Ssmall, Leafy, Fresh and Colorful, Overlooking Rue de Saintonge
It's a New World in the City of Light
Your taste of life in Paris and France
ParlerParis.com
Monday, March 22, 2010 • Paris, France
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Dear Parler Paris Reader,
Spring Has Sprung
Every year that the winter is bad enough to kill off the beloved geraniums, about mid March when it seems like Spring has really sprung, I ritualistically take the "caddie" (marketing cart) in tow to the quai de la Mégisserie (along the Seine between the ponts au Change and Neuf) where the garden and pet shops are coming back to life. And so it was this past winter of extreme temperatures and lots of snow to render the poor things dead, dead, dead.
The ritual involves a perusal of the available flowers offered up by the various vendors, checking by size, color and price of the plants, just which one will get the business. Saturday was the saddest I'd seen of the quai with not as many flowers out on display as usual and barely any red geraniums for the picking. Only one vendor could satisfy my craving for red, and although the plants were leafy, the flower heads weren't as large as in the past.
So be it, the cart was loaded up with 20 plants, two bags of fresh earth and another 6 pots of "lavande" (lavender) to plant at "Le Provençal."
With the help of my housekeeper (loyal to the family for 15 years), in the alcove in front of the apartment door on newspaper, we planted the pots and reinstalled them on their iron racks overlooking rue de Saintonge. It wasn't half as nearly an ordeal as when I do them myself downstairs in the courtyard, only to have to carry them back up the 70 stairs wet and heavy.
Having them back in the windows is the symbol of Spring and even though they are small, they are leafy, fresh and colorful, giving me a real sense of pleasure for the days ahead. Amazing how the simple things in life can mean so much.
Do You Know the Way to Saint-Tropez?
While we were knee-deep in geranium dirt, artist Sheila Kern with friends, Julie Vetter begin_of_the_skype_highlighting end_of_the_skype_highlighting and Carol Marks, were pasting the "toile" (canvas) of the painting Sheila did of Saint-Tropez for "Le Saint Tropez." Upon this wall will be positioned the beds (twins that convert to one queen-sized bed) and a night stand. The left wall will be made up of one large closet with mirrored sliding doors (being installed today) and the right wall will be mirrored, too, so that when you're in bed, you'll be 'virtually' sleeping on the beach!
At the same time, "mosaiiste" Véronique Husson was busy standing in the bathtub positioning one tiny aqua glass tile after another in wave patterns, dotted by gold tiles. From inside the bath space (it's not exactly a "room " -- but more a "space," in a unique and fluid shape), the aqua glass block wall accented by the tile-work gives you the sense of actually being in the clear blue sea.
As the studio apartment shapes up, thanks to the artistry of these talented women, it is thrilling to realize a dream that's been 'swimming' in my head for almost five years. The apartment is destined to be a "petit bijou" (little jewel) and now that so much progress is being made, it's looking good for completion within just a few weeks, ready for its first guests.
Hamburgers for the Not So Wimpys
That evening, we celebrated Sheila's birthday at a bistrot with which I was not familiar -- Chez Margot, 25, bis boulevard Henry IV. The rain was pouring down onto the canvas awning, making the most delightful pitter-patter (and hopefully, nourishing the newly planted geraniums). We were all both exhausted and exhilarated from the day's accomplishments and rather than acting like the 'mature' women we should be, behaved more like adolescents in heat. (I will not even begin to describe the antics!)
Nonetheless, the bistrot is delightful and the cuisine extraordinary. Two of the group ordered hamburgers, which they claimed were the best burgers they had ever eaten. I am here to tell you that hamburger is the hottest food in Paris, perhaps even ahead of sushi (although raw fish these days is now on every corner). Hamburgers have now made their way onto just about every menu, and they aren't cheap -- expect to pay 16€ for the privilege of eating ground beef on a bun.
Still, the burgers are mountainously high, loaded with 'accoutrements' (dressings) and the French all eat them with a fork and knife. This cracks me -- and one reason I can't bring myself to order one, as to eat a hamburger with a fork and knife would be correct protocol in France, but complete heresy (and silly) from an American point of view.
It's a sad sign of change in the City of Light, again, from my own American perspective, to see the bistrots of Paris once so famous for "steack-frites" as their staple succumb to the good old-fashioned hamburger, dressed up Franco-style in a not so old-fashioned way. They deserve to be named "Francoburgers" as something new and different, "n'est-ce pas?"
All this takes place alongside the standard French drinking glasses -- large goblets for wine and shot glasses for water!
"A Votre Santé" (To Your Health)
Yeah to the 219 U.S. Congressmen and women who had the good sense to vote for the health reform bill! The reform, stimated to cost $940 billion over the next 10 years, will provide health care to 32 million more people, predominantly the poorest, and will give the country 95% coverage.
For the life of me, I will never understand why anyone could possibly be against providing such a basic right for all citizens and why it was so difficult to achieve in a country that makes great hamburgers you can eat with your hands for $3.57 (according to the "Big Mac Index").
It's a new world.
Adrian Leeds
Editor, Parler Paris
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