You get a little lazy living here. At least I do. And because I'm not as spry as I used to be, if someone proposes a trip that's more than one métro change away, I usually find a way to opt out of it. Arrondissements that are far, far away, like the 15th or the 17th, may as well be on the outside of the périphérique (or l'hexagone, for that matter) and I haven't stepped foot in the likes of them in years.

One place that's worth going out of my way for is A l'Etoile d'Or, and I broke my cardinal rule when Cenk from Café Fernando came to Paris for a visit and he asked me where to meet up.

I've known Denise Acabo, who lords over her confectionery wonderland, even before I moved to Paris, when I'd stop in and gawk at all the amazing chocolates and confections.

In French, if someone asks you how old you are, you respond, "J'ai 51 ans", which translates to "I have 51 years." It one of the quirks of grammar between the languages, which don't always intersect. In English, we do say, "I own _______" (fill in blank with something of which you have global, all-encompassing command of), which is a popular phrase, one that I haven't been able to translate to French friends.

(I recently said on Twitter that "...Karen Carpenter owns the Christmas carols", which probably confused non-native English speakers, and perhaps a few English-speaking ones that aren't wise enough to appreciate Karen's proprietorship of Christmas music as much as I do.)

Last year when I had 50 years, I celebrated with a birthday bouillotte. But this year, I'm not going to get so crazy. When your birthday falls two days after Christmas—and an unspecified number of days after Hannukah, and during Kwanzaa, it's hard to rouse much enthusiasm amongst friends and family. And because it's a week where a lot of people choose to travel, most people have headed out of town. Either that, or I've finally done it, and managed to offend everyone I know because they're not returning my phone calls or e-mails. (And who says I have no talents?)

The other night I was standing on the métro and found myself face à face with a little affiche advising me, minding my own business as I rocketed below Paris, that it's not alright to eat Mr. Ed. Then on Tuesday, I was taking a stroll through the thirteenth, on my way to have lunch with a friend in Chinatown, and came across a sign pleading a stop to the practice of le gavage, the forced stuffing of ducks and geese to make foie gras.

A lot of Americans think that all the French are unequivocally daring eaters, or aren't picky, which is partially true: when you have a dinner party, you don't have to worry about someone showing up who's allergic to peanuts or dairy. Aside from a certain American who won't eat squid, everyone around here eats almost anything, and just about everything might show up on a menu if you get invited to dinner. Except offal, which, in spite of the fact everyone thinks the French like to chow down on stomach lining, testicles, and kidneys, there's plenty of them that turn up their noses at the idea of digging into a steaming dish of any of the above. btw: In case you invite me over for dinner, I'm with that camp.

We're in the final week, the home stretch, of Menu for Hope 6 and I'm thrilled that so many of you have generously bid on items for this important charitable event.

(Update: The deadline for bidding has been extended to December 31, 2009!)

It's amazing that when so many people contribute even just a small amount, just $10 a person, collectively we can make a major impact.

However I am committed to making this the best-ever year for Menu for Hope, so I've rounded up some additional, extra-special surprises in addition to the other fantastic European and UK bid items, most of which can be shipped globally.

Two American chocolate-experts, Ginger Elizabeth Hahn and Shawn Askinosie have offered the most incredible gift baskets for bakers and chocolate lovers I've ever seen. (And I'm not kidding, folks.) Speaking of chocolate, if you live or plan to travel to London, there's a private chocolate tour for you and your guests.

My friends at Ten Speed Press have put together a collection of their best-ever baking books, including one from me. And any frites-lovers out there will certainly appreciate a professional deep-fryer, courtesy of Krups.

Ginger Elizabeth Hatbox Chocolate Extravaganza

On my last trip to the states, I managed to get through most of the chocolates that people generously plied me with along the way. But I did bring a box of Ginger Elizabeth chocolate back to Paris, which I opened one night after dinner. And after we each plucked one of the shiny brown squares from the box and put in on our mouths, we both fell silent, then looked at each other. Then I just said, "Wow", and Romain pronounced them "...Better than La Maison du Chocolat", which is some praise, especially from a Frenchman!

