Paris Day 5
21 November 2007

We were sitting in Le Petit St. Paul, a small bistro south of Place de Vosges, after we had begun sipping wine from the small lunch time carafe that was our treat, but before lunch itself had arrived, when the waiter whisked up with salt and pepper shakers for our table. Minutes later, we watched him move the salt and pepper shakers from an adjacent table that had just been served lunch, to a table that had just arrived. And sure enough, shortly after our food arrived, he did the same thing again, taking our salt and pepper shakers and handing them off to another table. At first, we thought that maybe the restaurant was under-inventoried on salt & pepper shakers, but after watching a while we realized that in fact we were witnessing another part of the ballet that is French bistro table service!

One of the most unique aspects of French bistro dining is that the tables are soooo close together. In order to squeeze into a chair opposite the aisle, the waiter must literally pull the table away from the wall and into the aisle. After squeezing around the table, and trying oh so carefully not to sweep wine, water, bread, etc. from the neighboring table onto the floor, you plop down and the table is slid back into place, sealing you into your chair and leaving you especially happy to have made that stop to the WC before sitting down! By the time a restaurant really gets hopping, diners are literally elbow to elbow, walkways between tables have disappeared, and there isn’t a square inch of table visible anywhere below the plates, bottles, glasses, and food that form a continuous fabric beneath diner’s elbows.

At Le Petit St. Paul we concluded, while consuming a wonderful blanquette de veau (me) and quiche lorraine (Laura), that there just isn’t room on the table for lingering salt and pepper shakers. And so we returned to sipping our wine …

… For dessert, we had crepes with Nutella for Laura and with confiture de pommes (an apple spread) for me. Way good, and followed by an espresso, we were ready for the Musee Picasso a comfortable walk away. Following an afternoon of drifting through small Paris streets, and a Kronenbourg or two, we found ourselves at Tete Ailleurs, a Mediterranean inspired bistro on a narrow street near our hotel, that served, among other fine dishes, small prawns on caramelized eggplant, and a wonderful main dish of steamed artichokes that defies most other description. An excellent finale!

– Chris

Paris Day 2
18 November 2007

We departed San Francisco at about 3:30pm on Friday and arrived in Paris, Charles de Gaulle ten and one half hours later on Saturday at about 11am.  Basically, an entire night has been missed.  The secret, we’ve found, is to sleep at last 5 hours on the airplane enroute, which captures part of the lost night and makes it easy to stay awake until a normal bed time, say about 11pm.  We have a little pharmaceutical friend (that starts with an ‘A’) to help us with the sleeping part on the airplane, along with some Bose noise-canceling headphones.  Both, strongly recommended!

Now that we are well rested, time to head out and explore the city!

Holy cow – It’s cold!  Temps around freezing and BOTH the taxis AND metro are on strike!  Gotta keep moving, or will freeze.  Gotta keep moving, or will freeze.  We chant this under our breath as we march from one side of the city to the other, punctuated only by “Hey!  There’s a wine bar!  Time for a break, baby!”  At least its not raining … uh oh, looks like that just changed too …

Regardless of the cold (and wet), we toured the Marais district, full of couples of the opposite persuasion, and then to Notre Dame, the Latin Quarter (Sorbonne), and over to Musee d’Orsay, Place de la Concorde and the Louvre.  Didn’t actually go in to any of the museums … that’s tomorrow’s adventure.

We had dinner at a cool little Bistro in the Marais called Chez Janou … about 70% locals/30% tourists … Our dinner reservations have been for 8pm, which is still early for Paris.  When us silly Americans show up for our “early” dinner at 8pm, the dining room is virtually empty.  By 9pm, its absolutely packed, and animated with conversation and laughter. “Personal space” during dinner is not something associated with French bistro dining.  The vanishingly small gap between tables means that each time a new party is seated, the waiter literally must pull a table out into the aisle to provide access to the inside chair!

It’s now after 10pm.  Forget finding a bar.  Time to crawl back to the hotel, and fire up the Mac with a DVD from home.  What a great day, and it’s so nice to be curled up in bed, warm and not too late.  Is this what it’s like to get old…?

– Chris

Salt, Part 9 (final): Don’t Eat Food Without It

Salt is an essential mineral that we can’t live without. Salt has an important role in the history of man, and even today is used as a large-scale delivery vehicle for iodine, essentially medicating the entire population. Our bodies have dedicated means of detecting and absorbing salt and for maintaining its balance in our bodies. For cooking, salt plays some role in virtually every dish we prepare, whether it’s the purposeful absence of salt, the addition of salt to bring out flavors or suppress bitterness, or to infuse meat with moisture and flavor. Food without salt is just a collection of textures! Is salt unhealthy? Like anything, too much of a good thing can be bad for you, but we know for sure, no salt is no good!

– Chris