Food for Thought

FTSE is down 1.6% this morning and holding above 7,000 – so far. A good moment to see how defensive my portfolio is.

MP Evans is unchanged and the palm oil price is bumping along just above $500. Vietnam is not doing so well; my three investment trusts are down by 3.75%, 4.75% and 7%. Scottish Mortgage unsurprisingly is down 4.7% but supposedly defensive Manchester and London is down 6.5%. Gosh, those are just falls since yesterday so there will be much more pain if FTSE really takes a tumble.

Let’s turn to something more agreeable; autumn in Paris.

On Tuesday we had lunch at Bouillon Julien in Rue du Faubourg-Saint-Denis. It’s worth visiting for its Art nouveau interior alone. The tables are packed in too close together and even at 12.45 it was filling up fast with a mix of tourists and locals. Another reason for being at BJ is the menu. Robert had foie gras to start and I was torn between oeufs durs mayonnaise and cold cucumber soup with goats’ cheese (let’s skip the French). I went for the latter and, as so often happens, was rewarded for choosing soup. A bowl arrived with a scoop of cheese in the centre, surrounded by diced cucumber; then a jug of vivid green, cold soup was poured on. With crusty bread it was delicious and could easily be replicated in different colours at home – e.g. with gazpacho.

Next, Robert had roast chicken and I chose tête de veau with black pudding crêpe a strong contender. There used to be a French restaurant in Knightsbridge where tête de veau was a fixture, now I can only eat this speciality in France. It came with potatoes, carrots, leeks and sauce Gribiche. This is also something that I will try at home.

• 6 cornichons, chopped
• ⅓ cup olive oil
• 2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
• 1 tablespoon chopped drained capers
• 1 tablespoon whole grain mustard
• salt, freshly ground pepper
• 3 hard-boiled eggs, coarsely chopped
• 2 tablespoons chopped herbs (such as tarragon and parsley)

Most unusually I finished everything and then, just, had room for a slice of Camembert. With two Aperol Spritz, a litre of Provencal rosé, a large Cognac and two coffees the bill was a modest Euros 75.40. Gare du Nord is an easy fifteen minute walk.

We looked in some agents’ windows and were tempted by small but central flats on the market for a bit under Euros 300,000. Sanity prevailed, although it might be fun to rent somewhere for a few weeks and get to know the city better.