Friday in Paris

Just a few more days for me in this wonderful city of Paris, and after 3 days of playing tourista a sensory overload has occurred. The Montmartre apartment, now fondly referred to as 'home', is busy this warm and sunny morning with a few loads of wash as we tidy up for a visit from the owner. She is coming by with the locksmith to fix the sometimes stubborn lock on the front door. Crumpling the ticket stubs and receipts from the past few days, Musee du Louvre, Musee d'Orsay, various markets, Metro and the train ride to Chartres. Stacking neatly the jingling coin from various handy depositories - the bottom of purses, market sacks, jean pockets - 11 Euro in all plus a few of the same annoying equivalents to the US penny! The morning turning into the lunch hour and practicing with left over ingredients from another meal prepared with Chef Eric, I prepare a little pesto and toss it onto the remnant cooked pasta and top it with a few slices of fresh parmesan cheese. Pasta with pesto, fresh French strawberries (slightly lighter in color and a little bitter - but good all the same) and a glass of white wine to wash it down. The streets at this hour are fairly quiet, it's Friday and with the Parisians at work there is this peaceful ambience at hand. My new CD with Cistercian monks is chanting in the background, coinciding once in a while with the bells of the red brick church. Meditation turned to napping, wispy breezes brushing over me as I drift away with the Parisian day. - Lori Brookes

The 3 F's - Food, Fun & France (All In Under 3 Hours)

Today we scheduled a private cooking class with French Chef Eric Fraudeau. In hindsight this may have been an advantageous beginning for a prolonged stay in Paris, as we began our time together with a trip to the local favorite markets. We met Eric at Poissone Pepone, for seafood selection on the corner of Rue Lepic and Rue Abessess. For almost two weeks now we have walked by this hub eyeballing the shrimp as they stared back, but...just didn't know what to do with them - legs, eyeballs and all! So here we are, just ordered about six of them, as part of this list of ingredients Eric has brought along for our morning shopping excursion. We made two more stops for the vegetables, greens and herbs. Today's menu: Avocado & Shrimp Salad Layered Tower (I will get the French title later) drizzled with a grapefruit and cilantro dressing, followed by the main course of Roasted Chicken and Rosemary Potatoes, endearingly called Poulle Grandmere - or Grandma's Chicken - accompanied by a very nice bottle of white wine and punctuated by another epicurean delight - Tarte Chocolat - no translation needed. As the good chef's assistant I was assigned the task, a total abandonement of my policy of not cooking with things that have eyes still attached, of preparing the shrimp. So after a quick blessing, off came the heads and so on. In the end we had beautiful shrimp fillets for our salad to come. There was of course much more peeling, slicing, dicing - a little of this, a little of that - umm perhaps a bit more of THAT! The kitchen beginning to heat up, steaming with the fantastic aromas of onion, garlic, rosemary and cilantro dancing together - a little French air conditioning was called for to keep our Chef cool - windows open with breezes traversing one another. Steam is rising from the pot of Grandma's Chicken on the stove top - the Chocolate Tart, layered with market fresh strawberries (which is actually an oxymoron) has by now made it's way into the refrigerator to cool and at the same time we are building our salad tower with a presentation that rivaled the finest of restaurants. The culmination of tastes just in the salad was indescribable - but you might get this - I was one thought away from picking up my plate after the last bite and licking it clean. How tacky would that have been? Enough said. I could go on and on, but I'd rather leave you wanting for more, exactly the feeling we had as the last bit of Chocolate Tart was washed down by a swig of coffee. Beyond our dancing tastebuds the time with Eric - with all of our preparations, drinking, eating and chatting has been a highlight of this trip and an experience I recommend highly. Eric is soon opening an intimate cooking school in Montmartre for visitors, plus he offers the private shopping, tasting and cooking classes in the privacy of your apartment. Check out his website at www.cooknwithclass.com.

Bon apetite - Lori Brookes!

The Way to Live

Dated: Paris, Montmarte 2007, 22 C

Another beautiful Paris day.

I exit the apartment looking forward to the journey down five flights of antiquated hand carved wooden stairs. You can see the grain and knots in each plank bringing an uneven cadence to each step.

Out and past the iron doors to the bustling cobbled streets, passersby with their croissants and warm baguettes wrapped with a brown paper wrapper only large enough to protect them from your hand. Usuall...there is one bite missing from mine!

The daily trip to the market for the evening meal, along the way the sights and sounds are almost too much to take in. Sometimes I have to stop, take a seat and breathe it all in.

I bought the most delicious fabric, threads of tafetta and chenille woven together, to bring back and trigger memories of this place. Shades of a Parisian interior for my home—back home.

The TV will get unplugged upon my return. I've already opted out of the absurdity of the so called news and negativity. I'll find room for one more cozy chair in the salon and create a bigger space for good conversation. The added silence allowing for the sounds and rhythm of the nature's creations to be heard more fully.