And we're back east again...

Falafel for tea tonight. Sadly, I can't claim to have made the things...the lovely Cauldron Foods were responsible for them. But I did whip up a pretty fine baby spinach, sugar snap peas, spring onion and fresh coriander salad, topped off by a tarragon vinegar, olive oil and Dijon mustard vinaigrette to go with it. So I did make a bit of an effort...

I've probably wittered on about this before, but the best falafel I've ever had came from a slighly surreal place in Paris, L'As du Falafel, which apparently is beloved of Lenny Kravitz and Vanessa Paradis (Joe le taxi, 80s pop pickers). Despite the celebrity nonsense, the falafel was cheap and marvellous. I want to go back there - not necessarily to L'As, but to try the other equally inviting places on offer in the same street. Hell, I just really want to go back to Paris full stop - I've got withdrawal symptoms for café au lait in the sunshine at sidestreet bars, jazz concerts in Le Bois de Boulogne, the views from the escalators on the Centre Pompidou, sausage de Toulouse from the food markets in the streets around Les Halles and the smell of bread from the bakery on rue Saint-Honoré.