster essence. We mopped up every single drop. (No photo)

Gambas (Black Tiger Prawns) rôtis, brunoise de papaye, poivrons et oignons doux (Prawns with papaya salsa, peppers, and sweet onions): Three perfectly grilled prawns with a papaya salsa and lime sauce. Artfully presented.

Poêlée de chipirons, riso, poivrons confits et chorizo (Squid with riso, peppers, and chorizo sausage): Lots of tender squid, perfectly prepared. Smoky flavor because of the chorizo -- this dish reminded us of our paella, except it was made with riso (rice-shaped pasta), so the texture was different. Very flavorful and tasty. Fruity olive oil and basil oil -- perfect for bread-dipping.

Foie gras de canard poêlé, ananas Victoria rôti et vanille de Tahiti (Foie gras with roasted pineapple and Tahitian vanilla): David loves this dish and says every ingredient just shined through and complemented each other. Sweet, oily, decadent, melt-in-your-mouth. Ever so slightly undersalted.

Filet de biche sauce grand-veneur (Venison with a celery root puree and spaetzle): We didn't know what 'biche' until it arrived and we asked. The server who didn't speak much English said, "Uhh, doe? How to say...deer?" Being the child of a deer hunter from Wisconsin who was forced to eat venison growing up, I am not a fan of the biche. Fortunately, David, who had never eaten venison before, loved it and we traded dishes.

Joue de boeuf braisée aux carrotes et persil plat (Braised beef cheek with carrots and parsley): Falling-apart tender with sauteed carrot coins. Like eating short-rib without the bone. Rich, wine-y sauce. Melted in the mouth.

Figues rôtis aux côtes du Luberson et épices douces (Wine-poached figs with sweet spices and ice cream): Maroon-colored figs. When cut open with a spoon, seeds and a red juice burst forth, mixing with the ice cream and creating a luscious soup!

Service was courteous and friendly -- not overly warm, but we definitely felt welcomed by the small staff. Not a place to bring Emmett as the restaurant was slightly more upscale than our usual bistros and brasseries.

Les Olivades
41, avenue de Ségur in the 7th

20 Km de Paris

2005-10-18T19:06:00.000-07:00

Ran another race over the weekend: the 20km de Paris

The race was supposed to start at a nice late hour (10:00 a.m.), but the actual race didn't start until a breezy 20 minutes later. I guess that's just how they do it here in Paris, unlike the races in the bay area that start promptly at the appointed hour (usually 7:00 or 8:00 in the morning). It felt great to "sleep in" on a race day.

The weather was perfect: slightly overcast at times and sunny during certain points of the race. The course took us all over the city, starting at the base of le Tour Eiffel, through the Bois de Boulogne (a foresty park in Paris), along the Seine River, past the Musee D'Orsay, past the Tuileries and Place de la Concorde, and ending at le Tour Eiffel again. There were families, tourists, and spectators cheering and lots of shouts of "Allez, allez, allez!!!" I even got a "Vous êtes superb, Madame!" (I must have been looking particularly haggard) along the way which made the race for me and kept me going for another few kilometers.

Like La Parisienne, the 6K race I ran last month, the music along the way kept me going, as well. It wasn't just piped in rock music, but live entertainment: African drummers, a small contingent of a high school band, a brass quintet, small rock bands, and best of all, bagpipers in kilts all along the route. It nearly brought tears to my eyes to hear one group of bagpipers playing "Amazing Grace". They were the best part of the race.

I hit a bit of a wall at 13K and started feeling hungry, so when the refreshment table appeared at 15K (there was one every 5 kilometers), I was grateful to see some snacks: oranges and prunes never tasted so good. I bypassed the sugarcubes they passed out...I've never seen that before at a race.

Once again, as in La Parisienne, they handed out those confounded plastic water bottles! I couldn't believe it and will write a letter to the organizers politely suggesting that they hand out paper cups of water instead. The waste was appallling -- mountains of plastic water bottles along the side of the road and throughout the course. Between the water bottle missiles (from runners taking one swig and throwing the almost-full water bottle off to the side) and the slippery orange peels strewn all over the road after each refreshment stop, the course was a bit hazardous at some points. I'm prone to slipping and falling as it is.

Afterward, there was a huge bottleneck that lasted at least 15 minutes to get out past the finish line to collect a medal and a bag of snacks. Despite this, the race was very well organized overall. I'd like to run it again someday.

Weather's getting chillier...

2005-10-18T06:51:00.000-07:00

Time for mittens!

David picked out a pair from Du Pareil au Maman.

Fun at the Jardin R. Cavalier-de-La-Salle near the Jardin du Luxembourg

2005-10-18T06:39:00.000-07:00

Quick, before the weather gets too chilly, we're trying to give Emmett as many opportunities as possible to crawl around in parks around the city.

While playing, he made the acquaintance of a little friend playing nearby.

Running away from the scene of the crime....

2005-10-18T06:33:00.000-07:00

Celebrity Sighting!

2005-10-17T06:57:00.000-07:00

Scotia, David, and I had dinner out tonight because our tiny refrigerator was empty, and none of our favorite fromageries, boucheries, and boulangeries are open on Mondays. We returned to our old haunt Chez Omar near our apartment where we always feel welcome and where they are always so nice to Emmett.

We were seated in our usual "no-smoking club" and had just ordered when I spotted Yoko Ono being seated at a table nearby! Because I'm always accused of false celebrity sightings, I had to verify my claim with Scotia and David. Fully expecting to be told I was wrong again, I was both shocked and pleased to find that I was correct! Not only that, a few minutes later, they asked to be moved to the table *right next to us*!!! AND, after sitting down at their new table, she switched places with another woman in her party so that she was right next to Emmett (we're not sure why they switched).

We barely managed to behave ourselves. Scotia forgot to eat for 15 minutes and drank all her wine too quickly. I dropped a forkful of couscous into my lap, and David started talking rather loudly as he does sometimes when he's nervous. Emmett was, in fact, the most appropriately behaved person at the table (and he was staring).

But the staring caught her attention and she was so nice to Emmett. She talked to him throughout dinner, patted him several times, and seemed quite charmed by him even though he was staring at her. (I think her sunglasses were fascinating to him.) She seemed amused as she watched him eat spoonfuls of chicken, couscous, vegetables, yogurt, and Oatios while playing with two sugarcubes, one in each little fist.

We debated about whether to ask for a photo after they finished dinner and ultimately decided that for the comfort of everyone, we'd leave them alone. David was able to get a photo of Emmett with her in the background, but that was as far as we ventured. When she left, she left him four more sugarcubes on his tray, patted him good-bye, and whisked herself away with her party.

We had family come visit last week!

2005-10-15T15:56:00.000-07:00

Uncle David, Aunt Ellen (from China Bee), and cousins Nancy and Richard arrived for an 8-day stay. Aunt Ellen studied French in college over 30 years ago, but this was her first time to France. We were honored to be able to host them on their first of what we hope to be many future visits to Paris. We also celebrated Uncle David's 60th Birthday while they were here.

Side note: Diapers here are really expensive. We complained about the price to my parents who must have related it to my aunt and uncle because they arrived with over 120 Huggies diapers, crammed into every nook, cranny, and fold in their suitcases! We now have a suitcase filled to overflowing with diapers... all for the little prince.

On their first day here, we took them on a walk around our neighborhood to visit our favorite haunts, including our favorite local park (Square du Temple) and the Place des Vosges.

Square du Temple

Place des Vosges

The next day, we met with Aunt Ellen's college classmate, Auntie Cynthia, who now lives in Paris with her Chinese-French husband and their two daughters. We had lunch at her house, followed by dessert at Le Train Bleu, located at Gare de Lyon.

The Belle Epoque-style restaurant had soaring ceilings painted with murals and had a clubby atmosphere. Business men in suits dined alongside well-heeled tourists. So imagine my surprise when the the waitstaff expressed great pleasure in seeing a baby in the restaurant. I was a bit nervous to bring him into such a elegant restaurant, but within minutes, we were surrounded by the staff who instantly adopted him as their own. One of our servers asked to hold him and later shared a photo of her 3-year old, Mateo. The maitre'd asked to hold him, as well, and paraded him around to the other staff near the door. I love the people in this city!

