Paris without Writer’s Block!

Writer’s block one might wonder? My last home post has been at least four months ago.
Nono! Au contraire mon frère! It’s more like infidelity… I’m writing somewhere else…
A cookbook!
My own cookbook! How cool is that!?

Here’s the concept.

A gastronomic family unites every Christmas around a big table.
A delicious homemade Christmas dinner fills the house with lovely aromas.
Laughter and tears echo in the dining room.
Old and new stories are disclosed.
It’s a grant time!
But sadly the mater familias left us in December 2009. So I decided to create something in honor of her. In honor of our ancestors who hold many memories and values that are disappearing quickly in this “fast moving internet”-generation. I decided to create a family cookbook. All members contribute their favourite dish. And without asking them you’ll see many automatically turn to an old family recipe they learned from their mother or grandmother.
So I’m creating a book filled with love and warmth to pass along to the next generations…. to enter kitchens looking for some innovative tradition… to keep memories alive… to inspire your own family dinners.
When, where, what you might ask. Patience! It’s not entirely ready yet. It still needs some finishing touches. Publishing date will hopefully be Christmas!
So now you know where I have disappeared the past couple of months.

In the meantime I share with you my Paris “checked”-list and the wonderful picnic we had. With the biggest check being: passing great family time with my cousins!

First of all may I say how beautiful Paris really is? Okay I know it’s common knowledge and the Parisians are disgustingly arrogant about their city. But you really can’t blame them. It’s hallucinating how beautiful the city is. We were running through a list of world cities and really nothing comes up to the level of Paris. It’s the only city that’s the size of a true “world city” but that has that many monumental buildings. We agreed that London is maybe up to the same level. But all other cities are either much smaller (i.e. Rome) or don’t have the historical buildings we love so much in Paris (i.e. New York).
And riding your bicycle through Paris is just magical. The weather was perfect. We had soft Autumn days with rays of sunshine illuminating the scene.

On Saturday morning we strolled through “Le Marché Président Wilson” dans le XVI-ième. You have to agree this sentence has glamour written all over it! It was indeed a real feast for the eyes. The quality of the ingredients was incredible. Some breathtaking Saturday night dinners can be whipped up with what you find here. We carefully picked out the best ingredients. We observed le beau monde de Paris coming out to buy the best game and wild mushrooms of the city. (Although one wonders how they can eat anything with those botoxed faces.)
FYI: Le XVI-ième quartier de Paris is the ghetto of the rich; la grande bourgeoisie lives in this majestic residential quarter. So you can imagine it’s a very interesting market to linger.

But we left the posh behind and created the most glamorous lunch of the year…

We found ourselves a perfect spot right in the middle of les Jardins Des Tuileries to sit back with a respectable Bordeaux and enjoy our finger licking treasures. So simple but simply the best picnic I ever had. Can you imagine the eyes of the Chinese tourists passing by!? Baguette, fromage, vin rouge… we couldn’t fit the French stereotype better than that!

After that we continued to discover ‘la plus belle ville du monde”…

Notre Dame… check!
Eiffel Tour… check!

Louvre… check!
Palais de Tokyo… check!
Getting lost in the streets of Le Marais, Saint Germain and Montmartre… check, check, check!
Sacré Coeur by night… check!

Cave à vins with a delicious dinner… check!
Brunch avec Virginie Ledoyen… check!
Cycling through the city of light with Velib… check!

Se ballader le long de la Seine… check!

The vertical garden at the Musée du Quai Branly… check!
Les Jardins Des Tuileries… check!
Farmers Market in Paris… check!

L’arc de Triomphe… check!
Hôtel des Invalides… check!
Place Des Vosges… check!
Place de la Concorde… check!

Un café parisien… check!
Window-shopping at Dior, Chanel, Hermès… check!

Paris is checked!