Paris – Day 7: Shells and bones

Today brought better weather. We had a trip to the Bon Marche again, almost like a pilgrimage. But there were various motives I cannot now explicate.

On the way…

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And the place itself.  Fascinating.

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Did you know that large format wine bottles have historical/biblical names?

These two await the either the re-election of Benedict XVI or, perhaps, the abolishing of the Book of Blessings, or maybe even the loosing of restrictions on ordination in the Extraordinary Form for all bishops and places.

A Nebuchadnezzar and Balthasar.  If memory serves, the largest is a Melchizedek, which is poetic justice.  Of course, in the boxes, we have “The Widow”.  And the Neb was €1600+.

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Scallop shells are symbols of Christian pilgrimage.  You will see St. Rocco with one.  You see the Apostle James with one, because of the pilgrimage to Santiago di Compostella in Spain.  In French, the scallop is “coquille Saint-Jacques”, of St. James. Here are some, in the raw. They were as big across as my whole hand could spread.

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Skipping waaaaay forward, to the wonderful supper, chicken consommé with celery and a ravioli of duck foie gras.

Before the addition of the consommé:

 

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And after:

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I won’t bother with the “after” shot of this, because there is nothing to show.
Paried with Puligny-Montrachet. Yes!

The rest of the meal was devoted to devouring a whole “Bresse” chicken.

Tomorrow, however, is another day.

About Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Fr. Z is the guy who runs this blog. o{]:¬)
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13 Comments

  1. Will D. says:

    Those humongous bottles are interesting novelties, but in traditional methode champenoise, the wine is fermented and aged in magnums, so you might as well just buy them.

  2. Sword40 says:

    Fr. Z,
    Looks good Father Z. Perhaps too good.

  3. capchoirgirl says:

    poulet de Bresse!
    Swoon.

  4. Venerator Sti Lot says:

    Wow! The only such names that sprang to mind were Jeroboam and Methuselam – I’m not sure I had an idea how many and varied they are – and how huge they could be! (“Wine bottle” in the Wikipedia, a quick search reveals, gives a convenient chart – and a word along the line of Will D.’s.)

  5. Charlie Cahill says:

    The very best Coq. St Jacques are from Ireland. And cooked with a drop of Irish whiskey

  6. The Masked Chicken says:

    “The rest of the meal was devoted to devouring a whole “Bresse” chicken.”

    Carnivore…

    The Chicken

  7. Someone please be the Garrigue says:

    I see there is also a Melchior, larger than a Balthazar.

    I wonder if there isn’t a Kaspar — a humongous bottle, specially designed for smashing into the hull of a ship, if you deliberately want to sink it.

  8. Supertradmum says:

    Can you share what was in the soup? Looks worth imitating.

  9. Supertradmum says:

    Can you share what was in the soup? Looks worth imitating.

  10. Supertradmum says:

    Can you share what was in the soup? Looks worth imitating.

  11. Supertradmum says:

    Can you share what was in the soup? Looks worth imitating.

  12. VexillaRegis says:

    Dear host, what’s going on with the posting function on here? Now poor Supertradmom has a QUADRUPLE comment!

  13. Kathleen10 says:

    Yeah but she stuck the landing!

Comments are closed.