The next night, David and I hosted our first Paris dinner party for Aunt Ellen's friend, Auntie Cynthia and her family. It was a fabulous evening of comfort food, wine, champagne, cheese, bread, laughter, and fabulous little desserts.

Friday night was Uncle David's 60th Birthday! Since it was a special occasion, we wanted to take them somewhere festive and very Parisian. David chose La Coupole in the Montparnasse neighborhood, one of the grand old restaurants of Paris.

Our server, Lyes, was quite a character. He was our entertainment for the evening.

I ordered their house choucroute: various cuts of pork with sauerkraut and potatoes, cooked in Riesling wine. It was quite tasty.

Choucroute

Finally, we had fun cooking a few meals at home by gathering some ingredients at the farmers' market and assembling our own seafood platter.

We were all very sad to watch them pack up and go home. I'm not sure who had more fun on this trip, them or us.

2005-10-10T13:25:00.000-07:00

After having lived here for 1 month, I have a few confessions:

1. I still cannot conduct an entire transaction in French without the use of hand gestures and pointing, or worse, English. Emmett probably understands much more French than I do, and I'm certain that if he could talk, he'd say something like, "Mom, I'll save us all the angst. Here's what s/he said...." I can get by on my side with phrases and words I know, but if either I or the merchant tries to complicate things by asking a question, I'm thrown. I love learning this language though and relish this opportunity.
2. I have not yet ridden the bus.
3. I have not stepped foot inside any of my favorite museums, although after revisiting the Musee Rodin, it is now on my list of favorites.
4. I have not had a cup of espresso, coffee, or tea.
5. David and I have not had a meal out by ourselves. (Can that be?... Standing at a cafe drinking hot chocolate and eating gelato on the run while Emmett was with Anabel for a couple hours doesn't count. I guess I'm not counting our dinner out with (big) Emmet and Chris either.)
6. I have not yet purchased any clothes in Paris. I did buy a pair of shoes, though.
7. My cooking has not progressed beyond seared or broiled fish, roasted or sauteed vegetables, pasta, salads, and scrambled or fried eggs. Part of the reason is that we are limited by the cookware and kitchen utensils, but I can be more creative than this.
8. I miss having a microwave. It's funny because we hardly thought of it as a necessity at home...until Emmett starting eating solid foods. Now when we want to heat or defrost his food, we place his portion into a ceramic bowl, put the bowl in a pot of water, cover the pot with its lid, and wait several minutes for the water to boil in order to steam his food. Gone are the days of 30-second meal prep. The same process takes place with eating leftovers, too.
9. I haven't found nonfat milk here, so I'm "forced" to drink demi-creme milk (not quite whole milk, but close!). And it is sooo good! It's going to be hard to go back to nonfat again....
10. The smell of cigarette smoke in enclosed spaces still irritates the heck out of me. Call me a soft Californian, but I don't understand why so many people smoke in restaurants and around their children. The smoke deadens the tastebuds and one's sense of smell, and it diminishes the appetite. Why?
11. I still haven't acquired a taste for bleu cheese. I've tried for months to get used to the taste and conquer my distaste for it, but I have a long way to go. I sampled a bleu cheese at Mike and Jeannie's dinner that was quite good, but that was the closest I ever got to enjoying it.
12. Emmett, I hope you understand when you read this someday. As much as I love introducing Emmett to Paris (I love having him here with us in this trip), part of me misses seeing Paris without a baby. On previous trips, one of our favorite things to do was to explore Paris at night. We'd wander to different parts of town, eat late dinners, marvel at the lights surrounding buildings and monuments, and treat ourselves to ice cream. We have taken Emmett out and about at night, but we also want to have him home at a reasonable hour to get a good night's sleep. I also miss the freedom to explore museums, landmarks, stores, and neighborhoods without worrying about the time. I know in a few years he'll begin to appreciate some of these aspects of Paris more.
13. I have not eaten enough cheese since arriving.
14. I have not acquired more knowledge of wine, even though I drink it more than I did at home.
15. I don't miss Asian food.
16. I don't miss driving.
17. I haven't made a friend yet. Acquaintances, yes, but no one I can call up for a chat or a walk.

... To be continued, I'm sure

Chocolate and Ice Cream in Lyon

2005-10-07T16:44:00.000-07:00

Last thoughts on Lyon and I'll move on...

One of our favorite pasttimes while traveling is searching for homemade, local ice cream and chocolate. Part of the reason for our visit to Lyon was to sample these two treats.

Walking into Richart was like stepping into an upscale cosmetics boutique. The air was cool, there were cabinets and counters filled with chocolate behind glass, and the walls were pristine and white. I felt like I had to whisper (we were the only customers in the store for quite some time). Not the warmest, friendliest chocolate shop I've ever been to, but we went ahead and ogled anyway. We pressed our noses against the glass counters and pointed and salivated over the unique flavors and designs. The varieties of fillings for the chocolates made there are amazing, and each delicate silk-screened chocolate was almost too beautiful to eat. Almost.

Richart

Bernachon was a store I read about in David Lebovitz's Great Book of Chocolate. We made our pilgrimage there in the late morning, just in time for me to enjoy two scoops of ice cream there, chocolate and caramel. There's nothing like eating ice cream for breakfast!
The store was gleaming and brightly-lit with a similar boutique-y feeling to it, but much larger. The women working there (I only saw women behind the counter) were dressed in the same pink scoopneck dresses -- apparently the "uniform." The woman who helped us was very sweet, spoke some English, and reminded me of Julia Ormond in appearance.
The chocolates here seemed much more accessible than the Richart... not as polished or decorated, but still very beautiful to look at. While the Richart store felt more like a museum where the chocolates were on display; Bernachon felt more like an elegant boutique. The pastry case shimmered with shiny pastries, but we were here for the chocolates, and we were not disappointed. There were so many shapes and varieties of fillings and it took us almost an hour to decide which to buy to taste and which to buy as gifts. We ended up not buying *too* much -- primarily a box for us to take home to Paris to share with dinner guests.

Bernachon

Later that day, we drove to Tain l'Hermitage to visit the Valrhona store, about 45 minutes south of Lyon. The storefront was easy to find and we miraculously found parking right outside. The scene was very different inside compared to the other two chocolate destinations. It was a mob scene and reminded me of a Godiva store in the U.S., but crammed with people. There was a line of visitors waiting to have their orders taken by the two women behind the counter who wore aprons and looked like friendly aunts. Halloween decorations were up and the crowd seemed friendly, despite the jostling... and we soon discovered why. I started at one end of the long glass counter filled with chocolates and noticed a little dish filled with chocolate-covered nuts. I helped myself to one, thinking, "What a treat, a little sample. I could use a little pick-me-up." One foot away, I noticed another dish filled with little chocolate-covered somethings (cookies) and called David over. As he came over carrying Emmett, I looked further down the line and realized that the ENTIRE GLASS CASE was lined with dishes filled with chocolate samples!! Not just chocolate-covered somethings, but FILLED chocolates -- chocolates they were selling in the case. I was totally conflicted -- do I go down the line and sample one of every variety of filled chocolate and make a pig of myself, or do I just savor a couple here and there?

I ended up doing a combination of both: I picked up a few filled chocolates at the beginning and then became more selective further down the line. In addition to the bowls of filled chocolates, there were smaller bowls of chocolate chunks, chocolate squares, and other chocolate treats scattered throughout the store. I practiced my usual restraint and only sampled one little morsel of each. As I nibbled, I had to keep saying, "Sorry, Emmett, you can't have any." Poor little guy... doesn't know yet what he's missing!

