Many Happy Returns

Our trip is beginning to wind down so our priorities are becoming more focused.  And they seem to be going back to things/places we've done before and food we like to eat.

First, the Aligre Market, to get better shots of the fruit, a better video & see Susanne's friend Rachid.

It's not nearly as crowded as it was on Sunday.  On one hand I love the pandemonium, but it's tough to get shots of the stands.


Here's a video of one of the sellers shouting out whatever he can think of.  He saw me & waved.  When we bought some papaya from him, I yelled "Bonjour" at him several times to get his attention.  He yelled it back, took my bag, weighed it, tossed in a persimmon, I paid him...transaction fini!  All in about 15 seconds.

Here is Susanne with Rachid, the father of young Salim from an earlier post.  Susanne met him in 1999 when she was here for four weeks to study French at a language school.   The two of them would meet in the afternoons & practice French.  Neither of them could speak the others language.  Through him, we met his extended family...a long story I won't go into other than that a nephew of his lives in Phoenix.

The years have not been kind to Rachid; he is not aging well.  He works outdoors at a used clothing stall six days a week, rain or shine, warm weather or cold.  (That's quite a come-down from being a professor of history at a university in Algeria.  But when your authoritarian government doesn't want your people, it's meaningless.)  Because he's undocumented, he has no access to medical or dental care.  His face has become sunken & his teeth are fewer & fewer.  But his kind spirit is still there and leaps out whenever we see him.

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Another return...lunch at Tony's Pizza and a wonderful surprise awaits.  Jimmy, our favorite waiter is back from vacation & working.  We've known Jimmy since 1999, a goofball who hams it up with all the customers and makes eating at Tony's a pleasure.  Never mind that the pizza here is our most favorite ever anywhere, even without Jimmy.

An enthusiastic greeting.  We missed him last year because Tony's had a disastrous fire that destroyed the interior so we couldn't eat there.

We ordered one pizza a la parteger (we were having dinner with friends that evening) and could have easily shared it between us, but we were served it in true parteger.  And it was fabulous as usual.

Olives, capers, anchovies, & garlic.






Jimmy was so absolutely delighted at Susanne's presence that he had to goof it up for the camera.

A parting shot.  Susanne saying goodbye to Jimmy while some business folks take advantage of the place.

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Yet another return....lunch at A La Biche au Bois.  This place is our most favorite, favorite, favorite (get the point??) classic Parisian bistrot of all time.  We've been coming here since 1998 and know the owners Bertrand & Celine, both English speakers.  Bertrand was there & greeted us happily, double bisous for Susanne, of course.  Our one regret when the kids were here two weeks ago is that Biche was closed for vacation so we couldn't share it with them.

We are planning on taking friends here next Monday for dinner but decided to have lunch now & make the reservation.  Again, we parteger'd a three course meal & they did it up right.

A shot from outside the place...taken after lunch, actually.

The appetizer was a fish terrine.  They're rare so I had to try it.  It had just enough of a seafood taste to know what it was.  It was mild and delicious.  There was a sauce to either cover up the fish or pop the flavor.  Enjoyed the terrine with & without.

It turns out Biche's terrine portions are quite large so for both of us, half was quite sufficient.  The tomato & lettuce seemed like a garnish, but had a wonderfully flavored oil & vinegar dressing.

Susanne chose the main course.  There were fish & beef dishes.  The poulet had two French words in the description which we didn't understand but when the server said it was cooked in a stew, that cinched it.


Cooked in a marvelous white sauce, it was delightful.  There were three pieces & that was sufficient for the both of us.

The dessert was a chocolate mousse; we dug in so quickly, no pic.

All in all Biche retains its standing with us. On Monday, we'll do the dinner menu, four courses with many choices for each course.  The comparable U.S. menu price will be about $33.00.