March 20, 2004
Guest entry: Nicole - Spécialité Niçoise
Chivalry isn't dead. There is one place where men still know how to treat a woman. The Cote d'Azur. This is a refreshing change from the thoughtful, sensitive 90's man.
The old part of Nice has lots of socca restaurants. Socca is a savory oily pancake that tastes slightly spicy. Some friends and I walked for a while in the grayish rain and found a restaurant. The waiter was extremely focused, he seemed never even to notice our presence. We waited about ten minutes and then he explained, with appropriate Cote d'Azur vigor, that we needed to buy the socca from a nearby window and then sit with it. We ordered lots of dishes to share between us and drinks all around. Huddling under an awning, that didn't quite protect the outside seats from the rain, we happily ate our food. I went in to use the bathroom and found that the hand dryer was running constantly. Luckily the waiter was willing to come to my rescue. He hit the dryer hard on it's side saying, "Agh, comme une femme!" (like a woman), and it stopped running. There are still real men, with an instinctive, Gallic grasp of the limits of feminine competence on the Cote d'Azur.
Posted by maxf at March 20, 2004 10:57 PM