Valrhona

Finally, ice cream is one of our passions, so when I read about an artisanal ice cream made in Lyon that had been around for decades, we had to seek it out. Ets Nardone is a nondescript looking little storefront. All it consists of is the freezer filled with at least 48 ice cream/sorbet flavors and tables and chairs. It took us a while to decide, but I ended up with my old favorites: chocolate, caramel, and rice. David had a scoop of cassis (black currant). Emmett sampled his first taste and made funny faces because it was so cold (despite that he kept coming back for more). We had to capture it on camera!

2005-10-03T16:45:00.000-07:00

I'm sorry for not posting this past week. We've had family visiting.

A few more comments about Lyon and I'll move on...
Our Lyon bed & breakfast

After a harrowing drive through the city of Lyon without a good map, we found an oasis at La Maison d'Hôtes du Greillon

The location of the bed and breakfast was at the top of a hill overlooking the city of Lyon. Built in the late 18th century, the house once belonged to a well-known sculptor named Chinard. A long flight of stairs to the front gate made it tricky to transport our luggage, but it was a minor inconvenience once we stepped inside the house.

Each of the five bedrooms was decorated in muted tones of red, blue, yellow, pink, and beige (we had the beige room). The room was quiet and spacious -- a total oasis. Emmett loved having all the space to roam around. Our bed (queen size?) was luxuriously firm (unlike our soft, squishy, less-than full-size mattress in Paris) and fitted with crisp, white, high-thread count sheets. Pure heaven. We all got two great nights' sleep. Each room had it's own balcony overlooking the garden.

Staying here rekindled our fantasy of someday owning or helping to run a bed & breakfast. The owner was hosting a party for friends and family at the house over the weekend, so we got to witness some of the party preparations...and it got us thinking, "Wouldn't it be great to have a bed and breakfast and be able to use it to throw our own parties?" (!!!) What was also great about staying at a B & B with Emmett was having the use of their kitchen, dishes, and refrigerator to heat up and store his food.

Le petit dejeuner at La Maison was very simple: a basket of croissants and breads, homemade jams and preserves, yogurt, and coffee/tea/juice.

2005-10-02T12:43:00.000-07:00

We're back from Lyon about 10 pounds heavier, and boy, it is indeed a gastronome's fantasy come true: amazing chocolates, yummy wines, restaurants galores, and delicious ice cream. I think I need to post separate entries for each our favorite highlights in Lyon. I'll start with our meals.

(Um, yes, there were many museums, churches, historical monuments, and beautiful architecture to explore (not to mention lots of shopping), but because our visit was so short, we mostly concentrated on satisfying our "culinary curiosity" this time: what is all the fuss with Lyonnais fare?)

We arrived on Thursday, settled into our bed and breakfast, and walked to Vieux Lyon, a charming neighborhood of medieval and Renaissance buildings, narrow cobblestone paths, ancient staircases, and one-of-a-kind bakeries, wine shops, toy stores, and cafés. I forgot to bring my 10-page "Lyon research" document from Paris, so we were left to our own devices this weekend in terms of finding places to eat. I asked the owner of a newstand and the owner of a toy store for recommendations. The woman at the toy store drew us a little map to one of her favorite restaurants called "Le Comptoir du Boeuf". None of the restaurants opened until at least 7:00 p.m. so we had time to read menus and get a sense of what was available. We considered a few other restaurants whose menus looked promising, but ultimately decided on Le Comptoir.

When we first walked in, I was tempted to turn around and walk out. The restaurant was completely empty, and the proprietress who was reading a newspaper at the counter, looked up rather disapprovingly when we opened the door and wheeled in a stroller. She said something in French that I didn't hear, but David explained that we had brought our own booster chair for Emmett. (Meanwhile, I was murmuring to David, "I think we should go... maybe she doesn't want us here....") But she waved us in and it was too late to back out.

She lead us to a non-smoking room in the back and watched with interest as David set up the booster seat for Emmett (the First Years' Fold-N-Go booster seat is one piece of baby equipment we could not be without! Many restauranteurs and other diners have looked on, fascinated, as we set it up.) When she saw Emmett sitting up in his chair at the marble table, she was charmed and said in French, "Just like a normal person!" Madame gave us our menus, asked what Emmett would like to eat (we told her we packed food for him), and offered to heat up his food. Then she proceeded into the kitchen where we overheard her telling the cooks about the "Chinoise", "the bébé", and something about his food. Sure enough, one of the cooks came out and asked if he could heat Emmett's food for him. We were at the start of a fabulous first meal in Lyon.

David and I each ordered a prix-fixe menu. Since both of us love tripe, you bet we ordered some piggy-part menu items. We started with a plate of Lyonnais pork in the form of oeuf mollet, jambonneau, and poitrine. It was all very tasty over the salad. We also shared a plate of their house terrine, made of pork and rabbit, with onion confit.

Next, we moved on to our main courses. I had an andouillette grillee a la moutarde violette (tripe sausage in a mustard sauce) and David had pied-pacquets avec gratin de macaroni (calves feet stuffed with lamb tripe and a side of macaroni and cheese). Dessert was nougat glacé avec coulis de fruits rouges (nougat ice cream with fruit coulis) and blanc manger a la bergamote, sauce caramel et beurre demi-sel (a dessert similar in texture to créme caramel).

But what really left an impression with us was the friendship that was struck between la Madame and Emmett. The restaurant began filling up briskly soon after we were seated and the owner was both serving dishes, putting orders into the kitchen, and answering questions about the menu. Yet, in the midst of all this, she found time to stop and give Emmett words of encouragement, little pats on the head, and squeezes on his hand. When he finished his dinner, she planted a kiss on his forehead, asked to hold him, and sat with him on his lap as for at least ten minutes as David and I finished our meal. She called out to another patron that she was "le babysitter ce soir" and let Emmett pat her face and bounce on her knee. Before we left, she gave him his first madeline (his first sweet French pastry -- how appropriate) and showered him with kisses. She was Emmett's first French grand-mère.

The next day, we set out to have lunch in the center of Lyon at a restaurant recommended by the owner of our bed and breakfast and listed in our Lonely Planet France guide. She said it was rustic food in a pleasant environment that would be very appropriate for Emmett. Sure enough, we arrived at Gaston Restaurant Agricole to find two huge brown rabbits in cages out front and a tractor parked inside. The decor was indeed like a farmhouse and rustic, but the servers were all very hip- looking young twentysomethings. We ordered a buffet menu and roast chicken.

Once again, I cannot emphasize enough how affectionate the French, young and old, have been with Emmett. It bowls us over every time. Within 30 seconds of walking in the door with Emmett in the Bjorn, one of the young pretty servers approached Emmett and planted a little kiss on his forehead, as if she had been expecting him. Once we were seated, she took his baby food to be warmed and presented it on a litte white plate with a teeny Emmett-sized spoon. Throughout our lunch, she stopped by at least a dozen times to stroke his hair, watch him eat, make him smile, and blow him kisses. She even fed him a spoonful of baby food, much to his and her delight. Unbelieveable. I hope she has many adorable children some day. The food was along the same line as the decor: more terrines, sliced hams, cold vegetables, and tasty roast chicken. Why do French chickens taste so much more like chicken than American chickens?

Dinner was at a small, homey bistro called Le Contretete, another restaurant recommendation from our bed and breakfast. It is adjacent to the upscale and famed Tetedoie, where we were invited to visit after dinner (after our visit to the gleaming, hushed dining room, we decided we'd come back sans Emmett on a future trip). Le Contretete was another perfect choice with Emmett in tow. We got a roomy table at a booth and service was warm and efficient. Dinner was good, but the highlight was dessert: a flaming creme brulee for David and a demi St. Marcellin cheese--a cheese for which Lyon is famous--for me.

Finally, we had read all about the famous bouchons of Lyon: charming rustic bistros serving hearty home cooking that features seasonal vegetables and organ meats. Many restaurants in Lyon call themselves bouchons, but in reality, there are only 21 certified, authentic bouchons. There is an accreditation board called the Associations des Authentiques Bouchons Lyonnais which determines whether the restaurant is a true bouchon. I was never able to find a list of the 21 certified bouchons, but discovered that there is a symbol that is posted outside of certified bistros.

