Wednesday, December 15, 2010

New restaraunt -- Mark

Tonight Jill and I tried a new restaraunt.  One just around the corner from us and on my "try with Jill" list.  It was nice, not very busy (we were the first ones in) and a bit on the expensive side.  We started with a good bottle of chardonay.  I ordered a hamburger with frois gras.  Jill ordered the soup of the day, a vegetable soup that was pureed with cream (very nice and enough for two) and bass (French word "bar"). 

I expected to find my hamburger without a bun and a nice piece of frois gras on top of it.  Instead I had a hamburger on a roll with a very thin slice of frois gras.  The burger came on a roll and was very good, but the frois gras was lost in the sandwich.  For the extra 6 Euro, I would forget the frois gras.

Jill's fish was the highlight of the meal.  Just before it came out she made the comment -- "it better not have the head and bones".  Wouldn't you know, it was a whole fish on her plate.  I could tell she was debating if she should go for it, but much to my surprise she dug in and ate the whole thing.  I had to peel back some of the bones for her, but all in all I was quite proud of her.  More importantly, ignoring the skin, head and bones, she liked the fish.

Once again, this assignment is expanding our horizons...  But don't expect Jill to eat whole fish too many more times.

Saturday, December 11, 2010

Paris Weather and other musings-A post from Jill

How is it that whenever I am in Paris the weather is never cooperative?  My first visit was last February and everyone said it was unseasonably cold and it  was frigid even for me who was used to walking and snowshoeing in temperatures below 20 degrees F.  So far we have had again unseasonably cold, wet weather and the other day more snow than Paris has seen in 23 years!!  Mark and I didn't realize what a problem the 2 to 3 inches of snow was causing the city until Jean called all concerned for our safety.  I guess CNN reported Paris was shut down-the airport closed as was the Eiffel Tower!  Now you all know we live a hop, skip and jump from the Eiffel Tower and we didn't realize the affect of so much snow~again 2 to 3 inches!  We had walked to the grocery store, the dry cleaners and had dinner out and were enjoying the Christmas like weather!!!  Who knew....

Yesterday the sun was shining and I ventured out for a walk.  I walked down Passy to a small park not far from the apartment.  It was quite pretty with the fresh snow and you could tell the children of Paris had a ball playing in the snow they haven't seen in 23 years-snowmen and trampled snow were everywhere.  The snow may have crippled the city but it made a small population of children very happy, including me:)!!

Anyway, I walked for about 1 1/2 hours and only had a small moment of panic when I couldn't quite place where I was.  Everyone  knows I have a poor sense of direction and I know my way around by landmarks.  Welll, we have a flower shop at the end of our street and I thought I found "our" flower shop(there are many, many flower shops in the neighborhood), but nothing looked familiar~wrong flower shop!!  I stopped, got my bearings and figured it out...baby steps!!

Just a note on apartment living....it has been 25 years since we last lived in an apartment!  We have people above us, beside us and under us.  Our building was built in the early 1900's and it is not very sound proof.  The noises you hear...I have actually heard the man upstairs peeing!!!  We hear their music and grandchildren running through the apartment and every creek and crack of old wood floors.  But I find it comforting as I don't feel so lonely...I have people all around me:)   Now I know why Mom enjoys it so much!

Oh, we went the Le Passy for a drink  the night of the "big" storm and I was able to ask for a glass of wine in French...Je voudrais un verre de vin rouge, s'il vous plait!!  The owner was very impressed!  I can imagined what you are all thinking~my first venture into speaking french in public was for a glass of wine!!  I have mentioned how good French wine is, haven't I?  And Jean, I wasn't alone so it's okay!  I am strickly adhering to the "do not drink alone" policy(ha-ha)!

More ramblings later....Ou sont les WC, s'il vous plait?

Friday, December 10, 2010

Norm...

The past couple of days have been a lot of fun.  People in the neighborhood are starting to recognize us as regulars.  Unfortunately, or maybe not, most of them are at brassierres or restaurants.  On Wednesday night, the night of the "big" storm, Jill and I went to Le Passy.  When we walked in, the guys greated us with a warm welcome and handshacks.  They were very attentative to us (maybe because I tip too much???) and made us feel at home.  We had a nice evening visiting with them.

