Bagel on Rice Couple
In 2002 my husband of 47-years Jack and I retired. We found ourselves living a routine life and decided in 2008 to move to Paris, part-time, well let's say 7-months out of the year. This is my story. A little different take from other blogs about Paris, since all I've ever seen are love stories about Paris from Francophiles who are like in a dream state and enamored with anything French. I have a love/hate relationship with Paris, and I value friendships over locale.
I started writing missives/journals about my experiences as a way to release stress, and to entertain my friends back home, cause surely they would have a big laugh at all the absurdity that we experience on a day-to-day basis. From learning how to navigate around the bureaucratic hell they call the government system, to even trying to return an item at a department store, or dealing with your cable company.
I'm also a big "foodie" having gone to the California Culinary in SF as a hobby, and when I retired I ran a cooking club which included cooking demos as well as bringing in other "cooks" and local Chefs to share family recipes and/or provide cooking demos. I have helped Chefs develop menus, took part in wine and food pairing events, wrote restaurant reviews, assisted in test kitchens developing recipes, and I've even catered a few weddings.
Although I favor Asian/ethnic cuisine over European cuisine, I love to eat all foods. My philosophy has always been, when you travel visit the country's markets. Markets provide a wealth of information about a culture and it's people. Make no mistakes, I think French cuisine can be very good, but to me it is not the "be-all-end-all."
Since I am retired, I am not aspiring to be the next "blogger" extraordinaire. I write solely for my edification and to entertain my friends. I do not accept gifts, cash or free meals from restaurants or businesses that I may review or mention in my blog. Nor do I make a pre-announcement that I am reviewing a restaurant. I also do not accept paid advertisement.
Hope you enjoy my view of Paris from a different perspective.
NOTE: As we all know, restaurants can improve or deteriorate. I will try to update my restaurant reviews, if there are significant changes.
