Lexington: Trick-or-treating Postponed

City officials have postponed trick-or-treating in Lexington tonight to tomorrow (Friday) due to the incoming intense storms forecast for this evening.

Paris: Holy Crêpe!

crêpe:  thin like a tortilla but closer to the consistency of a pancake, the French crepe is used for both sweet and savory street dishes.  Be aware that the French pronunciation is closer to the English word crap than to the English pronunciation for crepe.  It is a bit unsettling.

Tonight I took a 10 mile walk in the wonderful 65 F evening along the Promenade des Plantes, a former railroad viaduct now turned into a 3 mile raised garden/walkway.  The other night I'd tried to buy a crepe from a street vendor and was told that it was forbidden to sell carryout food after 1am -but that I could eat in the restaurant.  I find this and other French laws sometimes surprising.  You can buy booze and topless soft porn magazines in the checkout lane of the grocery store.  Prostitution is legal.  Any couple -friends, roommates, gay couples- can form legal partnerships akin to marriage....but you cannot buy a carryout crepe after 1am?!  Perhaps there is some heretofore unknown hazard to late night crepes that I'm unaware of?

Anyhow, tonight I went back and despite my fretting over my poor French, I ordered a ham and cheese crepe with seeming success.  The creperies make a stake of crepes and then grill on the crepe maker whatever filling you want.  It was really good.

But the crepe guy realized I spoke English -he is the one who told me "carryout is forbidden" the other night.  He asked where I was from in English.  I told him.  I then asked if he was a native of Paris.  He looked like a number of people here who are of mixed French and Asian ancestry.  Then he says:  "I'm from Afghanistan."  Awkward moment.  So, I say "Our countries are kind of involved now."  ("Involved" covers so many things ranging from affairs to wars.)  And then he graciously says things are better now in Afghanistan since the U.S. invasion.  His father and brother disappeared into a prison there under the Taliban, and he doesn't know whatever happened to them.  He moved here 15 years ago.  He was really nice.   

Paris: Update on the Undocumented Workers' Protest

The undocumented workers who have been camping out in protest in front of the Bastille Opera seem to have left.  Here are some pictures from last night of the debris left from the makeshift camp.

Paris: The Falafel Sandwich

The delicious falafel sandwich represents one of the least expensive meals in Paris.  All of the falafel vendors I've seen are along the rue des Rosiers, the heart of the Jewish quarter.  These sandwiches consist of a white pita bread stuffed with a spicy eggplant mixture, hummus, a yogurt-cucumber sauce and a choice of curried chicken, beef, or chicken.

Paris: Arc de Triomphe

escaliers: stairs
enfer:  hell 

crise cardiaque:  heart attack 

défibrillateur:  defibillator

I live on the 5th floor up these winding, narrow stairs in the first picture with wooden steps.  The French would say I live on the 4th floor:  they count the ground floor as 0 with the 2nd (US) floor being their 1st.  My building was built in the 1800s, and such 19th century walk-up apartments are common in Paris.  In many neighborhoods small retail shops occupy the first floor.

I visited the top of the Arc de Triomphe last weekend.  There are something like 284 steps to the top.  You can see the winding stairs in the second picture.  People sit at the top just to watch visitors huff and puff as they arrive. It is not a tour for anyone out of shape or with a heart condition.  The view is indeed grand at the top though.

I must admit that I was hazy exactly whose triumph the Arc memorialized.  I can happily report the triumphal arch commemorates Napoleon and his victories.

Paris: Paris: An Anthropology of the French, Part 2

football:  soccer

pied noir:  literally "black foot", French colonists born in North Africa who returned to France when the North African colonies gained independence

Les Bleus:  The Blues, the nickname for the French soccer team

In 2010 there was quite a sports scandal in France.  The French soccer team -former world champions- lost in the initial rounds -for the first time in history I believe.  The team, Les Bleus, had been mired in a sex scandal involving an underage prostitute and in-fighting between the coach and team members.

France has a large population with North African ties.  One group are the pied noir who came to France after the French colonies in North Africa (Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia) gained independence.  An even larger group are Arab North African immigrants.  There is something of a tension here at times I'm told between the European French and the Arab North African French.  At times the North Africans appear to feel home is more North Africa than France.  The French appear to want the North African French to be thoroughly French and let go of their North African cultural identities.

The other night Algeria tied England in the World Cup.  You would have thought Algeria won the World Cup.  The Algerian men here were shouting and driving around for hours honking their horns and waving the Algerian flag.  My friend Keith saw something like 300 Algerians on motorcycles driving through the city in a victory parade.

Every country appears to wrestle with some type of racial or ethnic situation.  The French Arabs still appear to straddle two worlds here and there are sometimes some tensions between them and French society in general about where their true hearts are.

Paris: Outdoor Markets

biologique:  organic

marché:  market

bon marché:  cheap, inexpensive (literally "good market")

cher:  expensive (Who knew Cher's name literally was French for expensive?)

Inside the Place d'Aligre market -which has 

a covered area like New Orleans' French Market

Great outdoor markets abound in Paris.  The French don't spray preservatives on their food, and many people like to shop for fresh produce, meat, fish, and cheese at street markets.  

Some are more trendy and expensive than others.  The biologique -or organic- market on Boulevard Raspail for example is currently very hip with celebrities.  Ina Garten -the Barefoot Contessa chef on the Food Network- recommends it.  On weekends the prices are supposedly double what they are during the weekday market.

Most markets open only on certain days.  A few -like the less expensive market at Place d'Aligre- open every weekday (I'm not sure about  weekends).  I liked the Place d'Aligre market best because it was close to my apartment and less expensive.  The quality and variety in these markets amazed me.  I was also amazed how an area the day before or after a market would be spotless and completely empty.  The day of the market, however, the fish and other displays looked permanent and stationary.  The vendors must build and break down these displays with great speed and keep the area really clean during and after the markets.  The Thursday market on Boulevard Richard Lenoir near my apartment was huge and featured not just food but clothes and jewelry too.

 

 

Chinese foods for sell in the market

Cheeses