Paris in August was supposed to be hot, but it rained and was cool and grey. The hotel was shabby and had an old iron lift which threatened to plummet to the ground if you took your suitcase as well as your body in it. Still, a few days, with my mother, the 87 year old cook in the family, plus my sister and sister in law, were nonetheless fun. Paris is so beautiful and so full of lovely places and things that we coped. It also helped that we spent several long lunchtimes and evenings over delicious meals, with copious wine, of course. We were not eating in expensive or fancy places apart from one treat evening in the Bofinger Brasserie where it is a delight to sit in art deco surroundings with white aproned waiters serving you sea food on huge platters of ice. The French may have lost their reputation as the world's greatest cooks, but they do respect ingredients and some of the dishes that were most memorable were also simple. An endive and blue cheese salad was just that; sliced chicory with a light dressing and a scattering of very delicious blue cheese. Or look at this fish dish in the photograph; roasted cod, very white and plainly served, with a pesto sauce in a little pot and a few green beans which also came in a separate dish. My sister declared it was a triumph.
I was reminded of my first attempts at cooking as a student with no money when I tried out various dishes that I didn't have the proper ingredients for. Once I tried to create chicken with a lemon cream sauce having no lemons, only a plastic squeezy one (which in my defence was quite common then) , and no cream, only the thick stuff from a tin! I am sure the chicken was a bit suspect too. It certainly wasn't a great meal.
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