{"id":300,"date":"2009-03-24T11:34:22","date_gmt":"2009-03-24T15:34:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/forbesgrant.com\/blog\/?p=300"},"modified":"2022-01-12T08:25:58","modified_gmt":"2022-01-12T13:25:58","slug":"day-24-a-routine-day-nothing-too-exciting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forbesgrant.com\/blog\/2009\/03\/24\/day-24-a-routine-day-nothing-too-exciting\/","title":{"rendered":"Day 24–A Routine Day, Nothing too Exciting"},"content":{"rendered":"

I decided to eschew having a\u00a0pain au chocolat\u00a0<\/em>today. Probably better physically if not spiritually.<\/p>\n

On the M\u00e9tro over to Graham’s, another accordionist got on my train car but at least this one had the good sense to play “Under Paris Skies,” the only tune\u00a0that should ever emanate from an accordion, as I mentioned the other day.\u00a0On the way home, however, a diminutive woman, dressed in a hodge-podge of colour,\u00a0barged onto the train belting Edith Piaf\u00a0chansons<\/em>. While I appreciate that this may be a matter of necessity, I still can’t get over the combination of bravado and self-confidence it\u00a0takes to do this, especially considering that\u00a0it’s\u00a0illegal, although you don’t see the police doing much about it. (Sandy would deal with\u00a0the accordion, for sure; impose a by-law or something.)<\/p>\n

What you do see, though,\u00a0are M\u00e9tro\u00a0officials stopping people to check their Navigo (Metropass) cards or tickets and I think fine people who’ve jumped the stiles or otherwise avoided paying.\u00a0We’ve been stopped a couple of times. They have electronic scanners that verify the validity of your pass.<\/p>\n

At Graham’s, we are working on perspective, an easy enough concept to understand but an incredibly hard one to apply, at least on canvas. I am drawing and painting a building we sketched the other day on Canal St. Martin. “We” would be a bit of an exaggeration,\u00a0but we’ll see how it goes; it’s what I wanted to learn on sabbatical, French is an added bonus.<\/p>\n

Had 93 emails this morning and, unlike one ridiculous day last week, none of these were wine-related. My out-of-office message doesn’t seem to be daunting anyone but I am hoping this will subside shortly.<\/p>\n

Sandy has phone calls today; she is not, strictly speaking, on sabbatical. So I headed off to deal with some wine issues. (It’s sunny but cold here today so I didn’t feel like traipsing around too much.)<\/p>\n

En route<\/em>, I passed by this Metre measuring stick. In the late 1700s, when the French began to systematize after the Revolution, they scrapped\u00a0the inconsistent measurement of the length of the king’s foot (no more “royal” anything, of course) or some such and decided on the metre as the standard length. Then then cast a number of these bronzes and embedded them in concrete around the city so that trades and merchants could easily determine the length of something. The one in the photo (at 36 rue de Vaugirard) is the last one still in place. Interesting, no?<\/p>\n

Before dinner, I had a glass of wine at Les Caves du Polidor,\u00a039, rue Monsieur\u00a0le Prince, a\u00a0wine bar of sorts near here. I say “of sorts” because, strictly speaking, a Bar \u00e0 Vin only serves wine (or\u00a0beer, whatever)\u00a0whereas at Les Caves, you can buy wine as well, like a wine store with constant tastings.<\/p>\n

We\u00a0then had dinner at Au Bon Saint Pour\u00e7ain 10, rue Servandoni (the architect of Saint-Sulpice), a quirky, unpretentious\u00a0(to say the least) bistro, no credit cards let alone a website,\u00a0in the area, frequented by the locals (and mentioned favourably by Alexander Lobrano in “Hungry for Paris, The Ultimate Guide to the City’s 102 Best Restaurants” which we bought here for fun). This was not\u00a0haute cuisine<\/em>\u00a0but good, hearty, down-home fare.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Lobrano’s list ranges from high-end places like Taillevent to the tiny neighbourhood spots we’ve been frequenting like this one. (Against the tide, he’s not a fan of Le Comptoir du Relais.) The proprietor,\u00a0Fran\u00e7ois (who had been a waiter for years at the place before he took over),\u00a0was perfectly charming. By chance, we had seen him as walked by the place a day earlier.<\/p>\n

This is what Lobrano recommended from tonight’s menu:<\/p>\n

Don’t miss<\/strong>:\u00a0Poireaux viniagrette (marinated leeks); compote de lapereau (rabbit in tarragon-flavoured aspic), boeuf aux olives (braised beef with green olives); brandade de morue (shredded salt cod mixed into mashed potatoes with garlic); entrec\u00f4te; sauce marchand de vin (steak with red wine sauce); tarte Tatin.<\/p>\n\n\t\t