Sometime in the postwar years, some commercial genius sitting behind a desk in Lyon came up with a brilliant plan. Take the gamay grapes harvested at the end of the summer, and rather than letting the wine mature according to the traditional methods, bottle it up and sell it quick. No, better than that, call [...]
I think I’ve lived too long in France because when I saw this ad booklet from a supermarket chain, everything looked fine, nothing out of the ordinary. No French person would find anything unusual about it except my sweetie. He screams, “foire au gras! foire au gras!” Me looking at the ad, “et alors?” (So?) He [...]
The other day I was feeling crowded. It felt like people were trying to congregate around me, elbow me and make me want to scream. It was, of course, nothing personal, but anyone who lives in an urban space can relate. I was near St. Michel (the worst of the worst if you ask me) and I [...]
Mireille Guiliano’s best seller French Women Don’t Get Fat hit a raw (and plump) American nerve. Lucky French women! What’s their secret? Some insist that speaking French correctly is so hard that it burns extra calories. Others believe in the magic of red wine. And, of course, French women smoke, but it would be irresponsible to mention that, so better not. [...]
An exhibition of photographs by Tereza Vlckova, a young artist from Czechoslovakia is on view at Galerie Lefebvre. This is the first contemporary exhibition for this gallery, which specializes in French Art Deco. The furniture and paintings from the early 20th century have been cleared away for these colorful and engaging photographs. On view are a [...]
Apparently Jim Morrison isn’t the only American-bred cultural icon buried in Pere Lachaise. A friend emailed me this photo he took in the cemetery yesterday with the caption, “Pauvre Pepe!”
“You have to go,” said my very pregnant friend. “I’ve been twice in one week.” “For sushi?” I replied, with a skeptical eye directed down at her belly. I’d been hearing a lot about Rice & Fish in recent months, but it wasn’t until my pal admitted to putting her fetus in danger that I [...]
I just finished reading Moonlight in Odessa, the first novel by American-born Paris expat Janet Skeslien Charles. Most Anglophone writers in Paris know Janet from the famous Shakespeare & Company bookstore, where she has taught a writing workshop for several years. As one of her former students I was thrilled to hear about her published book. And like [...]
Misty morning in the Bois de Boulogne Patterns on the water; these leaves in the basin of a fountain were swirling in a circle, almost hypnotically. Hydrangeas in the garden of the Musee de la Vie Romantique
The Semaine du Fooding is almost upon us. Coinciding with the release of the new 2009 Guide du Fooding the week of culinary madness kicks off on the 30th of November. The theme is ”Les Incorrects” : who wants to eat food that is politically correct when there’s horse carpaccio on offer? The Bureau de Fooding, the group behind the guide [...]