I rarely make bread for reasons that should be obvious: it's hard to justify spending the day at home mixing, kneading, and baking bread when you live in a city where there's likely at least four very good bakeries within a two block radius. Unless, of course, it's the middle of winter and the idea of braving 0º temperatures is less-than-appealing.

Before the deep-chill set in this week, the previous week I was going to my dentist, and stopped in at the nearby Kayser bakery* (one might say I chose my dentist based on the proximity to that bakery, but I'll deny it), and they were selling their terrific Stollen, which they make for the holidays. The small loaves cost only €3, which makes them, in my opinion, the best bargain in Paris.

Alright, folks. We're about halfway through Menu for Hope 6 and we're almost at the $20,000 mark. Thanks to all of you who contributed to this incredibly worthy cause!

However being an overachiever (in spite of what a therapist, or my editor, might say), I think we can do better. Like, a whole lot better. So just to remind you, here's a list of a few bid items that you should hop over to the FirstGiving site and bid on immediately.

Or there is a super-awesome, easy-to-use Donation Widget that was just introduced which was so much fun to use, I dropped a few bucks myself.

So how about.....

From the "You'd-have-to-be krazy-not-to-bid-on-this" file, a bar of Bernachon chocolate shipped to you once a month for a whole year? There's only two places these very special bars of chocolate are available: at one shop in Paris, and at the Bernachon boutique in Lyon. Otherwise, forget it. Zip. Nada. You're not getting any.

Well, except here. Or I should say "there", because they're gonna get shipped right to your door.

Bid item EU37

Speaking of chocolate, people always ask me, "Which country makes the best chocolate?" It's a question where there just isn't any answer. I mean, there's nothing in the air particles or, say...the atmosphere in any particular country that makes their chocolate better or worse than the others.

Did you know that there is no such a thing as a Meyer lemon anymore? Well, at least not as we know them. Officially, they haven't existed for about fifty years, when a virus attacked the Meyer lemon trees and they were banned in the United States.

Then in 1975, a new, "Improved" Meyer lemon tree was released that was virus-free, and people began planting them in backyards in America. And in Paris apartments, too. (More on that, later...)

Some think that the now-extinct Meyer lemons, and the new, Improved Meyer lemons, are a hybrid between oranges and lemons. But I've been told by my produce guru that no one is certain as to what the heck they are, exactly.

Welcome to this year's European and UK edition of Menu for Hope 6, where you can make an online bid in an effort to raise money for the United Nations World Programme's Purchase for Progress program, which assists low-income farmers to raise crops and support their local economies.

This is our sixth year raising money and in the past, we've topped $92,000. With your help, in 2009, let's take it over that mark!

UPDATE: The auction is now closed and we raised nearly $78,000! Please check back on January 18th, 2010, for the announcement of the winners.

There are some truly amazing prizes, gathered from across Europe and the UK, including French and Italian chocolates shipped right to your door, cookbooks, a shiny-new standing mixer, and for those of you visiting Europe this year, or living here, you'll find wine tastings and culinary tours...and tons more!

For a donation of just $10 per entry, you'll have a chance to win fabulous bid items from all over the world. You can make as many donations as you wish; the more you enter, the more chances you'll have of winning.

I'm being assisted this year by Sara, of Ms. Adventures in Italy, and she will be popping in here and on her site with more information and perhaps a few surprises.

The Rules

1. Please read the bid item descriptions carefully. If you have any questions about the items (date of validity, shipping & customs, descriptions), contact the donor at their site directly. Do not contact me about specific items as I am unable to answer questions about them.

2. Because of customs and other regulations, certain bid items may not be shippable to all destinations. Please confirm before bidding on items which might require special handling.

3. If a tour or vacation is offered, there may be a period of validity, and dates when they are and aren't available. Please contact the donor or visit their site to find out that information.

