Beach Life

In California visiting family for a week. Makes me realize how much I miss the ocean! (and good tacos!)

Pin It

5 (New Orleans) Things

1) Crab cake po' boy, and the most amazing onion rings!




2) French Quarter colors

3) On the float, beads and booze at the ready

4) Dancin' in the streets




5) Royal Street



Pin It

The Point Of No Return

A fellow expat friend and I were talking over drinks and nibbles the other night and out of the blue she asked me if I ever thought about moving back to the States.
I sat there for a minute, like a deer caught in the headlights, trying to come up with a response.

Of course, I think about it.
But would I ever really consider it?

We've worked hard over the years to live here and there are many things I love and take for granted in France.

• fabulous, inexpensive healthcare and doctors and nurses who make house calls 
• 600 + kinds of cheese!
• unpasteurized, hand churned salt butter
• amazing AOC wine from more regions than I can count
• efficient train travel (unless there's a strike...)
• numerous European countries at our doorstep
• inexpensive monthly internet and phone packages
• weekly outdoor markets with fresh, local produce 

the café culture

long Sunday lunches

diverse regional cuisine

flaky, buttery croissants

a more relaxed pace of life

the history, art and architecture

On the other hand, there are many things I do miss!

family and friends, of course

stores open on a Sunday afternoon in case I need a last minute ingredient for dinner

hot sauce. So many kinds of hot sauce.

cheap fuel

not having to worry about having exact change

Dairy Queen (yes, I love Peanut Buster Parfaits - don't judge)

no foreign language mix-ups

long, wide stretches of empty beach

drive through banking

Trader Joe's (and its amazing selection of salsas)

a life free of endless paperwork

drivers who respect others (of course this is debatable, depending on where you live) 

not having to mentally and emotionally prepare myself every time I need to return something

having my groceries bagged up for me

good bagels

Mexican food

After thinking about her question some more on the train home to Normandy the next day, I realized that after 11½ years, a quarter of my life, I think we've reached the point of no return. We chose to change our lives and move to France and have managed to make it work despite the bureaucratic challenges and other headaches. We've learned to be more patient, flexible and very determined.
There has also been a huge emotional investment. We have put down roots here.
France is home.

Pin It

Family, Food and Dancing in California

California.

It means enjoying time with my amazing sister, nieces and nephews, strawberries and sushi, treating myself to a pedicure, the gorgeous beaches along Monterey Bay, Peanut Buster Parfaits, laughing until I cry at my brother in law's witty sense of humor, much missed Mexican food, pastries and cakes from Gayle's Bakery, dancing in the kitchen (photos of which will not been shared to protect the innocent), wearing UGG boots without shame and cooking up Italian feasts with my dad and grandma.

Thankfully all the dancing in the kitchen helps to burn off the calories from all the eating. Pin It

The Quirky Quarter

Locals don't call it the French Quarter. It is simply the Quarter.

To say that this New Orleans neighborhood is unique is a bit of an understatement.

A tiny bit of the city - a mere half a mile rectangle - that is a whole little universe onto itself. It is crammed to the gills with charm, history, music, decadence and a seductive spirit that I've never encountered in any other American city.


The Quarter's inhabitants, affectionately known as Quarter Rats, live their lives in the midst of all the hullabaloo. They work, shop, eat, drink and even raise children in this colorful, famous (some might say infamous) and definitely quirky neighborhood of New Orleans.



We lived smack dab in the middle of it for two years.
Our narrow, faded pink shotgun house on the corner of Orleans and Burgundy was the perfect vantage point for observing life in the Quarter. And living it.

I rode my cruiser everywhere. Gone were the days when I needed a mountain bike to navigate hills like I did in Seattle. Most of my grocery shopping was done on foot with the help of my trusty market trolley at the little A&P down the street and at the Central Grocery (credited for inventing the Muffuletta, it also has a great selection of Italian and other European pantry items).
Work was only a few blocks away and even though we had a car, it wasn't used very often.



