Food, Inside And Out

I opened a bag of fresh spring salad, tossed a heap on the plate, and turned my back.  Returning with vinegar in hand, I narrowly missed dousing this poor little guy, already insulted by having spent a night in the fridge.  He’d been in the food, and was now on the food, and in a [...]

One Hour On Earth

Last night, here in France, we both lost and gained an hour.  Lost because we finally passed to l’heure d’été, daylight savings time, an event that normally involves an hour of one’s life being lost until the autumn time change rolls around.  But in this case we also gained precious time by observing Earth Hour,  just us and a [...]

Bathing Suit Food

No one will ever see me in a bathing suit, and for that we can all be profoundly grateful.  Nonetheless, at this time of year, even those of us who would rather be beamed up handcuffed and blindfolded to a star in a cold and hostile galaxy than be caught in a maillot de bain do [...]

Windows On An Inner World

I wish you could see me gazing out this most beautiful of windows, I wish I were there.  I promise that if this were my window I’d let you see me inside, having just tossed the stray bits of morning baguette to the ducks, shaking the crumbs from my apron, lingering a moment over one last bowl of [...]

Wine On The Line

First the grape, then the winemaker’s magical touch, then the sound of the cork popping.  That was pretty much my whole train of pre-glass wine thought,  until recently.  But now I’ve taken wine tasting classes, been to a huge wine convention, acquired a modest wine vocabulary, spit out countless mouthfuls in the quest to understand what makes wine [...]

Sardine Song

Growing up, I thought sardines were weird.  Something old guys ate with raw onions, washed down by that then-vile substance, beer.  Old guys from the old country.  I never imagined sardines as a modern miracle food, a fountain of youth.  I never imagined them as beautiful.

I certainly never imagined them as objects of mass affection.  If anyone [...]

C’est Très Cowboy

This could be Montana, n’est-ce pas?  Or anywhere in the Dakotas, or Colorado, or even Australia.  Booted guys in jeans and hats, getting ready to ride the range on their trusty mounts, rope those steers and show ‘em who’s boss.  Or show ‘em who’s le chef in this case, since these are French cowboys, Camarguais [...]

Will The Real Camargue Please Stand Up?

Is this what you expect to see in the Camargue?

Or it it more like this?

Or even this?  The experienced test-takers among you will have checked All Of The Above, always a good strategy, and in this case you’ve hit the jackpot.
A study in contrasts, the Camargue is at once home to white horses, black bulls, [...]

Lapin, Moutarde, Panais, Miam

When it comes right down to it, I don’t feel that I have permission to mess with such a time-honored recipe as lapin à la moutarde.  But recently I had some of the iconic rabbit in mustard sauce at a local café and thought, heresy though it seemed, that I could do better at home.
I [...]

A Green Food Mood

It happens to me every spring.  I can’t control it, it’s a purely atavistic impulse.  At the first glimpse of spring bulbs pushing up through the still-cold ground, I start craving green food.  Any green food.  And it’s not like I don’t eat my vegetables all winter long, either.  But the impending spring sweeps me [...]