Eating at a bouchon was harder than we thought. We found out too late that almost all bouchons are closed on weekends, most require reservations, and it was virtually impossible to walk into a bouchon and expect to be seated, even when we arrived on the early side (7:30 p.m.).

For our last dinner in Lyon on Saturday night, we had all but given up hope that we would be able to eat at a true bouchon on this trip. We had no reservations, most of the bouchons were closed because it was a Saturday, and we were turned away at the bouchon we did stumble across next to our hotel. It was getting too late, but there was one restaurant near our hotel that had the "authentic bouchon" symbol in the window where I was sure we wouldn't be able to get a table because there was a crowd of people waiting outside. Magically, we were seated as soon as we asked if there was a table free.

We were seated upstairs at Le Mercière, and we each ordered a prix-fixe menu. I started with a Terrine de coquilles St Jacques façon Mercière (a scallop terrine); David started with Fond d'artichaut au foie gras Mère Brazier (an artichoke heart salad with foie gras). Both were amazing, both in taste and to the eye. Both the restaurant and the food were just slightly more refined than our previous dinners, but the prices were comparable: about 22€ per person for 4 courses, not including wine. Next, David had steak in a St. Marcellin cheese sauce while I had cuisse de volaille farcie, riz Basmati aux mouilles (a chicken leg with basmati rice). Dessert was more cheese (!!!) and then sorbet and chocolate fondant cake.

Can someone write us a prescription for Lipitor?

Off to Lyon!

2005-09-29T03:41:00.000-07:00

On the advice of our friends and fellow foodies Betty and Gary, we are taking a long weekend (Thursday through Sunday) in Lyon, the gastronomic capital of France! Even better, the Lyon and Rhone Valley is home to some of the world's most famous, high quality chocolate, Valrhona and Richart. Looks like I'll be running a few extra laps around the Champs de Mars next week.

We will take the SNCF train to Lyon and rent a car to have more freedom to explore the region. Here's where we'll be staying...
La Maison d'Hôtes du Greillon

and ...

La Grand Hotel De La Paix

2005-09-28T16:01:00.000-07:00

Three weeks in Paris and we haven't yet explored many of our favorite sites and neighborhoods beyond the ones in our immediate vicinity, the Bastille and the Marais. On Sunday, we took Emmett for his first visit to Montmartre.

Montmartre is a neighborhood that holds special significance for us as we rented our first apartment there for about 10 days in February 2003 with our good friends Helen and Jen. It felt like a village to us and within days, the local shopkeepers, butchers, bakers were familiar faces. We spent a good deal of time in the labyrinth of our neighborhood's streets, soaking up the atmosphere.

Coming to Paris with Emmett has made for a very different, but still very satisfying adventure. It keeps us from being out and about as much as we'd like, and we certainly haven't sampled as many bistros, brasseries, and restaurants as we would have liked at this point either. Our trips out are limited by Emmett's naps and eating schedules, so the longest we've been out is a stretch of 5 hours (he doesn't sleep well in the stroller and fusses to get out after a while). We've had to cut short a couple outings here and there because he was tired, and we spent a few days puttering around the apartment for the most part because he had the sniffles and it was chilly outside. And being the night people that we are, we miss seeing the sites of Paris at night and rarely have a chance to get out much after 8:00pm beyond the occasional walk for ice cream or our dinner out with our friends Emmet and Chris when we had our babysitter come to take care of little Emmett (more on Anabel, preserver of my sanity, later).

That said... traveling to this city with Emmett has allowed us to see a side of Paris we'd never been privy to in the past. Everyone has been nothing but adoring and fawning of Emmett (and of babies in general). So far, we haven't gotten any annoying stares or irritated remarks whenever we take Emmett to a restaurant. In fact, restauranteurs have all gone out of their way to be accommodating. Metro rides, as cumbersome as it can be at times getting a stroller up and down the stairs and through turnstiles, are a pleasure to take with Emmett. The passengers standing or sitting near us invariably smile, play peekaboo, pat his head, and/or speak French with him. And, not once have I *not* been offered a hand in carrying his stroller up or down the stairs (several flights in some cases), a seat in a crowded metro when I'm backpacking Emmett, or a door held open for us by a stranger during rush hour. I love seeing this warm, loving side of strangers and it makes me feel an instant bond with Parisians.

Other little treats that traveling with Emmett has provided us:
1. The discovery of the little pocket-sized parks throughout the city. Each park has its own unique character. Some seem designed for children to run around and frolick in, while others seem more sophisticated (for lack of a better word) with bronze statues, water fountains, and elegant benches surrounding a footpath. These appear more like sanctuaries for couples to escape to after work to catch up about the day as they stroll.
2. Familiarity with our neighborhood merchants and vendors. Or rather, they recognize me because they remember Emmett.
3. The reassuring connection with MESSAGE (the English-speaking mothers group) and other moms in passing. MESSAGE has been a ready resource for my every question and I owe a debt of gratitude to this organization.
4. Allowing us to slow down and live more like locals than tourists. We shop at the local farmers' markets, fromageries, boucheries, patisseries, and boulangeries at least every other day because we prepare most of our meals at home. We take a lot of walks around our surrounding neighborhoods, so we've gotten to know it quite well.

ANYWAY, back in Montmartre, Emmett rode his first carousel at the Place St. Pierre at the base of Sacré Couer. He didn't seem to quite know what to make of it, but fortunately, he doesn't seem to have a phobia of antique carousels.

Next, we took the funiculaire to Sacré Couer. The day was clear, so we got a few shots of the Paris landscape before heading home for dinner.

Dinner at Astier

2005-09-26T16:18:00.000-07:00

Faced with a near-empty refrigerator, we decided to find a neighborhood bistro open for dinner on a Monday evening -- not an easy task as it turns out. We consulted Patricia Wells' Food Lover's Guide to Paris and our Zagat guide for Paris (thanks, Vicki and Stew!), and decided on Restaurant Astier, a 8-minute stroll from our apartment. We packed up Emmett's dinner and off we went.

The restaurant opened at 8 p.m. and we were the first customers to arrive, but trendsetters that we are, the restaurant was full within minutes. (I have no idea where all the people emerged from -- I thought we were the only ones in the vicinity!)

Their prix-fixe was a steal at 28€ for 4 courses: entrée, plat, fromage and dessert. For our first course, I ordered a fricasee of mixed wild mushrooms which was garlicky, earthy, and unlike any other mushroom dish I've ever tasted. David ordered mussels, which were not only delicious, but the shells provided Emmett with endless entertainment for the entire evening. For the second course, David ordered a tasty lapin á la moutarde with fresh pasta to soak up the sauce, while I ordered roasted pork with chanterelle mushrooms.

But the most memorable part of the meal was the giant cheese platter that arrived at our table on its own stand. I have never seen a platter as large as this filled with an endless variety of cheese. Oozing brie, a buttery reblochon, salty chevres, aged sheep's milk cheese, paprika-dusted cow's milk cheese, a pungent bleu.... We hardly knew where to begin first, and I'm sure we didn't get to sample every one, but oooooh, were we in heaven!!

Dessert put us over the edge: David had a roasted pear wrapped in filo dough with a scoop of caramel ice cream while I had a chocolate pot de creme with sauce au lait and a tiny perfect madeleine.

Restaurant Astier
44, rue J.P. Timbaud
11th arr.
Open on Mondays!

Saturday Afternoon at the Park

2005-09-25T14:32:00.000-07:00

Emmet and Chris' last day with us...appropriately the weather in Paris changed overnight from being sunny and pleasant on Friday to being grey, drizzly, and chilly on Saturday.

After a quick tour through the Musée Rodin, lunch at Au Babylone (amazing ice cream and sorbet -- mon dieu!) and a whirlwind trip through Le Bon Marche's Grande Epicerie, Chris and Emmet departed for London. David, Emmett, and I consoled ourselves later in the afternoon with crepes while Emmett got to enjoy his first baby croissant, a gift from the person who made our crepes.

