Priceless Paintings from W7

…bachelor food, and Parisian restaurant food. So, here you go and take your pick:

Fresh sourdough spelt bread with a homemade spread made from Feta cheese, garlic, olive oil, red peppers, red chillies, and lots of fresh dill (there used to be a guy on the Neustadt market selling this. This is the first time in a very long time I ate this but it won’t be the last. Delicious, if you like strong flavours and don’t mind an intense breath).

Galettes “Super Chevre” (that is, very thin buckwheat pancakes with a filling from (briefly) fried beef tomato slices, goats cheese and thick cream, spiced with black pepper and a pinch of nutmeg) – this is soooo good that it is very difficult to stop eating. Super!

Andouillette with fries and mustard (restaurant in Paris)

Steak Tartare (lunch in a restaurant in Paris). You won’t see us going to Paris without, oh no you won’t. We are young and dynamic and flexible, but we insist on our traditions

Goats cheese salad, a fillet of beef with sauce Bernaise and a baked potato, sorbets (and a calvados – restaurant in St Germain, Paris).

Egg Fettuchini with lots of fresh Porchini and Chanterelles – yummie return to the own kitchen.

Food and Drink Neustadt;, olive oil, Paris, St Germain;

The wife, as you may know, narrowly and luckily escaped from being a tree victim of crime in Geneva only a few days ago, by way of having her handbag both stolen and recovered within minutes. She took up the challenge to better, and succeeded by having her purse stolen proper in Paris only last week. So I canceled all the plastic (once more), and flew out to go and get her.

One lovely short break in Paris later, after several agreeable meals, a visit to the Louvre, one to the new Musée du quai Branly, many enjoyable walks between Montmartre and St. Germain de Pres, we return through a thoroughly disorganised Charles De Gaulle airport. With us travel half a kilo of Girolles (large canterelles), bought in Montmartre at an insanely low price of €9 the kilo, and 250g bolets (eng: boletus?), bought at not quite so low a price (no numbers here).

After unashamedly ignoring the import restrictions and arriving home, these make for a lovely supper and a great finish to our Paris shortbreak.

I remain convinced that the ideal place to live is a blend of Paris (for the food, obviously), London (for the people), and Syndey (for weather and water). Maybe we’ll find such a place some day.

Thoughts food, Geneva, london, Paris, the Louvre;

In need of sending a packet to the US, I had a look at the services available through Royal Mail, their cost and features in terms of delivery time, tracking, etc.

Funny that they still quote Surface Mail to the US, with delivery times from 56 days:

This service is ideal for sending personal correspondence, business letters and documents, when economy is more important than speed. We aim to deliver within two weeks in Western Europe, four in Eastern Europe, and eight outside Europe.

Two weeks within Western Europe? Are they walking my letters to Paris?
Eight weeks to the US, possible traveling via Greenland and Canada on dogsled?

Thoughts Canada, Eastern Europe, Europe, Greenland, Paris, United States, Western Europe;

Last Friday’s Piccadilly Line train wasn’t going anywhere for a long time, so I had amble time to study the London Underground tube map.

I hadn’t known that one can take the Docklands Light Railway to Cyprus, for example. I managed to find two other place names on the map: Canada Water, and East India. Did I miss any?

How lovely it would be to be able to go more places. There could be stations named after European Capitals allowing for a simple tube connection to Paris, for example, or other stations could be named after regions, allowing low-cost (and low-speed) travel to the Highlands, maybe.

Thoughts Cyprus, Paris

We went to see Americans in Paris at the National Gallery last week.

A nice collection of well known and lesser known names, including a nice number of paintings by John Singer Sargent, one of my favorite painters.

It’s on until May 21st and opens late each Wednesday. Well worth the £9 entrance fee, although sitting on stairs is apparently not included with the price.

I’m now off to practise harder on light and reflections.

Current Affairs, Painting John Singer Sargent, National Gallery;, Paris

When I am in the Gym, I normally bring my own music to block out the horrible Radio XYZ-FM "entertainment" imposed on innocent people, but I cannot close my eyes as well, can I?

And so it comes that I enjoy reading the opinion polls and price draws cast by daytime television such as ITV‘s This Morning, with stunning intellectual challenges such as

I think I shall offer my services as an expert quiz writer. Original questions such as What is the capital of England? (London, Paris, New York) or Which way does water flow? (Up, down, around) come to mind, and will demonstrate my qualification as ITV Quiz Master.

Any more suggestions as to how I could further proof my qualification?

Thoughts london, New York;, Paris, United Kingdom

The good folk of Feedmap use Microsoft Mappoint Technology to provide maps showing blog locations. Something is not quite so good in all this technology; as you can see from the little picture here, London is quite thoroughly wiped out at certain zoom level.

Don’t panic. We are still here and enjoy a good life.

Maybe this is just indicative of the summer holiday season and based on the fact that many Londoners are actually out of town these days? I double-checked France, but Paris is still there.

Maybe it was just wishful thinking: with proper camouflage we might escape terrorists and tourists alike?

Thoughts, Web/Tech France, london, Paris