ELAINE'S MOVEABLE FEAST

Last night we went to dinner with friends in Le Quartier Marais.  They drove to the apartment to pick us up and about a 30 minute drive with traffic. . We were going to a restaurant called Le Caruso at the corner of 3, Rue Turenne and Sainte Catherine.  It was such an adorable little restaurant with a very authentic Italian menu.  The products were from Italy and our friends told us that the food here was very good.

After ordering some wine, we each gave the waiter our orders.  I ordered the starter of baked eggplant and then pulled the rug out from under the waiter when I ordered another starter of minestrone soup.  He could absolutely not understand why anyone would order two starters, especially when everyone I was with ordered a starter and an entree.  No, I had to go and order two starters.  He must have asked me twenty seven times, “Madame, avant, avec ou aprés?”  Madame, before, with or after?  It took about ten minutes for him to understand bring the eggplant, then when the entrees are served bring the soup please.  He really did not want to make a mistake, he was so concerned. He even addressed the people I was with to make sure I wanted to indeed order two starters and no entree.  Perhaps he was asking them because maybe he thought I might be insane.  It was so funny really.

After a short time, we were served our starters.  The baked eggplant was really delicious.  I found myself a little anxious to see what would now happen when he returned.  Yes, I turned around and the entrees were being served and so was my bowl of soup, which was huge.   I was so happy it turned out right and it was plenty  of food for me which I thoroughly enjoyed and finished.

Everyone enjoyed their dinners right down to the cappuccino and tartlette aux pomme chaud,  (hot apple tart) the food was great.  Our friends had treated us to this dinner, which was very nice and generous.  We would definitely go back to Le Caruso.

My friend Miros thought she had lost her black beret when we parked and got out of the car.  After dinner she asked her husband to pull the car away from the curb a little so she could look under the car.  She was right, there it was.  When she got back into the car she was laughing so hard.  She said she could start a new trend in Paris, wearing a beret with a tire thread!

During the drive back to the apartment I realized how very beautiful this city is indeed.  It was very quiet, very little traffic and such a crystal clear night.  Because of the late hour, we were able to drive down the Avenue des Champs Élysées and take in the specialty shops, cinemas and the manicured chestnut trees..  We stopped at a traffic light in Trocodero and there we were right in front of the Eiffel Tower when it started twinkling, it was just midnight.  I snapped a quick photo from the car window which I have posted here.

Our friends came back to the apartment where we consumed a little more wine and some chocolates.  We sat around laughing and talking until about 1:00 am.  They wanted to me to skype our daughter so they could say hello and maybe get to see our granddaughter.  With the six hour time difference, we figured we would give it a try.  We were lucky to have caught her at a good time and we were all able to talk and see each other including the baby.  We had such a very nice evening.

Miros was a judge on the television show here in France, the French version of American Idol.  She is a very talented and beloved singer and voice coach.  When she recently went to Guatemala and agreed to have several concerts there, the tickets were immediately sold out.

Now, you are in the know, do not order two starters in Paris.

Sunday morning we got up to see it was snowing in Paris.  How delightful, I just love the snow so much.  I saw on the news it snowed in many places in Europe including Rome and London and hundreds of flights were cancelled due to the weather.  Here in Paris we only got about less than an inch and it disappeared soon after.

Saturday we went to Trocodero see the Musée National de la Marine.  We really enjoyed the museum.  I have posted several pictures here.  I particularly enjoyed the incredible paintings by Joseph Vernat.  He traveled in the late 18th century painting seaports.  There was so much to see here so we just strolled for several hours taking it all in.

As you can see from the picture here, people were actually walking on the frozen fountain, how crazy was that.

I made the cauliflower steak when we got back to the apartment, but I cut it in the wrong direction so it fell apart a little.  Perhaps I was supposed to start cutting further in from the edge.  But, it turned out really good especially since I had it on a boule levain, a delicious crusty, French sourdough round loaf of bread.

I couldn’t wait to return to Paris for one of my favorite things which is not available in the states.  That is the Yoplait Perle de Lait Coco, the most delicious coconut yogurt.  I have included a picture here of the package. I can’t wait to get up every morning to have it for breakfast.

The audio guide at the Musée National de la Marine said that this was the last piece of the boat which belonged to Marie Antoinette.  I have included a photo below.

I failed to mention the beautiful view from way up high on Trocodero before entering the museum.  The last photo I will leave you with today will be from there and you can see the ponds and fountains are all frozen due the recent cold weather here.  It is expected to warm up again in a few days.

I would be remiss if I didn’t wish a great big Congratulations to our home New York Giants on their Superbowl win!  We started to watch at about 11:30 and got to bed at 5:00 AM this morning.  GO GIANTS!

Well I must go as we are getting together with friends today.  Have a wonderful day.

I am most happy to say that we arrived back in Paris yesterday.  The first thing we had to do was go food shopping which is always so much fun here.  I wanted to post this picture of our favorite little shopping cart which mostly everyone uses here to tote their groceries home.

As you can see in this picture I  just bought two French baguettes and the white bag contains some of my favorite pastries.  Picture me quite excited.

I’ll write again soon as right now I have the dreaded jet lag and need to relax and eat something.

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When we left Rome we drove to the small town of Todi which we visited last March.  This time we looked at an apartment there.

It had these four beautiful arched windows in a lovely courtyard with palm trees and lots of greenery.

In the next photo you can see the real estate agent showing us the apartment which was once a monastery.

The apartment was located near the center of the town but not on the main street.  It was lovely with four large bedrooms, open floor plan and the most gorgeous beamed ceiling.

I have included a photo below although it is not great it shows the shape of the windows.

There was an iron spiral staircase to a lower bedroom which was quite unique.

From here in Todi, we have an appointment with another agent who will be giving us a private tour of the city of Spoleto including the fortress, town, shopping, church etc.  The house is on the crest of a hill very high above the town with four bedrooms and about 10 acres of olive trees and grapevines with its own pergola and separate house.

I will include below some photos of the house we looked at also.

The town of Spoleto was beautiful and we loved walking around the town. We drove to Cascia on our way to Perugia to visit the cathedral of St. Rita.

Sainta Rita de Cascia is the patron saint of impossible things and lost causes.  Her personal story is an interesting one.  We were stunned when we walked into the cathedral to see her lying on an altar enclosed in glass.

This was the entrance (hallway) when first entering the apartment complete with a baby grand piano and a brick walkway. The flooring was the original terracotta.

The photo is of the agent who also does the tours below.  She was such a lovely woman and her driving skills was nothing short of a race car driver while speaking Italian so fast.