Money: some have it and some have A LOT OF IT!!!

Last night was the American School of Paris Gala. A time to come together, have fun and celebrate the school. It is also a time to raise a little money through an online auction, silent auction and a live auction. Lots of cool stuff to bid on at the online auction which closed the night before the Gala. At the Gala, some of the silent auction items were a Louis Vuitton speedy bag with some LV accessories (I lost the bid on that one). But the fun of the night was watching the high rollers go at it. I must be naive about people and money, because when the Live Auction got started, it got INSANE!

I watched as 2 men went head to head on a dinner that was being auctioned off. It started off at 500 Euros and within minutes climbed to 9000 Euros. The auctioneer was clever and had the chefs who were going to be doing the cooking at the auction, talked them into doing 2 dinners and that one item brought in 18,000 Euros. What kind of crazy money do you have to have to just give 9000 Euros for a 10 course dinner? Oh, it was for 10 people, but 900 Euro dinner per person? that was just for the 1 dinner, they agreed to do 2, so each man bidding against each other got a 10 course 12 person dinner for 9000 Euros. That was just the beginning of watch thousands of Euros get bid on items that night.

Now, I know that this night was about raising money, so logic in what you spend goes out the window cause it is for a good cause (the school your kids go to) and is tax deductible. So you might ask what the point of the story is....I don't know other than, my naivety is gone and I rejoiced in everyone else's wins. It was a fun.

So when I didn't think the evening could get anymore interesting, on the way home, we drove by a huge park called the Bois de Boulogne. On one side of the park, is about a 2 mile long street. As we travelled down this street, it became clear that this was Hooker alley. Hoochie mommas all until we started seeing women standing on the side of the road with no tops on (nothing on top) and then 1 who was stark naked wearing only a fur coat that she didn't keep closed. Again, I am naive when it come to this and that it actually occurs, but here it was on the side of the road, made us sad.

My eyes are even more wide open than they were 24 hours ago and I am more cognizant of the world around me.

My Open Market - A Paris Experience

I think about what will I miss once we leave Paris and transition back to the U.S. Some people will say that I haven't been here long enough to answer that question. But this I do know. I am going to miss my market. Every sunday morning I go down to my open market in Garches and visit the local vendors. I have been very fortunate, when I first started visiting the market, I found at least one person at each vendor who after letting me butcher their language let me off the hook and wanted to speak english.

My first stop is to the flower vendor. I get fresh flowers at least once a week if not twice a week from the local markets (which there are 4 during the week between Garches and St. Cloud). When Liz arrived home from houston, I got 2 dozen roses for 10 euros. Flowers here are very cheap and very beautiful and I will miss that.

My second stop is to the produce vendor. Rows and rows of great farm fresh fruits and veggies. My ususal is fingerling potatoes, brussel sprouts, red leaf lettuce, baby romaine, fresh mushrooms (with the dirt still on bottom of stems), beautiful strawberries, raspberries, bananas, apples and pineapple. The man who helps me also is teaching me the french word for what I want to buy which is great.

My last stop is to the meat monger. Here is my favorite place. They have at each corner of their booth is huge paella type pans, 1 with gratin dauphinois (potatoes au gratin), and in the other small pan roasted potatoes. I get a container of each, then they rotisserie everything. One of my favorites is Roti de Dinde which is roast turkey. Now sometimes they will stuff them with different things; they can have bacon and cheese, they can have chestnut, apricot but a funky one is a turkey breast stuffed with Lapin (Rabbit). You can also get fresh rotisserie chickens. Here you have a choice of free range and cage. You have to pay attention because one is 25 euros apiece and one is 5 euros a piece. They also do a beef rib which is a very thick cut rib which runs high and not what you would think of as a beef rib but good. One of the last things I have not tried yet (expensive) is the rotisserie leg of lamb, but one day i will.

So my goal in coming back is to find an open market, probably hit some of the hispanic markets for fresh food and visiting Central Market just a little bit more.