It is in “Around Madame Swann”, the opening pages of “In the Shadow of Young Girls in Flower” 🌸🌺, that the…

It is in “Around Madame Swann”, the opening pages of “In the Shadow of Young Girls in Flower” 🌸🌺, that the young Marcel finally gets to see and hear La Berma in “Phaedra”. 🎭

But he came away from the morning feeling disappointed. His expectations were too high. 🤯

At the same time, Marcel’s parents are getting ready to welcome Mr de Norpois, the diplomat, into their home. Françoise is in charge of preparing a meal. 👵🏻🍲

📗 Extract 🖋

Françoise, delighted to indulge in the art of cooking for which she certainly had a gift – spurred on, moreover, by the news of a new guest, and knowing that she would have to create, using methods known only to herself, to prepare beef in jelly, was in the throes of creative excitement; as she attached the utmost importance to the intrinsic quality of the ingredients that were to go into the creation of her masterpiece, she went herself to Les Halles to select the finest cuts of rump steak, beef shank and calf’s foot, just as Michelangelo spent eight months in the mountains of Carrara choosing the most perfect blocks of marble for the monument to Julius II. Françoise put such fervour into these comings and goings that Mum, seeing her flushed face, feared our old servant might fall ill from overwork, just like the sculptor of the Medici tomb in the quarries of Pietrasanta. And the day before, Françoise had sent what she called ‘New York ham’ to be baked in the baker’s oven, wrapped in breadcrumbs as if it were pink marble.

— “In the Shadow of Young Girls in Flower”, 1919, published by @quarto_livres in 1999, pp. 357–358

We’ll be talking about this ‘fashion jam’ again, incidentally, in next Sunday’s story dedicated to the dress as a work of art. 🫣🫢

#marcelproust #RTP #àlombredesjeunesfillesenfleurs #proustagram #françoise #laberma #bœufmode