Wednesday, 15 September 2010
Allo!
Well…did you ever have a lost day?? We certainly have had one here! Started out with all sorts of good intentions of sightseeing, shopping and cooking…and it all went downhill once we hit the Maison de la Truffe.
Up about 7 to a very nice rain. In fact, it rained most of the night! A nice steady rain, something we don’t often get in Tucson, and we were enjoying having the window open and listening to it come down. R went down for breakfast stuff, I cut up a melon and cleaned the last of the fraises du bois (small strawberries “of the woods.”).
Cleaned up and started out about 9:15 a.m. for the Incan Gold exhibition at the Pinacotheque on Place de Madeleine. Took the 84 bus, which let us off directly beside the Madeleine church. It looks like they’re almost done restoring it, which is wonderful! For several years they had screens up and you couldn’t really see the actual front of the church, which is designed like a Greek temple! As we were early, we wandered through the wonderful gourmet food store, Fauchon on both street corners. They have some of the most visually stunning prepared food in the world; everything a person would need to have a first-class picnic, including small wine bottles!
About 10:20 (place set to open at 10:30) we approached the guard at the Pinacotheque to find out, seeing as we had advanced tickets with reservations, whether we had to join the queue. As it turns out, he let us in immediately! Ahead of the people in line! Yipee!! And technically, the place wasn’t even open yet! Very interesting exhibition; some incredible pieces from Peru, but two problems. One, absolutely NOTHING was in English or any other language, and two, while the explanations of the pieces were all nicely numbered and on the sides of the cases, there were no numbers INSIDE the cases to tell you which explanation went to what thing! Very odd…However, very impressive and has now put Machu Pichu back on my list for a possible holiday sometime down the road. (I think we’re up to 2012 on plans…)
From the Pinacotheque we went back to Fauchon to pick up a few odds and ends – they have some amazing things there! Then we had a nice look around Hediard, another gourmet market farther down the street. There I picked up: BLUE poppyseeds! I kid you not! As R says, what am I going to do with them? Well, I have a few ideas…At that point, we were heading to the Madeleine church for a look in, when what should we pass? My total downfall: La Maison de la Truffe. House of TRUFFLES. (And I’m not talking the chocolate kind here folks; I’m talking the fungus!) And…they have a restaurant…
As it wasn’t quite noon yet, we did make it inside the Madeleine. We don’t get there very often, and it’s quite lovely inside. And from there, it was back to La Maison de la Truffe…Looked at their menu, and whew, pricey, but…truffles galore. Walked into the combination shop/restaurant, and could stay there forever just breathing – the place smelled incredible!! So…even though it wasn’t quite noon, and they weren’t quite open, they seated us anyway! So – away we went – another incredible meal!!
First of all, they have truffled olive oil on the tables – either white truffles or black truffles – and I cannot even begin to count the number of small baskets of bread that came our way. The wait staff were absolutely terrific, and any time it looked like we were running short, voila! Another basket would appear! I LOVE this place!
For starters, R had a carpaccio salad with greens and truffles “of the season.” I had a simple frisee salad with mild vinaigrette and truffles shaved on top. For mains, Mom had one of the most beautiful lobster salads I’ve ever seen! And not only did it look good, it tasted great! For mains, R had the ravioli filled with cheese and bits of truffle, with a cream sauce with truffles. I had their risotto and as a special treat, sprung for their black truffles on top. Whew…to say that I was in heaven is an understatement! It was truly one of the best meals of my life!! To wash things down we had a lovely bottle of Sancerre. And, as that wasn’t enough, and everyone wanted dessert, Mom had their three sorbets (mango, apple and strawberry), R had their bowl of red fruits which were really all red this time, and I had an amazing warm chocolate fondant (cake like; molten center) with vanilla truffle ice cream. Oh my…don’t think I’ve ever had anything to match that ice cream…And to wash that all down, we had a bottle of Sauternes – that’s right, folks, two bottles of wine for lunch. Oh…
As it looked like some sort of activity happening at the Madeleine, and police were everywhere, they had re-routed our 82 bus away…so we walked to the Metro 1 line at Concord and took the metro home. And a complete and total collapse was had by all. So, for all our good intentions of shopping and me cooking tonight (another round of BTOR!) – nope! No more food for anybody tonight! We’ll have to do some of those things tomorrow, when we’ll try to squeeze the Louvre, a walk and a boat trip all in the same day! Oh well! These things sometime happen!!
Lots of love from your truffle-filled friend!
m
x
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