No couscous for you

Last night JD and I went to a Moroccan restaurant on the banks of the Marne, near his house, where there was a terrace right on the river. It was so lovely to be out of Paris in something resembling wildlife. That part of the river faces an uninhabited island, and everything was green and still -- and yes, the heat broke a few days ago, so it was a perfect night to sit on the river. We saw ducks and some small brown unidentified mammal, and later on, bats.

The only thing about the restaurant was... we couldn't order couscous if we wanted to sit on the patio. That's right, anything else on the menu, just not couscous. My guess was that it had to do with the fact that the restaurant building was actually across the road, and no one wanted to carry a large bowl of hot soup across the street. So we ordered tagines, and they were really great. (And they did serve us semoule -- what our people call "couscous" -- with the tajines.)

We'll have to go back for couscous some time when it's raining or cold or something. Because the patio is just too, too nice.

I'm off now to a Greek Orthodox christening, of the daughter of one of my officemates! After which, a reception on a place right next to the Seine. Turning out to be a rivery weekend...