WEBVTT

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And since-- and this is-- this
is a poem with that poet Claire

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Malroux in it, and
it's called "Omelette"

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and refers to many lunches
that we had together,

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during which we--

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Claire is also herself a very,
very well-known translator

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of poetry-- in particular,
of Emily Dickinson--

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into French.

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And so this is
called "Omelette,"

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and it has an epigraph from
a poem by Randall Jarrell.

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His poem was called
"War," and the line

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is, "You can't break eggs
without making an omelette."

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That's what they tell the eggs.

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[CHUCKLE]

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First, chop an onion
and saute it separately

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in melted butter--

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unsalted, preferably.

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Add mushrooms, add girelles
in autumn, stir until golden

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and gently wilted.

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Then break the eggs
as neatly as possible,

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crack on the copper
lip of the mixing bowl,

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beat frothing yolks
and whites together,

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thread with a filet of cream.

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You've melted more butter in a
scrupulous 7-inch iron skillet.

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Pour the mixture in
swiftly, keep flame high

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as edges puff and whiten, lower
the flame to a reminiscence.

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When I was 20,
living near Avenue D,

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there were Sunday
brunches at 4 o'clock.

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Eggs were the necessary
protein hangovers

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bourbon and pot demanded.

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Style, that's what faggots--

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that's what they
call themselves--

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used to make dreary illness
and poverty glitter--

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not scrambled eggs,
not fried eggs;

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Jamesian omelettes
skill and gesture.

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Soon after, illness
wouldn't mean hangovers.

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How many of those
glamorous headachy chefs

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sliding perfect crescents
onto disparate platters

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are middle-aged now?

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Up, flame, and push the
edges in carefully-- egg,

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liquid flows out
toward the perimeter.

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Now, when the center
bubbles thickly,

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spoon in the mushroom
and onion mixture.

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Though the platonic ideal
omelette has only hot,

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loose egg at its heart,
with fresh herbs,

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like the one that Lambert
Strether lunched on, and fell

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for that lost French lady.

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Those were the lunchtime
omelettes Claire and I,

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three decades after the
Alphabet Avenue brunch,

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savored at the women's
bookshop Salon De Thé,

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our Manila folders
waiting for coffee--

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Emily Dickinson's rare tenses
and amphibious metaphors.

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Browned, molten gold
ran on the platter--

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a homely lyric
with salad garland.

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Outside it rained in June--

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or was spring for a
brief February thaw.

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Now the bookshop's one
more left bank restaurant,

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with books for atmosphere,
omelettes aren't served there.

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With-- you've been
using it all along--

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a wood spatula, flip one half
of the omelet over the girolles

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garnished other.

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Eat it with somebody
you'll remember.

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