January has had the most bone chilling bitter cold that I can remember since living in Paris. With a knee injury, I have not been sailing around this gorgeous city like I am use to. Having already missed an important march Saturday, I was determined to get up to Montmartre for the scallop festival and …
My first passion is being a therapist, which has always brought me much fulfillment and joy in helping others, but my other passion is gastronomy and cooking! To those of you who know me or my regular readers, this is no surprise, given the culinary and wine posts sprinkled throughout. There is a sort of …
With close to a 1000 vintners offering their wines to taste and for sale, the sheer size alone is so staggering as to be unbelievable! Mon Dieu! Surviving means tasting but not drinking! However beautiful a wine is, you can not swallow it if you want to be able to taste other wines you are …
Here I am again, in the middle of beautiful wines, that I can’t drink! I have to go armed with much restraint and discipline if I am going to get though my long list of wines that I want to taste at the spring Salon des Vignerons Independants. Tasting and drinking are two different things! …
Tasting Great Wines Requires Restraint and Discipline Read More »
École Ferrandi de La Gastronomie Francaise puts out some of the most gifted and famous chefs here in France and throughout the world. Known as the Harvard of culinary schools, the name Ferrandi is well known and respected within the inner circle of restaurateurs worldwide. I have a special connection to Ferrandi, for it …
The Making of Professional Chefs At École Ferrandi Read More »
With all the baking and pastry making I have been doing these past several weeks, I ended up accumulating quite a large amount of egg whites. The first thing that comes to me, in so far as to what to do with all these unused egg whites is to make dacquoise! Dacquoise is a french …
Suddenly it hit me without warning. My filet knife was carving out the last filets of the sole I had bought for New Years eve dinner, when I suddenly felt very light-headed, weak, and slightly queasy of stomach. Since I had not eaten much at lunch, only a few nibbles here and there, I knew …
Too much of too much can be a good thing now and then! If the ultimate wine show wasn’t enough to take me on full blast, then comes the Saveur’s ultimate gourmet food show. Neck to neck weekends with these two monumental dazzlers is a guarantee to be either enthralled, broke or both! …
Chocoholics were in chocolate heaven this weekend at the Salon de Chocolate, an annual affaire that is hugely popular here. A chocolate extravaganza and orgy all wrapped into one spectacular show that delivered on its promise to dazzle. And dazzle it did! As soon as I walked in, the aroma of chocolate engulfed me, …
You gotta love the French when it comes to pleasures of all kind, be it wine, art, food and love! Not your everyday experience to find a working vineyard in a Parisian hospital, but Paris is known for her little surprising secrets! Hopital Bretonneau, up in Montmartre, has been growing grapes since 2001, with …
I have written before about the seriousness Parisians maintain about their beloved baguette. The city of Paris puts on a contest each year to find the best baguette each year. Contests such as these may uncover some of the city’s talented bakers, who in the past were not known. It can not be described as …
As the daytime draws to an end and the impending shadows of the evening slowly give way to dusk, the energy changes within me to a quieter one of expectation and celebration. I know that in an hour or so, I will partake of an immense pleasure of eating some my beautifully prepared foods …