La vie quotidienne

Today was another day in our "Paris" life.  We decided that since we had not been out to lunch for a while, it would make a nice break in our ordinary pursuits of shopping, cleaning, walking and working.  And yes, we do work here.  We continue to transcribe the historical documents.

Anyway, in Paris one is always spoiled for choice when it comes to eating out.  There must be a dozen cafes and bistros, not to mention more formal restaurants within a five minute walk of the apartment.  Nonetheless, there is one place that Bruce cannot miss when we are here, and that is Léon de Bruxelles.  The speciality of the house is mussels or Moules.  Most places serve these along with frites or chips.  But when it comes to Moules frites there is no place like Leon's.  The Moules are always fresh and are sourced from different parts of Europe, depending on the season.  They are prepared in a multitude of ways and served very hot en cocotte.  

Moules Marinière

 If you would like to see their menu, click here.

Today's moules came from Italy and Although small were absolutely wonderful.  A serve is about 800 gms and Bruce had them prepared Marinière.  With the frites on the side and pieces of baguette to dip into the soupy residue, he was in gastronomical heaven.  Initially, the serve of frites is small, but they are served in a separate container and when it is empty, the staff will happily refill it for you. With all of this, of course, a couple of glasses of white wine went very down very well.  For other than seafood, especially moules, this is not the place to go.  Virginia, however, found a very nice lamb shank which she happily washed down with a couple of glasses of our wine.

Then,after such a leisurely meal, we wandered over to our local patisserie and bought a tartlette framboise which we managed to force down along with coffee.

Before

After

  You can guess the next phase of the day - a long nap.