Dansons in Delaware

We had another good French moment the other day. The company who helped us with our move emailed and asked if it would be possible for Gaz de France and EDF to come out and take a look at our gas and electricity meters, respectively. They could only come from noon to 3 or something like that on Tuesday but Phuong had French class at two and didn't want to be bothered so I told them it wouldn't be possible.

Later we get another email asking us to read off the values from the meters, which I did and returned back to them. Then we get a final email saying that it was unfortunate that they couldn't come out that day because the next time they have available is in 6 months. Then we received a letter in the mail asking us to write down our meter readings and send it back to GDF/EDF. Gotta to love the French efficiency.


Today Phuong and I got dressed up and went out to lunch at L'Entracte, a nice little bar up the road near our bakery that has good salad and good basic French food like my favorite Confit de Canard (duck preserved and then cooked in its own bountiful amounts of fat). They do not have Blanquette de Veau but we'll ask them to make it soon. I had a really good andouillette there the other day with a mustard sauce. I usually don't like andouillette and I'm sure I am not alone in the american community since it's some weird kind of intestine sausage. Maybe they made or labeled it wrong and ended up with a good result. They also have Steak Tartare, which I will get soon. It's raw beef that is seasoned with spices and usually has an egg mixed in, then you eat it. Every French restaurant has it so it must be popular enough to stay on the menu which means it's popular enough for me. Maybe I will get it at a really nice restaurant to be sure of the quality.

I already mistakenly had beef kidneys at lunch the other day at work. I thought it was just beef tips in sauce, but it was absolutely not. I did avoid the beef tongue at work, but only because for the display they picked the largest one they could find. It encompasses the entire plate, kind of wrapping around the edge and wasn't very appetizing. The Dutchman who had come on a business trip from England chose it despite my warnings. He seemed very pleased in the end with his decision.


Now we're off to W.H. Smith, the English bookstore on Rue de Rivoli near Concorde metro. It open on Sunday so that's incredible in its own right. I lost my midget French dictionary a couple weeks ago so I need another one and Phuong just likes bookstores.