So here I was in 1980 in a two-hundred-year-old building in Paris, near the Place des Invalides, basking in the world's best butter; the fattest, most pungent pink garlic; spinach whose leaves were so firm and meaty they stood up on the table instead of lying flat; brown eggs whose yellow yolks tasted as rich as they looked. I thought I knew good apples, fragrant strawberries, juicy pears. But never had I tasted the likes of the fraises des bois I had on a tart at La Varenne, and pears I sniffed made me want to fold them into cakes, slather them with chocolate, poach them in fragrant herbs and spices...
One day I'll visit France. I will stay for a summer in the south of France, taking occasional train trips up to Paris, cooking every day in my vacation-rental villa with all fresh ingredients from the nearby village market, while sipping wines from local vineyards and looking out over fields of lavender. My cousin will visit--maybe more than one--and we will travel to Poland to visit the small village where my grandmother was born and her two sisters are buried.
Harold will join me for however long his vacation time will allow and we'll go to the sea, and the mountains, and the vineyards, and one magical evening in Paris we'll dine at the Jules Verne restaurant in the Eiffel Tower. I'll walk and run on French country roads every day. One weekend I'll travel to whichever European city is hosting a stair race, to participate in a climb, then back to my idyllic villa. There's more...I could go on and on...my French will actually kick in and become conversational instead of just some repetitions from lesson books...
In the meantime, I'm looking forward to meeting a good friend for lunch at Panera tomorrow.
Back to today's reality.
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| Today's Meals |
8:30 1-Egg Omelet with Onions, Spinach, Kale and Garlic
Noon 1 c. Chicken Chili with 1 oz. cheese and Asparagus
4:00 1/4 c. Egg Salad, Blueberries and Pickles
5:30 2 Arancini balls
6:30 2/3 c. Butternut Squash Soup with Pinto Beans and Spinach
(Sounds strange, actually it's good.)
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| Today's Snacks |
Pilates session with private instructor
45 minute cardio workout, and stretching
I heard from cousin Carol:
ReplyDelete"I speak a little French too. I’ll be there. We must be careful about the accommodations, however. HGTV has featured the south of France on House Hunters International a few times lately and there are $1,000,000+ homes for sale WITH NO INDOOR PLUMBING! It must be a little difficult to read this mouth slobbering description and stay on a diet! Or maybe that’s how one CAN stay on a diet – by just reading about great food. Of course, the French manage to eat like that and stay slim."