Wow, Almost a Nothing Day 11-18-25

This rates as an almost nothing day, at least in terms of photos. In the morning, after breakfast, we did a weekly shopping. This allows us to stock up on things that will last for more than a couple of days but not much more than a week. The supermarkets are not large by U.S. standards and the products they carry are correspondingly small. Our refrigerator sits under the kitchen cabinet, next to the clothes washer, which is next to the minuscule dishwasher.  Above the refrigerator is a 4 burner cooktop, so everything is here but just reduced in size. My point is that we have to shop almost everyday for something, certainly bread if nothing else. It’s perfect for our needs which are limited. For example, today we bought: bananas, pears, apples, a small cereal bag, milk, dates, Genovese bread sticks, a local sausage, and spicy olives. Also fruit juice, soap, etc. In the evening I generally go out for a fresh baguette. We have lunch in restaurants most days and then a small something for a snack in the evening.  I’m definitely not losing weight with this regime.

Our main plan was to get lunch at Le Dante and then take Deb’s new peignoir over to my reparation place to see how much it would cost to have it lined with another fabric.  Deb had attempted to get a lunch reservation online but never received a reply, so we decided to walk over anyway. She asked for a 1:30 time, which I mentioned is maybe pushing the edge of when lunch is served in France. But we timed it to arrive around 1:30 and when we got there they seated us at a table that had a ‘reserved’ marker on it. So I guess they were expecting us, but not certain we would show up. In our attempt to make the reservation it turned out that the restaurant had been sold in 2023, so it was under new owners.  That was a small disappointment since the previous owners had been so nice, but the reviews were still good. We still wanted to give it a try.  They started us out with an amuse bouche, radishes along with toast points and a tapenade containing anchovy, it was a good start.

For our appetizer we shared a little plate of small baked turnovers filled with blette (chard), like empanadas. Blette is a local term that is used all over Nice for chard recipes, including bur not limited to blette tarts. Yep, a dessert.  I’ve eaten one and it was pretty good if somewhat different. For a main course Deb had Chicken Supreme with chanterelles on a bed of mashed sweet potatoes. I had grilled salmon with mushrooms and whipped potatoes that had been placed in a mold and baked to give them a crisp exterior. Both dished were quite good but very filling so we skipped desserts. We walked back to the apartment stopping to look in little shop windows along the way because this street is not on the main tourist routes.

At the apartment we picked up her package and took the tram over to the stop located close to the shop.  In a few minutes we were in the shop and showing the peignoir to the woman who deals with customers. Deb asked if they were able to make a liner and if so should we supply the material. The woman said yes not a problem and they could easily supply the material. Deb then told her that our time in Nice was quite limited and would they be able to finish it before we leave. The woman said no problem, we would finish it by the 28th. And the cost for all this was 20% less than Deb was prepared to spend.  So we were very happy and made our way back to the apartment with smiles on our faces.  So although we really didn’t do much today, we accomplished quite a lot. Tomorrow we have a day away planned so stay tuned.