I took someone into a fromagerie the other day and he was asking me to describe a perfectly ripe, oozing camembert cheese. “Musty gym socks”, “funky undies”, and “barnyard-like” don’t exactly sound appealing, but were the most accurate descriptions that came to mind at the time (looking back now, however, perhaps next time I need to do some pre-editing in my head). The trick to…
I was tapped to do this meme back in July, by Shuna, and I began to write it up. Then I stopped, and began writing much about my culinary travels. So the file got moved somewhere on my desktop, obliterated amongst the mess of files and folders here at chez Dave. As someone else mentioned when she got tagged for the meme, it’s kinda like…
The hardest thing about living in France (aside from speaking French) is that most of us Americans here expect things to be like ‘back home’; corn-on-the-cob, Office Max open on sundays, and cheery customer service. I tried explaining that uniquely American concept of, “The customer is always right” to a French friend, and he just kept giving me this blank look as if I was…
Did you know you already speak French? It’s true, and I’m not just talking about quiche and Tar-jay. Franglais is the curious and unlikely (but perhaps inevitable) invasion of English into the French language. Not since the un-easy (but remarkably convenient) alliance of Franco-American culture, as found in Franco-American ‘Spaghetti-O’s™’ (whose relationship seems more Italian-American…if you ask me), has there been such a near-fatal collision…
Who remembers the good old days when if you saw someone walking down the street talking to themselves, you’d think that that person was crazy?. A short while back, it startled me to see so many people talking to themselves while walking down the street. Why all of the sudden an influx of crazy people? What was the world coming to? That is, until I…
When I arrived in France a few years ago, I was a surprised to find that red onions are rare and cost nearly four-times the price of yellow onions. I reasoned that although French cuisine uses lots of onions, most often they’re cooked to enhance their sweetness, and they become an essential backdrop for braises, stews, and casseroles…and most-notably in French Onion Soup. So why…
Join me on my Spring 2026 book tour for my latest book, The Great Book of Chocolate
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