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Worth the wait

Tuesday, May 21st, 2013

First of all, thank you, dear friends, for all your comments on my last post. Somehow life’s ginormous changes aren’t quite as scary with you next to me. Reading your kind words of congratulations and encouragement gave me my first tiny burst of confidence — a feeling of I can DO this! (instead of: we are [...]

Flan pâtissier

Tuesday, February 26th, 2013

Last month in Paris, I was at a dinner party and a friend asked us: What’s your favorite pastry to buy at a boulangerie? Not, she clarified, the dainty cakes found at a pâtisserie, but the everyday workhorse treats: pains au chocolat, chaussons aux pommes, chouquettes, financiers, pains aux raisins. My own favorite is a [...]

Carte postale: Fifty shades of grey

Friday, January 11th, 2013

I love Paris any time of the year, but lately the weather has been gloomy gumdrops: dark, grey, wet, cold — in other words, the perfect conditions for holing up inside and revising a manuscript. That’s where I am for the next few weeks, mes amis, and I apologize in advance for the paucity of [...]

Carte postale: Here and there

Wednesday, January 2nd, 2013

Happy new year! We have gone from this: To this: Bonne année, bonne santé, plein de bonnes choses pour 2013! xoxo

La Table d’Aki, Paris

Tuesday, December 4th, 2012

The last Tuesday dinner I had in Paris was at La Table d’Aki, a 16-seat bijou of a restaurant near the Boulevard St-Germain. This is “French food cooked by a Japanese chef,” the chef/owner Akihiro Horokoshi told me. Every bite was exquisite. You can read more about my meal in the Bites column of the [...]

Best craftsmen of France

Friday, October 12th, 2012

One of the things I admire most about French culture is its preservation of traditional métiers. Walk down a street in Paris and chances are you’ll find a family-owned bakery, run by a boulangère proud to carry her name above the door. There are independent pastry shops, fromageries, charcuteries and butchers. Or even boot-makers, or hat [...]

Autumn song

Tuesday, September 4th, 2012

The other day I was making a quiche, rubbing butter and flour between my fingertips, and thinking about the French immersion I took before I moved to Paris, about my courses and classmates, and a poem that we learned by heart. It’s a slight poem, and mournful. I can still recite the words. Chanson d’Automne de [...]

Rue de Loo

Tuesday, August 14th, 2012

One of the first things I bought for our new apartment was the picture. It’s a photo of Julia Child in her kitchen in Paris, and I wanted to hang it in my own. By now, Julia’s story has become the stuff of bestselling memoirs and blockbuster films. But those of us who love Julia are each [...]

City cat, country cat

Thursday, July 26th, 2012

Every time I write a post about cats, I fear it will be my last. Felines in France hide, you see, they curl into cozy apartments, or cool shadowed corners. They’re difficult to spot and almost impossible to photograph. But then you see one, and then another, and — here’s the tricky part — capture [...]

Carte postale: To market, to market

Tuesday, July 17th, 2012

I’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?

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