Cross my heart

A man holds a crucifix at the foot of the steps of the Basilica.

Not yet

Empty terrace of a usually lively Montmartre café.

***

Specifics for the upcoming May 11th déconfinement in France have been announced and include wearing masks on all public transportation and continuing with the usual precautions (social distancing, masks, regular hand washing etc.). Markets will re-open (to be decided by regional mayors and préfets), travel within 100 kilometers will be permitted, and the famous attestation won't be required. The "most vulnerable" - ages 65 + as well as those with pre-existing conditions such as diabetes, upper respiratory and cardiovascular issues and what's become the most significant group at risk, the overweight / obese - are being urged to continue with present lockdown rules as much as possible. - BPJ

No firm date has yet been decided for the re-opening of cafés and restaurants.

Italian night

Raymond: We have pepperoni pizza for dinner Monday nights.
Susanna: Pizza? You get pizza in an institution?
Raymond: Monday night is Italian night!

From Rain Man (1988)

 

***

 

During the lockdown we've made Monday night Italian night, but instead of pepperoni pizza, this week it was brown rice mushroom risotto using scotch whisky in the place of white wine. - BPJ

 

Recipe May newsletter

Siblings

A brother and his little sister sit outside their building enjoying beautiful Sunday weather.

Quiet walkway

The serenity of a cobbled walkway.

Above: a stairway leads to Allée des Brouillards and Place Dalida

A surprise breakfast

Some days, it's nice to wake up to a surprise.

It wasn't the typical French petit déjeuner, and it wasn't Café de Flore, c'est vrai.
It was better.

Menu: just-right oeufs à la coque, baguette toasts, butter (just a little...), bacon, mascarpone topped with the season's first strawberries, fresh-pressed coffee (with real cream for my café crème), artisanal preserves (blueberry and passion fruit-mango) and honey. Everything that was supposed to be hot was, and everything was perfection.

***

Tentative date for re-opening of Paris cafés, bars and restaurants: June 15th

Working in

Many Parisians are using their confinement / stay-at-home time to get (or stay) in shape. Whether it's Pilates, yoga, dancing in place or lifting weights, the lockdown is an opportunity to tone up, and if we need help, trainers and studios are offering free online workout classes... all at one's fingertips with but a quick search on the internet. Many Parisians, like former CHANEL model now author Caroline de Maigret (find her books on Amazon), admit to pretty much hating anything that resembles a scheduled exercise program: in Paris, and in France in general, exercise is less important than in the U.S. However, things are changing. Gym clubs (salles de sport), once a rarity, have sprouted up in unexpected neighborhoods. While most workouts come from the U.S., Swedish Gym is popular, mostly among women, offering cheap and numerous classes around the city. Runners, another rarity until fairly recently, seem to be everywhere. And of course Montmartre, with its hilly streets and many stairways has become my own personal daily workout territoire - a perfect excuse to enjoy this dazzling spring weather, not that I need one. - BPJ

Rue Cortot

Erik Satie's Gnossiennes for piano were composed on this street in Montmartre where he lived for eight years.

Won't you be mine

 

This photo of a giant human skull inside a men's boutique window was taken on Valentine's Day 2020, which, I was to find out later, happened to be the date of France's first death from the coronavirus - later re-named "Covid-19."

Hôpital Bichat, Paris:

First death from the coronavirus in France February 14, 2020, an 80-year-old Chinese tourist.

***

Today marks the first anniversary of what we consider the true date of departure of cherished friend Clement von Franckenstein -- Hollywood Reporter / Telegraph -- Easter Sunday, the day he went into a coma. I will be commemorating him in a tribute on the official date of his passing, May 9th.

Who was that masked man

Home deliveries / Livraisons à domicile

Pizza isn't the only show in town when it comes to ready-to-indulge home food delivery in Paris. Who wants to rattle pots and pans day after day when you can answer the door to a pair of smiling eyes blinking above a mask, leaving you to return to that still-warm couch to catch up on the latest coronavirus developments? Besides Boulangerie Poilâne, here are three more favorites from before the lockdown that I was delighted to find had stepped up to the plate, so to speak. - BPJ

***

La Maison Plisson (above) is keeping two of its shops open during the crise as well as offering products for sale online: fruit, prime ribs and meats, vegetables, baguettes, cheeses, Bordier butter, tasty spreads, seafood, organic eggs, granolas, organic champagne (!), alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages.

93 Boulevard Beaumarchais 75003
35 Place du Marché Saint-Honoré 75001


 

Flyin' Circus a new delivery service run by the popular Circus Bakery is taking orders for their superb sourdough bread, banana bread, and apple pie. The infamous cinnamon knots are also available, and they will deliver to every Paris arrondissement except the 12th and 13th. They make their own deliveries on bicycles, and orders placed before 4 p.m. will be (safely) dropped at your threshold the same day.

