Bonjour Monsieur

Bonjour Monsieur

By Ali Rouse Royster, 3rd Generation

Do you ever go on vacation and, afterwards, feel like you should incorporate something from the trip into your daily life? I’ve done this so many times, from olive oil tasting in Tuscany to learning how to make a gin/muddled strawberry drink in a bar in Brooklyn. (I recently discovered while setting up a new phone that I’d lost the “note” in my Notes app from that trip, and I am lowkey devastated. Not that I’ve made one of those concoctions in probably 10 years — but still !) I love to bring a little bit of vacay back home. Most times it’s something really delicious or fun, but mainly it’s just a little touchstone to remind me of the good times.

Picture it: Paris, 2009. Three girlfriends having the time of their lives — baguettes in hands, berets on heads, escargot in mouths. OK, maybe that’s a bit too far.

We did lots of touristy things, but we also made a point to work in lots of genuine Parisian-style activity, like sitting at cafés, peoplewatching, snacking and having a glass of wine on a leisurely late afternoon. There’s nothing quite like it…. I discovered love for a few new (well, new to me !) dishes on this particular trip. Moules-frites was one, which is steamed mussels served with fries — who knew?! And the other standouts were croque monsieurs — a delicious ham sandwich made with gruyere, parmesan and béchamel sauce, then toasted in the oven — and its better half, the croque madame — same, but topped with a sunny-side-up fried egg. My mouth is watering just thinking about that!

After returning stateside, I was home for lunch a few days later, making a sandwich. Boy, did it look pitiful compared to those scrumptious French sandwiches. Inspiration struck and, while I didn’t want to start frying eggs on my lunch hour, I did decide to play around with the plain old turkey-on-wheat I had been eating. Given the constraints on time, attempted constraints on my calorie intake, and minimizing the mess to clean up, I had to get a bit creative. Using Rouses Bread, lightly “buttered” with Brummel & Brown, deli sliced ham and Swiss cheese, I pulled out my panini press (TBH, it was an off-brand George Foreman Grill!) and voilà !

Ali’s ridiculously bad imitation of a croque monsieur was born — and it was my go-to lunch for the better part of a year. So far, my 2023 lunches have been mostly turkey-on-wheat. I need some Paris in my life, tout de suite!