If you’ve never had financiers before, prepare yourself for a treat. But even if you’ve had them, you’ve likely never had financiers from Kayser bakery. Each little moist button is the perfect taste of ground almonds and French butter. They’re available in a few flavors, such as dark chocolate, and nature (Almond). I can never resist getting a little bag of them at the bakery,…
Paris is reported to be the most popular tourist destination in the world. Each year people come from all over the world for their vacations. I’m sure they spend months and months making arrangements, searching the internet looking for a charming, affordable hotel, scouring web site for decent airfares, and searching my blog for places to eat. So after all that, what do most people…
During spring and summer in Paris, there’s an overwhelming amount of strawberries at the outdoor markets. The sweet, fruity scent pervades the air as you get closer to the stands and I always walk around and take a look at what people have, to find the most fragrant and deeply color baskets. For me, it’s impossible to come home with just one basket. And when…
One of the best, and best value meals, in Paris are crêpes. Fortunately, they’re everywhere, in restaurants, cafés, and even on the streets. If you’re looking for street crêpes, you’ll find many clustered in the area around the Montparnasse train station. (The area around rue de Montparnasse and Boulevard Edgar Quinet are where most of the crêperies are.) Since the trains departing and arriving from that…
I’m very lucky that I live just one block from the biggest outdoor market in Paris, the Richard Lenoir Market. Beginning at the Place de la Bastille and radiating northward, Sunday is a particularly lively day, since almost all other shops are closed in Paris on Sunday. I guess the alternative, going to church, is a less-popular option here, even in this predominantly Catholic country….
When I was a kid, it seems like everyone was wearing Lacoste polo shirts (they were also called Izod shirts back then). The shirt was introduced in 1933 and named for French tennis star René Lacoste who was nicknamed “the alligator” after winning a game bet, the prize being an alligator suitcase. The shirts came in a riot of colors during the 60’s and 70’s,…
A baker takes advantage of the sub-zero temperature of Paris… …where rooftops multi-task as cooling racks…
Americans often wonder how French people some know we’re American before we even say one word. It used to be our sneakers; they were the dead giveaway. Nowadays, wearing sneakers, or les baskets, is as French as carrying a baguette. The other way they can tell us-from-them is that Americans tend to smile. A lot. We are a rather happy tribe. And Americans tend to…
It’s perhaps not much of a secret anymore that some of the best places to eat in Paris are the wine bars. Unlike some of the ‘wine bars’ in the US (where that glass of oaky California Chardonnay will run you $14…not including tax and tip), Paris’ wine bars are gathering places, where people might stop in the morning after the market for a friendly…
Join me on my Spring 2026 book tour for my latest book, The Great Book of Chocolate
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