adieu 2014; bienvenue 2015
Imagine le juillet every day
2015 is almost here. 2014 has gone faster than a Yule log at a hungry table.
Rather than another holiday recipe, I wanted to post a little feast for your eyes. Read the rest of this entry »
Paris (Paris)
venez avec moi à Provins
July 11th, 2014
Paris Day Trip
venez avec moi à Provins
cardamom sablés with
fresh summer peaches and rose cream
The gloom skipped juin and has taken over juillet in Paris. It seems more like a summer in San Fran than Paris but for the stone buildings. Read the rest of this entry »
venez avec moi à Dijon
June 2nd, 2014
Paris Day Trip
venez avec moi à Dijon
This post is dedicated to Sandy Kiratsoulis and Barbara Bomes.
May the new chapters in your lives bring forth beautiful experiences filled with adventure. You will be missed.
The desk sits in front of the window giving me a direct view of the stone apartments and Parisian rooftops across the way. Inspiring and distracting. I was supposed to sit at my desk and complete revisions on a manuscript. Deadlines. However, as I looked at the rooftops facing me my thoughts drifted to the lengthy list of places I have yet to discover and I found myself getting up and down from my desk for things like making a snack for which I was not really hungry.
Springtime in Paris and 8 Parisian restaurants you will adore
April 30th, 2014
Paris in the Springtime
&
My Short List of Bon Goût
(8 Parisian restaurants you will adore)
Do you remember Frank Sinatra crooning: “I love Paris in the Springtime…”? I remember playing my parents’ Frank Sinatra record (yes, I said record) wondering if Paris is more magical in the Spring. As an adult, I have found that Paris is wonderful all year long but there is something special about Paris in the Springtime. Blue Eyes was on to something.
Paris weekend getaway: Venice, Italy
October 6th, 2013
“Big” Venice with a little sole (à la menuière)
I had an inside tip. It was an inside tip on a Paris apartment and not just any apartment, an apartment in a beautiful building on avenue Georges Mandel. My friend’s mother told her that if I acted fast, I could preview the apartment before it was officially on the market. Was I interested? Bien sûr ! (of course). Good apartments in Paris are far and few in between and they are taken immediately. The tip was better than chocolate praline from Patrick Roger.
As luck would have it I registered to run a marathon in Venice, Italy in a week. Everything seems to be a quick plane ride from Paris so I made an appointment to preview the apartment before I headed to Venice. It would be a tight schedule: three countries; four days. This week I want to take you there. Venez avec moi (come with me) à Venice, Italy with a Paris stop, a marathon detour, and a favorite fish recipe: sole à la meuienere.
Allez y (let’s go) !!!
LM
tartare de daurade (sea bream tartare)
September 5th, 2013
La Rentrée, l’art du cru, and what Parisens really eat
recipe: tartare de daurade (sea bream tartare)
If you have traveled to France in the month of August you know that the country really comes to a halt. As a friend aptly noted, “Ah… grandes vacances, where everyone is out and out of it.” C’est vrai (it is true).
For the month of August (although it is creeping into July as well) there is a customary and societal expectation of absenteeism. Everyone takes time to re-charge their battery and spend time with their family. This uniform expectation of doing nothing and getting nothing “accomplished” I have grown to love as there seems to be no downtime due to texts and emails sent to your portable phone. When you accept that nothing — nothing — will just get done in August, it is very liberating (although as an American it took me some time to come to terms with the notion). You plan around it and guess what? Everything still gets done. French time.
My daughter took this photograph on the train returning to Paris from Nice. I like it because to me it says “au revoir” (bye, see you again) to the summer.
Paris day trip: Château de Fontainebleau
August 30th, 2013
Paris day trip: Château de Fontainebleau
emperors, strawberries, and a canoe on carp lake
recipe: summer strawberries with lime sugar and fresh mint
Not far from Paris is a château rich in history. Yes, there are many. However, this particular château was inhabited for seven centuries by the royal and imperial French elite (most famously by Napoleon I and Josephine). Surrounded by breathtaking courtyards, fountains, canal, gardens, a park, and a lake, it is a perfect Paris day trip. It is the Château de Fontainebleau and this week’s recipe, summer strawberries with lime sugar and fresh mint, was inspired by a visit to this château. So until you get there in person – venez avec moi (come with me) – à la Château de Fontainebleau.
Allez -y (let’s go) !
LM
oven-roasted pork tenderloin with herb-caper salsa
August 8th, 2013
this little piggy
oven-roasted pork tenderloin with
herb-caper salsa
This week’s post is inspired by a visit to 6 Paul Bert in the middle of a three day French visa adventure (which I will tell you about). My meal at 6 Paul Bert was definitely the highlight and I nearly licked my plate clean, which is why I call this post “this little piggy” (as well as the fact that the subject of this week’s recipe is pork). This week we are making oven-roasted pork tenderloin with herb-caper salsa.
à table !
LM Read the rest of this entry »
Venez avec moi: Monet’s Giverny
July 26th, 2013
I am often asked for recommendations of what to do and where to eat while in France. When I am asked about day trips outside Paris my first suggestion is always the same: go to Monet’s home in Giverny. It is an easy train ride to a magical place that is beyond peaceful and beautiful. It was restored to it’s prior appearance (designed and planned by the artist himself). A visit to Monet’s Giverny is like stepping into one of the artist’s paintings. Until you can get there in person, let me take you there via post. Venez avec moi à Monet’s Giverny (La Maison de Claude Monet en Giverny). Read the rest of this entry »
Paris day trip: Versailles and le potage du roi
July 19th, 2013
Paris Day Trip: Versailles et Le Potage du Roi
white peach and haricots verts salad with fresh chives
My quest to see a kitchen garden built for a king and my daughters’ desire to see where Marie Antoinette lived led us to Versailles. We came home with white peaches and our day trip inspired this week’s post and the recipe: white peach and haricots verts salad with fresh chives.
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