Mardi / Tuesday - repose

After three days of SO much walking, I decided to spend the day just 'hangin' in my neighbourhood.  Made some purchases for dinner at the local market then took my book and water bottle and headed for the Jardins du Luzembourg. Great place to view the urban fauna (not the Tuilerie as Pegasis mentioned but lots of fauna here too).  The warmest and most humid day since our arrival so sought out a shady spot and read for a couple of hours. My feet, legs and back were thankful.

This has been a very busy week for Francois.  He leaves no later than 06:00h and doesn't usually arrive back here until after 19:00h....but the two and a half hour lunch break is nice.  Today it was early morning PT which required he be at the school by 06:00h.  His run went well until the very end when someone in front of him shuffled a small rock in his path and he turned his ankle.  I stopped into the pharmacy for him and with a good deal of gesturing and my limited French (was the injury a 'foulure de sa chevielle'?) I was able to secure some anti-inflamatory cream and an Ace bandage.  Poor Francois -his ankle looks like it sprouted a grapefuit.

For souper I wanted to create a dish that Francois had enjoyed at the Bicycle Thief (ref movie Ladri di Biciclette: http://m.youtube.com/index?desktop_uri=%2F&gl=FR#/profile?user=italianfilmfest) in Halifax, NS. (http://bicyclethief.ca/). Probably one of the best meals we have ever had and as my daughter said: 'I'm not sure I want to go back because it couldn't be this good a second time'.....it was that good!.  Anyway, the dish that Francois had was escargots in a sauce of charred tomatoes, garlic, proscuitto, cream and brandy.  Coudn't find the escargots (c'est impossible savoir pourquoi!) and proscuitto so substituted with large shrimp and chorizo (termed les ailes de chorizo - very thinly sliced).

My recipe is as follows:
I sauted some garlic and shallots in olive oil just until the garlic was fragrant.  Added some cherry tomatoes (don't have the facility to char them here but it didn't matter), some fresh mushrooms and simmered for a while until the tomatoes were soft and split.  I then added the chorizo and a generous splash of cognac (could have been brandy but hey, while in France..)and simmered a while longer.  I then added some heavy cream to thicken the sauce a bit.  Dropped in the shrimp at the end to heat through and served on a bed of tagliatelle with a fresh baguette and a pleasant red (Chateau Veyran - Langedoc region).  Yum!.  Unfortunately M. le Commandant who was supposed to arrive at 19:00h didn't arrive until after 21:00h but he still really enjoyed my efforts.