A Visit from Grandpa

After seeing him briefly during his fly by stopover at Charles de Gaulle, Grandpa / Dad  settled in with us for a wonderful three day stay this November after an important but exhausting work trip to Central African Republic. It was our first time seeing him since August, so while he got a couple naps in, we tried to pack a lot in and kept him busy.

It was the perfect time to be in Paris, the colors were changing, there was just the right pleasant chill in the air, and Milo David is now an age when he's curious, communicative and generally a ton of fun to be around. He's also VERY energetic, and when he's in grandpa's arms he doesn't sit still for photos very often.

When Milo does sit still, he often gives us an earful, especially when Grandpa is trying to teach him to speak Minnesotan.

Grandpa's visit was an occasion for us to meet up with Jean-Guy and all go visit a restaurant and chef that I had written about for TIME, Fatéma Hal's Mansouria. We met up at the house first, and Jean-Guy fulfilled his duties as a French grandfather by training in Milo's nose to discerning the subtleties of fine wine.

And for this night out, Milo had his very first baby sitter, a lovely girl named Xuan (a Vietnamese name, pronounced 'Swan') who is actually our downstairs neighbor!

We had a great evening at Mansouria, tasting numerous amazing Moroccan specialties.To see more of what this cuisine looks like, check out the photos from the last time Perrine and I ate here.

We all enjoyed our different tagines, or slow-cooked meat dishes, but also the simplest things like carrots flavored with orange blossom, chickpeas in oil, the most delicious eggplant puree, etc, etc. I had a wonderful dish called mourouzia, which is based on a 12th century recipe and consisting of lamb and almonds simmered in honey and 27 spices.

We finished with gazelle horn pasteries and mint tea.

We had a couple great meals during dad's stay actually.  For a meal together at home we decided we'd head to the market and get some seafood and other goodies.

Dad (and I as well) had been frustrated by the squid / cuttlefish that were giving us so much trouble this summer when we were in Brittany fishing with grandpère Robert at their summer house in the village of Lagonna. They would play with our hooks be we could never catch them. Robert eventually caught one after mom and dad left, and dad wanted to learn how to prepare squid, as Robert had done on the beach that day.

Letting the squid release its ink.

 

So we bought squid, but also razor clams and cockles to go with it, as well as boudin noir, or black pudding, for the main course.

Dad found his favorite beer from Brittany at the great beer shop at the market – a buckwheat beer.

Razor clams and Squid.

Razor clams and Squid.

Cockles with fennel root in broth.

Mango and black pudding.

For dessert we bought some pasteis de nata, portugese egg tart pasteries.

Milo had to be content with a bottle and a cuddle.

In the end, the best thing of all was to have a chance to be out "with the guys". Dad and I and Milo went to discover a new neighborhood, the so called Bercy village, which was formerly the site of the Paris wine warehouses, with the old railroad tracks and cobble stones still there. The warehouses have all been renovated, and we went to have a beer and a bottle at the brewpub The Frog.
 

 It was a very very nice time, and we can't wait for grandpa's next visit.