February 22, 2023 Lunch - Le Quiche Parisienne Bistro. Dinner - French Onion Soup

February 22, 2023 Lunch - Le Quiche Parisienne Bistro. Dinner - French Onion Soup 

Today the meals took a decidedly French turn.

I ate a fig Newton on the drive to my dentist appointment at 10:00. After the dentist appointment, Suzette drove us to Le Quiche Parisienne Bistro at Mountain Run Shopping Center near Eubank and Academy. The dining room is open and airy.  All the tables and banquettes have a view of the open kitchen and bakery behind the kitchen.  While we were waiting a large tray I’d pain au chocolate were brought out and dumped on the long counter in front of the coffee station.

The menu was interesting with lots of quiches, sandwiches, and several specialty items of the Entrée variety.

I immediately saw that mussels were on the menu and lots of patisserie were in a cooled display case at the end of the coffee counter.

I ordered the mussels Provencal and Suzette ordered a warm croissant sandwich with ham and cheese.

Suzette also ordered a cafe au lait with lots of warm milk.

Soon a platter of hot French fries was served and shortly after that a larger traditional covered steamer filled with mussels and Suzette’s sandwich were served.

Suzette helped me eat the mussels and pile of French fries.

I loved the mussels so much I never touched the 1/2 sandwich.

I tasted her cafe au lait served French style in a large bowl and it was delicious also.

After I ate the mussels I drank the steaming medium that was also delicious with bits of tomato, broth and olive oil.

After lunch I bought three pastries to go.

This was one of the best lunches I have eaten in a long time.

After lunch we drove home and we worked at or respective desks.  I stopped at 3:45 after finishing a project.

I watched Ari Melber for a few minutes but fell asleep for about fifteen to twenty minutes.  I still do not have the stamina to work a full day.

I awakened at 4:30 and rested until 5:00 when I meditated with the zen group until 5:30.

Both Suzette and I had considered ordering a bowl of French Onion Soup at lunch, so I suggested making French Onion Soup for dinner since we had a piece of PPI grilled rib steak. I diced the steak and thinly sliced three onions to provide the 4 1/2 cups of onion for the Julia Child recipe.

Suzette then took over and created beef broth with the steak and better than bouillon plus some chopped carrot.

She then sweated the sliced onion for 15 minutes, then added salt and sugar and cooked them 5 more minutes, then added 3 T. of flour and cooked the flour in and then added 2 quarts of beef broth and 1*2 cup of white wine and a splash of brandy to complete the soup.

We have Mother’s French soup crocks.  Suzette filled two with soup and floated slices of fresh French baguette we were given with our lunch covered with slices of Racalette cheese.

I must say the result was amazingly tasty and traditional.

We drank the last of 2018 Stag’s Leap Cab with the soup for a perfect pairing of food and wine.

After dinner we poured sniffers of Maison Serrene cognac and I made a cup of chai and we shared the chocolate mousse pastry for our second French meal of the day.

After dinner we watched a Netflix movie starring Harry Connick Jr. and Renee Zellweger titled “New in Town”.

It is a tribute to French Cuisine that one can take an old piece of beef and three onions and a bit of bread and cheese and make a hearty, delicious dinner.

Bon Appetit