I often cook pasta in not enough water. I wash mushrooms. I don’t grind my own coffee beans. I melt chocolate in a bowl set in, not over, simmering water. I hate soup as a first course. I buy store-brand butter for baking. I try to use as few pots and pans when I cooking as I can. I lift the lid when cooking rice…
Café Malongo is Fair-trade and made from Arabica coffee beans Café Malongo 50, rue St-André des Arts Tél: 01 43 26 47 10 Other Café Malongo bars at: -53, rue Passy –Lafayette Gourmet 46-48, Boulevard Haussmann -Monprix, 14 rue du Départ Read more at my post: Where to find a good cup of coffee in Paris.
Although Germany is famous for tall, multi-layered torten with alternating layers of cream, cake, fruit, nuts, beer, sausages, etc…German Chocolate Cake is decidedly the result of good-old American ingenuity. Deep, dark chocolate cake is layered with a rich filling of toasty coconut and pecans, then glazed with a slick, bittersweet chocolate icing. It’s based on a recipe using Bakers™ Chocolate, a company which employed Samuel…
The recent issue of Elle à Table reports that eating a croissant may be a healthier and a more diet-friendly alternative the breakfast tartine, a split baguette spread with butter and jam. A croissant ordinaire or croissant au beurre (made with pure butter) has 200 calories, and 25 grams of carbohydrates. A tartine composed of one-fifth of a baguette (about 2 ounces of bread) spread…
The best bread in Paris isn’t made in any Parisian boulangerie, it’s made chez Christoph, the home of an affable German fellow who stunned me at a party a few months back when I savored more than my share of his excellent, hearty, homemade multi-grain bread. He told me that each Saturday, he bakes just two loaves of multi-grain bread to last him through the…
A couple weeks ago, someone sent me a thoughtful gift from the US. A few days later, I get a bill from the delivery company; 42 euros for taxes (the gift was valued at 80 euros, making the tax about 55%.) So I head to the office of the delivery company, where they show me the official rules for gifts sent and received in France:…
In Rome, I was happy to relax a bit in my friend’s apartment between eating and sightseeing. I had brought some books to read, but I was thrilled to discover on the bookshelf one book I’ve wanted to sit down and read for some time, but never got around to it…
So I’m in the supermarket line with my basket of groceries. The man in front of me unloads his basket, then dumps his plastic basket on top of the neat stack of other shopping baskets. But instead of nesting it snugly within the other baskets, he just drops his basket on top, askew and cock-eyed, handles facing upward. So I need to put my basket…
The famous Italian “30-Second Breakfast” of a espresso and a pastry, consumed quickly at the counter, before sprinting off on your Vespa, is one of the charms of Italy. The coffee is so good no matter where you go, from small corner caffès to trattorias and pizzerias, the end of a good meal is always punctuated with a shot of espresso. Each time I sip…
Join me on my Spring 2026 book tour for my latest book, The Great Book of Chocolate
A
Get David's newsletter sent right to your Inbox!
Sign up for my newsletter and get my FREE guidebook to the best bakeries and pastry shops in Paris...
