La Régalade Saint Honoré or Restaurant Update

This was a highly rated restaurant that your father found. It didn't disappoint.

 Ahhh, the butter. Which you've already seen and read about.

 Part of the meal--pork pate with foie gras--which I cannot tolerate and will not eat and have never eaten since my first bite many years ago in a restaurant with Aunt Loraine. I think I embarrassed her when I promptly spit it out.

 Tony's appetizer: crab meat with artichoke hearts, lemon curry.

Fresh and cooked vegetables on a crispy thin tart with tiny pieces of flavorful ham. I'd never thought of pairing cooked and raw vegetables together but it was a hit. The tomato was a surprise because it looked fresh but it was warm.

 The main plate. Tony had duck breast with a sweet red pepper sauce and small potatoes.

 I ordered the scorpion fish with saffron something and chanterelles and lemony beet greens. Delicious.

 Dad's chocolate tarte with sorbet.

 My rice pudding with caramel sauce--unbelievably creamy.

 And the chocolate tart was all warm and gooey inside. Incredible. I saw the hair on the back of Tony's neck stand up when I would reach across the table with my spoon in hand.

 The meal was over and what did they bring us? Madelines, which always make me think of Marcel Proust.

And we ate the meal while watching the rain on a Paris afternoon.
The meal started at 1:30 in the afternoon and probably ended an hour and a half later. I couldn't eat one more thing for the rest of the day. Dad had a crepe on the way home from the organ concert at Notre Dame and informed me that he still had several different crepes to try. I thought he'd about covered it so when I asked him which ones, he recited the list of the several crepes he hadn't yet tried.

Butter and An Apology to Mandi

Ah....remember all those times when you were small and we used to leave the butter on the counter and  you would go into the kitchen and it would be very quiet. And I would call to you, "Mandi, what are you doing? Are you eating the butter again?" You would remain quiet and I would go into the kitchen and there would be finger marks in the butter and a corner of the cube missing.

I apologize to you for all those times of stopping you from eating the butter.

For French butter is not to be spread, but lathered, heavily upon one's bread. There is an indescribable  something about French butter. After asking for a un peu de buerre, we are always given more than a "tiny bit." Perhaps it is because the restaraunteurs know French butter is superior to American butter and if they do not give us a large chunk, we will ask for more. And always, your father and I are so surprised to receive such a large chunk of butter, for surely, how could one eat so much butter?

But then we ask for more bread because we have more butter we want to spread and eat, and indulge in.

So Mandi, we apologize for stopping you from eating the butter but the greater apology is in that it wasn't French butter.
xxooo

Dan and Tony and The Tour de France or Just An Excuse to Plan a Picnic

They look like little boys, non?

TONY:

We should probably plan what we bring to eat, etc. for Sunday.  It will be hot and we will be there for a while.  What do you suggest?

DAN: 

Our standard picnic is usually some bread, some cheese, some fruit, some juice and possibly some kind of treats.

TONY: 

Sounds great.   We'll need to get stuff tomorrow night.  We can grab a some big baguettes and some cheese.  Do you have some cheeses at home?  How should we divvy up.  Part depends on how early we go which is the big question.  It's going to be hot so I'd like to minimize time, but we also need a front row seat.  What do you think?  I'd rather err towards getting a good spot, and I have a feeling that spots will go fast.

DAN:

But there are variations including sandwiches, roti chickens (a bit messy), chips, etc.  We've done hummus, olives, whatever.  What do you think?  We should do something fairly transportable and not too heavy as, like you said, it will be warm and later in the evening.

Speaking of which, any thoughts yet on where we camp or what time we should get there?

DAN:

Yeah, I have no idea.  Have you looked for any hints/guidelines on line?

We do have some cheese and we can get some fruit and olives.

Here are some links from previous tours.  Sounds like you want to be there at least 4 hours early.

TONY:

We'll find some kind of dessert item.  Anything else?

DAN: 

Sounds like we should have plenty between us -- bread, cheese, hummus, pita, fruit, salami, olives, dessert.  Should be great!

Have you picked us a likely location yet?

TONY:

I'm thinking on the Champs (so we can see them going both ways).  Maybe we can calculate a spot where some shade will pass over us, which would more likely be the south side (though they are a little faster on that side, but up by the Arc might be nice).  Have any kind of games to bring?  We have Phase 10.  We'll also need to protect our turf right on the guard ways, else folk will crowd in front.  And we'll need LOTS of water.  We're going to freeze some water bottles and then bring some other water to put in them.

TONY:

We need to make final plans.  I can get 4 large baguettes tonight, and we can bring some cheese to combine with your cheese.  Does that sound like enough baguette?

