Flashback to 2011

On the eve of 2014, I was sorting through some photos of one of my Parisian excursions, which included un diner at my friend Erica's fabulous apartment. I couldn't help but sigh at the sheer Frenchness of it all.

Though it's now been over a year since I've been to my beloved city, there are so many great memories and moments to uncover.

And so many more to look forward to.

Wherever you are, here's to a New Year filled with beauty, inspiration, good friends and food, and, with a little luck, adventures in Paris.

Joyeux Noel, Mes Amis

Wishing you all a season filled with happiness, magic and many, many sweet things.

I'll be taking it easy with Christmas cookies, family, books, House of Cards and my man. Couldn't be happier! Merry Christmas!

The Gift of Kasia Dietz Handbags

‘Tis the season to be merry. To help others. For giving gifts. All these things, and more. Alas, it’s also an opportunity for me to celebrate my friends with exceptional and creative talents. This week, I’ll be sharing the works of five friends who are wonderfully gifted in their own unique ways… and whose own creations make great gifts for others.

My lovely and amazing friend Kasia Dietz turned her fashion sensibilities and artistic talents into a stylish bag-making business several years ago, and she’s been making handbags, totes and clutches ever since. A New Yorker-turned-Parisenne, her creations are inspired by her mom, her travels, and her love and passion for all things beautiful.

Bonne fetes!

The Gift of AXL Brand

‘Tis the season to be merry. To help others. For giving gifts. All these things, and more. Alas, it’s also an opportunity for me to celebrate my friends with exceptional and creative talents. This week, I’ll be sharing the works of five friends who are wonderfully gifted in their own unique ways… and whose own creations make great gifts for others.

Can a baby be modern, and still be adorable? Yes, if you dress your wee one in my friend Ryan Lafrenz’s line called AXL. 100% organic cotton. 100% smart design. 100% irresistible and cool. Start your babes on the right foot.

Bonne fetes!

The Gift of Mastering the Art of French Eating

‘Tis the season to be merry. To help others. For giving gifts. All these things, and more. Alas, it’s also an opportunity for me to celebrate my friends with exceptional and creative talents. This week, I’ll be sharing the works of five friends who are wonderfully gifted in their own unique ways… and whose own creations make great gifts for others.

Ann Mah was a fellow expat I met my second year in Paris. Smart, thoughtful and with wicked food appreciation and knowledge, I liked her immediately. This past September, she followed up her debut novel with the beautiful and delicious Mastering the Art of French Eating. A gift that will be devoured.

  
Bonnes fetes!

The Gift of Will

‘Tis the season to be merry. To help others. For giving gifts. All these things, and more. Alas, it’s also an opportunity for me to celebrate my friends with exceptional and creative talents. This week, I’ll be sharing the works of five friends who are wonderfully gifted in their own unique ways… and whose own creations make great gifts for others.

 

Who doesn’t love a good feel-good movie? My old love Zack Anderson co-created the movie Will, which is about the sweetest boy who sets off from England to Turkey (by way of Paris, bien sur!) after his dad unexpectedly dies right before they’re to see the Liverpool Champions League Final. Hankies sold separately.

Bonnes fetes!

The Gift of Seymour

‘Tis the season to be merry. To help others. For giving gifts. All these things, and more. Alas, it’s also an opportunity for me to celebrate my friends with exceptional and creative talents. This week, I’ll be sharing the works of five friends who are wonderfully gifted in their own unique ways… and whose own creations make great gifts for others.

Mel, my dearest friend from Paris, created Seymour nearly three years ago to help people explore and cultivate their creativity (a gift we should all bestow upon ourselves, actually). This season, she’s put forth a series of limited-edition and co-branded gifts—a Gem Remedy bracelet, a leatherbound Handcrafted Sciences notebook and a hand-painted jacket—that are guaranteed to be the most inspired items you’ll find.

Bonnes fetes!

What more do you need?

London is lovely at the holidays

I was lucky enough to spend a few days in London for work last week. 

While I didn’t have any food adventures, I did my fair share of ogling.

But the best part about being there was the Christmas decorations. 

I hope you're enjoying the holiday spirit wherever in the world you are!

A funny thing happened to my brain this Vegan Monday

It just farted out. I had oatmeal for breakfast and opted for almond milk in my coffee, not half & half. I mindfully avoided meat and dairy at Whole Foods’ salad bar today and snacked on almonds in the afternoon. But when it came to preparing dinner, it was like I didn’t speak English.

I had bought some prepared butternut squash soup at Whole Foods for dinner and read the ingredients list as I heated it up. It included cream but it just didn’t even register. Nor did the word “vegan” even enter my radar as I was frying up sage to garnish the soup… in butter. Scary how dementia seems to strike no matter what the age. Just as well. Andrew made chocolate-peppermint cookies that are calling my name.

Lessons in grace

I woke up this morning in London, turned on EuroNews and saw silent footage of Mandela’s first steps as a free man. It took a minute to realize why they were showing this. Then I guessed, flipped to CNN, and saw the news.

I’ve since been watching footage, listening to commentators, eyes filling with tears again and again. What a man. What a life. What an inspiration. RIP, Mandela.

Things I am thankful for

To start with the obvious, but no less essential: my family, friends and health. Thank god, thank god, thank god.  

My colleagues

Having had really good bosses in the past, from whom I still draw confidence and inspiration

The centering effects of yoga and the comic side effects of zumba

Milo’s antics

My boyfriend fiancé for loving me so unconditionally and beautifully

My trips to Charleston, Buenos Aires, Miami, Maryland and Cape Cod this past year

For the beauty of Connecticut

For my Family Feud family

For not seeing tragedy up close

Comfortable shoes

Netflix

That New York still has the power to make me weepy with happiness and awe

Good dentists

The moment of climbing into bed each night

Wonderful books like Yes, Chef; All That Is; Wild and TheCookbook Collector

Sweet things

Friday nights

My new home

I hope that wherever you are, you are in a happy, grateful place. Happy Thanksgiving, mes amis!

