When I returned to Paris after two years of fabulous eats in California, one of the things I missed the most was good Indian food. Since India produces excellent engineers, many of them end up working for Silicon Valley companies, and we made friends with one of them who was kind enough to invite us to dinner now and then. His wife, a fine cook with no work visa, would then spend the day cooking for us, to our collective delight and eternal gratitude.

The memory of those meals has made me particularly fond of family-style Indian cooking, the kind you can practice at home without too much complication, and without chasing a million ingredients around the La Chapelle neighborhood*. This may be paradoxical, but I find these dishes particularly welcome in colder months — probably because of the warmth of their flavors and the richness of their spices, as evidenced by today’s recipe.

Continue reading »

I’ve been having so much fun with Snapchat and Facebook Live that I wanted to report back on my experience. If you’re a food blogger too, this should help you decide whether these new platforms are for you; and if you’re a reader of food blogs, you’ll learn what’s in it for you!

Wait, what’s Snapchat?

Snapchat is a smartphone application* that was originally used by teens to exchange photos, short videos, and text messages that disappeared as soon as the recipient had viewed them.

The app has gradually gained features, and as it did, attracted a wider following with more grownups. The most significant change is the possibility of adding your photos and videos to your public “story”, which lives for just 24 hours before disappearing. Any snapchatters who adds you (I’m clotildenet!) can then view your daily story, get a feel for what you’ve been up to, and send a quick comment if they want to.

The general aesthetic of Snapchat is very unpolished, and the tone is light and fun. On your images and videos you can add text captions, emoticons, and very basic drawings made with the fat tip of your finger on your tiny screen. The idea is not to worry about lighting and the perfect frame, nor is it to labor for hours over prettification and curation. The idea is to just shoot and share, shoot and share, knowing it will live for just 24 hours** so if you’re not 100% happy with what you put out, well, tomorrow’s another day.

The result is a marvelously refreshing social media platform that is undemanding and unthreatening, through which to share daily nothings and just be yourself. (I enjoyed this related article.)

Continue reading »

Will you be in Paris sometime between February 12 and 14? Because that’s when Taste of Paris 2016 will be held, inside the amazing exhibition hall of the Grand Palais. This festival aims to showcase the best of French gastronomy, with demos and tastings allowing you to discover some of the most exciting chefs and producers in the country.

French bean-to-bar* chocolatier Chapon will be there with his chocolate mousse bar (what’s not to like?) and has offered to give away two tickets for one session from Friday Feb 12 to Sunday Feb 14, at the time and date of your choosing (subject to availability).

The lucky winner will also be able to pick up a little goodie bag containing the newest Chapon products, to be retrieved from the Bar à Mousse.

Continue reading »

Shopping seasonally is the very first step to cook flavorful, healthy meals for your family and your friends, and save money doing so. But since pretty much everything is available year-round these days (hello carbon footprint!), it can be hard to know what’s really in season and what you should be looking for when you shop.

I’ve put together this handy guide to seasonal produce to tell you what fruits and vegetables are in season when, but also how long they will stay fresh, so you can minimize waste. With this information in mind you can compose a smart selection of produce on your weekly market run, with a few fragile items to eat within a couple of days, with sturdier ones that will last until the end of the week or longer.

To download your FREE seasonal produce calendar, fill in the form below!

Continue reading »