Month: January 2021

I can hardly believe that it’s been three months since I arrived here in Paris from the U.K. on the Eurostar train at the end of October, in a rush to get here before the sudden 2^nd French lockdown began. There was a huge, hours-long traffic jam that night, as many Parisians fled for the countryside before the midnight deadline.

I’ve had a lovely time, staying with my New French Girlfriend, in the pleasant 15^th Arrondissment. We rejoiced over the U.S. election results, enjoyed the holidays, and rode out the latest pandemic restrictions together. We masked up, obeyed the curfew, and got better at Zoom and Facetime. We cooked fabulous meals and enjoyed some great wines. We drank champagne and shed tears of joy on U.S. Inauguration Day, when French friends and folks we didn’t even know congratulated us.

However, pandemic or not, the Schengen Treaty still applies and I can only stay in the E.U. for 90 days at a time, so I must leave soon. I’m flying out in a few days, just ahead of implementation of the CDC’s new requirement that all U.S.-bound passengers present a negative COVID test prior to boarding. I have a direct flight and I’m rigorous about safety protocols, so I anticipate a safe arrival.

The second and third waves of COVID cases have caused almost all countries to impose strict requirements for entry, and some have even banned tourists altogether. I’m not keen on returning to the U.S., the “COVID capital of the world”, but at least I can and I hope to get the COVID vaccine in the next few months.

Traveling internationally as a lifestyle requires that you learn about a lot of things, which is good and stimulates the brain. But the pandemic has added a thick layer of other, rapidly-changing, travel-related information that now also needs to be understood, and of course it has increased the risk. Frankly, it’s exhausting and, because “planning ahead” is no longer possible, frustrating. But you play, as they say, “the cards you’re dealt” and make the best of it.

For me, that means a few months in Northern Virginia for sure, and possibly a longer stay through the summer. I look forward to traveling again when things become more normal. I’ll continue my musings here, but the locales may be less exotic.

If you’re in my age group, you may remember growing up consuming lousy frozen TV dinners and tasteless frozen vegetables. Fresh vegetables were not a “thing” back then. For example, because I was raised on mushrooms from a jar, I had no idea how delightful fresh ones could be until I was in college. Later, of course, the healthy-eating tidal wave conditioned us to embrace fresh vegetables as the only sane choice.

So, it was with some surprise that I discovered the passion here for frozen foods. Yes, in France, with its fresh markets and reputation for fine cuisine, frozen foods are extremely popular. However, these are not my mother’s tasteless, freezer-burnt, Birds Eye offerings; rather, they’re flash-frozen, high-quality products processed in such a way that they retain all of their nutrients and, in some cases, have more of them than “fresh” produce does.

In France, large grocery stores do offer baked goods and fresh meats, but the neighborhood boulangeries (bakeries) and boucheries (butcher shops) have the best products, and they’re where most Parisians buy them. But I was surprised to find stand-alone stores that offer nothing but frozen products.

Welcome to Picard (no, no relation to Jean-Luc of the Enterprise), which started off in the early 1900s as a supplier of ice. Now, with over 1,000 stores, it can be called one of France’s favorite grocery stores, and it’s also established in several other European countries. Picard’s 1,200 flash-frozen products include veges and fruits (regular and organic), spices, meats, soups, pastries, desserts, and much more. Picard chefs make all sorts of prepared meals that are very popular.

Their freezer-filled stores are clean and modern, with good signage. You can order online for pickup or delivery, and they also sell insulated bags for your use taking food home.

In researching this post, I found quite a few articles extolling Picard. Here’s a good one by Ann Mah that does a great job of introducing Picard.

I’ve eaten quite a few Picard products in the last three months and they’ve all been really good. Boeuf Bourguignon (Beef Burgundy) over Aligot de l’Aubrac (cheesey mashed potatoes) is one favorite and their Yellow Lentil Curry soup is another.

You can visit the Picard website to see their many tempting offerings: https://www.picard.fr/

When I was staying in Dublin last year, I found a similar chain called, of all things, Iceland. I didn’t try their products so I don’t know if their quality is as good as Picard’s but they seemed quite popular.

Sadly, Picard is not in the U.S. and is not likely to be, for the reasons set forth by Ann Mah. Too bad!