It's the little things

What a week. I don't know if it was the full moon or what, but I was wretched and moody. Worked a ton. Slogged through every day. There were bright moments to be sure. But one of my happiest was having a most amazing almond croissant for breakfast. You can underestimate the power of a perfect pastry.

Sweet Freaks of the world, unite!

Paris, My Sweet was resuscitated last night. A year and a half after publication (remember that??), I had a joint reading with the fabulous Hilary Reyl and wonderful Ann Mah. But the best part of the night (aside from when the founder of the Writers Room recounted the time Julia Child cooked dinner for her) was meeting Kerrin Rousset (below, next to me and behind Ann) and Susan Hochbaum.

 

Kerrin is my international counterpart/hero with an enviable career in Zurich, giving chocolate tours, organizing Le Salon du Chocolat, writing about food and travel. The life. 

And you can't help but love Susan, if not for her lovely demeanor then for her keen eye and sly sense of humor. You do know her most amazing book, non? After gabbing and note-comparing, I'm excited to fire up my sweet sleuthing again. I've been much too delinquent.

Cake, flowers, cat

I'm trying to think of what I do with my time these days. I go to work. If I'm lucky, I walk to Dean & Deluca to ogle the cakes and flowers at lunchtime.

I come home and unpack a box, have a glass of wine, order a new lamp.

Milo's new sleeping routine leaves much to be desired—at least for me. He wakes me up between 5 and 6 in the morning. Even so, I find it tough to get to the gym and age, gravity and the drawer of gummies at my desk are taking their toll.

Soon, I'm promising myself, I will complete my book proposal. The holes in the apartment will be filled. I will be back in a rhythm that is alternately exciting and soothing. For now, I have to just go with it.

Waking up 41

Life has been pretty singularly focused these past two weeks. The new apartment.

A new neighborhood.

A new place to put my books.

It’s also been a time to reflect. How could it not be? Passages. They’re so bittersweet. I have so much to look forward to, and have said goodbye to so many other things, people and places.

In between getting settled in Brooklyn, I turned 41. I had a family reunion. I read a book about a wedding and saw a movie about life and love. I had this Colson Whitehead article bookmarked for some time and just got around to reading it, which seemed so appropriate.

I guess it’s all to say that life is so magnificent. So beautiful and so full of pain. So many little things and reasons to be filled with gratitude and love.

My Vegan Monday

Morning
Black coffee
Oatmeal with flax seeds and honey

Afternoon
Large green salad with grilled tofu
Dark chocolate 
A handful of peanut m&ms
Cranberry juice
Ginger tea

Evening
Hummus toast
Glass of Malbec

Ahhh... getting settled in the new place. Little rituals like Vegan Monday help make the chaos more normal. What have you been eating lately??

Out with the old, in with the new

It’s been a long haul. Ten months after our search began, two months after renovations started, we are in our new place. Even though it’s hard to see the actual apartment with the piles of crap everywhere, it’s going to be pretty awesome. It warranted some Manhattans on our first night in.

Charleston Jaunt

Believe the hype, people! Charleston, South Carolina has been declared the Best and Friendliest City in the Country by Travel + Leisure and Condé Nast Traveler. It’s the ultimate foodie destination outside of Copenhagen. Everyone oohs and ahs over that genteel hospitality. And this is one place that lives up to the fanfare.

We had planned to make a road trip from Nashville to Charleston this past spring. The south has been seeping into my soul lately. Realizing a pricey stay at Blackberry Farm was out of the question, a road trip with friends, from Nashville to Charleston via Asheville, seemed a pretty cool alternative. But with the big apartment hunt and subsequent renovations, vacation kept getting pushed. Finally, Andrew and I decided to just book a weekend to Charleston, knowing the road trip, never mind Blackberry Farms, wasn’t going to happen.

It was pretty much love at first sight. Walking around Charleston is like having all of Martha’s Vineyard beauty compressed into one walkable area. It has the magic of Essex, but is 100x the size. At certain turns, I felt like I was in San Francisco. Or Disneyworld. There is just enchanting beauty everywhere, especially in the streets South of Broad. It all reeks of civility and history.

Obviously, we saw but a slice of the city. The touristy slice. There are hundreds of thousands of people living on islands and in suburbs surrounding the actual downtown peninsula. Eastern Charleston feels sadly like the segregated past. No place is perfect, but this came pretty close.

And the food. From the silly (fried pimento cheese fritters, anyone?) to the sublime (oyster sliders at The Ordinary are a must), it was an eating extravaganza.

Hominy Grill has a crazy brunch scene, with people lining up for Bloody Marys and Dark & Stormys while waiting for their table. You can put your name on the inevitable waiting list and then walk up two blocks to Wildflour bakery for a sticky bun. Just the smell is heavenly.

Husk was lovely - super homey, charming and fantastic food.

Halls Chophouse has the friendliest welcome in town. 

Butcher & Bee has a fried chicken sandwich you don’t want to miss. While you’re up that far north on King, be sure to swing over to New Yorker-owned Sugar Bakeshop for a cupcake.

And it’s good to mix the low with the high. We ate fried green tomatoes, fried catfish po boys, fried crab cakes, hush puppies and sweet potato fries at Hymans, and sat on the porch of Poogan’s Porch, watching the world go by.

 Did I mention there's a certain kind of charm in Charleston?