YOU CAN'T STEP INTO THE SAME RIVER TWICE...

Many years ago (don't ask) I enjoyed a number of light meals at Au Pied Cochon in the old Les Halles area of Paris. They were famous for their delicious ONION SOUP AU GRATIN, served hot enough to scorch, in generous pottery bowls. Rich with long-simmered beef broth and huge amounts of thinly sliced onions, it was topped with a thick layer of melted cheese which ran down the sides of the bowl in crunchy dribbles.
Today, I tried to stroll down memory lane. The casual atmosphere of the old days has been tarted up big time with tuxedo'd waiters, extravagant frosted glass centerpieces (three voluminous layers of fruits and stuff), and - oh, joy! - still the large bowls of french onion soup with a deep layer of cheese bubbling atop. It was fun to crack the broiled cheese and find the bread swimming amidst onions and broth. The broth, a scrumptious brown, was fragrant, the steam caressed my face like an old friend. I dipped the humongous, heavy silver soup spoon into the broth...
And the fantasy ended.
The  thin broth was ridiculously salty and could have been tastier. The cheese was great, but below it lay a pool of disappointment. It was, at best, mediocre, over-salted tourist food.
And the recommended wine - the waiter said it was dry - was flowery and almost sweet, and he served us  extra-large glasses instead of the medium ones we ordered.
Things change, sure, but why do they rarely change for the better? How difficult is it to combine onions, beef broth and cheese? Next Paris visit, when I yearn for authentic french onion soup, I will have to find a new place: Au Pied du Cochon is, regrettably, off my list.

IT AIN'T EASY, MY FRIENDS

What an idea! What a concept! Stop sending chatty e-mails from foreign places about foreign food to a thousand of my closest friends! Instead, blog to thousands (hopefully) of new friends who might actually want to read my ruminations and recipes from the Taj Mahal or the Temple of Luxor, the Great Wall of China or the Eiffel Tower.
How hard could it be to set up a blog, I thought optimistically. After all, I can cook a five course meal - plus orduerves! - for 20 people without breaking into a sweat or murdering the veggies. I can whip up Chinese, French, Greek, Moroccan, Cuban and Colombian, Italian, chocolate, Turkish, and maybe a score of other cuisines. Blogs are, I was assured, a cinch to set up. A kid could do it! Just click here, and there, and...

Oops, jeez, what happened?  My scrambled eggs looked better than this screen! The vision and the reality just did not match...but that isn't anything new in my life.

If you are ever told how simple a blog is to set up, consider the source. I'm here to tell you it's totally counterintuitive (to me, at least), incredibly obtuse and frustrating.  Maybe the problem is that I'm not a kid? So, yes, this blog is a bit tentative and unfinished-looking, but it will improve. One of these days.
And the ruminations from the Sphinx, or the ancient stone city of Petra, or the oldest city in the world (that's Damascus, or so they claim), or the southern coast of Turkey will soon come your way...along with recipes that will make you think you've come along with me!