an excuse to eat

After my last post on Mariage-Freres teas, I indeed had every intention of heading directly to their shop (the one by the place du Madeleine- it's on my way home) but instead was unavoidably detained at work. When I was home sulking later that evening, I chanced to glance up at the shelves in my kitchen (I live in a furnished apartment owned by two lovely Canadian gentlement who work as interior decorators and have left all sorts of personal touches around the place, such as clothing hangers from the Hotele Plaza Athenee and an english copy of Valley of the Dolls). Lo and behold, there were no fewer than SEVEN jars of Mariage Freres teas on the highest shelf. Hard to believe, isn't it? Anyway, I've tried most of them now and I'm still trying to decide on a favorite. You'll be among the very first to know.

Apart from sampling herbal beverages, I also had the pleasure of playing hostess to one of my oldest friends over the weekend. Living in a -glorified studio- ahem, junior one bedroom can make having house guests difficult, but I have known Lena since we were in 7th grade homeroom together and she might as well be family, so it was hardly as though I was walking on eggshells to make her comfortable. Mostly, her visit was an excuse to eat huge quantities of food without feeling guilty- I had to show her a good time after all. The first night we went to Le Dome. It was wonderful- fried fish no bigger than your little finger and heaps and heaps of oysters, clams, periwinkles, crabs and other tiny crustaceans. We swilled chablis and ate until we could hardly breathe.

Over the weekend we managed to fit in lots of walking, some shopping (for me), croissants (for Lena), and lots more wine (for both of us). We had brunch at the home of Jean-Marie and Safoura (old friends of Lena's family) on Sunday morning where I managed to polish off a serving of scrambled eggs, 3 cups of coffee, 2 glasses of fresh grapefruit juice, 1 popover (with homemade strawberry/raspberry jam. I love you, Safoura.), half of a pain au chocolat, part of a baguette, and a handful of grapes. Brunch lasted from roughly 11:30-3 and then we waddled homeward, laden with gifts of jam and honey.

Though it seems impossible that either of us could have even considered eating again for 2-3 days, eat again we did, at Silk and Spice, a Thai place right around the corner from my apartment on rue Mandar. I had a green papaya salad and then a dish of chicken breasts cooked in coconut milk- everything delicious. And I also discovered that they do takeout, which may prove dangerous for me in the future. I do love my Thai food.

But now that Lena's gone, it's time to restrain myself a bit. Last night I bought some soup at the Marche-U but when I got home and made myself onion soup out of a package, it was just too disheartening. The stuff was so foul I took one sip and poured it directly down the drain. Of course I should have known better.