La Belle Paris

Going to France when you're pregnant and love to eat French food can be a somewhat cruel opportunity. The red wine, brie and charcuterie are suddenly off limits. Even if there was a point to eating steak bien cuit, would any self respecting french chef deign to prepare it in such a way? However this was likely to be our last opportunity for a decadent few days in our favourite country (gastronomically speaking) so I booked our favourite hotel and the Eurostar tickets as a present for Le Gourmand with barely a second thought. I could still eat quiche and pain au chocolat after all.
Le Gourmand was delighted when he received the gift in April. However he advised me with some seriousness that as the trip would be brief, that we would need to plan our meals with precision. I tended to agree. We both remembered a merely OK meal in a touristy restaurant on our last trip and a morning spent aimlessly hunting for crepes on our last trip to Paris. Spontaneity, which had served us so well on previous occasions, had to be sacrificed when time would allow for only one dinner and two lunches. Research was done and reservations were made. On the Eurostar early Tuesday morning we discussed the plan of attack - early lunch and late dinner so that three courses could be consumed at each sitting. Concern was raised and noted that my stomach, a stalwart in the past, was reacting suspiciously to pregnancy and did not seem to be able to consume as much as it had in my gluttonous past. I determined to soldier on!