Feast without beast

Since coming to Europe, it seems that all we have eaten is meat- fresh meat, dried meat, sliced meat, crumbled meat, "wursted" meat, hot meat, cold meat, spicey meat, bland meat- breakfast, lunch and dinner!
For days now we have been saying, "Soon we'll be in Paris",  "Just wait until Paris", "Once we get to Paris...".  Well, where do you think we are??? 

We are in Paris!!  My favorite city in the whole world!  And today I have another reason to love it. 
Richard, a friend I met 38 years ago in Paris, and Jeff had been talking food ever since they met two nights ago.
Richard invited us to go to one of, if not the, largest food distribution centers in France.  Millions of tons of fresh food comes and goes throughout the day and night- moving through the supply chain to put beautiful food on the table.  Trucks in, trucks out, two wheelers loaded, fork lifts constantly moving food around the building!  It was industry at work!  and we only saw two fruits and vegetables buildings.  There were tens more buildings filled with everything edible and fresh.

Richard:  Jeff, do you know mushrooms?
Jeff:  I like to cook with them.  I use the dried...
Richard:  How about if we get some mushrooms today and cook lunch together?

That's all he had to say to Jeff...and they were off!  I did my best to keep up with them, and to listen.  They were not thinking of anything other than theingredients for lunch.  "Should we add some garlic?"  "How do you wash them?"  "I think sauteing them in oil with a little salt would taste good."  Richard knew a few people in the market who knew something about cooking, so they were enticed into the process.  "Saute them in some butter and then add creme fraiche."  "Layer these with potatoes and gruyere and put them in the oven."  "They should have some parsley".

In the end, they had three types of mushrooms, some parsley, some fruit (dessert), and some baby cabbage (more like bok choy) we hopped back on the bus and headed for home.  The two of them were like kids with Halloween bags full of candy- eager to get home to taste the spoils!

Jeff and I had to take off for a bit to the place we were staying to take care of some business.  When we got back to Richard's he had some fried rice ready to go and one mushroom dish finished- mushrooms Chinese style- cooked with the bokchoy, some garlic, and some dried shrimp.   There was still some cleaning and chopping to do.  Decisions to be made about which pans, which spices, what to mix with what for the next dish.  Finally- Orangish mushrooms with fluted caps, sauteed in olive oil with parsley added at the last minute.  and last of all were the "meaty" mushrooms sauteed with rice wine vinegar, salt, a pat of butter and a pinch of sugar.

Add a bottle of wine and Voila!  A feast without beast! 
Blue skies are here again!