Tonight we ate at our new "Grandpa Sam's" - Le Petite Tour.  It was another wonderful meal, maybe too much wine, but ok -- we are in Paris.  Nonetheless, when we went to leave Gary, the owner, was busy and not able to say good bye.  I told our waiter to wish him a "bonne noel" for us.  Unbelieveably so, as we were walking away (~1 block) Gary came running up to say good by and Merry Christmas.  He said he wanted to thank us for our business and he wished us a Merry Christmas.  We promised to eat there when we came back from the U.S.  What an incredible feeling to be welcomed into a new city and country....

It's beginning to feel like the old show "Cheers"... everyone knows your name.

Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Bonjour mon amis! A post from Jill

I have been in Paris for 1 1/2  weeks now and I must say it has been an experience.  I have been in awe of this life experience....who would have thought 26 plus years ago, our lives would take us to Paris!!  I can't help but wonder what my Dad would think??  I married a young enlisted man in the Navy~never   had any big dreams to see the world or  experience another culture.  Yet, here I am....I have experienced many mixed emotions (just ask the kids), but am glad for this opportunity.

Our apartment is perfect for us.  It is comfortable and I feel safe and relaxed here!  I have had some difficulties learning how to use the appliances~the oven is still a mystery, but I have mastered the washer/dryer!!!  That may seem like a small accomplishment, but it was huge for me.  The washer/dryer is one appliance.  It goes from the wash cycle to the dry cycle...sounds great doesn't it!!!  Not!  It takes over three hours to do one SMALL load and I mean small,  maybe 1 pair of jeans, 2 t-shirts, a couple  pair of socks and a wash cloth!  Better than washing everything by hand:)!

Some things I find interesting about the French culture...everyone seems to own a dog and they are not in the habit of picking up after them.  We live in a city~no green space, so you constantly look where you are walking as the sidewalks and streets are pooping zones!!  Really...it is disgusting.

I am learning to enjoy French food...I know what is safe to order and what isn't.   Sometimes I am fooled, but on the whole an excellent adventure in French cuisine.  FYI...frois gras is not very good despite what everyone tries to tell you:(  My favorite food however is Italian.  There are great Italian restaurants in Paris...may even be better than Grandpa Sam's in Spencerport!!  I won't tell them though!

I, very much, enjoy the wine and champagne, maybe a little too much(ha-ha).  I have not had a bad wine or champagne since I've been here and I've tasted a few!!!   I do love those little bubbles in a pretty glass:)

Our neighborhood is great!  Fun and exciting...Mark has touched on that quite a bit so, I won't.  But there is a lot of shopping(expensive), restaurants and such.  It has everything we need right around the corner.  It is nice and convenient.

We have had many nice walks exploring Paris.  But the weather is unseasonably cold and rainy now so it has proved challenging to get out and about.  Hope we have a nice weekend!!!  At least we don't have all the snow everyone has at home!

What I have learned is this is not one long vacation, it is real life!  Mark works many long hours and I have a lot of time on my hands...I am a lone a great deal of time.  It is not in my nature to go out and experience things on my own, maybe I have to learn to be more adventurous!?  Not sure,  I've been this way for a long time~good, bad or indifferent:)

Thanks for reading!

Saturday, December 4, 2010

New Twist to the Blog

Last night Jill and I had a fantastic meal at a little restaraunt near our apartment called La Petit Tour.  The owner, a man named Gary, waited on us.  He spoke very good English so I was able to practice my choppy French and he could properly correct it. 

We started with fresh made potato chips and a bottle of Sancerre (a light red wine).  Our appetizers were incredible - Jill had a veggie stuffed artichoke, I went for home made frois gras.  The intent was for us to share them, but once Jill tried a very small taste of the frois gras it became mine.  It was funny to see her try it, I thought for sure she was going to choke eating it. 

