curi·ous {Old French curios} Drawn to investigate, prick up the ears, ponder for the sake of pondering. Enticed by mysteriously labeled bottles.
vo·luptu·ary {Late Latin volupturius} A lass devoted to the pursuit of pleasure. An unabashed epicurean, hedonist, libertine, sensualist, lotus-eater.
I paced the flat waving my arms in front of me like a crazy Italian, saying, “Oh. My. Goodness.” That’s what butter of French cream speckled with flakes of sea salt that crunch when you greedily snarf it makes me say. To myself. Which after a month alone (save one delightful visit) I will admit [...]
The website says “Click the right spot and magic raccoons appear.” Marché d’Aligre, one of Paris’ most famous markets, is made up of the well-heeled, covered Marché Beauvau (since 1777) and the more democratic outdoor expanse that includes both produce hawked by shouting Algerians (un euro un euro un euro!) and a true flea market [...]
Ladies and gents, I give you, Belleville (from Ⓜ Pyrenées all the way down rue du Faubourg du Temple)! I was loitering, waiting for Krung Thep to open for early dinner, (which was well worth the wait, tho the 10€ price tag on a cuplette of Tom Kha Gai is smiling robbery, no matter how [...]
Our local baker painting new signage regarding today’s formule (fixed lunch menu) and no doubt about to prompt a “He’s dead!” from my honey, but really, he’s no scoundrel–he offered to paint the noses of the local grandmas as they stopped to chatter, not mine. Vraiment. Non, sérieusement! Meanwhile a true cause of concern: utter [...]
Low-key and lovely Thanksgiving in Monmartre at the home of a journalist friend from high school and college. She managed to bring an impromptu yet impressive table together for a cluster of expats, visitors, and a lone French guest who made a pumpkin pie from a pumpkin. Also had a incredible plum tart, and one [...]
Charged with the task of providing wine for tomorrows expat and Parisian Thanksgiving, I decided to further my education concerning Bordeaux, and specifically a region on the left bank of the Gironde river, known as the Médoc. Within the Médoc are the four top communes of (from north to south) St. Estèphe, Paulliac, St. Julien [...]
Dinner tonight was at Le Chateaubriand, home of hottie, scruffy Basque service and Iñaki Aizpitarte’s adventurous cooking. Yes, there was foam, but there was also a sea scallop with mushrooms and sprinkled with coffee grounds, pork and oysters (a nouveau surf and turf?), a splendid cheese plate (sweet dessert less successful), and two other courses [...]
Tomorrow marks the end of week one. Met the lovely Tim and Katherine for a glass at Chez Prune and dinner at La Marine, both along the canal Saint-Martin. Then an apres dinner stroll up to Belleville, and later, a chance to show-off my swanky digs. Excellent tagine d’agneau aux pruneaux, and even better company. [...]
It was pitch-perfect, and though it was offhand, it was mean. Or maybe especially because it was offhand. My mom, Karen, and I were going through box one of fifteen that we had wrangled from her daunting storage space, boxes full of photographs, some of which (okay, 750) would be scanned and edited into an [...]
I’m guided by a signal in the heavens/I’m guided by those birthmarks on my skin/
I’m guided by the beauty of our weapons/First we take Manhattan then we take Berlin.
~ Leonard Cohen
cafe honoring Austrian playwright Joseph Roth, who lived next door. (click to expand)
Its utterly sock-knocking to be back in a proper international landscape after so [...]