Zut!
A recent article in Le Nouvel Observateur noted a steady price increase for some of the basic staples of life in France:
A recent article in Le Nouvel Observateur noted a steady price increase for some of the basic staples of life in France:
Fresh little cornichons ready for pickling, at the market: (And no, this photo has nothing to do with someone’s Speedo comment…)
The French predilection of blowing things out of proportion is nowhere more evident than in the highly detailed, extraordinary Michelin maps, which cover every nook, cranny, crevice and petit village in France. And like many things French, once you figure out how to work within the ‘system’, in this case an unwieldingly large map that’s impossible to unfurl in the car, it works better than…
These are pêche plat, or ‘flat peaches’…for obvious reasons! They’re white-fleshed little peaches with tiny pits and are grown in the US as well, where they’re often called Donut® or Saturn peaches. Last week in Paris I saw flat nectarines. Is this a trend? What’s next…flat watermelons? Flat blueberries? These are the best fruit in the world: Reine Claude plums. Don’t let the dull green…
1. You buy clothing, not based on style or fashion, but because the texture and color of the fabric will make new and interesting backgrounds for your food shots. 2. You choose routes through town based on what’s to eat or photograph along the way in lieu of the most direct path. 3. You find the only friends that’ll talk to you are other food…
A favorite late summer treat in France is the PĂȘche de Vigne, or ‘peach of the grapevine’. These fuzzy heirloom peaches have a dull, very fuzzy dusky exterior that gives little clue to the dazzling flesh within. But slice one open, and…wow! The rare PĂȘche de Vigne appears only for a short time; just during the fleeting, final weeks in August. Their taste is a…
I was talking to my agent in the US the other day (which sounds far more pretentious than it really it….usually our ‘talking’ is me listening while he tells me what I should and shouldn’t be doing with my life.) Obviously I have a need for stern, authoritarian figures. I was telling him that I would be going on vacation for a few weeks. “A…
What’s up with all the soft, pale baguettes appearing in Paris? A few years back, when I moved to the Bastille, my local boulangerie made the best baguettes I’ve ever had. Each baguette was a revelation. If I was lucky to get there at just the right time, I would be handed a still-warm, slender flute of bread. I’d rip off the end as soon…
“Without ice cream, there would be darkness and chaos…” -Don Kardong 1976 Olympic Marathoner