Our meals were equally as good - Jill had scallops w/ green beans and I had duck with potato au gratin.  I wanted to order the green beans, but Gary said they wouldn't properly complement the duck.  He was right, the potatoes were tasty.  We finished our wine just before dessert.  Our new friend Gary came with an open bottle and gave us complimentary glass of the same wine.  Because it was such a nice experience we decided to do dessert - Jill took Gary's recommendation for this dish that had 3 pastries with vanilla ice cream inside them and covered with chocolate sauce, I had the chocolate mousse. 

The meal was incredible, price was moderate and the service was absolutely the best.  For those who come and visit, this will be a place we will definitely visit.

On the way out we made reservations for next Friday night.

Oh yea... as for the title of this post, Jill and I decided we would share the blog.  She will start posting in the near future.  I hope you will enjoy it.

Thursday, December 2, 2010

New Friends and Banking Challenges

This week has been a series of fun and somewhat funny events.  I'll give a small summary of each...

On Monday evening as I was coming into the apartment from work, Jill met me at the door (which was nice).  Before we could close the door our neighbor from upstairs came up the stairs and greeted us in French.  Of course I stumbled into my jumbled French, asking her if she spoke English.  Much to our surprise, she did.  She asked if we were from England, of course we confessed to being Americans.  Her name is Sylvie.  She and her husband live above us and are home to take care of their sick grandchild.  Any way, she and her love to travel, just returned from 3 weeks in the West Indies.  When we told her we were from the U.S. she clamored about how much she loved the U.S., having recently visited Rhode Island.  She told us her husband spoke better English then her and invited us up for a drink in the near future.  We look forward to that.

Soooo, still on Monday we had to get additional passport pictures taken.  We went to the local photo shop and had the pictures done.  It took a whole 5-10 minutes.  When I went to pay with my French debit card, I had a brain freeze and punched in the wrong PIN, not once but twice.  At this point the guy informs me the next bad PIN will lock up my card.  As a result I used my U.S. debit with no problems.  We leave and go do a little grocery shopping.  Again I go to use my card and again... my brain punches in the wrong series of numbers -- bing, bing, bing my card is frozen.  Now that would be easy to just the call the bank the next day to have it undone.  But not me, I decide to go to the HSBC ATM and try it one more time - hey, you never know.  The machine confiscated my card and now I am without access for a week. Jill shakes her head and wonders how I survived for the past two months.  I just hope one day I will learn.

On Tuesday we got our mail from the past two weeks.  Not too much -- a couple of bills and a letter from the company we set up a heating unit maintenance contract.  The letter (all in French) had the contract and my check (it was voided).  Ok, I know I struggled writing checks at the beginning, but everyone had cashed them.  When I reviewed the contract there were two services listed.  Both had a price next to them so I paid the bill with the two amounts combined.  I was thinking I would receive a base program and then additional services.  I took the letter into work and asked my assistant to help me.  When I showed her the letter she started to laugh.  She quickly regained her composure and explained that I was to choose one of the two packages and only had to write a check for one of them.  Who knew???

Last night, Wednesday, we shared a bottle of champagne and had dinner here in the apartment, a nice salad, zuchini and a lean hamburger.  Afterwards we decided to go for a walk.  We ended up at Le Passy, my favorite watering hole, for a night cap.  While there Jill was using my iPad to do her Facebook.  Those who know us probably know that 2 months ago this was a joke not a reality. 

At Le Passy there were 5 or 6 guys who were doing a bachelor party.  We kept hearing them refer to Buffalo so I asked them if they were from the Buffalo, NY area.  Of course they weren't.  They were 5 French and 1 Australian.  The Australian was getting married and buffalo was an Australian drinking game.  The rules of the game -- if someone says "buffalo" and you have your drink in your dominant hand then you have to chug your drink.  We visited with them for ~30 minutes. They had another game which had 10 items on a list and the groom-to-be had to do them all in the night.  You can imagine they were wacky.  We offered to help him with #2 - have a women buy him a drink.  Jill did and then signed his list.  We finally went home around 11PM. 

Live, Love and Laugh...