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Show In France Cooks Do the Marketing American Visitor Tells of Customs and Menus of Country. Ono of my great pleasures when I go to Paris, writes a widely traveled newspaper woman, Is to have dinner nt the apartment of one of my American Amer-ican friends who lives at the top of a house on a tiny street over on the loft bank. It Is one of the oldest streets In Paris, and tho house, In fact, is tho one In which lialzac Is snid to have written many of his great novels. You must give complete directions to tho tnxl driver or you may miss It by a mile or so and have to return re-turn on your tracks. After you have climbed four flights of stairs you come Into a cheery living room looking look-ing Into tho tree tops of the gardens of the Inner court and on the tower of a lovely old church. As you wait for dinner to be announced your appetite ap-petite Is aroused by alluring odors from the nearby kitchen, where the little French mnld-of-nll-work Is putting put-ting the Inst touches to the meal which she not only has cooked but for which she has marketed. American Amer-ican housewives In Paris usually find that It Is nn economy to leave the marketing to the cook, who buys miin mnrrc ttiriftilv nnd much better than they can themselves. Marketing Market-ing In Paris Is done daily and In very small quantities. It Is a matter of moment. Every article Is considered consid-ered separately. More than one shop will be visited In the Interest of the best nnd freshest vegetables In the choice of the most tender chicken In the selection of the perfect fruit-When fruit-When we sit down at the table a huge brown pot arrives and when Its cover is lifted the Intriguing odors give promise of one of those famous soups which we all enjoy so much over there. With this we had, of course, crisp French bread, fresh and flavorful ; then came another brown casserole of chicken surrounded by the tiny potatoes which are typical of France, and small onions nnd baby enrrots, all brown nnd crisp on the outside and soft and tender inside. We had our choice of red or white wine to add the last touch to this course and then enjoyed watching our hostess mix a perfect salad, measuring meas-uring Just the right quantity of oil and vinegar nnd adding tho fresh tarragon nnd other herbs which give character to tho salad. It Is, by the way, only In the homes that one gets great variety In salads, unless yon count hors d'oeuvres, which Invarl-nhly Invarl-nhly contain several variations of salads. I have hud, however, all kinds of Interesting combinations of plquunt foods when I have been fortunate for-tunate enough to have been invited to share a meal nt home with some of my French friends. In the American Amer-ican households you will even get your tomatoes skinned. The French consider that flavor Is lost by skinning skin-ning a tomato, nnd while perhaps 1 Imagine It, the French tomatoes seem to have particularly tender skins. Interesting additions to salads are bits of anchovy, herring or sardines sar-dines and raw or cooked mushrooms. Fresh tarragon and chevrll, whlcn we find It difficult to obtain here, are usually present. The standard dessert Is cheese, served always with French bread rather than with crackers, and fruit At this dinner, however, we were given a special treat of frozen dessert des-sert which came from a confectioner famous for his Ices, particularly those of the "bombe" type. As you know, Hi "bombe" Is a combination of Ice and mousse. The mousse Is usually flavored with some very fine cordial such as curacao or benedlc-tlne. benedlc-tlne. This evening small raisins which had been soaked In the cordial were an unusual addition. Desserts of this sort are practically always purchased from the confectioners, as are the pastries, and are not made nn nt hnmo After tho Bwpptq crimp Camembert and Roquefort cheese and then "American" coffee and cordials cor-dials In the living room. After all there Is nothing like a home meal In France, or in any other country I Salade a L'Andalouse. 3 tomatoes. 1 pimento . cup cooked rice 1 clove garlio In bread 1 minced onion 1 tablespoon minced parsley Vi cup olive oil l'A table-spoons tarragon 4 teaspoon salt Vinegar Pepper Lettuce Skin and quarter tomatoes; cut pimiento. Mix oil, vinegar and seasoning, sea-soning, add onion and clove of garlic inserted In piece of bread. Mix carefully care-fully with. rice and pour over tomatoes toma-toes and pimiento. Chill one hour, remove garlic and serve with lettuce. 09. Bell Syndicate. YCNU Service. |