Note that European dates may be expressed differently than elsewhere, and 12/01/2010 is January 12, 2010 in Europe, whereas in the states, it's December 1, 2010 so when in doubt, ask the donor at their site.

4. Bid on the items you want at the Menu for Hope 6 donation page.

5. When the results are announced on January 18, 2010 at Chez Pim, it is the responsibility of the donor and winner to contact each other to work out details of delivery.

6. Please see the end of this post for instructions on how to bid on items.

Good luck to all!

Have you been searching for copies of my first two cookbooks, Room for Dessert and Ripe for Dessert, only to find out that they're now out of print?

Released in 1999, Room for Dessert had recipes for over 100 of my favorite desserts. Ripe for Dessert followed the same winning formula for easy-to-follow recipes, with a focus on using fruit.

Both books were photographed by Michael Lamotte, and Room for Dessert was a finalist for the IACP Best Baking Book of the year.

So if you've been trying to get your hands on a copy, the search is over because I am offering as a bid item for Menu for Hope 6 a copy of each.

I gave this recipe out a year or so ago on the site. But because it's so easy to put together, I made it yet again last night, to have as a little nibble with some white wine before dinner. And we couldn't eat it fast enough. (And almost didn't have room for dinner.) It's adapted from The Sweet Life in Paris. So for those of you who might have missed it, I'm bringing it up from the archives as you might want to make a batch for an upcoming get-together, too.

It's really simple to make: all you really need is a bag of pretzels, a mixture of any kind of nuts that strikes your fancy, some spices, and a flurry of sea salt. Add a restrained amount of melted butter and maple syrup, and when it comes out of the oven, you'll barely be able to wait until the salty-sweet, spiced mixture of glazed nuts and pretzels is cooled down before diving right in.

I know, because last night after I made it, two of us wolfed down the entire batch. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go toast off some nuts, melt some butter—and open yet another sack of pretzels...

The odd-looking thing arrived in my mailbox recently, and I had no idea what it was.

So I spent some time spinning the wheel around and around, and around and around. And around and around.

Technically this gelato isn't 'polenta' ice cream, but it's made with corn flour. But when I was in Torino, Italy last year, a local gelateria was making what they were billing as a 'polenta' gelato, using farina bóna.

So if you want to argue with an Italian chef, you're welcome to. After tangling with puzzling bureaucratic paperwork for a disproportionately-large chunk of my days lately, I'm happy to just accept what people say, and no longer question the how's and why's. (Like when I got a customs bill for an unsolicited delivery last week that had a tax on the tax. To preserve my sanity, I've stopped trying to make sense of those kinds of things anymore.)

Plus "Flour Ice Cream", somehow doesn't have the same appeal.

I was happy, at long last, to get around the making gelato from this unusual ingredient that I picked up during the Slow Food event I'd attended. Unlike the derision* that similar events like this draw elsewhere (which was why I always avoided going), Monsieur Skeptic went with an unusually-open mind and was thrilled to discover so many unusual and nearly-extinct food products that the Slow Food Foundation is working to keep alive.

Farina bóna is deeply-roasted corn, ground into flour, which was produced in villages, such as Vergeletto, in Switzerland, which had just 90 inhabitants.

I have a stack (actually, about four stacks) of cookbooks that arrived this year, many of them riddled with bookmarks for recipes. Some of them I managed to get to, presenting recipes on the blog or baking for friends and neighbors, and a few I didn't get around to yet. In this year's round up, I did sneak in a few recipes from favorite classics cookbooks in my collection, but there's a nice representation from books that came out in 2009. Included are a few guidebooks that I found indispensable, plus I tossed in a couple of cookbooks that I've had my eye on, which are en route, that I'm looking forward to getting dusty with flour, and smudged with butter.

