Le centre de Paris

On Monday, after I arrived three hours later than planned in Paris because of train delays, I decided to walk from the Gare d'Austerlitz, along the Seine, over to the Saint-Michel RER station. That's the very center of Paris, and the central feature of the center of Paris is Notre-Dame cathedral.

The weather on April 1, 2013, was crystal clear, with blue skies and a brisk breeze. Because the sun was shining brightly, the temperature was pleasant, though certainly not warm. I was pulling a suitcase on wheels (what an ingenious idea wheels on suitcases turned out to be) along behind me, and there were crowds of tourists out walking around. I heard many languages being spoken. I really enjoyed the stroll.

On the other side of the Seine, in the distance, I could see Paris City Hall — l'Hôtel de Ville. You can see the April Monday crowd on the pedestrian bridge linking the two islands that lie at the heart of old Paris.The sidewalks along the Seines, where scores of bouquinistes peddle not only books, but also posters, maps, and souvenirs, were a beehive of activity.

One reason I'm posting these photos of Notre-Dame and the surrounding views is that I'm happy to be able to post any photos at all. I don't have a computer with Photoshop on it, or any other application that lets me resize photographs or otherwise edit them. And I haven't yet taken any photos here in North Carolina.

But I do have my Android-operated tablet computer with me, and tonight I found a free application from Autodesk that lets me adjust, straighten, crop, and resize the photos that come out of my digital camera. Straight from the camera, they are too large — too "heavy" — to post on the blog.

So enjoy some photos of Paris and remember or imagine how nice it can be to walk through the center of Paris on a fine day, under blue skies, with no pressing destination in mind. Here in N.C., I'm slowly recovering from jet lag, enjoying time spent with my mother, my sister, and my 8- and 10-year-old grand-nieces, as well as keeping busy dealing with the challenges of accomplishing familiar tasks in an unfamiliar computing environment.

Aged by 10 years

Yesterday when I arrived in Charlotte, after a very smooth and comfortable flight from Paris, I of course had to go through passport control, baggage claim, baggage re-check, and then security before I could get out into the main part of the airport and then down to the gate for my second flight.

At security, I was putting my watch and wallet, belt and jacket into those white plastic trays that go through the x-ray machine, when I noticed that some people were taking their shoes off and others weren't. I looked at the young attendant and said: "Do I need to take my shoes off too?"

He looked down at my shoes, and then examined me visually all the way up to my head and said: "Well, people over 75 don't have to remove their shoes."  That deflated my ego. Seventy-five! I looked at him and told him I felt older than 75 right at that moment, but I didn't qualify. So I went ahead and took my shoes off before they did the full-body scan. I passed.

I'm not set up yet to do photo editing, so I'll work on that this morning as I recover from jet lag and take it easy. Hope you don't feel 75 this morning (unless of course you are 75, but even then...).

In(glorious) transit

This morning I'm writing from a hotel room at CDG airport north of Paris. I came up here yesterday and spent the night so that today I would be able to get a morning flight to Charlotte in North Carolina.

Yesterday morning at home, I couldn't get my desktop computer to start up. Well, the computer started, but Windows 7 would just hang in the middle of its bootup routine. I think I know the cause (faulty anti-virus software update) but there wasn't time to try to fix it. It'll be something to work on when I get back.

Why do these things happen on the very morning when you can do nothing about them and are already stressed out? C'est la loi de l'emmerdement maximum...

And then Walt drove me to Blois to catch the train to Paris -- we left the house at 10:30 and were plenty early but there was a problem and my noon train ended up being THREE HOURS LATE! I finally got to Paris at four p.m. via Orléans, an unplanned stop. I did a lot of just standing around and waiting.

In Paris it was sunny so I decided to walk from the Gare d'Austerlitz along the Seine to Saint-Michel, pulling my suitcase along behind me. There I got the commuter train out to the airport.

I took pictures in Paris but right now I have no way to edit and upload them. The important thing right now is that I slept well and feel very good. I'm looking forward to arriving in N.C.

I'll do my best to blog again tomorrow from my mother's place in N.C. She has a computer.

The rabbit recipe

Here's the promised recipe for the Lapin en gibelotte, or rabbit fricassée. It was really delicious — rabbit meat is very white and lean, and of course there's no skin and almost no fat on it. It's not really gamy, but doesn't "taste like chicken" either. My translation is partly translation, partly adaptation, as you'll see if you compare the English to the French (at the bottom of this post.

Lapin cooked in Vouvray wine

1 rabbit

2 carrots

1 onion

1 garlic clove

1 shallot

2 stalks celery

½ lb. smoked bacon

½ bottle dry white (Vouvray) wine

½ lb. mushrooms

2 Tbsp. butter

herbs (thyme, bay leaf, tarragon, etc.)

In the morning (or the night before), put the rabbit pieces into a bowl with the sliced onion, shallot, garlic clove, and carrots, as well as the herbs, and the wine. Let marinate for 8 to 16 hours.

Later in the day (the the next morning), take out the rabbit pieces and sponge them off with a paper towel. Fry the bacon (lardons) in some butter (if needed), and then add the rabbit pieces to the pan and brown them lightly. Strain the marinade (nor not) and add it to the pan. Let it cook, covered, for about 40 minutes. Fifteen minutes before you plan to serve it, add the mushrooms, sliced, to the pan.

Put the rabbit pieces on a warmed serving dish while you reduce the sauce (if necessary).

A leg and the saddle of the rabbit, browned, along with the liver and the kidneys, also delicious

The rabbit pieces in the pot with some browned smoked pork lardons

These kinds of French recipes often specify that you should marinate the rabbit, chicken, beef or whatever in wine with herbs and aromatic vegetables, and then strain the marinade and cook the meat just in the liquid. I almost never do that. Why discard all those good onions, carrots, celery stalks, etc.? Just serve it "home-style." The presentation is less elegant, but the result is a more balanced meal.

Rabbit stew, ready to serve

Walt bought some nice little spring turnips, so we put those, peeled and cut into chunks, into the cooking liquid too. The liquid is the white wine from the marinade, as well as an equal amount of stock that I made by boiling down the rib cage and the head (!) from the rabbit carcass.

Here's the French recipe I based mine on: