A Trip Back to Paris

This may be, in fact, the cheapest trip to Paris. Ever.

No I'm not talking about going to Paris, Texas or the 19 or so other towns in the United States named Paris. Unfortunately I'm not in the City of Lights but I'm sitting in a little restaurant in Merrifield, Virginia called Le Pain Quotidien (Our Daily Bread).

I frankly had never heard of it before.  As it turns out it's a chain of restaurants around the world founded by a couple of guys from Belgium. But I digress.

I had come in thinking this was just a French name for another Panera Bread-like company. Don't get me wrong, I really like Panera Bread.  But this took the experience a bit further.

Sitting here drinking a perfectly drawn double espresso, I was writing my other blog when the wild mushroom and goat cheese omelette appeared with a side of French ham and Gruyere cheese. I was transported to a cafe in Paris I ate in two years ago.

The omelette was beautifully prepared.

And it got me thinking.  Up until the omelette arrived, I was not thinking a lot about restaurant at all.  I was just sitting here writing. But . . . the minute the omelette arrived, BAM I was back to Paris.

But this isn't the first time that has happened.  Sometimes it's a glass of wine that takes me back to the vineyard where I first tasted it. I can remember the experience as much as the taste. Other times it's a particular food.

Comfort foods are those things that take us back to times when we felt good. When life was what it should be. I think that's one of the reasons why I love food.  It's not so much the food as the experience and friends and life that is lived around the table.

And that is as it should be.