<< June 6, 2005 >>
paris: day two

Nat Friedman wrote: > On Mon, 2005-06-06 at 01:08 +0200, jacob berkman wrote: > > > i am staying near gare de lyon. where should i eat? > > Eat at le train bleu. I didn't this time and really wish I had. i went there tonight, since it's so close to the hotel. i can see why you like it, but french cuisine is "difficult" for me. between not knowing french (maybe up to half of the english menu is still in french) and not really eating french food as a kid, i really have no way to anticipate what each dish will actually be like. for example, one dinner in 2000 with miguel i ordered some duck something. it wasn't anything like i expected (you know, something more chicken-like), but it was good. so i ordered some duck tonight, and instead of the thinly sliced meat that i remember from 2000, i got 3 pieces of super-fatty very red meat. but i'm a trooper now (i had already eaten quite a bit of sausage i never would have until maybe a year ago), so i went at it with vigor. a little too much zest, it turns out, because i tried to eat a piece that was way too big and fatty for me. usually, in these situations, i have to spit it out, but i was too embarassed. so i sat there with this huge hunk of fat in my mouth for a good five minutes, sweating like i'd just killed a man, trying to relax enough to be able to swallow it. i had to take at least two sips of water during this time, followed by a timeout session with my dinner roll. other than that, it was pretty good though. my dessert ordering conversation went like this: waiter: <something in french> me: yes could i have the raspberries with whipped cream, please? waiter: fresh cream? me: whipped cream? waiter: fresh cream? me: whipped... cream? waiter: fresh cream? me: umm, yes. thanks. i got whipped cream. the raspberries weren't as good that place by le select that we ate at in 2001, but a mouthful of awful raspberries beats one full of bird fat any day of my week. seriously, is duck actually some specific species of lazy deer? also, not knowing the language means missing out on the little things. like when you think they're asking if you want to sit in the smoking section, to which you reply, "no," and then they seat you in the smoking section, because they were really asking if you wanted to sit in the *non*-smoking section. wow, it's late. - jacob