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 […]
Paris
Vin Chaud: Mulled Wine Recipe
A blustery day in Paris, chilly even. Ominous clouds loom. People begin to put on their jackets and open parapluie to guard against the rain. Your mood feels a bit gray. Then you remember. You’re in PARIS, nestled under cover at a sidewalk cafe in the Tuileries. Autumn leaves dress the surroundings in rich hues […]
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 […]
Heavenly Honey Ice Cream Recipe
Some years ago, I had the great pleasure to spend a few weeks in New York City, Brooklyn to be exact. It’s ironic because my Dad is a Brooklyn boy, born and raised on Coney Island. I remember going there as a little girl and seeing the boardwalk with its loop-de-loop rides, eating Coney Island […]
Well-heeled in Paris
The reasons to visit Paris are endless… amazing architecture, world-class art, fascinating history, divine food. And then there’s fashion. Coco Chanel, Christian Dior, Louis Vuitton, Lanvin, Hermes, Yves Saint Laurent and Christian Louboutin, historically some of the world’s top designers and fashion houses have been French. So I fully expected, on our three-day visit, to […]
Half my life
Walking along the Seine in late summer, I watched the sun sparkle across the water. With a baguette tucked under my arm and a chunk of French runny stinky cheese wrapped in paper, I strolled and nibbled my way along the quaint cobbled streets of the Left Bank. The year was 1985 and I was […]