What is black and white and coveted all over? Yes, truffles. Recently I had an opportunity to visit a truffle market in the south of France. I had heard about French truffle markets from several people. My friend Caroline, who grew up near the Rhône Valley…
I can’t help but peer at my feet when I shop at street markets in Paris. I imagine generations of shoppers who have stepped on the same well-worn cobblestones. I conjure up women swishing by in long dresses and men in buttoned-up shoes. The imaginary…
The first time I strolled rue Cadet market street in Paris, I couldn’t get beyond the noise and dust of nearby construction. I’ve returned several times since that gritty introduction and, even though construction sites still lurk nearby, I’ve come to enjoy this very typical…
Text and photos by Robin Heyden When I first heard that San Luis Obispo’s weekly farmers’ market was held in the evening, I thought, “how odd.” I think of going to markets as a daytime event–up and at ‘em early, procure your produce for the…
Instead of staying home to watch the Academy Awards last Sunday, I ventured out into the cold to attend a cooking class. The class was being taught by Julien Charvet, an experienced French chef who hails from Avignon in France’s Provence region. For the past few…
The writer Mavis Gallant died last week in Paris at age 91. She published novels and a smattering of nonfiction but kept returning to short stories as her favored form for an outpouring of tales. She published a whopping 116 stories in the pages of The New…
I hadn’t thought that this high temple of food in Paris, otherwise known as La Grande Épicerie, needed any sprucing up. But it has undergone a major redo. After 18 months of renovation, the new look was unveiled this past December. In January I went…
Luckily for me, I had the opportunity to attend a talk by Patricia Wells and Ann Mah which was hosted at The American Library in Paris this week. It was a fascinating conversation where they interviewed each other and then entertained questions from the audience….
Earlier this week I escaped the frigid temperatures of New England and landed in Paris. The warmer temps, while no means that warm, feel practically balmy. It’s a relief to walk outside with only one pair of gloves on at a time. So, I flew from…
