The French government took drastic steps in January to protect the beleaguered baguette from cut-price rivals that sometimes sell for as little as 1.50F at supermarkets compared with about 4F at traditional bakeries. A new law aimed at safeguarding baker-artisans now restricts the name “bakery” to the establishments of bakers who bake their bread on the premises. The new law will require an estimated 5,000 shops selling bread made from factory frozen dough to take down their “bakery” signs. Continue reading “Let Them Eat Bread”
Paris Valentines
The shortest month of the year can be downright inspiring. It was February to be exact when I first knew I wanted to be a writer. Mrs. Richland’s second grade class at Mount Pleasant Elementary School. And the first oeuvre committed to pencil remained unpublished until now: Continue reading “Paris Valentines”
Peter Beard’s African Journals
Peter Beard’s singular exhibition at the National Photography Center is “Out of Africa” and out of this world. Both disturbing and hauntingly beautiful, the photographer’s assemblage works, personal journals, documentary films and magnificent blown-up images create a total environment that transports the visitor on an intense African safari. Continue reading “Peter Beard’s African Journals”
“Bonne Fin d’année, Monsieur.”
Chers readers – yes, you – as we converse, I look out into the near future, and see you there sitting pretty somewhere in the heart of a gleeful Paris December, the holiday season unfolding around you with its annual engorgement of foie gras, saumon fumé, huîtres d’Oléron, Veuve Cliquot and Christmas lights. But many of us time-warped journalists are still hovering over our monthly deadlines back here in ol’ forgotten November, the most joyless month in Paris. “It’s a Wonderful Life” flashes in the background of the imagination as this last column of the year falls into place. Continue reading ““Bonne Fin d’année, Monsieur.””
Is Drinking a Bottle of Wine a Night Too Much?
Q: How can you tell when a person is an alcoholic and not just a social drinker? My partner (he’s French) drinks at least one bottle of wine every night at dinner, and I know he drinks at lunch, too, though he usually eats with business associates. It really bothers me, especially now that the holidays are coming up, and I wonder if there are any statistics about how much wine or hard liquor consumption qualifies one as an alcoholic? I’m sure there is something wrong, but whenever I try to make him see that, he gets angry and accuses me of being a puritanical American who doesn’t understand French culture.
Continue reading “Is Drinking a Bottle of Wine a Night Too Much?”
Amiens… France’s Best Kept Secret
Life, we all know, isn’t fair. Amiens and Chartres are each only about an hour from Paris by train, and each has a spectacular cathedral. So when’s the last time you urged visiting friends or relations to make the trip to Amiens? Chartres – which, face it, is pretty much a one-site burg – hogs most of the tourists. Amiens languishes by comparison, in the unjustly maligned north, despite its charmingly restored artisans’ quarter, its ancient network of water gardens and, leave us not forget, its outstanding example of the French Gothic style in full flower, which happens to be the country’s largest cathedral.
Paris Fashion Skin Deep
Fashion has fallen on difficult times. A stagnant economy has weakened European women’s purchasing power. The more affluent American is no longer investing heavily in her wardrobe, and designers in markets from New York to Seoul are inching the French out of their own stylish ball game. With all this working against her, Madame Mode has done what any self-centered diva would do in a time of crisis: strip naked, get her picture taken and call it a return to femininity.
French Intellectuals Contemplate the Web
Last month I was invited to participate in a public debate at the new high-tech campus of Paris VIII in Montreuil. The subject, believe it or not, was formulated as the following question: “Internet: Faut-il brûler ou le développer?” Much more interesting than the sluggish volley of comments was the question itself. Discussing whether the Internet and its spectacular Web should be destroyed or developed revealed a lot not only about the French ambivalence toward the Net, but also about the larger difference between French and American societies in terms of control.
Steve Buscemi’s “Happy Hour”
The cushy bar of the Hotel Manchester on rue de la Paix has nothing in common with the Trees Lounge, the eponymous watering hole of actor Steve Buscemi’s directing debut, renamed “Happy Hour” for its French release (Oct 16). But this far posher locale is where I spent a happy half-hour speaking with the 38-year-old thesp about his leisurely, enjoyable ode to the drawbacks and vicissitudes of being 30-something and aimless in suburbia.
Strolling Canal St Martin
Napoléon Bonaparte, wanting to do something for the Parisians, was told by Interior Minister Jean-Antoine Chaptal that he should “give them water.” In 1802 he ordered the city’s canals built. The idea was not only to bring more water into the city, but also to transport fresher and cheaper food and provide an alternative route for barges. The final stretch of the Canal St. Martin was completed in 1825. Today it and the Canal de l’Ourcq provide a healthy morning’s promenade.
Paris Rentree… Back to Grey Paris
People tend to complain bitterly about the rentrée in Paris because the long-awaited vacation is over and the drudgery of daily work kicks in. It takes a good six weeks to catch up on the backlog of mail and phone messages, faxes and e-mail and to get the sand out of your loafers and ticks off your Wallabies. It takes another two weeks to find a place to hide your suitcases for another year in your crowded apartment. For many of us, there are the intense and illogical arguments to battle out at the local post office, tracking down the registered letters and packages that were returned to unknown senders. All par for the autumn course.