An American pal said to me the other day, “The French like carrot cake. You just can’t tell them what’s in it first.” Indeed, I remember making an all-American dinner for some friends and when I’d mentioned “carrot” cake coming afterward, the look on their faces was like, “WTF?” One mouthful, and of course, they loved it. But then again, you could slather cream cheese…
When I was in Méribel avoiding the steep slopes waiting in line at the cheese coopérative, I wasn’t alone: the joint was seeing more action than all those gasp-inducing ski runs. And just about every person ordered a nice hunk of Beaufort. And since they were in front of me in line, being France, of course each person had to have a 5 minute conference…
In my never-ending quest to improve my French, I had some friends over for dinner last night and was asking them what the word ‘grue‘ meant. After consulting le dictionnaire français (aka: mon ma bible), the only definition we came across was that a grue was a ‘crane’—as in the long-limbed bird. Curiously, it’s sometimes used a slang for a ‘working woman’, if you know…
Every time I’m at G. Detou buying chocolate or whatever, I look at the tins of tuna lined up near the window. I’ve never picked any of them up, but I like looking at the pretty designs and graphic, stylized lettering. When I was there last week, I thought, “Why not try them out?” So I bought these two. Since then, they’ve been sitting on…
Real, live French women on why French women don’t get fat. (via The Food Section)
[Note: This recipe was first published on this site in 2005, when few people had heard of this pastry. I’ve reworked it substantially to make individual pastries (shown above), and that recipe is in my book, L’appart.] Is there anything more fabulous than something created through the wonder and miracle of caramelization? Are there no means and ends that one won’t go to, to experience…
When you think of ‘take-out’, France perhaps isn’t the first culture that comes to mind. The concept to me seems so American; pick up the phone or walk to the corner, grab something to eat, bring it home and eat it in front of the television. Nice and quick…and no dishes! In spite of what you might think, France has plenty of take-out food shops,…
Just an hour or so from Paris is the medieval market at Le Neubourg where each wednesday locals crowd the market, choosing their fresh fruits and vegetable, regional raw-milk cheeses and just-churned golden-yellow crocks of butter, along with meats and hand-stuffed sausages from the jovial local bouchers, doling out crispy morsels of sautéed charcuterie. It’s the kind of market where if you ask the poultry…
Just in case anyone thinks that learning French is difficult, my French workbook offers this simple explanation of how to easily construct a phrase.
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