We became regulars at our favorite restaurants and bars, and had two little corner delis who offered 24 hours a day delivery on speed dial for those emergency midnight ice cream, jambalaya or po-boy cravings. One of them also makes a killer meatloaf.

New Orleans, especially the Quarter, teaches you to appreciate living in a whole new way.
It is an exhilarating roller coaster ride that rarely offers a dull moment. It is passionate and delicious and can take your breath away when you least expect it to. It is sometimes exhausting.



Yes, I miss it. Terribly sometimes.
But as others have pointed out, I have the best of both worlds. My home away from home with friends in New Orleans and my home in la belle France.
It's a perfect balance. Pin It

Not So Subtle Differences Between America and France

If there's one thing that three and a half weeks in America taught me, it's that my way of looking at things has become much more "French" than I realized. I'm not sure when this all happened, but I noticed it the minute my plane touched down in New Orleans.

Here are a few of the not so subtle differences that I observed during my stay.

First, there's the smile.
Wow! I guess I've always been aware of how often Americans smile, but it had somehow slipped my mind. I mean, everyone smiles. At seemingly everything. (my native New Yorker husband says this isn't so in the City - I bow to his wisdom)
Not that it is bad to smile...I don't mean that at all. I'm just not used to strolling down the street, or walking into a shop or a café, and having people flash their pearly whites at me anymore. It doesn't mean that the French aren't lovely, kind, warm people - most of them are - it's just that facial expressions are more reserved here.

Another thing, the chattiness.
When you buy groceries or go shopping in the States, the salesperson often acts as if they are your best friend.
Hi! How are you today? Don't you just love this? That is the cutest purse! Isn't it cold out there today? What are you going to cook with this? I love your hair, who cuts it? Are you doing anything special tonight? Oh, that is such a pretty color! Where did you get those earrings? Quick - give me a synopsis of your entire life while I ring up your purchases!
It's all so familiar. I don't know these people from Adam, and I find their probing questions far too personal.

Then there is the attentiveness.
I know that servers in American restaurants survive on tips, but stopping by to check on our drinks and food every 5-7 minutes? What the heck?
Every meal I had out with friends or family was interrupted dozens of times by servers stopping by to see "how we were doing." I had to resist the urge to tell them that I would "do just fine" if they would just leave us alone!

Instead I smiled warmly, answered personal questions from complete strangers and tipped generously. I was in America after all. And as they say, When in Rome...


Pin It

Photo du Jour - Sunglasses

Sunglasses in almost every color imaginable.

Can't quite bring myself to don this flashback-to-the-80's style. Someone please stop me if I ever do. Pin It

Photo du Jour - Coffee

A giant cup of strong coffee. Just what I need this morning. Pin It

Memories of Childhood Awakened by a Peanut Buster Parfait

The Peanut Buster Parfait.
The perfect mixture of salty peanuts combined with sweet, hot fudge and cold vanilla ice cream. Such a simple and wonderful thing.

Ok, I know this is not the height of gastronomic sophistication, but I do love it so!

My sister and I (secretly) ran over to Dairy Queen this afternoon while my niece was at a friend's and my nephew was at school. We each ordered one and absolutely every bite was sublime. Pin It

Photo du Jour

Yesterday we drove to Moss Landing to buy mussels at Phil's Fish Market so I could make moules marinières for the family. As we passed a little inlet my niece spotted three otters bobbing in the water!
Pin It

Photo du Jour

Ah...California.
The beach today was amazing! So sunny and warm. I couldn't have asked for a better day on my birthday. Pin It

Portion Control

Yesterday morning I had the chance to visit one of our favorite, locally owned grocery stores here in New Orleans, Dorignac's.

It was interesting to see one of the food trends that has been embraced in the last couple of years; the portioning of food into little, single-serving containers, creating an obscene amount of packaging waste.

I see wine is no exception.

Pin It

Brunch in France vs. Brunch in America

Brunch in France




Brunch in America





I love all these little cultural differences! Pin It