Here's my annual round-up My Favorite Cookbooks from 2009:

Rustic Fruit Desserts by Corey Schreiber and Julia Richardson

I met Corey Schreiber a decade or so ago when he launched a restaurant in San Francisco. Shortly afterward he moved up to Portland to re-connect with the outstanding ingredients of the Pacific Northwest. This best-selling book features everything from a lemon-swathed Blueberry Buckle to Caramel Apple Steamed Pudding with Ginger. But it's the Upside-Down Pear Chocolate Cake that is sitting in my batter's box (or batter box?) to try.

New Flavors of Appetizers: Classic Recipes Redefined by Amy Sherman

I'm the first to admit that when I invite people for dinner, because I live in France, it's easy to stop at the charcuterie for a few slices of country ham or hit the Arab market for a bag of salty olives. But Amy Sherman's book is full of do-able recipes. I'm a bit fixated on her Baked Asparagus, Leek, and Goat Cheese Bites, and as soon as spring rolls back around, I'm going to tackle that one. In the meantime, there's plenty to get me through the winter, like Olives and Feta Marinated in Lemon and Ouzo and Smoky Eggplant Dip with Cumin-Crusted Pita Chips.

I Love Macarons by Hisako Ogita

I get so many inquiries about macarons that I had to compile a post of the best advice out there. (Making French Macarons.) But this little book, in English, promises a fool-proof method of making the little devils. I'm still waiting for my copy to arrive, but the early reviews say the recipe—and the technique, are all winners.

I've been making these Fruitcake Bars more and more as the holidays approach. Not only are they incredibly simple to put together, unlike other fruitcakes, these really do taste great.

They can be made up to a week in advance, which will undoubtedly help alleviate holiday stress. It's from my archives but thought it worth sharing again since folks enjoyed them so much at a recent Paris book event (and wine-tasting), and because the baking season is quickly approaching and it's nice to have a recipe for a very easy-to-prepare dessert or snack.

A number of you have asked me about adding a Comment RSS feed to the site, so you can keep in touch with the comment and responses. We're in the process of adding one at the end of each post, but if you're using Firefox or Safari, each already has a built-in way to subscribe to the comment feed of the site.

There's a new girl in town. And she owns a small crêperie which has been getting lots of good press in the food magazines, in spite what some might feel is a relatively obscure address.

To me, though, it's not all that obscure because I go over there all the time, as it's located near one of my favorite buildings in Paris, which I keep walking by thinking that one fine, lucky day, there will be a A Vendre (or A Louer) sign up so I can move into one of the fabulous retro apartments. (And as a bonus, I could have fresh crêpes whenever I want.)

I kept meaning to ask owner and crêpe-maker Sophie Le Floc'h how she came up with the name West Country Girl for her French crêperie, located in the nondescript passage Saint Ambroise. But it's an address I'm happy to travel to, even if I wasn't apartment-hunting, because she's a true Bretonne and really know how to fry up a crêpe.

She offers a number of crêpes and buckwheat galettes, and like her, I prefer the simpler ones.

This Sunday, December 6th from 3-5pm, I'll be doing a booksigning with Heather Stimmler-Hall of Secrets of Paris, author of The Naughty Paris Guide, and Keith Spicer, author of Paris Passions.

We'll be hosted by Context Travel in Paris and Oliver Magny of O-Château, who will be providing libations (ie: wine).

Since it's the holidays, if you're good, I might even bring some Friendship Bars...depending on whether you've been naughty or nice.

This year I've been tapped to be the European host for Menu for Hope 6, an annual event to raise money for the UN World Food Programme's Purchase for Progess campaign.

The auction will go live on December 14th, with participants from all over the globe, ending on December 25th. Prizes will included signed books by the authors, culinary tours and cooking classes, wine tastings, and lots of surprises!

You can read more about the event and the charity at Chez Pim.

If you live in Europe or the United Kingdom and if you are a food blogger, or have a food or travel-related business and would like to participate as a donor, we'd love to have you! Entries are due on December 10th.

Latecomers are welcome but must donate €50 to the auction...and host the auction next year ; )