Recipe: Cider Braised Pork Shoulder with Apples and Sage

Cider Braised Pork Shoulder with Apples

A new home has a funny but real emptiness in the corners, which get filled with each person, conversation, libation, cuddle, chore, meal, and joke that you share. As the days begin to get longer here in Seattle and the rain patters less frequently against the window, I have found myself returning to the kitchen. I have found myself filling my corners.

The Duke…who is NOT allowed on the couch obviously.

It has been a dark many months, but like all things in balance from the dark must come the light. Re-emerging we find ourselves rediscovering the little things that give us pause and make us smile. We honor that which we have, and mourn that which we have no longer. We begin to live again.

Sweet Duke waits for the day.

In an attempt to put the pieces of my heart and head back together, I found myself standing in the kitchen.   Continue reading

Recipe: Easy Eggs Benedict

When one speaks just enough French to be dangerous, the degree to which “one” can put “one’s” foot in “one’s” mouth knows no bounds.  And who are we kidding here…by “one”…I most decidedly mean me.

An epic lunch at Les Petits Plats

There are many traditional French language faux pas, and I’m proud to say that as I roll into week three I have expediently ticked through nearly all of them.

I have exclaimed to 70 year-old waiters that “Je suis très excitée” as they have set down my escargot course, meaning to share with them my enthusiasm, but instead emphatically telling them just how aroused I was. Continue reading

Recipe: Smoked Salmon Croque Monsieur from Le Comptoir

Having spent the last week and a half blissfully noshing my way through Paris, I have developed a basic survival guide for solo dining in the City of Light. These are quite advanced theories, one must admit, but I am more than happy to share them with you, dear readers.

Toujours….oui.

1)   Get dressed. Sitting on your couch in a towel for two hours thinking about putting on clothes is not the same as actually putting on clothes.   Continue reading

I’ve been having a hard time falling asleep in Paris. Not because the bed isn’t comfortable (it is) or my neighborhood nosy (it is not), but because once I finally turn my light off, my mind starts spinning.

The scallops at Le Hide, my new favorite Paris restaurant…if you come to visit me…we’re going!

Thinking of the luscious Noix de Saint Jacques à la Plancha I had at Le Hide (10 rue du Général Lanrezac, 17e) an exquisite little restaurant tucked off an unassuming side street, that served possibly the most perfectly cooked scallops I have ever had the good fortune of enjoying, seared just long enough to caramelize them and then set atop a salad of arugula and frisèe, flecked with bacon and finished with a rich yet tangy vinaigrette. Continue reading

Recipe: Unforgettable French Onion Soup

Even the butter display at The Bon Marche is beautiful and worth slowing down for.

My mornings in Seattle were ones I’m sure many of you are familiar with. Awake by jarring alarm after not getting enough sleep. Snooze said alarm for 30-40 minutes, thereby neither waking up nor getting any further quality sleep. Groggily fumble for iPhone and while barely awake begin checking emails and deleting pesky Groupon promotions that seem impossible to unsubscribe from. Continue reading

In the U.S I like to think of myself (perhaps arrogantly) as a generally competent person. I own a home, I (usually) floss, I send Christmas thank you cards (Note to self: Do Christmas thank you cards for 2013), and manage simultaneous projects for my clients. Yes…in the good ‘ol US of A, I know what I’m doing.

Evening lights on Rue de Martyrs.

In Paris, the smallest successes become huge triumphs worthy of proudly pumping one’s fist in the air while jostling little old ladies on the sidewalk and ducking into the nearest brasserie for un verre de vin rouge (or two). Continue reading