One of the many things I love about Paris: there are parks sprinkled all over the city, hidden away in little pockets waiting to be stumbled upon. Some are big and well-known (like the Place des Vosges and Luxembourg Gardens) while others occupy just one little pocket of grass or a strip of median along the street. One medium-sized park we came across during our first couple days exploring our neighborhood is located a short walk from our apartment in the Marais. The Square du Temple contains a duck pond, a small playground, several benches along a footpath, and a large stretch of grass -- bonanza for Emmett since we live in a child-unfriendly apartment. He loves to crawl around, stalking birds, chasing after balls, examining dried leaves, and pulling out little handfuls of grass.

Dinner at Cartet

2005-09-24T14:30:00.000-07:00

Chris and Emmet treated us to one of the most memorable meals of our lives Friday night at Cartet, a tiny restaurant specializing in Lyonnaise fare on 62, rue de Malte near our apartment in the 11th. Expertly run by a husband and wife, it is not a restaurant for the meek or squeamish, and we will surely return in the future. I'm not sure if words can do justice to the stellar experience and meal we had there, but here are a few choice snippets of conversation and photos....

"Oh my god, this is so good."

"Chris, more nose?"

"You probably had more nose than you had beef."

To the owner/chef/server/busser/dishwasher: "Dessert...how does it work?"
Response: "Oui, I put everything on the table..."

The menu...

4 Terrines: Foie de volailles; Herbes de Provence; Pâté de tête, Jambon persillé
accompanied by homemade cornichons

Museau de boeuf vinaigrette

Salade aux lardons

Escalope de ris de veau

Châteaubriant

Côte de veau aux Morilles

Magret de canard au poivre vert

Pommes lyonnaise

Dessert - L'assortiment
Creme caramel, riz au lait, mousse au chocolat, tarte au citron, oeufs á la neige (floating islands in creme anglaise), bugues (crunchy little puffy dough), and choux (similar to profiteroles, filled with rum-flavored pastry cream and drizzled with caramelized sugar)

Wine: a Côte du Rhône: Saint-Esteve d'Uchaux 2003

Unbelieveable.

Cartet
62, Rue de Malte (11th Arr.)
Paris, 75011

Three Men & a Baby

2005-09-24T10:40:00.000-07:00

2005-09-23T16:09:00.000-07:00

Emmet and Chris' second day in Paris

After breakfast (during which 4 out of the 5 eggs we cracked open were double yolks!), Chris and Emmet headed for the Eiffel Tower while David went to school and I stayed home to let Emmett nap. Emmett and I met up with them in the early afternoon to have lunch on the Champs-Elysees at Léon de Bruxelles, a chain restaurant in Paris specializing in mussels and frites.

The weather in Paris today was sunny with a touch of humidity. With Emmett in the backpack, the four of us strolled down the Champs-Elysee toward the Arc de Triomphe where we climbed the narrow stairwell to the tip top to see all of Paris and the organized chaos below in the Etoile.

We continued onward to Les Invalides, containing a hospital, monument, museum, the tomb of Napoleon, and one of my favorite cathedrals in Paris where I've run into classical music concert rehearsals on occasion. Emmet had taken over carrying little Emmett in the backpack at this point, which was a relief for me to feel 25 or so pounds lighter. Our energy level started to wane at around 5:00 (Emmett had fallen asleep in the backpack), so we did a quick sweep through Les Invalides and headed home to get ready for dinner.

Stay tuned for dinner....

2005-09-22T17:02:00.000-07:00

Our friends Emmet and Chris arrived this morning!! They are our first visitors in Paris, and boy, was it great to see familiar faces. They came with me to the Bastille farmers' market as I shopped for ingredients for tonight's dinner.

Afterward, we had lunch together at a little bistro a short walk from our apartment called C'Amelot. It was c'est fantastique: soupe des legumes out of a gigantic ceramic turrine, marinated sea snails, vegetable beignets, caramelized pork with polenta, filet of dourade, and beef for Chris -- followed by a plum streusel topped with fromage blanc sorbet.

We parted for the afternoon -- Chris and Emmet went off to zip through the Louvre, the Musee d'Orsay and the Latin Quarter, while little Emmett and I played in the apartment and picked up some more ingredients for dinner. I felt so triumphant today: with my limited French and my favorite chicken roaster's zero English (along with a lot of hand gestures), I learned that he will roast a duck on request. All I have to do is select my duck and come back at around dinner time to pick up a piping hot, crispy roast duck that's been perfectly seasoned. Guess what we had for dinner:

In addition to the roast duck and roast chicken, I roasted some new potatoes, fennel, and Brussel sprouts. Rounded out with a couple French cheeses, 2 bottles of wine, a basket of strawberries and muscat grapes, and some tasty macaroons and a slice of Opera cake from Dalloyau, we had a memorable first dinner together in Paris!

Happy Birthday...La Poste??

2005-09-21T03:01:00.000-07:00

We headed to our local post office around the corner from our apartment yesterday afternoon to mail a package home to Emmett's Uncle Dave. We walked in to see streamers, balloons, a woman singing into a microphone, a gentleman playing the keyboard near by, and a kiosk with another gentleman serving coffee, tea, juice, candy, and cookies. Apparently, September 20 is the birthday of France's la poste, and we were more than happy to celebrate with them! (Does the postal service in the U.S. ever do anything like this?)

Unfortunately, it didn't make the line move any faster. We were there for almost 30 minutes, but at least we had entertainment and refreshments to keep us occupied.

I signed up for another race over the weekend. This one is the 20 km de Paris on Sunday, October 16th. I need something to work off all the pastries, cheese, chocolate, and bread I've been allowing myself. I let myself believe that I was on vacation for a while there....

Emmett's 10-month Birthday!

2005-09-19T15:59:00.000-07:00

On the 19th of each month, we have a little party for Emmett's birthday. Sure, he's still a bit young to do much celebrating with us yet, but we try to make a tradition of treating ourselves to a little something fun on that day (as a little reward for all the late night feedings, being spit up upon, and the lack of sleep!). When Emmett was 2 weeks old, the three of us went to Fenton's Creamery for dinner; another time we picked up pizza from the Cheeseboard in Berkeley; on a few occasions, David has brought home a couple decadent desserts for us to share from either Citizen Cake or Masse's Pastries. In July, I took Emmett to Baker Beach for his first beach visit and we had a couple friends over for steak.

This month's birthday was no exception. We browsed Gourmet Lafayette at Les Galeries Lafayette shopping center in the heart of Paris. It contains a vast array of food from various purveyors all over France and beyond. David and I could spend hours in there just browsing, pointing out novel food items, and sampling. It's overwhelming at first -- everything is arranged so beautifully and it all looks so enticing. We told ourselves we'd select one dessert for tonight since we'll be eating richly later on this week when Chris and Emmet arrive.

Our dessert selection for Emmett's 10-month birthday was from Patisserie Sadaharu Aoki in Paris. We chose a piece of chocolate mont d'or: layers of chocolate mousse, chocolate ganache, cassis, and white chocolate.

Sorry, Emmett! You can have a little bit of birthday cake in two months when you turn 1!

La Parisienne!!

2005-09-18T12:50:00.000-07:00

Today was my first race in Paris -- a 6K run around the foot of Le Tour Eiffel to support breast cancer research. I had so much fun! The weather was sunny and crisp and it was my first time running an all-female race. I noted a few things:

- The race was supposed to start at 10:00 a.m. -- very unusual for me given that most Bay Area races start at around 7 a.m. It felt great to sleep in and not wake up in the dark to get ready.
- All the race information, announcements, pre-race festivities were entirely in French, so I was in the dark quite a bit. It felt a little disconcerting and lonely standing in a crowd of 7900 where everyone seemed to understand what was happening, but it made me really really want to take my French lessons more seriously. I know so little....
- The race actually started at around 10:20 a.m. We were mostly gathered at the starting line at 10:00 a.m., but neither the announcer or any of the runners seemed to be in a rush for the race to start. After several minutes of announcements, cheering, more announcements, and a moment of silence (I wish I knew what or who for!), we were off!
- There were bagpipers playing a short distance from the starting line... I loved that!

