i heart thursdays: Paris Day 3: Rodin, the Left Bank & French Food

Rodin is a favorite of us both..so today we were off to Rodin Museum where we got to see and appreciate a load of scrumptious sculpture, both inside the museum and outside in the gardens. We had a little teaser the day before in the Orsay, but this place is the true mother-load. Jill, who has been studying drawing for about a year, was awed by his mastery of the human body, which after just taking figure drawing, she had a deep appreciation for the complexity of his work. As usual, I just can't get over the detail and beauty his pieces.

We had a lovely lunch at the museum cafe and sat outside in the garden while we ate. To this point - don't as me how - but I hadn't had a single bit of cheese! And I'm in France, for the love of pete...so, I got a cheese-laden open-faced sandwich and let's just say there was no skimping on the cheese. Whoa! No complaints here either :)

Next, we went on a little walk of the Left Bank area, peeking in some of the smaller galleries and visiting some places of historical (social) interest, such as Cafe Procope - the oldest contiuously running coffeeshop in Paris, where the likes of Voltaire, Rousseau, and Ben Franklin met up to discuss the world during their various times (not all at once, of course :). It was lovely, we had some tasty gelato and then headed home.

Now, a couple nights back we happened into the wine shop on our street only to fnd the owner, Rick, is an American whose lived here for about 20 years. He was ever-so-kind in helping us pick a bottle to kick'it with at home here; but also, on one of my ventures out for something I asked him which of the restaurants on our street he recommended. Well, note that Amis Louis is just a block away - this is where Bill Clinton, movie stars and others eat. We won't be making it in there. However, the place across the way looked lovely and came highly recommended by Rick, so we decided to go tonight on the early end of the French dinner time (7:30...around here, 10 p.m. is a good time to eat on the weekends).

(Warning: Foodie paragraph to follow....you can skip to the pics if you don't care about food details...but if you do, read on!)

When we got there, it was empty and the chef took us right in and, having lived in New York for six years at one point, kindly reviewed the menu with us in English. We were grateful and ended up having a fantastic dinner. We took a few risks, and also had a few things we love. It started with a sardine-spread of some sort (amuse bouche); Jill had an amazingly well-done cold almond creme soup; I had (cold) foie gras. Yum! For the main course, Jill had roasted leg of lamb (cooked for seven hours (l'agneau sept heure)!) and I had the veal steak (oh-so-frenchie-rare). On the side we asked for an order of escargot. I'd only had it once before, and Jill had never. The chef was quite pleased that we wanted to have them, and made us a very generous portion as a side dish. They came to us steaming hot, first cooked in broth, then pulled from their shells and sauteed with butter, nutmeg and other spices. We would've finished them if it wasn't for the giant plates of meat we were already working on! Additionally, Rick, across the way, features wine from southern France. The chef recommended a mid-range bottle that we both really liked and...uh, finished...after having champagne to start. Oh, the headaches that to come the next morning...but wow, what a great meal!