the top level

Last night, I went over to the 11th arrondisement to go to meet an old friend of my dad's for dinner at her husband's restaurant. The restaurant, on 31 Rue St. Maur in the 11th arrondisement, was amazing. Joelle's husband, Gary - who is actually English - cooks some of the best french classics I've had here yet. I started out with a decent beer that's easy to find around here called Leffe, while I waited for the menus to be printed out. (You can tell it's a good place if they have a changing menu that needs to be printed, you'll be getting quality food that's available and in season.) I skipped the entree and went right to the main course (since it was a free dinner, I didn't want to be that guy who orders everything), which was an amazing Magret de Canard (duck) with saffron butter. Duck has really become my favorite thing here, and I ate everything, fat and all. For dessert, after having gone through a bit of wine, I had probably the best Tiramisu I've ever had. The whipping cream was about 20 steps up the ladder from anything I've had before. On the way out, I made sure to leave an extra-big tip for the incredibly cute french waitress and thank Gary for some amazing food.

I'm going to repeat the address because it's that good: 31 Rue St. Maur. You can get there by taking the Line 3 to the Rue St. Maur stop, or by Place de Voltaire, or any of the stops around that area in the 11th. It's a charming and not overly done up place that has an exclusively french clientele, and a dinner "formule" for 18.50 euros which includes an entree and a main plate, but make sure to save room for the tiramisu. Like I talked about in my earlier post where I mentioned La Chope Daguerre, this place is good because it's in a relatively neighboody location, far from the overpriced culinary black hole of the 7th arrondisement (you can quote me on that). So, if you want a genuinely amazing night of food, check it out. Also, it's not far at all from Oberkampf or Menilmontant, so you won't be pressed to find cool (and french) bars for later.

Speaking of later, after leaving the restaurant, I went over to finally meet up with my friend from back home, Andrew, who actually goes to the American University in Paris. He was there with his mom, sister, and his turkish friend who were all visiting from various corners of the globe. Since his friend had never seen the Eiffel Tower, we took a freezing cold but beautiful trip up to the top to check out Paris late at night.

Talking with Andrew really helped me get excited about being in Paris (as if I wasn't enough already). He's been here so long that he's really found his niche, has met amazing friends from all over the world, and has really explored France. He also helped me realize, in between talking about castles in Portugal that I have to visit when I'm down there, how much of a sponge I've become here. I feel that this is about as open as I've ever been. I've become a lot more conscious that life is really just this amazing chain of experiences. Each one you have help you with the next. Life can be sad, depressing, or even downright awful, but at the same time, staring out over the lights of Paris from the Tower and talking about Morocco, I couldn't imagine something more perfect. Anyways, that's enough rambling on my part. Suffice to say I'm happy here. And even when I'm no longer here (god forbid), I'll hopefully remain conscious of this melange of frenchness thrown at me from every-which angle.