Last Christmas we got a gift subscription to Gourmet magazine, something I don't think I've read since I moved away to college some two or three geological eras ago. Mom used to get it and I'd peruse it on occasion to see what serious adults thought about food. Plus there were cool articles on cocktails in exotic bars, and motoring through the countryside in France looking for the perfect duck confit. I didn't actually know what a duck confit was but it sounded like something I would find sophisticated and hopefully, tasty.
So it was interesting to revisit the magazine some (many) years later. In my memories of course, the magazine seemed to concentrate mostly on New York, the West Coast, or Europe and it seemed so very haute cuisine. Nowadays the magazine doesn't seem much like my memories but it's still been interesting reading. The September edition is devoted entirely to Paris. There's eating, of course, but also visiting favorite bars for favorite cocktails (though the passion fruit martini is just so not me), hotels - both big and imposing, and small and intimate. Walks along the boulevards and the side streets, visits to the more outlying arrondissements, markets, and canals. And restaurants. Lots and lots of restaurants.
I find myself pondering cracking the piggy bank and setting back the retirement account a few years for a quick jaunt to Paris. Alas, the exchange rate just doesn't favor any spontaneity at the moment. Still Gourmet is probably the best advertising for the City of Lights I've been exposed to for some time. There's always next year.
Next year.
