Paris, je t’aime. I love sitting at your sidewalk cafes, sipping espresso, dining on French omelets and Salad Nicoise. I love strolling along the Seine at sunset and amid your beautiful gardens on a sunny afternoon, the Tuileries, Jardin du Luxembourg. I love climbing the hills of Montmartre to look out over the spectacular city […]
France
Sweet Potato and Leek Potage Parmentier Recipe
On a cold day (of which, lately, there have been many), there are few things more satisfying than Potage Parmentier. The classic potage (thick soup) is made with potatoes and leeks. Potage Parmentier was named after Auguste-Antoine Parmentier, and is the moniker used for the hot version of the soup sometimes mistakenly called Vichyssoise (named […]
Deux cafe sil vous plait
There’s nothing like a cup of fresh espresso, particularly if one is fortunate enough to drink it in the city of light. Sitting at a sidewalk café and sipping from our demitasse, Big Papa and I watched the world go by, Parisian style. Across the street at a butcher’s shop, two little girls stood outside […]
A lovely day in Epernay
Outside our train window, vine covered slopes stretched out as far as we could see, knitting together small villages with red tiled roofs and wooden shutters. The river Marne gracefully cut a green swath along the edges of this landscape. A more peaceful scene I could hardly imagine which belied the history of fierce World […]
Battle of the baguettes
Paris is the city of light. It is also the city of bread. You can’t throw a cell phone without hitting a bakery or pastry shop. Baguettes are tucked under arms wherever you go. In fact a baguette and an espresso is the breakfast, de rigueur, for most Parisians. Croissants, Tarts, Macarons, Palmiers, Langues de […]
The gardens of Giverny
I still remember the first time I saw Monet’s water lily paintings in Paris. Standing in the middle of the circular room at the Musee de l’Orangerie, the walls awash in color, I felt transported to the gardens of Giverny where Claude Monet lived and painted for 43 years. Monet once said, “I perhaps owe […]
A sip of summer
Waves of color, violet, amethyst and plum, glowed in the sunlight like a psychedelic ocean. There’s nothing quite like a field of lavender when the blooms are on the stem, particularly when you’re smack in the middle of it on a beautiful sunny day. Recently, I had the great pleasure of taking my friend, Marjan, […]