An American in Paris

Tonight we went to a little place in the neighborhood called Balls (http://www.ballsrestaurant.com). It is a very smart resto, having an extremely limited menu, namely meatballs. You choose the meat (pork, beef, chicken, vegetarian) the sauce (tomato or yoghurt) and the side ( polenta, risotto, salad or vegetables). Simple enough but definitely satisfying. It attracts a young after-work crowd and we have gotten to know the owners.  The usually have a special, so I looked on the menu, and it says: Balls du jour (voir ardoise) Now at this point, I am pretty good with food in French and I can usually figure out what the items are. Even if I don't know it specifically, I can at least figure out if it is poultry, fish or beef. This time I am at a complete loss.  "Helmut, what is voir ardoise ?" "Ardoise." This is Helmut's usual first volley when I ask the meaning of something: repeat the word. I am not sure if he thinks by repeating it I will understand it or if ...

Helmut had a job in Milan last week so even though I really could not afford the trip we spent Friday to Monday there together. I have never been, even though it contains the Mecca for any opera fan: the birthplace for many an opera and the artistic home of Maria Callas: La Scala. When we made the plan, I immediately got on the Internet and found two seats for their production of Turandot. So I was excited to discover this city.  Duomo The duomo here really is spectacular. I think they have gotten the right balance here, and please forgive me in advance. These churches especially in Italy are amazing museums of art. If the churches teachings are to be believed, and God is everywhere, they could (and do, I might add in some places) have mass in a gymnasium and forego the church entirely. Then they could charge admission to the well-lit, art-filled museum and be better off. Here they have the interior lit with museum quality lights far beyond what the original architects could have i...

Today is Saturday, so of course there are errands to run and things to do. I could do these any day of the week, but it always seems that these things get put off until Saturday. We are having lunch with Ann today and we want to serve strawberries since it is the season. Ann is a friend/work associate of Helmut and she is going through cancer treatment. I can relate. She was out of the woods, but then things got a bit hairy and the cancer came back with a vengeance. She can't work but she is ironing shirts for us for a bit of pocket money. It addresses a big problem I have here with services here in Paris. In NYC, as I have mentioned, I call up the cleaners, I give them 2 bags of laundry and they return shirts on hangars and laundry in the bag. Nice setup. Nothing like that here, but it seems everyone has someone "come in" to do cleaning and pressing. This seems to work out and so Ann will be coming in to help us. Since she is not "help" nor a close friend, we a...