- It was very difficult to run for at least the first kilometer and a half. The streets are narrow and the crowd was dense. There were many many people out on the sidewalks, on bridges, on the streets, cheering for the runners! I noticed it was primarily men cheering with their children, "Allez Maman!"
- I didn't pay attention to water stations along the way, but apparently they were handing out *bottles* of water! The Bay-Area-ite in me thought it was wasteful and dangerous...there were almost entirely full bottles of water rolling around along the path. I had visions of me tripping on a water bottle, falling, and skinning my knees on the pavement.
I spotted David and Emmett near the finish line -- my time was 36:32. On our way out, each runner was handed a medal and a rose.

Afterward, the three of us had a light lunch nearby at La Terrasse near the Ecole Militaire. Emmett got to sample some watered down soupe de l'oignon.

2005-09-16T14:37:00.000-07:00

This morning was my first meeting with a group of MESSAGE moms here in Paris. A group of women living in my area (Area 1C covers the 11th and 12th arrondissements) got together (at a Starbucks, of all places) to chat and share stories about being a mom in Paris. The 5 other women are all permanently settled in Paris -- four were from the U.S. and one was from London. Two of the women married Frenchmen and had no plans to go back to America. Another woman, Laura, had a really interesting story: she and her Italian-American husband moved from San Diego to Paris back in 2003 to seek political asylum... actually, they left the U.S. because they could no longer stand to live under the Bush administration. She sold her web development company, their house and cars, packed up, and moved. Laura has picked up some web development work here, but her husband is still looking for work. I told her that she and her husband are living out our fantasy.

We ran a few errands today, and they all happened to be near the Champs-Élysée and the Eiffel Tower. We purchased tickets to one of my favorite operas which happens to be coming to the Theatre des Champs-Élysée --> Le Nozze di Figaro! Just a half a block away was the Hotel Plaza Athénée, site of the final episode of "Sex & the City". The outside of the building was just beautiful -- red flowers bursting out of the balconies and terraces. The lobby was smaller than I would have imagined, but very charming, and the service we encountered on our quick walk through the lobby area was friendly and warm. But at 555€ a night for the least expensive room (on up to 6500€ a night!!), I don't see staying at the Plaza in our future any time soon!

Our next stop was Le Tour Eiffel for Emmett's first visit. We were there to pick up my La Parisienne race materials at the Trocadero (at the base of the Eiffel Tower). Emmett loved the water fountain there and even got to meet the Squirrel mascot of the race.

2005-09-15T13:53:00.000-07:00

Please forgive us for being the shameless tourists that we are...but we can't help taking photos of every new place we take Emmett!

David had the day off on Thursday, so he and Emmett went to the farmers' market in the morning while I stayed home to begin tackling the mountain of data I have to read for my dissertation (JBY -- I couldn't justify coming and NOT bringing anything with me.) After Emmett's naps, we set off for our daily adventure.

Our first stop was to the Mariage Frères salon de thé on the boutique-filled rue du Bourg-Tibourg in the 6th to pick out a birthday gift for Emmett's Uncle Dave. None of us had been here before and stepping into the doors was like entering a tea museum. The room in which the tea is stored in giant canisters was darkened and hushed. The young men behind the counter answering questions and filling tea orders wore linen suits. Besides more than 400 kinds of tea, the shop also sells an exquisite array of teapots, teacups, candies, and cookies. We'll definitely be back before we leave in December.

After a short stroll to the Georges Pompidou Museum to give Emmett a snack (we didn't go inside), we went home, packed up some food for Emmett, and walked to one of our favorite Paris restaurants, Chez Omar. This North African restaurant is located in the Marais, and we've never visited Paris without stopping for a meal here. We requested a seat in the back where the sign reads "Bienvenue au club des non-fumeurs" : Welcome to the non-smokers club. We dined there alone... at least until our meal was almost finished!

Emmett got to taste some couscous, stewed squash, carrots, and turnips, in addition to his rice cereal, egg yolk, and salmon. David sneaked him a few tastes of his first frite (french fry), which Emmett loved. In addition to the couscous and vegetable stew, we ordered a magret de canard (duck breast) and brochettes d'agneau (a lamb brochette). Omar himself came by to chat and said good night to us as we were leaving.

A week from today, our good friends Emmet Sun and Chris Jung will be arriving for a visit! We can't wait to see familiar faces!!

2005-09-14T14:31:00.000-07:00

Today was one of those magical days that will always remind me of what a beautiful city Paris is. The day started uneventfully: Emmett explored the living room while I watered houseplants around the house. He amused himself on the single rug in the house while I ate breakfast (fougasse au lardon, oeufs, and chevre). After his nap, on a whim, I packed up Emmett's lunch of salmon, rice cereal, sweet potato, tofu, and apple-pear sauce; plopped him in the stroller; and walked the 10 minutes to the Place des Vosges. The sun started coming out at around 2:15 p.m., just as I was stepping out of one of my favorite boulangeries where I'd picked up a chocolatine (um, my lunch).

The Place des Vosges was packed with families, a class of preschoolers and their teachers, couples, students, and tourists, all out to enjoy the perfect weather. People lounged on the grass, strolled around the path, and leisurely ate their lunches or smoked a cigarette. Emmett was a bit distracted by the water fountains and the teenagers horsing around nearby, so it took me a while to feed him his lunch. After he was finished, I thought I'd see if he'd be willing to give grass another shot... and he was fine! I gingerly set him down on it and he immediately started plucking at the blades and raking up bits of dried leaves with his chubby little fingers.

He also managed to make the acquaintance of some couples sunning themselves nearby. One woman, in particular, really wanted to play with Emmett. She inched over and started out by collecting leaves for him to grasp. While speaking French to him, she tickled his toes and played peek-a-boo. Pretty soon, they were laughing together like old pals and he was confiding to her, "Da DA da da dada." She let me take some photos of them together, and she offered to take a photo of us before she strolled off with her boyfriend, hand in hand.

Later on our walk home, I asked Emmett what the two of them talked about, but he declined to share, saying it was just entre eux.

2005-09-14T08:05:00.000-07:00

By the way, we never properly thanked the people who saw us off at the airport in San Francisco....

Lynna's brother Morgan packed all of our luggage into a mini-van and drove us to the airport. Yes, we managed to make it to Paris with all of that luggage!

David's sister Shirley, her husband Dave, and their two boys Kevin (age 4) and Owen (age 2) drove all the way out to SFO from Oakland. Kevin was still waving good-bye to us as we stood in line to pass through security....

Our good friend Jen Chen took time out of her busy law student schedule to see us off as well.

Having our loved ones there made the 2-hour wait to board the plane pass by very quickly... plus, having other people hold Emmett for a while was a relief, knowing that we'd be holding him for the entire 10-hour flight.

Many many thanks!

2005-09-13T09:04:00.000-07:00

Emmett and I spent the afternoon exploring Chinatown yesterday, or more appropriately, Little Saigon/Chinatown. It's located in the southern part of Paris, in the 13th arr. Turns out, it looks just like every other Chinatown I've ever been to. Now I know where to go if we ever get a hankering for Vietnamese pho (average price for a bowl was about 6.50 - 7.00EUR -- pricy!) or crispy Chinese duck.

My most exciting find was tropical fruit that I've never or rarely seen fresh outside of southeast Asia. Packages of fresh mangosteen (18 for 8.00EUR), rambutan, longan, durian, jack fruit, lychee, dragon fruit abounded in the Chinese market. I was tempted to buy some, but ultimately decided that I didn't want to risk buying a batch of mediocre fruit.

Doctor's appointment in Paris...

