A Month of French Fun

This time last year I was in Nice, slaving away at research for my upcoming book. You have no idea how much writers have to suffer for their craft! All those bistros to check out; finding the perfect view of the blue Mediterranean, the perfumes of Grasse, the best local wines.  Joking aside, I did spend a lot of time in local libraries, looking at books of old photographs and maps, making sure I got everything right for the 1930s.  And the famous Negresco Hotel. Research there was a must. It's still a hotel at around $1000 a night so we didn't stay there. I was stopped by an impressive doorman, dripping gold braid, as I went up the front steps. I told him what I wanted and was escorted to the manager (or maybe it was the under, under manager). I handed him my card and told him that his hotel would feature in my new book.

"Madame, feel free,"  he said. So I spend a fabulous morning peeking into all the hidden corners of the Negresco hotel. Once again I discovered that the word "writer" opens so many doors.

Now it's exactly a year later and I am awaiting the publication of the book. It's called NAUGHTY IN NICE and it comes out on September 6th. So I thought I'd spend the next month celebrating everything I like about France--French food recipes, snippets about fashion and Chanel, and scarves,.
So please join me and add your comments about what YOU like about France.

 At the end of the month there will be a fun prize for the best comment.

And look for my new website, coming soon!

In Praise of French Food

One of my favorite things about the French is the food. I have been indulging in flaky pastry stuffed with scallops, great pots of mussels with tiny slim French fries, duck breast in lemon and ginger. We have been buying various pates and cheeses to eat at the apartment with crusty bread. I've been walking to the bakery every morning to get my baguette, and maybe a raisin snail to go with it. And the pastries: strawberry tarts, cream puffs, eclairs, ah, sigh.

Some things are horribly expensive, some strangely cheap. We've bought duck pate for around a dollar, a huge thing of cooked shrimp for four dollars. And yet fish and meat are about the same price as gold. Still, any country where I can buy a perfectly aged camembert cheese for two Euros has to be pretty good.

Even though French food is rich, you don't see many fat people. That's because they walk a lot, they buy their ingredients fresh every day and they eat small portions. You may see them drinking red wine at midday, but only one glass. Everything in moderation. They take hours over a meal. Nobody will bring the check unless you ask for it, even if you sit there all evening. Food and good conversation are to be savored.

I rather suspect this is about to change as the diet is changing with the advent and concept of fast food. Pizza parlors are everywhere, so are hamburger joints. Cheap restaurants are serving up the same huge plates that have made us fat in America. I would hate to see a France in which duck breast of the future comes with "all the fixin's" and an unlimited salad bar.