"Ma Vie en France"

This happens every year—while watching the French Open on TV, I start to dream of strolling down the Champs-Elysées and sitting at little sidewalk cafés eating pâtisseries and drinking café au lait.

Since I don’t have airfare to Paris hiding in my couch cushions, I decided to do my traveling vicariously. After watching Nadal defeat Federer (again!), I scoured my bookshelves and came across “My Life in France,” by Julia Child, which I bought after reading “Julie and Julia” (see my post about that book here). Just what I was looking for. I’m only on the first chapter, but I’m already enthralled by Julia’s descriptions of the fantastic French food she ate when she first arrived in Paris with her husband after World War II.

Interesting to note that Julia, whom we now know as a master of French cooking, had almost no cooking experience before living in France. One of the earliest dishes she attempted was brains simmered in red wine—an effort she describes as "a disaster." Her husband, Paul, later put it more diplomatically: "Her first attempts were not altogether successful..."