2005-09-12T12:44:00.000-07:00

On my first day here, I registered for La Parisienne, a 6K run around the foot of the Eiffel Tower scheduled for this coming Sunday, the 18th. http://www.la-parisienne.net/

Feeling so pleased with myself, I excitedly planned for the day: what I'd wear, what time I'd leave the house, where I'd go for some practice runs. And then I read the fine print, or actually, BOLD print: Attention ! : N'oubliez pas votre certificat médical !
CAUTION : Obligatory medical certificate for the taking into account of your inscription!

Medical certificate? I emailed my inquiry to the staff and received a speedy reply: "The medical certificate is a certificate wich is delivered by your local doctor. It proves that you’re able to practice running."

I wrote back: "Can my doctor in the U.S. issue a letter stating that I am a healthy runner? Can I provide proof that I recently ran a half-marathon at the end of July?"

La Parisienne's reply: "Hi, We are very sorry but, because of the law, we need you to give a medical certificat. We know that's boring but we have no choice about it...See you."

Quickly, I turned to my most trusted Paris resource, MESSAGE, the mothers' group I joined. I immediately received a few responses, all telling me that the medical certificate is required for insurance purposes and that I must have a local doctor issue one. A couple women kindly recommended their doctors, but after calling around, I wasn't about to pay 80 EUR for a certificate stating that I could run 6 kilometers.

Finally, one woman explained that certain généralistes will charge the minimum which is 20 EUR, but they must be designated as "conventionné, secteur 1". Long story short, another kind woman offered to make an appointment for me with her généraliste as she was going to bring her son in for an appointment this morning. She called me and said I had an appointment for this afternoon at 4:20pm with Dr. Catherine Renard at 1, rue de Dijon, in the 12th arr.

At 3:20, I packed Emmett in his backpack carrier, and off we headed to the metro. We arrived 30 minutes early, so we sat on a sidewalk bench and "chatted" with locals, or rather, friendly people sat down and spoke French to Emmett while I tried my hardest to comprehend and reply. (I'll bet he understood more than I did.)

My appointment with Dr. Renard was easy enough, 20 minutes. Fortunately, her English was good. She checked my blood pressure, had me do 30 squats in quick succession, checked my blood pressure again, filled out the certificat medical, and I paid her 20 EUR. We talked for a bit afterward: her late husband was Greek, she has two children, she grew up in Paris. Emmett sat in his backpack carrier the entire time and laughed at me as I did my knee-bends!

All this, just to be considered an official runner at La Parisienne!! But it was overall, a worthy exercise for me. Emmett and I got to explore a fun neighborhood in Paris (Cour St. Emilion), I now have a généraliste I can call on in the event of an emergency with any of us, and I have a medical certificate that doesn't expire for a year. Time to sign up for more races before we leave....

2005-09-12T01:38:00.000-07:00

Haven't posted much about what we've been eating here yet because we've been cooking most of our meals at home. Since we arrived a little less than a week ago, we've made salmon twice and pasta twice; we snack on bread, cheese, prosciutto, roast chicken, and salad, with an occasional splurge on pate; we've picked up sushi and Greek sandwiches to go (nothing like eating meat that's been shaved off a hunk of meat that's been rotating on a spit!); and we assembled a spread of Middle Eastern treats from the farmers' market: baba ganoush, pita, falafel, tabbouleh salad, and some kind of fried pieces of dough with shrimp.

Everyday on our walk, we do treat ourselves to a little sweet, whether it's a couple pieces of chocolate from a local chocolatier or a chocolate croissant or eclair from a local patisserie.

More food photos and descriptions to come...

Emmett's been eating well, too. On our first full day here, we went to one of our local farmers' market, came home and made a big batch of organic baby food store in the freezer: broccoli, eggs, carrots, haricots verts, and sweet potatoes. We've been giving him salmon and yogurt and peeling him plums, grapes, melon, and peaches. The price of jarred baby food here (as far as we've seen) is exorbitant...at least 1.07€ per jar, sometimes more.

2005-09-11T15:14:00.000-07:00

On our first weekend in Paris...

... it rained.

Fortunately, after the rain stopped, the weather was much less humid which made it more comfortable for us to walk around outside.

The rain ended at around 4:00pm on Saturday. As we were getting ready to leave the house, we heard discotheque music *blasting* from somewhere nearby. Worried that it was coming from the bar across the street and that this would be a regular occurrence starting from Saturday afternoon on through the wee hours of the night, we ventured out...to find a Techno Parade passing by our apartment! There were floats filled with people dancing passing by and even people dancing on top of the busstop! We bopped to the music a bit before heading in the opposite direction toward the Marais.

We stopped at a park where there were children frolicking in the playground, a well-kept duck pond, and people chatting on benches and strolling about. It's exactly how I imagined a Parisian park would look on a Saturday afternoon. Emmett couldn't take his eyes off the pigeons and ducks. After picking up dinner ingredients from Monoprix, we went home and enjoyed a candlelit dinner together.

On Sunday, we headed to another farmers' market near our house at the Bastille. This market is huge, and one that David and I were familiar with from previous Paris visits. Our first stop was to the chichi stand (churros). I know I'm going to be craving these fried sticks of dough rolled in sugar all week long. We picked up some seafood, fruits and veggies, and other goodies to last us for the next couple days.

After Emmett's afternoon nap, we took him to his first visit to Notre Dame and managed to get there right at the beginning of 6:00 mass. Emmett was mesmerized by the stained glass windows and the priest's "smoking yo-yo". We stopped at Haagen-Daazs for ice cream and walked to the Hotel de Ville (Paris' city hall) to feed Emmett a snack of yogurt and plums. Finally, we walked down almost the entire length of Rue de Rivoli before heading home for dinner.

2005-09-07T07:56:00.000-07:00

Still settling in and trying to make this apartment more of our home. We've been out and about, picking up household necessities. Wednesday was our first metro ride of our stay... Paris is all coming back to me and things are already starting to feel familiar. The hardest things for me to tolerate here have always been the smog and the cigarette smoke which is still unbearable. If I could fashion a little gas mask for Emmett to wear while we're out, I would.

Dealing with French bureaucracy has not been fun. We spent an entire day running around the city, standing in long lines in hot and stuffy rooms, being turned away, standing in line...only to be turned away again and then finding offices closed for the day at 1pm.

On a happier note, we're having fun rediscovering old haunts with Emmett. We spent part of the afternoon in the Place des Vosges on Friday in the late afternoon, eating an almond croissaint and a chocolate eclair from a local boulangerie. Emmett had an early dinner al fresco by the water fountain. People have been so adoring of Emmett -- on the metro, in restaurants, at the park. It's so wonderful to see that side of Paris.

I joined a mothers' group here called MESSAGE: http://messageparis.org/public_website/index.html

The women I've connected with via the members-only forums have been so generous and kind. Any time I post a question, I get several helpful responses within minutes. It's been a hugely reassuring resource. One woman loaned us a Pack n Play for Emmett to sleep in until we leave and even offered other baby necessities if we needed them. Another woman offered to make a doctor's appointment for me in French because I need a medical certificate to participate in a 6K race around the Eiffel Tower next weekend. I also received a long email from another woman telling me where to go to buy reasonably priced diapers and baby items.

Overall, we're happy to be here. I'm already feeling sad to leave in December.

We're finally here!

2005-09-06T22:30:00.000-07:00

After a long plane ride (Emmett was, overall, quite cooperative, aside from fighting sleep for about an hour); a brief stop in Amsterdam to visit the Van Gogh Museum (where Emmett experienced terror for the first time...of grass (as in 'lawn', not weed); and a temporarily (we hope) lost stroller at Charles de Gaulle, we made it to our apartment safely.

Our address is Chez Banfield 22 rue Oberkampf, Paris 75011.

The apartment is quite large for Parisian standards, and we never imagined we'd be able to find an affordable apartment as big as this. There are two bedrooms, a separate dining room, a living room, and a kitchen a good deal larger than a postage stamp. The ceilings are high and ornately decorated with crown molding, making the apartment feel even more expansive. Everything is furnished, thankfully.

