My last dinner in Paris at l'encrier (the ink well)

Odile, her daughter Lea, friend Yoan, and I went to l'encrier, The Ink Well for a fabulous Parisian dinner. My meal (photos) was friton d'auvergne, a ham pate. Pintade aux raisins, my main entre' was guinea fowl lathered in a sauce with baby grapes. The eggplant and potato side dish was a perfect complement. I had apricot tart for desert, tarte aux abricots et amandes. The menu changes here weekly, with seasonal foods, and a on-staff chef with assistants. The shocking news is that this is an average restaurant for Paris and offers very exotic dishes with veal, rabbit, lamb, pork, and fish. Odile had baby cow kidneys, a first for me to taste, and very flavorful!
Just for fun, a photo from metro... an organic advertisement next to McDonalds.

Saturday evening picnic on the Seine

Enjoying a Saturday picnic with Odile and friends. The quiche Lorraine recipe will be published soon! It was amazing! The card game is with a deck with paintings by French, Italian, and Dutch painters. The game challenges your knowledge of paintings and also chance.

Paris

Sunday breakfast

View from my room

Touring the city by bike

Sunday Dinner on rue Tousseau with Odile and friends

Aligre is one of the oldest and most famous markets in Paris and sits directly across from Odile’s flat on rue Trousseau. Not only is Aligre market know for its quality products and reasonable prices but also the “bo bo” (bourgeois bohemian) café, The Baron Rouge. As commonly done in the past, wine is dispensed from oak kegs for your café or home table. The Baron Rouge tapped Odile and I two bottles of white wine to go into the blanquette de veau and to serve with our meal. Next, we purchased veal from Odile’s favorite meat shop. Next, carrots, onions, and mushrooms were purchased to simmer with the veal. Two types of olives were selected from the 20 available for an appetizer. Our guests brought surprises too! David appeared with two bottles of red wine made by his father and Herve the beef-pork pate made by his grandmother. Tasso added assorted nuts. Cyril a cake from south-western France called gateau basque, and home-made rolls made by his mother. Embellishing the end of our meal was a salad and chocolates from a neighborhood pastry shop.

For my dear friend Kelly Pie

Raspail Organic Farmers' Market

Raspail Farmers' Market is a 20 years old and lies in the heart of Paris (Blvd. Raspail at St. Placide Metro) with 45 vendors, to include beef, fish, chicken, pork, seasonal vegetable and fruits, wine, pasta, honey, eggs, flowers, milk, cheese, butter, bread, pastries, teas, natural fiber clothing, and much more, ALL certified by association des marchesbiologiques d'iles de France (www.marches-bio.org). One butcher shop raises, butchers, and sells chicken and beef at this Sunday market that operates every Sunday throughout the year from 8 to 1 pm. The 35 year old market manager, Mathieu Corvaisier, (pictured with cherries) was 5 years old when he first came to this market with his farmer father. He presently overseas this market, is working on opening other markets in France, and is president of association des marches biologiques d'iles de France.

Paris is not only for lovers but BIKES!

I visited Bio Paris, a 25 year old organic shop that offers produce from about a dozen French farmers. The "velib" bike rental system is throughout Paris. Bicycling for 5 hours in Paris today was a little challenging at first but the well marked bike lanes and signage made negotiating traffic easy.Astride and I ordered 5 types of French cheese with our Belgium beer. She was my host for the first three days in Paris.