Opening of an Envelope
Monday kicked off with a bang as a friend visiting Paris who’d been feeling unwell had gone downhill, but I’m good in an emergency so I hustled over to their hotel in the Marais, calling a doctor on the way. If you’re ever in France and get sick don’t hesitate to call SOS Medecins who do house calls. Their favourite thing to diagnose is an ear-ache so it’s best to follow up with a regular doctor’s appointment when you can but in a pinch they can write prescriptions and let you know if something is serious enough for the hospital. It’s a bit complicated but in an emergency the number for an ambulance is 15, police is 17 and fire brigade is 18 (or 112 works from any mobile phone and they will connect you to the service you need). Luckily after an ambulance ride, 2 nights in hospital and some serious antibiotics he was right as rain and could continue on with his travels without needing to take out a loan thanks to the wonderful French healthcare system.
From there it was straight on to my second day of boat licence theory, this time for rivers, where I was informed my intuition was wrong and it’s not advised to take both exams at once as some of the rules are contradictory, but as I only understood about half of what was said (so much follow up study to do) that was no great bother. I did manage to grasp the chatter about a recent collision with le Pont de Sully by a cruise boat, which has caused chaos for both boat and road traffic for the foreseeable future as they try and stop it from falling down, and honestly after all the stories the instructors cheerfully told us I’m wary about ever stepping on a boat again.
Back in my London heyday I went to the opening of an envelope, especially if there was free champagne and canapés, but nowadays I’m much more discerning about what’s worth putting a bra on for. Turns out the re-opening of our local Monoprix supermarket is on that list and when I received an email about it I headed straight over without a hint of irony. While they seem to have doubled most of the prices and the new fruit and veg system is just asking for problems there are Vinted lockers (I’m a recent convert) and I’m just so thankful to have a local supermarket again that I filled a trolley, lugged it all home happily and have had at least 4 conversations with other mums since, confirming our joy.
I found something rarer than hen’s teeth this week, a Parisienne staying in town and working during the Olympics. Almost everyone I know is on vacation during the games (us included) but if you’re looking for lovely food tours or cooking classes than my lovely friend Veronique will be business as usual. This article from the New York Times (paywall) is also useful for finding out what will be open and I’m hoping
will do something similar before summer.
Every year in June Place Saint Sulpice is taken over with little white tents for a mini cultural festival with stamps, printmaking, secondhand books, antiques and poetry all taking their turn on certain dates. I passed by the antiques stalls (not the place for a bargain but gorgeous to browse) and came away with a heavy Larousse Dictionary of Paris which will take me years to read, and left behind the perfect painting for our bedroom that was way out of budget but will haunt me forever.
After weeks of wondering what was going on I was thrilled to finally see nine little ducklings in the Fontaine Médicis (last year they arrived in early May) and have been visiting them regularly, the dappled sunshine where they swim the perfect place to sit for a while. In other good neighbourhood news the much disliked fascist bookstore has finally closed down and will become part of the beloved Red Wheelbarrow bookstore (please stop in there if you’re ever in the 6th).
Sunday was Father’s Day so my long suffering husband got a well deserved sleep in followed by the obligatory breakfast in bed and gifts (our youngest recited a wonderful poem that even I would have trouble remembering). We then had time for a paddle in the local pool before our lunch reservation at Hibou, where they have a children’s entertainer every Sunday (until 14 July) upstairs, so parents can chill out while kids do drawing, face painting etc.
Have a great week,
- Emily
Cheese we’re eating this week:
Fleur de Chèvre - a raw, fresh goat’s cheese with a creamy texture and subtle taste.
Morbier - a cow’s milk cheese with a distinctive layer of ash separating it horizontally in the middle, which separates the layer made with morning milk and the layer made with evening milk.
Bleu de Gex - a mild, creamy, semi-soft blue cheese made from unpasteurized milk from Montbéliard cows in the Jura region.
All three cheeses were bought at Fromagerie Saint Vrain at Marché Maubert.
Lamb Shanks with Sweet Potato and Fennel
Perfect for a quiet Sunday dinner.
Lamb shanks, 1 per person (depending on appetite, we did 2 for 3 adults and 2 kids and had leftovers)
1 shallot, sliced
Sweet potato, peeled and roughly chopped
Fennel, chopped
Salt & pepper
Switch oven to 200°C.
Place everything in a roasting tray and season with salt (I didn’t use olive oil as lamb is quite fatty but you can add if you want). Add a dash of water in the bottom and cover tightly with aluminium foil.
Roast for 20 minutes then turn the oven down to 150°C for 2-3 hours (the longer the better). You can take the foil off for the last 20 minutes if you remember, to brown it off.
Bon appétit!
Real Life Paris Photo
Table for two please.