Foie Gras and then some...

Ok, so I've got some foie gras, salumi and pretty goo blue cheese in my fridge and what's not to love about a place where a glass of wine is $3, though never mind that a whole bottle is $3 at the supermarche. But seriously the food I've been eating, so far there have definitely been two meals to write home about. The other night Caroline and I ate at this amazing restaurant, where we had escargot and then Chateau Brianand. A delicious perfectly cooked filet of beef with foie gras on top surrounded by broccolli and mushrooms. Finished off by a chocolate souffle with pistacio cream. A-maz-ing! The second fantastic meal was a restaurant in the marais that was recommended to us and did not disappoint. A Pasitits of duck confit and again foie gras in a curry sauce. It was like a little present on the plate, wrapped in it's own package and filled with juliened carrots and deliciousness. While we both still don't fully understand everything that is on the menu, we still have been eating well.
Caroline is heart-broken like me, and together we practice french and discuss our coeur brise while we see beauty all around us. As she is Brazilian we speak a combination of european english and bad french. It occurs to me that learning a new language is much like getting over love you have to train yourself to think in a new way. The other day, I had my first dream in French, which I take to be a very good sign that I may actually somehow be learning this crazy language of love as they say. The weather has been rainy, grey and cold, but as my nana says the rain washes away all that was bad so that you may start fresh, it makes sure that you are clean and it certainly feels that way as I await the sun and the warmer days of new.

My new friend Caroline and I. And of course the Eiffel Tower, which as cliche as it is, still amazing to see when you are just strolling down the street on a Saturday night.

Just to say...

that I literally ate the best deep dish spinach quiche that I have ever had in my entire life and that was pretty much the highlight of my day, aside from having some very good bordeaux wine, of course. Ahh Paris, j'adore.
xox,
augs

From Montreuil first two days...

First two days in Paris. The flight here was lovely thanks to good movies and more importantly an excellent Bonjour Paris mix by Kate, I grooved the whole way here. Once I arrived to my lovely incredibly large three room apartment, I just kept repeating to myself I can't believe it, and then I realized that I should probably stop saying I can't believe it. The first day out on very few hours of sleep I go to meet Monteil. Having forgotten to exchange money at the airport I try to use an ATM which is of course broken and almost eats my card, but luckily doesn't. After that small scare I have a similar anxiety to that of the day of any event I've ever participated in planning, that butterfly heart racing very shakey feeling from lack of sleep and excitement that you hope everything will work out. But I arrive early to meet Monteil at St. Placide, and she is fantastic, and we get along instantly and go for tea and ice cream. We discuss many things, her work as a writer, my novel, life, dating and of course my project. She tells me many wonderful stories about her and Simone and Satre as I just sit there, literally in awe at my good fortune of finding this woman. She will be turning sixty this year and feels a sense of mortality and is so pleased to be able to transmit the wisdom she gained from older women. She says that it was older women who helped her and she is so thrilled that I am interested in her life and her stories and the stories of other French women. After that we go to her home and have dinner, which her partner makes for us. A beautiful meal of proscutto, tomatoes, artichoke hearts and basil ravioli. I go home to bed and wake up at 3:30 in the morning, decide to completely unpack and write some more till 7 in the morning, upon which I finally fall back asleep. Today I wondered around my neighborhood and ate at a local Bistro with live music and locals dancing and claping to the beat. A beyond quintessential Parisian experience, almost so much so that it borders on cliche, but no matter there is a reason that people come here to see the joie de vivre that is the way of life here where any one can do what they want as illustrated this evening. I'll be keeping in touch frequently as I feel I may become obsessed with this little blog of mine, and if at any point you say to yourself fuck Augustine living it up in France, check travelzoo, come visit or go do what you really want to do. I mean really why the fuck not? Life is short, but we make it longer when we are truly happy.
xoxo,
Augs

View from my window

So the adventure begins

So the adventure begins… After having missed my flight to Paris I am in the Sheraton hotel in Washington Dullas, where upon arriving I stop for a drink at their bar appropriately named the Cosmopolitan, but I of course had a Manhattan on the rocks with Makers. I meet a fantastic self proclaimed “gay biker” named Johnny, who tells me about the best Mexican food in Warrington, Virginia, a place called El Agave. He says he’ll take me there one day when I am back in town, and wants my name as I’ll be famous one day he says. It’s lovely to acquire such confidence in strangers, he is proud and thanks me for my work at the Center and the cause of gay marriage, and I feel good about this and miss the people at the Center. He has a bar thru his nose and goes to Burning Man every year and can tell that I would be a good camping buddy. It’s funny the people that you meet on the road who you can tell have similar view points as you. He is part of an organization called the Dullas triangles, I tell him I will look it up, he’s clearly had too many but no matter we are at the hotel bar together, with two south Korean bartenders and he knows the correct pronunciation of bejing and shanghai, even though he grew up in Oklahoma, but as he says he is educated Oklahoma, and I get his whole story of his childhood in Tempee, Arizona. Being an adolescent in a small town and getting beat up and spit on because he was no good at sports, and only the jocks were praised, until he moved to Oklahoma and they treasured those who were good at academics and it wasn’t until later when he was in college that he realized (because people told him) that he was actually the cool guy because he was smart. All this in the matter of half an hour, people just want to share their stories and you have to let them and listen. My only wish is that my memory was a good as their stories, though if I capture it now at least that is something. At this moment in time it appears that we have made the kind of friends that might actually keep in touch, though clearly this remains to be seen. Of course I doubt that I will ever make it to el Agave in virgina, even though he has boasted that it is the best chile relleno he has ever eaten and I love to eat, which I tell him and he instantly knows just by looking at me that this is something I would appreciate. All the matter I have his fantastic business card and anything is possible, I may travel the world or at least to Virginia for the best chile relleno. But for right now I am here, in the Sheraton, planning to order breakfast in bed, my favorite kind of breakfast and then to prepare for my flight which will now be leaving at 4pm to arrive in Paris on Saturday at 6 am. In truth I was happy to miss my flight to stay in this clean relaxing hotel and sleep like I have never slept before, as I am utterly exhausted after getting ready to leave New York. Thanks for reading, stay tuned for more updates when I actually arrive in Paris.
Xoxo,
Augs

I can now be found here

On the eve of leaving for Paris... here we go. I'm so excited I'm actually jumping out of my skin. For now though I spent the evening at mcsorrely's saying goodbye to my dear friends, Kate, Tony and Sarah. Lots of drunken screaming, someone's 50th birthday who bought everyone in the bar a round of drinks, always nice. In this blog some have told me to refer to men as a good red wine to be discreet, though I guess the fact that I'm saying that defeats the purpose, oh well, whatever. I hope that I can inspire you all to keep reading and checking in, I imagine that I'll keep it interesting.
xoxo,
augs
p.s. thanks Wilson and Amo for coming up with a catchy name for the blog, love it!