The downside? We're finding that the professor is quite a packrat (even more than us!) and has a deep aversion to throwing things away. She also left us an 8-pages of single-spaced instructions about the apartment, so we're constantly [nervously] consulting those pieces of paper. We don't take it personally, but we do ask ourselves, "why does she rent her apartment if she is so nit-picky about her things?" But we shouldn't complain and I'm sure things will feel more familiar the longer we're here.

We arrived at around 9:50 pm on Monday night (Paris time). The next morning, David stopped at our neighborhood mini-grocery store and picked up some essentials (water, milk, cheese, prosciutto) and then the three of us walked a short distance to the farmers' market on Bl. Richard Lenoir. We browsed and picked up some beautiful glistening salmon filets, organic produce and eggs for Emmett's baby food, salad ingredients, strawberries, and some mozzarella di bufala. Here we are enjoying our first homemade dinner (Emmett is playing with a stem of basil -- JBY, I know you're laughing!)

We're slowly adjusting to the time change. I have a feeling each day will just get better. Emmett's adjusting to the apartment, too. Here he is playing with a gift he received moments before we left for SFO from his Auntie Kathy and Uncle John.

Amsterdam Stop-Over

2005-09-06T00:57:00.000-07:00

We arranged for an 8-hour layover in Amsterdam so that we could take a walk around the city before boarding the plane for the 1-hour leg to Paris.

We met a fellow Cal alum at the airport (Emily, '83), so we rode the train together into the city. After spending part of the afternoon at the Van Gogh Museum, we relaxed a bit on a stretch of lawn outside. Thinking Emmett would get a kick out of crawling around on some grass, I took off his shoes and socks since it was pretty warm out. But when I set his feet down on the grass, he practically shook with terror (his first instance of fear!) and scrabbled his little arms and legs onto and around my body as fast as his little body would let him! He hung on for dear life, whimpering. It was the first time we've ever witnessed him afraid of something. Poor little babe. We didn't realize we were raising him to be such a city boy... time to go explore some parks in Paris! I figure I'll acclimate him slowly to the grass and hope he overcomes his fear someday.

2005-09-02T18:00:00.000-07:00

HAPPY 1st ANNIVERSARY, Stan & Vern!

Last year on this day, David and I (with Emmett in utero) were in Kauai celebrating the wedding of our good friends Joyce and Jeff. Everything about the day could not have been more perfect: the weather, the setting, the ceremony and the reception. The wedding was held at the Hyatt in Poipu with the ceremony in the Ilima Garden’s gazebo. Their vows to each other were incredibly moving -- there was hardly a dry eye in the audience.

(What made the vacation especially memorable to us was that it was our last pre-baby trip. We packed light, followed no schedule, and meandered to our hearts' content, fully aware that future trips to Kauai with a child may involve slightly more planning and gear. We savored every minute of our vacation.)

Being the world travelers that they are (one of Jeff's vows to Joyce was to take her to at least one new destination a year), they are enjoying their first anniversary in Cabo, followed by a long vacation to Peru and the Galapagos Islands in October. Having just returned from France in May, they won't be able to visit us in Paris during our stay this time... but maybe they'll agree to renew their vows in five years at another exciting destination!

2005-08-31T22:22:00.000-07:00

Tonight was our last Wednesday Night Dinner until 2006.

Each Wednesday night, we have dinner with the same group of friends at a restaurant chosen by a rotating weekly "dictator". Our primary targets are in San Francisco, the east bay, and the peninsula. Founded and made official by our good friend Emmet Sun (little Emmett's namesake) in 2003, we have been going regularly since 2004. Sadly, we're going to miss quite a few WND's while we're away.

(Big) Emmet, this week's dictator, chose a favorite: Island Cafe, a Malaysian restaurant in San Mateo, thoughtfully close to us in Foster City.

15 adults sampled 7 entrees: lamb rendang; chicken curry; coconut prawns ("rock star!"); fried tofu with seafood; "open heart vegetable" with shrimp paste; Malaysian-style chow fun; Malaysian-style pork chop; and 5 appetizers: lumpia; fried chicken wings; chicken satay; beef satay; and roti. 2 babies (Zoe and Emmett) were passed around and adored by all.

Emmett, who has been a regular at WND since the tender age of 3 1/2 weeks, was tossed around like a pizza by his Uncle Jim. Best of all, he managed to keep his dinner of turnip, broccoli, brown rice cereal, pear, and Oatios inside and not all over his uncle or his Auntie Lisette.

Uncle Stew fashioned Emmett his very own iceberg lettuce yarmulke, much to Joyce Bernas-Yung's dismay.

For old time's sake, here we are at Baby Emmett's very first Wednesday Night Dinner on December 15, 2004 at Mi Lindo Peru in the Mission. (Emmet is holding 3 1/2 week-old Emmett at the far end...Emmet(t) squared.)

2005-08-30T22:48:00.000-07:00

The three of us are staying at my parents' house in Foster City for the rest of the week (my parents are in San Diego until Friday). Emmett and I spent a very relaxing Monday at David's sister Shirley's house, although it was hard for me to get much accomplished because Emmett wouldn't let me out of his sight. He seems particularly sensitive with all the changes that have taken place in a short amount of time, coupled with the onset of a bit of separation anxiety.

Today (Tuesday) was quite busy with Emmett's 9-month check-up and more good-byes: Elizabeth and Susanna; Kathy, Molly, & Alice (pictured); Bernadette; and dinner at Tina, Laurence, Andrew, & Abigail's house (pictured).

Meanwhile, David is working at a fast pace trying to tie up loose ends with work, and I need to find time sort out my thoughts regarding my dissertation. Can't decide how much data to pack with me....

We did it! We're out of the house!

2005-08-28T21:31:00.000-07:00

There was a bit of a mad rush at the end (unloading our fridge, dropping off random bags and suitcases next door, packing up our last few miscellaneous belongings), but we managed to leave the house in move-in condition before our renters showed up. (Emmett agreed to serve as a model in these photos showing how empty our house has become.)

We're spending the night tonight at David's sister Shirley and brother-in-law Dave's house next door. They have two boys, Kevin (age 4) and Owen (age 2). They adore Emmett, and Emmett wishes he could keep up with his cousins. Shirley made us an elaborate Thai feast tonight which was a total treat since we haven't had Thai food in ages.

It's going to be hard to say good-bye....

2005-08-26T22:42:00.000-07:00

We're trying to carefully plan our last few meals here in the U.S. "What will we miss eating most in Paris?" dictates most of our meal decisions. Today, we had lunch at Khana Peena, a new branch of the Indian restaurant that opened down the street from us.

For dinner, Helen had a hankering for Korean food, so along with Jen, we all went to Pyong Chang Soft Tofu House in Oakland near our house. I strayed from my usual seafood soon tofu and had pureed soybean jigae. Everyone else had a variation of soon tofu, and we all shared an order of kalbi and OB beer.

Emmett enjoyed soft tofu with his dinner, too, along with brown rice cereal, pureed sweet potato, peach, and a handful of Oatios. His tofu, however, didn't come in a super boiling hot spicy broth filled with seafood, vegetables, and other goodies.

2005-08-26T22:13:00.000-07:00

We're packing up our house and getting it ready for the family that will sublet from us while we're away. Two more days before we move out; 9 more days before we depart for our semester in Paris.

Tonight was our last French lesson with Helene Hertz, our very rigorous teacher in North Berkeley. We were only able to squeeze in 12 lessons, but she always managed to leave our heads spinning after each hour. I can't wait to try out what we've learned in Paris, and I'm fully prepared to not be understood at first...but I vow to have no fear and just dive in!

While David and I were struggling to conjugate the verb "avoir" with Madame Hertz, Emmett was having a grand evening with his Auntie Kathy, Uncle Tony, Molly and Alice at their home where he could not have been showered with more love and attention. Afterward, we all got to hang out in their brand new tent.