Bulk bread

In France we're not bulk buyers but these long-lasting whole grain pains au levain outside a boulangerie were being sold in large hunks and sliced into several days' worth.

Ça va passer

Yesterday's headline: "Liberty Confined"

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The other day a very old lady, hunched over, maskless and pulling a shopping caddy behind her, mumbled a French version of "Bah humbug!" as she passed the line at a local organic foodstore. Everyone was wearing masks and, in silence, keeping prescribed distances when she burst out, "Ça va passer!" - this will pass - waving her free hand in disdain. A welcome gesture, it broke the ice and everyone laughed and agreed that we need to put this into perspective - as well as treasure this precious disappearing generation, sadly, today's most susceptible, who've seen it all: wars, holocausts, depressions, recessions, pandemics, natural disasters. - BPJ

Forty days

 Yesterday's announcement that the lockdown will be prolonged (hopefully for no longer than two more weeks) came as no surprise. In the Middle Ages the practice of quarantine (from Italian quaranta giorni; forty days - quarantaine in French) was considered the minimum amount of time needed, they noticed, to remain in confinement to prevent an epidemic from spreading. The term dates from the days of the Plague in the 14th century when ships would sit at anchor in the Venice harbor for forty days before landing. What will the end of our quarantaine bring? - BPJ

 

Update: It brought another lockdown. And another.

Le Bonaparte

Waiting for Paris' cafés to re-open....

Above: a favorite point de rendez-vous when I lived in Saint-Germain-des-Prés

Café Le Bonaparte 

42 rue Bonaparte 75006

Fleurs du bien

If you feel, as I do, that flowers are an achat de première nécessité (as per the famous attestation as a legitimate reason to be outside), they can be found in local supermarkets.

Above: flower shop on Place de Fürstenberg before the lockdown

Soups du jour

Soothing homemade soups and smooth veloutés ease le confinement.

Above: immune-boosting carrot ginger soup

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Recipes in April newsletter

Optimist

 

A portrait artist takes his chances.