 

Eataly, the mega mercato in this Italian food hall in the Marais district, offers pre-packed baskets as well as baskets to order - wines and cheeses, fruits and vegetables; spaghetti, pasta, and brunch boxes, even a "family kit." Individual products such as charcuterie, olive oil, panettone, Moscato and a selection of taralli can be delivered within Paris starting at 8.50€ with a 50€ minimum.

***

A new crop of web video platforms is being used as never before to meet up en groupe for tea, coffee, or an apéro, a fun way to stay connected with friends and family scattered all over the world.

May newsletter

Oven to table

Besides astonishing artisanal sourdough breads this revered Parisian bakery delivers granola, sablés, cookies, chocolates, confitures, flour, salt, bread baskets, more... to breakfast tables throughout the city.

Boulangerie Pain Poilâne

Monday: more livraison à domicile for the housebound

Fish Friday

Social distancing while shopping for fresh seafood.

***

 

For many, the virus seems to have triggered a sort of "protective instinct" in our partners - some say the reason more men than women seem to be at all the food markets these days - who've been insisting that we ladies stay home and let them brave masked shoppers, wait in lines and leave the eggplant squeezing to them. - BPJ

Corona nation

"Here, the young Louis XIII was coronated, one hour after the death of his father Henry IV."

***

In today's Les Echos: "18 million people 'at risk' will remain confined after May 11th"

[To be cont'd....]

 

Spring in the air

The beauty of a Montmartre side street.


 

Pâques

Easter Sunday's souris d'agneau au miel for two, with flageolets to accompany.

Below: dessert was my take on buñuelos de manzana with a shot of St-Germain elderflower liqueur instead of jerez (sherry), a traditional dessert in Spain during Semana Santa (Easter week) and specialty of a tiny restaurant in Barcelona's old Barrio Gótico

Empty chairs

Empty churches.

Bulk bread

In France we're not bulk buyers but these long-lasting whole grain pains au levain outside a boulangerie were being sold in large hunks and sliced into several days' worth.

Ça va passer

Yesterday's headline: "Liberty Confined"

***

The other day a very old lady, hunched over, maskless and pulling a shopping caddy behind her, mumbled a French version of "Bah humbug!" as she passed the line at a local organic foodstore. Everyone was wearing masks and, in silence, keeping prescribed distances when she burst out, "Ça va passer!" - this will pass - waving her free hand in disdain. A welcome gesture, it broke the ice and we laughed and agreed that we need to put this into perspective - as well as treasure this precious disappearing generation, sadly, today's most susceptible, who've seen it all: wars, holocausts, depressions, recessions, pandemics, natural disasters. - BPJ

Forty days

 Yesterday's announcement that the lockdown will be prolonged (presumably for two more weeks) came as no surprise. In the Middle Ages the practice of quarantine (from Italian quaranta giorni; forty days - quarantaine in French) was considered the minimum amount of time needed, they noticed, to remain in confinement to prevent an epidemic from spreading. The term dates from the days of the Plague in the 14th century when ships would sit at anchor in the Venice harbor for forty days before landing. April 25th will be our quarantaine. What will it bring? - BPJ

 

Update: It brought another lockdown. And another.

Le Bonaparte

Waiting for Paris' cafés to re-open....

Above: a favorite point de rendez-vous when I lived in Saint-Germain-des-Prés

Café Le Bonaparte 

42 rue Bonaparte 75006

Fleurs du bien

If you feel, as I do, that flowers are an achat de première nécessité (as per the famous attestation as a legitimate reason to be outside), they can be found in local supermarkets.

Above: flower shop on Place de Fürstenberg before the lockdown

Soups du jour

Soothing home made soups and smooth veloutés ease le confinement.

Above: immune-boosting carrot ginger soup

***

Recipes in April newsletter

Optimist

 

A portrait artist takes his chances.

Evening apéros

Well before the lockdown, we've made it a tradition to have a pre-dinner apéritif almost every evening, whether chez nous, chez friends, on a café terrace in nice weather or at a favorite wine bar, wherever we are. And the drink needn't be alcohol - it could be a fruit juice, iced tea or sparkling water, with accompaniments of anything from peanuts, chips, pretzels or olives to cheeses, sausages or more elaborate canapés. - BPJ

Above: dried mango, almonds, whole wheat grissini, two kinds of cheeses

Below: yesterday's gin tonics, cheeses, spicy cashews, cured sausage w/fennel, dark German bread

 

Font art

Baptismal font inside Église Saint-Jean de Montmartre, an art nouveau church on Place des Abbesses.