Dinner at 9...

The hotter it gets and the lighter it is outside, the later we have dinner.

Darkness has always been a que that it's time to start cooking dinner. In the middle of summer in Paris, it is not dark until 10 or 11, so this is no good, I've got to look at the clock. And, it's hot outside, so it's not inviting to cook. No bar-b-que here, of course.

So, we've been having dinner between 8 and 9 these days. I can see how the French get into this habit.

In California, it's normal to eat dinner around 7 PM. Sometimes earlier if you can manage. If you make a reservation at a restaurant (even the nicest restaurant) for 8 PM, you end up being the last table seated. Every other table is finishing and paying the bill. The watiers are eyeing you, hoping you'll eat quickly and leave.

In France it's just the opposite. If we arrive at 8 PM, we are often the first people in the restaurant. When we're finishing up, even if it's 10 or 10:30, people are still arriving, looking fresh and ready for dinner. Even the local pizza place, which is really casual, doesn't open until 7 PM.

With the summer heat, we started choosing restaurants for the air conditioning rather than the food or service. Even though people are sitting outside, it's not very pleasant to eat with the sun beating down on your head while you're eating. We found one restaurant that seems to be the "early bird" place in Paris -- Bistrot de Breteuil. It is a nice place with a prix fixe meal. When we got there at 8, the place was packed. Not many tourists but a lot of seniors. I think they all arrived at 7, which in French terms is early. We had a nice meal and the tables vacated by the early crowd were replaced with the later crowd, so all was well.

Now that we're back in the US, I notice that we are eating earlier and earlier. Back in the rhythm of the place I guess. I've even gotten the bar-b-que ("grill" to my sister) going and have been consuming lots of turkey and chicken (to be detailed in another post). Bye to veal for the summer, hello to the turkey and dinner at 6:30 PM until September.