DAN:

I think so.  Marcia is lobbying for some hummus and pita as well, so we should be good.  We're going to also get some fruit and I may grab a bit of salami as well.  Do we need anything else?

TONY:

That sounds great.  Patti wants to bring a cake but I think the heat will be problematic.  We'll see what else we can find. 

DAN:

We also have Uno and Phase 10!  We'll bring water bottles -- there should, hopefully, be some water fountains somewhere around, and then water won't be a trouble.  The blanket will be a big help.  Hopefully 4 hours is enough?

TONY:

I'd be willing to play it safer with 5 hours if you want.  The riders arrive there about 7:45.  We could plan on meeting there by 3.  Is that early enough?  Of course we'll make a final decision when we meet at church tomorrow.

 The lovely Ventura family.

 Tony looking like he is having a pretty good time... but it is only hour 1 and little Boo is cooling him off with her magic spray bottle.

Ah...the picnic. A fine spread the two gentlemen planned. Hour 1.

 Coltran doing a fine job of keeping himself occupied. Hour 2.

 Krey also keeping himself semi-happy. Hour 3

 Coltran is the first to go.... Hour 4.

 The happy Ventura children...cause it's over?

More happy Venturas. Because they stand up for their rights and refuse to watch the post-post and secondary post victory lap.

Podcast From Paris--The Sounds of Paris

listen to ‘IN the Classroom’ on Audioboo

A Post For Our Food Concierge or Not Another Souffle!

 We take Holly's food recommendations very seriously and in true loyalty tried the Souffle restaurant. For we are in Paris and the souffle is the quintessential French food, Non? And in quintessential Tony style, we ordered the full souffle lunch. Which seemed like a great idea since we were at the souffle restaurant, right?
The first souffle came as an entree. I ordered haricot verts with noisettes-green bean with hazlenut.

Tony ordered the cheese souffle with emmantal and conte. His was better than mine, but we shared.
After knocking off both of the souffles, the plats came--I would have expected that the entree souffle would have come in a smaller size but no, the plats sizes were the same.

 We ordered the boef bourginon souffle and

the Henry IV with the chicken and mushroom sauce. Once again Tony's was better, but then again, he ordered both since after one souffle, all souffles were the same to me. And we know he enjoyed the experience of choosing and anticipating far more than me. They are beautiful.

I could eat only half of my second, same size as the first souffle.

 At this point I thought to myself, Oh no, there's another souffle coming!

Tony probably thought, Yes, there's another souffle coming-actually two more since my wife is already full, I will get hers.

 The restaurant has you order all three souffles at the beginning so you can't back out. My choice was fromboises or raspberry.

 Tony-chocolate.

 With a hole punched in the center and chocolate sauce poured in.

And how did we do after six souffles?

FINIT!

WHILE WAITING for the dessert souffle, Tony actually started planning a stop which was on the way home, to the custard tarte place that Holly recommended. When I pointed this out, he realized it would be over the top, to which I replied, "The girls are going to love that one."

Podcast From Paris-Vivaldi in St. Chapelle

listen to ‘Vivaldi At St. Chapelle’ on Audioboo

The War Museum For Max

Max, you would have enjoyed the uniforms, the armour, the knives etc. But first I want you to see the real effects of these weapons. These are plaster casts of two men who were injured during WWI 1914-1918 from these weapons.

It was very dark in this museum so the photos are a little blurry. This is a knight's armour from the 1500's.

 The armour of Louis xiv-King of France from 1654-1715.

 The armour of one of the French kings when he was a child.

 Intricate gun stuff.

 16th century arrows in a quiver.

 I can't imagine how anyone could lift this to attack.

 North AFrican military dress in the late 1800's. I thought it was cool.

 France had colonies in Asia that fought with them in several wars. These are some of their uniforms.

 These were the pre 1900 boots of Northern European soldier, but I would buy them today.

 Prussian helmets.

 WW I uniforms.

 The Nazi uniform that changed the world.

WW II uniform

Report on Cafe Constant For Holly

We took your recommendation seriously and had lunch at Cafe Constant because it was very close to Les Invalides where we spent the afternoon.

Tony ordering our lunch en Francais. I hope you can hear it.

 Tony's appetizer: shrimp tart with Citronella sauce

 My salad of artichoke hearts and mushrooms and the tiniest croutons I've ever had.

 My petit pois soup which we renamed "butter soup." Delicious.

 Tony's veal cordon bleu.

 The foodie next to us who asked if he could photograph our food. Of course.

 Tony's apple tarte.

Tony's profiterole. The chocolate sauce was intense and delicious.