Up too early.

And I like mornings.  Really.  There was perhaps a time a few decades ago when I might have been on the cusp of being a “Night Owl”,  but it was only the cusp.   I like my sleep.

Which is why I was less than thrilled to be awake this morning at some time not much later than four….something.  Too bleary-eyed to actually make note of a correct time,  but it started with a four.

See,  Romania just so happens to be in a different time zone,  so it’s an hour later there.   What that meant was,  Travelling Companion had to be up extra early yesterday in order to meet up for breakfast,  go to the plant,  and then head off to the airport.  So by the end of the day,  she’s pretty much pooched,  and is out like a light fairly early,  which then carries over to this morning.  See how that works?

The good news is,  the traffic is awesome at 5:30 a.m.  She had “stuff to do” as well,  and since she’s cutting out early this afternoon,  the extra desk time helps.   The “Grand Fromage”  that I referred to a while back,  and who is coming in today from Switzerland,  had this bright idea that they were going to dinner tonight.  That’s not happening. 

I said,  “Well,  he’s welcome to come with us on first train to Munich,  I’m sure they have a dining car”.   Then of course,  diner could be ‘expensed’.   I can dig it.

The overnight train from Munich to Paris involves us having our own sleeping cabin so,  I’m sorry but he’d have to go back to Vienna at that point.  

I have to mention the use of that whole “Grand Fromage”  thing.   It possibly sounds a little snooty or something,  but that’s not my intent.  I could call anyone of those higher ups by the much more understandable “Big Cheese”,  but I don’t think that would convey the proper amount of derision.  It just sounds more “la-de-da” in a foreign language. Try to think of “The Emperor with no clothes”.   Hope that helps. 

But first,  this brief gastronomically related interlude.   See,   when you cook chicken soup,  it’s a good idea to make enough in order to have extra broth that can then be later added to any number of subsequent dishes.   The second phase of the chicken soup scheme was to make Potato-Leek soup.   Also a crowd pleaser.  Well,  we like it anyway.

 

Chop up a couple leeks and sauté them.   Be mindful that leeks tend to suck up dirt,  so I will cut them open length wise and rinse.  I like to use butter to sauté.   You can use oil I suppose.  Doesn’t work for me.

 

Cut up and throw in a tatter.  (Potato,  for those of you unfamiliar with “mountain speak”)

Don’t overdo it by putting in too much potato,  or it’ll be potato soup with a hint of leek.

 

 

Add a couple chopped up carrots.  I used three,  which at first I thought was too much,  but it was fine.   I’m from the “If two is good,  three must be better”  cooking school.   It’s not a school that I recommend.

 

 

 

After the whole mixture has bubbled for a while and all the ingredients are nice and soft,  puree the whole thing with a hand held blender or whatever you have on hand.   (In German it’s a “Stab-mixer”,  so I think that’s self explanatory)

Oh, I almost forgot!  Put in your chicken broth at this point.  I had a sauce pan full.  I don’t know,  a cup and a half?  Just wing it.   THEN puree the bejeepers out of it.  I recommend an apron.  You’ll see.

 

Add maybe a half a cup of milk,  bring it back up to a boil and shut it off.   You just added milk,  you need to boil it again.

 

And Bob’s yer uncle,  there you have it!

Makes a fine meal.   And if you’re having any “toilet issues”,  this stuff will fix you up.   The only thing I forgot to mention is the addition of a bit of salt and pepper at the beginning. 

 

In terms of yesterday’s airport run strategy,  it worked out well,  since I was able to sauté all the stuff first,  leave it sit on the stove and come back and finish it off later.  

Since Travelling Companion’s flight was coming in at 5:20 p.m.,  I actually left for the airport at about 4:15,  which was a good thing, as the traffic at that time of day is pretty flippin’ awful.  (there’s another “f” word I’d really like to use there,  but I’ll leave that up to you) 

I had just walked into the terminal at about 5:35 and she was coming out past the point of no return.   Good timing and all,  but there was a time there as I was sitting in traffic when I wondered if I had indeed left early enough.   Once I was outside of the city though,  it was fine.   Same for coming back in.   Kept an eye on my speed.   *ahem*

 

So the blog will be going on a slight “Blog-cation”  for a few days,  since I’m not lugging this computer with me.   I have my little “app”  for finding our way around Paris,  that you can see on the left side of the pic below.  

It’s called a map.

And I probably do need stronger glasses.  That print is mighty small.

I’m still wondering if I want to lug the big camera.   It’s not that much of a hardship, but I do have gobs of Paris pictures.   This will be our fourth trip to Paris since moving to Europe in 2008,  and hidden away in a box somewhere in our house are all the pictures I took (slides, mostly) of when I lived there in 1978.   What were you doing in 1978?

That was actually before the Musée d'Orsay opened.   It was still a train station.   I only mention that,  since I had no clue that the train station had been converted to a museum when we made our first trip there back in 08 or whenever it was.  I guess I hadn’t been keeping up with all the latest developments in Paris.  No excuse really.   I mean,  everyone should know what’s going on in Paris.  Right?  *pfft*  Whatever.

 

 

Enjoy the rest of your week.  I’ll give it a darned good try.

See you on the flip side.

 

Keep those oars in the water,  and thanks for lookin’.

 

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