I'd forgotten that restaurant staff in the US really said that. And spontaneously refilled your water glass multiple times and were generally friendly, cheerful and smiley.
In short, I was ready to sponsor Taylor for a French visa should she ever wish to work in a Parisian cafe.
Monday, October 29, 2007
Friday, October 12, 2007
A Supermarket of One's Own
I never really saw the French supermarket as worthy of much consideration, let alone respect or prime blog material. They're all tiny, they all close at 8 pm and don't open at all on Sundays. Sometimes I just long for a 24-hour Safeway the size of an entire Parisian arrondisement. "Who goes shopping at 2 am?", the French will ask disdainfully as I fill their heads with nonsensical notions of 24-hour shopping. Me, I will tell them, just because I can.
At the French supermarket, there are often long lines, at some you have to buy your own plastic grocery bag if you forget your Special Grocery Bag you are supposed to bring with you each time you shop, there are no baggers so there are often checkout traffic jams when elderly patrons buy 5,000 groceries and carefully pack everything away in their little grocery trollies. Most people have back-up supermarkets in case G20 or Franprix or Monop or ED is out of what you want or if they have the food product you seek but the quality is dubious at best. It's normal to have one store where you go for vegetables, one for dairy products, etc. thus making buying groceries an ongoing project. It can be very decentralised shopping. (Decentralisation seems like a key part of the French experience). However, I now love Champion. Not that my 'hood is posh enough to have one, and not that I have ever bought actual food there more than maybe twice, but I love it because they have afterhours winetasting events.
It was by invitation only-- my friend made the elite guest list thanks to her membership card from last year when she actually lived near a Champion. Apparently, store loyalty counts for something, since she was allowed to bring a guest to this event. We dutifully checked the box on the invitation saying that Mademoiselle would attend and be accompanied by a guest and returned it to the supermarket. We wondered if we were supposed to dress up. And what host/hostess present to bring to the supermarket that has everything?
The night of the supermarket foire aux vins, shoppers (those foolish souls not elite enough to have received invitations in the mail and who actually wanted to buy groceries) tried to enter the store when we arrived and the ever-helpful security guard laconically informed them that Champion was closed "except for the wine." Unfortunately, we couldn't drink and shop for regular food, as they sectioned off the store and set up a bar in the frozen food aisle. But even if you couldn't pick up regular groceries, of course they had 5 percent off all wine purchases, so older French people duitifully arrived with their infamous grocery trollies to fill with discount supermarket wine. There was also cheese to eat and there were little catalogues and friendly French people explaining all the different wines. Everyone got increasingly drunk and therefore helpful and friendly to the American girls. Honestly, I've never had so many French people make spontaneous friendly conversation with me in a public place as at the supermarket wine tasting and it was much the highlight of my entire week. As Virginia Woolf once wrote, every woman needs a supermarket of one's own. Especially if they give you wine there.
At the French supermarket, there are often long lines, at some you have to buy your own plastic grocery bag if you forget your Special Grocery Bag you are supposed to bring with you each time you shop, there are no baggers so there are often checkout traffic jams when elderly patrons buy 5,000 groceries and carefully pack everything away in their little grocery trollies. Most people have back-up supermarkets in case G20 or Franprix or Monop or ED is out of what you want or if they have the food product you seek but the quality is dubious at best. It's normal to have one store where you go for vegetables, one for dairy products, etc. thus making buying groceries an ongoing project. It can be very decentralised shopping. (Decentralisation seems like a key part of the French experience). However, I now love Champion. Not that my 'hood is posh enough to have one, and not that I have ever bought actual food there more than maybe twice, but I love it because they have afterhours winetasting events.
It was by invitation only-- my friend made the elite guest list thanks to her membership card from last year when she actually lived near a Champion. Apparently, store loyalty counts for something, since she was allowed to bring a guest to this event. We dutifully checked the box on the invitation saying that Mademoiselle would attend and be accompanied by a guest and returned it to the supermarket. We wondered if we were supposed to dress up. And what host/hostess present to bring to the supermarket that has everything?
The night of the supermarket foire aux vins, shoppers (those foolish souls not elite enough to have received invitations in the mail and who actually wanted to buy groceries) tried to enter the store when we arrived and the ever-helpful security guard laconically informed them that Champion was closed "except for the wine." Unfortunately, we couldn't drink and shop for regular food, as they sectioned off the store and set up a bar in the frozen food aisle. But even if you couldn't pick up regular groceries, of course they had 5 percent off all wine purchases, so older French people duitifully arrived with their infamous grocery trollies to fill with discount supermarket wine. There was also cheese to eat and there were little catalogues and friendly French people explaining all the different wines. Everyone got increasingly drunk and therefore helpful and friendly to the American girls. Honestly, I've never had so many French people make spontaneous friendly conversation with me in a public place as at the supermarket wine tasting and it was much the highlight of my entire week. As Virginia Woolf once wrote, every woman needs a supermarket of one's own. Especially if they give you wine there.
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