Travel for Food

If I learned nothing else this summer, I learned a thing or two about French eating. Every morning started with breakfast, as I slowly found myself shifting my ways of cereal to a French "tartine" (fresh baguette, usually toasted, with butter [the best is from Brittany with large chunks of sea salt: above], and [creamy - mmmm] honey or jam), and tea.
Both lunch and dinner were the big meals of the day, especially by my simple American standards (I usually just have a sandwich for lunch). Eating was just as much about the food (all three courses, which almost always ended in cheese, and was followed by a dessert), as the ability to spend quality time together. There were many, many meals with at least 12 or more people wrapped around the table, taking in a bit of each course (and despite all the food, I never felt too full). And without fail, every meal was followed by a coffee (likely Nespresso), and a piece of a chocolate bar, as everyone must unwind a bit after a big meal.
Desserts weren't always sweet - often fresh fruit, compotes, or yogurt (Saint Malo had its own yogurt). However, both Brittany with its Kouign-Amann (pictured above and made of butter and sugar) and Saint Tropez (below with the cake/custard Tropezienne) had their own special delicacies. Both received two thumbs up from me, and tasted better each time I had them.

On Holiday

The month of August in Paris is a peculiar one. It often feels like a ghost town rather the the bustling and vibrant city it usually is. Streets are dotted with signs like these announcing the closure of stores for the month. But there is no reason to get mad or frustrated by a "fermeture" because everyone does it. It's what the French do during the month of August - the go on holiday (and if you come visit during August you will have no problem finding a great apartment to rent). Hence my disappearance. I too was on holiday, although working for a French family. I quickly realized that like it or not, I too was going to be forced to disconnect a bit and learn a thing or two about taking holiday and what having 5-9 weeks of vacation a year feels like! In the coming days I'll be doing my best to share snippets of my adventures in Brittany, the south of France, and back to Brittany and the realizations of how American I am, in the process of becoming more French.

Cooking with David Lebovitz {Paris}

The lines between the blog and real world blur more often than one would expect. After meeting chef/blogger/author David Lebovitz at the ParisByMouth launch earlier this summer, I was lucky enough to get to put together a special project with him for design*sponge. I’ve never done a video or any project like this before, but it was an amazing challenge and I love how it turned out! It also became a very personal project for me, as we visited my favorite market – the Bastille market along Blvd Richard Lenoir, filmed the opening shots on the street I lived on 6 years ago, and shot the interview in the beautiful garden of Studio Vermes where I took photography classes as a student studying abroad in Paris and fell in love with this city, chatted about Paris and talked travel. (You can find the full post here).



A huge thank you to Grace Bonney (design*sponge herself) for making this all come together, David Lebovitz for being a great person to team up with, Christian Wilmes for being an amazing videographer and making me look good (with special assistance from Sophie Bocqueho), and Kali Vermes for opening the doors of Studio Vermes!

P.S. Check out David's take in his post about our adventures HERE. And you can find much more from our interview (including how David travels) HERE.
{stills 1-4 above courtesy of Christian Wilmes; behind the scenes via Kali; bottom [kitchen] image by David Lebovitz}