An evening en famille in Paris

Goodness, a new baby is such a joy. I was in Thailand when M gave birth to her third, Molly, so she was just over a month old when I finally got to hold and sniff her last Tuesday night in Paris. (Don’t new babies smell divine?)

I was in the city of lights for one night, en route to Angers in the Loire, to visit the home of Cointreau. I’m afraid I missed the shiny Laetitia Casta-hosted Cointreau party at the Orangerie to hang out instead with M and P and their three little girls (the middle, Isobel, is my second god-daughter).

Upon arrival in Paris, I headed straight to the Place St Michel from the Gare du Nord, and waited for M and the eldest, Lily, in the Cafe Depart near their building, drinking verveine tisanes and luxuriating in being sat a seule in one of my favourite cities, watching the pedestrian circus, and feeling very content.

I was laden with gifts like a glamorous pack mule – I had turned to my cookbook Friends, Food, Family for inspiration, making and freezing sixteen portions of my beef stew with barley, carrots and mushrooms, and the pork, chorizo and butterbean (lima bean) hotpot in London the day before, as well as half a giant Herman’s Cake – a rhubarb crumble cake named in honour of the man who inspired it with his delightful French rhubarb patch, M’s much-loved and now departed father, as well as the fluffy all-in-one the baby is wearing above, a delightfully pretty Boden baby set and a lovely storybook about a little girl from Paris and a friendly bee for the girls, The Bee who Spoke.

M&P’s top floor apartment has the most spectacular views over the Place and down the Seine. The Tour Effiel is just visible over the rooftops, and occasionally there is a blue flash as a police speedboat zooms down the river between the Quai and the Ile de la Cite.

I gave the girls their present to unwrap – I know the protocol, having once been little myself. Ideally the gift needs to be wrapped and suitable for both siblings and preferably able to be used immediately.

M and I retired to her bedroom with the baby whilst the minxes were being fed by the nanny, and I helped her go through her post-maternity wardrobe. (Apologies M if I was a bit harsh about the third villager in Giselle dress!).

Then I read the girls their bedtime story from the book I had brought them, all snuggled up in bed between them. After supper, provided by one of my freezer boxes, I headed to my hotel, a few miles north in Opera, in a cab to go to bed – there was a very early start from the hotel the next morning.