enfin, paris!

fall colors in the jardin du luxembourg with the panthéon in the background

we spent another week in texas after our week in florida, hanging mostly with my family, before heading on to paris. as with most of our sojourns in big d, we each put on at least 5 pounds what with all the tex-mex, steak, and home cooking. in addition to a delightful habachi dinner in plano with my mom and frank (when was the last time you went for habachi? seriously, it's delicious and so entertaining!), we made a few discoveries:

1) it is worth braving the scene at the porch on henderson to get a taste of their roast beef and barbecue.
2) avila's on maple has, without a doubt, the best enchiladas in dallas.
3) libby barnes is magic in the kitchen. that woman can cook! (this we actually already knew)

and so, it was with heavy hearts and in tight-fitting jeans that we boarded american flight 48 to paris last month, not to return for 10 months. if ever.

ahh, paris... we are thrilled to be back, not so thrilled to be jetlagged again so soon, thrilled to rediscover our wine and cheese rituals, not so thrilled to discover how rusty our french has become, thrilled to get settled into our lovely apartment, not so thrilled to be dealing with surly bank employees, sloppy internet technicians, and inexplicably complicated french bureaucracy.

and though we've already compiled a lengthy list of restaurants to visit, we've only been out for dinner once: bistrot d'henri. we love this place. tucked away down a small street near saint sulpice in the 6th, bistrot d'henri is a tiny, family-run restaurant that serves up excellent food for reasonable prices. of course, with the exchange rate being what it is, i'm not sure how reasonable reasonable is anymore... but as i'm on the french government's teet this year and knox has miraculously squeezed some money out of england, we figured we could take the hit every once in a while. now, this is one of the only places i know where they don't offer a prix fixe menu, which means you could save a little by skipping out on the first course. but i've never actually known anyone to skip the first course...

for you foie gras fans, knox assures me that their recipe is top notch. he usually has that or the salad with sauteed chicken livers. not a big fan of liver, stuffed or not, i stick to the lighter fare. this time i had a the fresh chèvre with black olive tapanade on a bed of frisée. for the main course, knox had poulet fermier à la crème et aux champignons (farm-raised chicken with a cream and mushroom sauce) with potatoes au gratin (which means the same thing here in france as it does on the betty crocker box!). and i had the duck in honey. i never knew how delicious those little birds could be until i tasted them slow-cooked in their own fat and slathered in honey. mmm! we washed it down with a pot of the house red, okay 2 pots, and then went on our merry way. the whole meal set us back 72 euros.

but the very next night i made at least 2 meals' worth of minestrone out of the veggies i got at the local market for less than 10 euros, so it all evens out.

yes, it's good to be back.