Cucina Testa Rossa

Enfants du Monde at the Luxembourg Gardens

The latest photography exhibit along the gates of the Luxembourg Gardens. Precious.

La Vue de Ma Fenêtre ~ Palais Royal en Hiver

Jardin de Palais Royal in Winter ~ December 2006

Diner des Femme Phénoménale!

"Pretty women wonder where my secret lies
I'm not cute or built to suit a model's fashion size..."
~ by Maya Angelou, Phenomenal Woman

The minute I saw it, I knew I had to have it and I knew what I had to do. A shoe this captivating, this spectacular, this dramatic and dazzling required a very special occasion and a very special audience.

The minute I saw it, I envisioned it as a magnificent centerpiece set on a bed of flowers perched regally, commanding the attentions of whoever was near.

The minute I saw it, I knew I had to host a girls dinner, a Phenomenal Woman dinner, in homage to this fabulous shoe. Click here to read about this phenomenal chocolate footware...

And they're worried about McDonald's...?

Monster Trucks Roar into the Arenas of Europe -- and Drive Away With Fans
by Mary Jacoby, Wall Street Journal, 6 Dec 06

PARIS -- The crowd in the sports arena belts out a countdown: Trois! Deux! Un! Zéro! With a deafening roar, four garishly painted pickup trucks on massive wheels take off, tearing around a dirt track and marking the start of the first-ever Monster Jam truck show in Paris, the City of Light.

The star of the show -- a green-and-black truck dubbed Grave Digger -- bounces over a row of old cars. Cheering children leap from their seats. As Charlie Pauken of Toledo, Ohio, descends from his cab, the announcer asks him to say a few words in French. After first declining with a shake of his head, the goateed Mr. Pauken yells, "Bon soir, Paris!" Then, as the crowd roars, he jumps on a crushed car and sprays it with a bottle of beer. Click here to cruise the entire story...

Dinner à la Diane

Frank, my housemate in San Francisco, introduced me to his friend Karen, who lives in Vermont and leads tours in Paris, and she in turn introduced me to her friend Diane, who lives in Paris and is in cooking school. That's how things usually work here, so much so that I think we are down to two or three degrees of separation. Kevin Bacon's got nothing on me. I met Karen and Diane both last month at Diane's where she cooked us an amazing meal. Diane attends the Ferrandi Ecole de Cuisine here in Paris and we were the happy recipients of her new finely honed skills :)

Shaved Baby Artichokes in a Lemon Vinaigrette with Arugula and a Parmesan Tuile

Beouf Bourguignon

Flan Caramel

Diane plating the most beautiful, delicious flan I've ever had!

Pierre Hermé ~ Unplugged and Online

You can now purchase Pierre Hermé's mind blowing chocolates online! Though half the fun is waiting in line perusing all the delightful delicacies lining the shelves...

Click here to see some pics of the goodies I made when I worked there...

Le Beaujolais Nouveau est arrivé!

A sure sign that it's Beaujolais Nouveau time again.

Caveat: This is a repeat from last year with the date below updated....

Le Beaujolais Nouveau est arrivé! The New Beaujolais has arrived! In a rare display of marketing acumen, a practice normally scorned and reviled throughout French vineyards, the Beaujolais producers created not only an event but a tradition that has now permeated even the smallest wine shops around the world. What began as a local celebration of the yearly release is now a global phenomenon, with French decree that the release of Beaujolais Nouveau is to be no earlier than midnight on the third Thursday of November.

So today at 12:01 a.m. November 16, 2006, over a million cases of Beaujolais Nouveau began their journey to all corners of the world via Fedex, La Poste, Vespas, wheelbarrows, camels and any other mode of transportation imaginable. With over 120 million bottles produced, over half will be consumed almost immediately. And with the increasingly elaborate methods of wine production, it’s remarkable that barely a month earlier the wine was still encased in grapes. A quick harvest, swift fermentation and even faster bottling, badda-bing-badda-boom!, it is ready to ship on the third Thursday of every November! The Gamay grapes are pressed within a few days of picking, thus eliminating the astringent tannins normally attributed to red wines, so Beaujolais is much lighter, fruity and tres easy to drink. To me it tastes like Kool-Aid but then again my wine knowledge would fit in a thimble...so enjoy! Cheers!

La Vue de Ma Fenêtre ~ Jardin du Palais Royal

Gardens of the Palais Royal ~ Paris, November 2006

I was working out of my friend's office the other day which is in the Palais Royal. He was gazing out the window so I walked over to the window and he smiled and said, "This is as good as it gets." I love how the French take time to stop and smell the roses and appreciate life and beauty around them. The camera of course doesn't do justice to the vibrant colors of the leaves. The weather was rather wacky (read: global warming) so we didn't get the reds this year but regardelss, it was still beautiful. You couldn't see them through the trees yet but you could hear the shouts of children playing and the soothing splashing of the fountain.

La Vue de Ma Fenêtre ~ Arc de Triomphe

Arc de Triomphe from the Champs-Elysees at Sunset ~ November 2006

Deux Ans et Demi en France!

Autumn harvest from the market ~ potimarron, squash,
pomegranates, persimmons and little green kiwai

How six months morphed into thirty months is more than my little brain can comprehend. When I set out on this culinary adventure with one duffel bag, three pairs of shoes (including my cooking clogs) and my precious set of knives, my goal was to survive six months then move to New York to cook in a kitchen there. I had no intention of staying and actually my most haunting fear as I boarded the plane was whether or not I'd be able to make it the entire six months. I was in tears the day before I left at my friend M & B's house. She said: "What are you afraid of?" I sniffled: "That I will fail and have to come home early." Her response: "So what?" Sage advice in hindsight. At the time it was the worst outcome imaginable and I threw myself on the bed, inconsolable. Click here to read how I celebrated two and a half years in France...