July 19, 2009 - Le Lapin - The Shopping

Pierre is a wonderful, gentle person. He looks, to some, like Mark Twain with his wiry gray hair and unkempt mustache. To me, he looks like a cross between Mark Twain and Albert Einstein. It’s hard to gauge his age. He could be a few years younger or older than me but he has a joie de vivre and twinkle in his eye that make him ageless.

We both love wine and cooking. He speaks less English than I speak French (although he is incredibly cultured and worked for the house of Dior in New York City, so he knows more than he lets on…). The good news is we seem to be able to communicate on several levels. Today he took Katherine and me around our local open market, Marche Maubert. He has a few favorite vendors for meat, fish, vegetables, and fruit. He introduced us to each vendor. He bought a ton of stuff for the rabbit dinner that he is going to make for us. He says the only way I can learn to cook rabbit is to be his sous-chef. But when he bought the rabbit [two of them], he asked for a pair of lapin! Not deux, I asked? Nope, pair is just fine.

So we carried all the stuff back to his 17th century apartment, just a few blocks from the market and just around the corner from our apartment. Incredible. I actually said “bordel de merde” when Pierre showed us some of the 15th, 16th, and 17th century artifacts all around his apartment. It used to be the stables, then a coal bunker, then a garage, and now, it’s his flat. He made us a coffee, showed us pictures of his lovely house in Brittany, and his boat…..he goes there often even though it takes 6 hours by car because he needs to “feel the ocean”. And then it was time for Pierre to go to work.

So we left but Pierre took us back to the market because his favorite meat guy wasn’t there earlier. And this time, his meat guy was there. Pierre got some lamb neck which he slow cooks and kisses his fingers to show me that it will taste “sublime.” Then, I step up and order a “pair” of lamb chops to which Pierre smiles, nods approvingly, and says to Katherine that I have that joie de vivre. Even the meat vendor had a laugh.

So all that’s left is my lapin-cooking lesson. Stay tuned.