Arlo and Janis by Jimmy Johnson for September 10, 2014

We know where she wants to go, but where is this going?

Paris? Aw, those crazy, penniless, destitute, unemployed kids! Well, I guess they can dream, can’t they?

If she wants to learn French cuisine she should go to a culinary school.

Mary Lou is very industrious…a vacation purely for fun isn’t her style.

She’s always worked hard, always had responsibilities, and maybe something to prove….it was like that with her father ever since her mother left…and as single mother, supporting her daughter, and “redeeming” herself in her own eyes.

I don’t think she knows how to stop, or wants to….

People have been guessing that she wants a new baby…My guess is that she does… only not a child.She wants to go to France and learn, not cooking, but the business side of bistros and cafes…so they can give birth to a new restaurant.

I don’t think they’re destitute, BTW…. though it hasn’t been explained, they must be getting something from the sale of The Dock.

Do it while your young kids.

OK instead o what happened they should have each put down their thoughts…feelings, hopes, aspirations on paper. Then met to really have a conversation and try to incorporate each of those for the future. (yeah, like any of us really do that)

If it’s food she’s talking about, I hope she already knows how to do a roux.

Where was this “French” restaurant? Burbank? I’ve eaten in many restaurants in Paris and in the south of France. Since I did not go to new, trendy, pretentious places (if you did, shame on you), I found the portions quite decent. In some cases, especially ethnic places, Like my favorite Portugese place in Villeomble and a North African place nearby, we were brought an embarrassing quantity of food. .The French can be suckers for the trendy, bird-size portions, just like anyone else, including tourists who think “Ooooo real French restaurant.” I can’t blame some of the waiters in those places too much. They know what sort of place it is and may treat patrons accordingly..What she can learn in Paris is that a flexible menu based always on what’s good and fresh and local that day can make the place a joy both to patronize and to work in..And if ya’ll actually like fawning student waiters harassing you continuously to show you how attentive they are and inviting you to use their first names, because they lust after your tip, you’re welcome to it. And a lot of that attention is to hustle you along to eat up and get out and make way for the next tip. I will keep the professional, career French waiter who knows how to serve and stays out of the way until needed and who is perfectly happy for you linger two hours over lunch, because he’s not trying to shake a tip out of you, and you paid for that privilege. Of course, if you act a fool of an American in his place, you will get the scorn you deserve..They might well come back inspired to run the kind of place you often find in France, run by a couple, one cooking and the other serving, and no printed menu, because the chef has to see what’s really good that day..We don’t need another nasty Chili’s or Red Lobster or Italian Garden or whatever. Of course, there’s a McDonalds in the Louvre, so it might be about time for the big asteroid to give us a shot.

MeGoNow: An asteroid recently tried and barely missed. The corporate media, probably condescendingly, tried not to panic us by reassuringly stating it missed by 25,000 miles, and not pointing out for reference that is the circumference of the earth.

food snobs are everywhere, i, myself, wouldn’t eat a macdonald burger if you paid me. wendy’s only.

…she may not be talking about learning French cuisine, she may be talking about absorbing the atmosphere to recreate, but with her own menu….

Uh oh.

Paris….Tennessee???

My first thought – what about Meg? Maybe she end up with Arlo and Janis, giving them a new dimension to their lives, relieving their middle-age boredom.

As was said, “Danger Will Robinson, Danger!”

There are lots of great French restaurants in France.and the McDonald’s are considerably different there than in the US, in better ways.

There is actually a McDonald’s not too far from the Arch de Triumph….

I’m just waiting for the divorce story arc. Or she is killed off. I’m fine with either.

Parisians won’t help you with anything, just forget that idea. They won’t even give directions or help with a menu or any other thing. Been there, found that out! Go somewhere friendly!

I found the food in France to be interesting and almost always superior to what I can get in the US. That includes everything from the Paris restaurants to the vendors outside the Louvre to a little house in Boulogne where a somewhat disgruntled little old lady was convinced to fix us a meal even tho it was outside her regular hours. That was probably the best of all — and we watched her cook it. I also found the people to be mostly friendly and very willing to help me with my HS French — had lots of fun practicing with the taxi driver who took me to the airport.