A year in a French market: Summer
« Previous EntriesCarte postale: To market, to market
Tuesday, July 17th, 2012I’m still exploring my new neighborhood. But on my way to the twice-weekly outdoor market at Pont de l’Alma, I discovered this view. Pas mal, hein?
A little pasta
Wednesday, June 27th, 2012Ever since I moved to Paris four years ago, I’d been dreading one day — the day the movers would come to pack up our belongings, the day we would have to leave our rambling Parisian apartment. That day came on Monday. Hello from our new apartment. Hello from The Other Side. I don’t want to [...]
Provence and the Basses-Alpes
Monday, August 29th, 2011Bonjour, mes amis! We got back from our vacation a few days ago and I’m still glowing from the Provence sun and scratching my mosquito bites. It was a bright and busy two weeks, filled with lovely friends, delicious food (including homemade melon ice cream — yum!), and a couple of road trips in [...]
Summer holidays
Thursday, August 11th, 2011It has been my favorite kind of summer this year in Paris — cool and grey and drizzly with flashes of warmth and bright sun. Even though I love it (I know, I’m weird) I’m ready for a blast of dry heat, lazy afternoons by the pool, and the juice of a nectarine trickling down [...]
Canicule
Tuesday, June 28th, 2011Paris is burning. I know, I say that every summer. But we really are suffering this week, with temperatures in the 90s (ugh) and no climatisation (double ugh). As I type this, I’m hiding in my apartment with all the shutters closed, crunching melting ice cubes. Weather like that calls for food like this: Cold. [...]
Clafoutis aux cerises
Thursday, June 9th, 2011Last week I bought a bag of cherries at the market in Lyon, but after they spent the whole day in my handbag, they were a little worse for wear. What could I do with a handful of bruised fruit? The words “clafoutis aux cerises” kept calling to me. A clafoutis is a dessert, kind [...]
A year in a French market: Bouquet vivant
Friday, September 18th, 2009Picture this: Three young American women, out for dinner in Paris. We’re all French speakers — indeed, my two friends are French education professionals, who have been speaking, reading, writing, living French for over fifteen years — so when the waiter props the blackboard menu on our table, we’re confident we won’t have any problems. [...]
A year in a French market: Wild (insert ingredient here) chase
Thursday, September 3rd, 2009Do you ever get into one those moods where you must cook a certain, specific food? Maybe you have a craving, or maybe you’ve planned your dinner party menu, carefully considering each course. But then you can’t find a crucial element at the grocery store. And so the hunt begins… Such was the situation that [...]
A year in a French market (special Provence edition): Why I love France (reason #1,012)
Tuesday, August 11th, 2009Shopping for food is one of my favorite French activities. First of all, as David Sedaris once so gleefully pointed out, when you ask for things in multiple, you don’t have to know their gender. Tongue-tied between “une pomme” or “un pomme“? Une tomate? Un tomate? Un jambon? Une jambon? Here’s a trick: ask for [...]
A year in a French market: Bachelorette cooking (or not)
Wednesday, July 8th, 2009My husband, CK, left for a year-long stint in Baghdad three months ago (actually, 83 days — but who’s counting?). I have to admit that after all the dread, being solo isn’t as bad as I’d feared. Of course, I miss him like a major organ — there’s no one to hold my hand at [...]
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