I like this time of year just for the Galette des Rois. No other time during the year do the bakeries sell this frangipane-filled tart with a porcelein figurine hidden inside. It's cloaked in the almond filling, wrapped in flaky croissant-like crust, and has a lovely tradition attached: after cutting the pie, the youngest person at the table hides ( Read more... )

The day after Boxing Day found us all together and antsy to get outside, so we drove with our cousins to the Paris Vincennes Race Track for the late afternoon. Several race tracks ring Paris, but this one is known for harness racing with horses called trotters ( Read more... )

I read the NY Times' sum-up of the year's catchphrases. Words like "aporkalypse" to describe actions that blow the swine flu out of proportion (like mass killing of pigs in Egypt, said the article), or "Dracula sneeze" when someone sneezes into the crook of their arm ( Read more... )

I met another American mom yesterday for a chat and a snack in our local pub. We both had our young children with us, so we had our hands full. A man sitting at the next table over introduced himself when he heard us talking English. Turns out he's a soccer coach for our town's team. But what a different world he inhabits than we do! As part of his ( Read more... )

I've rediscovered a French singer that we used to listen to a few years ago, Benabar ( Read more... )

My mom gave me some 50-year-old starter to make sourdough pancakes. When I was visiting my parents this summer, she served pancakes with lingonberry jam and maple syrup, and a side of bacon. The lingonberry jam was sublime, its tartness cutting the sweet syrup ( Read more... )

I spent the afternoon with the cousins and their mom, trying to give Bout chou and Choupette a break from the blah of a rainy day ( Read more... )

Look at the opening of an email I got ( Read more... )

I finally found it! The voice of my MC, who struck my early readers as being too whiney ( Read more... )

Only a thigh bone left over after 10 adults and 7 kids were finished. Cranberry sauce commented upon favorably. Stuffing good, made with baguettes of course. Enormous salad that no one touched. Pumpkin pie a hit, pecan pie too sugary, chocolate cake a bit dry. Everyone too full for tea or hot chocolate afterwards. Kids snuggled up watching "Cars" ( Read more... )