Day 5: Passing at Passy and dinner Chez Wilson

I have heard demands for more photos – see below! Photos by one of my companions.

Due to some sleep malfunctions, Thursday started a bit later. One of my companions brought a AeroPress coffee maker along and we started the day with two cups of Guatemalan coffee at our flat, and a breakfast of eggs and bacon and Comte cheese, yum, yum.

We then headed, via the 7 and 6 Metros, to the Passy Cemetery. On the 6 train, which is partially above ground on the Left Bank, we saw the headquarters of Le Monde and the French Football Federation. I love Le Monde but it would take me three weeks to read one issue; my reading comprehension skills in French are adequate, if just so, and better for the tabloid Le Parisien.

We exited at the Trocadero metro and after a bit of a detour found the cemetery entrance. Passy is probably the fourth cemetery of Paris – Pere Lachaise, Montparnasse and Montmartre are more famous – but there’s still a lot to see.

We visited some famous tombs:

                                   The tomb of the last Emperor of Vietnam, Bao Dai.

                                                       The composer Jacques Ibert.

 One of my all-time musical heroes, Claude Debussy's simple but moving grave.

The composer Gabriel Faure, with a lot of his family. Faure's chamber music and solo piano music are pure, pure French.

We enjoyed reading about the life experiences of many of the less famous people buried there. I enjoyed an Ashton mini-cigar walking about.

We then took photos at the Trocadero with its stunning views of the Eiffel Tower and Left Bank. We noted a in-ground plaque to journalists killed in the line of duty:

                                                   The journalist tribute at Trocadero.

Then we sat for a while over staggeringly priced pastis at Café Kleber on the La place du Trocadéro-et-du-11-Novembr (price expected for the neighborhood). 

                                                                Tres cher pastis.

I bought newspapers (international NYT, Le Parisien) from a jolly Frenchman at a kiosk, including the wonderfully useful L’Offciel des Spectacles (comes out Wednesday), with virtually all activities (movies, shows, museums, concerts) listed for 1 euro. It’s in French but easily understandable.

I was cooking tonight, so we went shopping including to a wonderful wine store, Caves des Marais, where the friendly and helpful owner, Jean-Jacques Bailly, guided us to Jacques Rouze’s 2016 Quincy, Sauvignon Blanc from the upper Loire Valley. One bottle to use in tonight’s stew, one bottle to drink.

I then purchased probably the best veal I have ever seen from Boucherie Gardil on the Ile. 

                                                              Veal before cooking.

There was quite a discussion among the butchers among which cut to use and they wound up hauling out a whole calf from their hanging locker – what a place that looked like – and slicing a kilo of chunks for stew. What I liked was that I was able to make myself understood to the butchers, who do not speak English. They were friendly and helpful and pleasant – again, the horribly inaccurate stereotype of rude Parisiens disproved.

Last stop at the pastry store on the Ile for dessert – a pistachio-apricot tart (and a chocolate croissant because I was hungry right then).

There was time for a drink of Lillet Rose on the Seine before I started cooking. The dish was a veal stew with carrots in a wine/onion/tomato sauce flavored with bay leaves and herbes de provence. Brown beef, season with a lot of salt and pepper, sweat onions, add everything but carrots, simmer for 2 hours. Take meat out, add carrots, simmer for 45 minutes, add veal to heat through, boom. 

                                                                 Veal after cooking.

The carrots could have been more tender but the veal was simply magnificent – tender and flavorful; you could cut it with a spoon, and I did. The rich broth was gobbled up.

I served a green salad with my homemade dressing – sherry vinegar, olive oil, Fallot mustard, salt and pepper – and country bread from Eric Kayser.

                                                                    Rouze's Quincy.

The wine was simply lovely – limpid, lemony, refreshing, as a friend said, much more Quincy than the international style of Sauvignon Blanc. The Loire Sauvignons used to set the standard and still do for me, but those used to over-the-top Sauv Blanc could be disappointed.

Dessert wine was a split of 2005 Chateau d’Arche Sauternes with the tart – a fascinating Sauternes, not intensely sweet, with some petrol/resiny flavor, honeysuckle, and mango at the end.

                                                                       Dessert.

I was very tired at that point, and went off to bed. A fine day!