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I resisted. Boy did I resist! The idea of going virtual with cheese "tastings," both during and after the lockdown in France, was completely overwhelming to me and I just didn't know how to make that transition. Several friends offered advice, but I was stubbornly closed to the idea. Then something changed.  Part of it was the positive reaction from the guest post I wrote listing my Top Ten French Cheeses for David Lebovitz's  fabulous blog. Additionally, Context Travel, who I was about to start doing tours with back in March, asked if I would join them as their online cheese connoisseur. So, I'll be going live on September 27 with a deep dive into all things cheese-y at From Camembert to Chèvre: An Exploration of French Cheese.  Hope to see you there!

August means stretches of long, hot days with bright skies, followed by days of heavy air and storms. We're finally at the end of a week-long heatwave and the last two evenings have given us spectacular sound and light shows over the city.  Tuesday afternoon a photographer captured some incredible photos of lightning striking the Eiffel Tower . I wish I had witnessed that! Our neighborhood, le 15ème, is mainly residential and always very quiet this time of year, as most of our neighbors have left for the month and the little mom-and-pop places have closed for their annual vacation. I've ventured into the center of Paris a couple of times, near Notre-Dame and parts of Saint Germain, and both neighborhoods were devoid of the crush of tourists that this month usually sees. It's nice for those of us who have stayed in town, yet it does feel strangely deserted this summer. Friends have told me how nice the museums are without the crowds, so I plan to take advantage of this...

1) Apéro 2) Spring green 3) Homemade applesauce happened during confinement (along with banana bread and a lot of homemade yogurt!). Apples courtesy of a neighborhood shop called Paysan Vrac . 4) No filter 5) Spinach, onion, ham and goat cheese tart

1) We have a great fromagerie around the corner, so we're still able to enjoy French cheese. Phew! 2) The nuns at the Catholic maternity clinic across from our apartment have been coming out on their roof terrace to join the 8pm applause for the health care workers, and then staying on to sing a couple of songs for the neighborhood. Complete with tambourines 3) Zonked out 4) Sunday is now pizza day! This one from last week was sautéed red onions, red peppers and Spanish chorizo 5) There were flour, egg and sugar shortages at the beginning of the lockdown, so when I walked into our local G20 grocery store and spotted this, I felt like I'd won the lottery

As life has thrown us all a curve ball and we're advised to stay inside as much as possible, I'm heeding that advice. With that, I'm being extra conscious about not wasting food (something I will definitely be better at in the future!) and being creative with what has been lurking in my kitchen cupboards. I also, like so many others, have a lot of time on my hands to cook. It's rare that I follow a recipe to the letter. When I cook I feel pretty comfortable swapping a minor ingredient or two if I don't have what the recipe calls for and if I don't think it will change the flavor of the final dish. Last night I needed to use up some fresh goat cheese and zucchini, and after looking in my cookbooks and searching online, I found this tart recipe that looked interesting, but I still felt the urge to tweak it. I thought about swapping the walnuts for toasted almonds and omitting the honey entirely, but in the end I made it almost exactly as it was written (I used dr...

It's been one year since Notre-Dame de Paris was almost destroyed by a devastating fire. Sadly, the re-construction has been temporarily put on hold due to the Covid-19 virus lock down in France. I so look forward to the day when her famous roof and spire will once again grace the skyline of Paris! The city isn't the same without her. #Parissesouvient

The New Normal. Life has completely changed since France closed non-essential businesses and asked its citizens to go into confinement in mid-March. It was supposed to last for two weeks, but now has been extended until April 15. I think this came as no surprise to anyone and now we all wonder if it will be extended again. So we wait. Fortunately, the boulangeries and fromageries are considered essential! I'm trying to avoid going out as much as possible, so every time I think about leaving the house to run and get a baguette or pop into the local fruit and vegetable shop, it's a mental tug of war of wanting to support local businesses vs. respecting the fact that we should stay inside as much as possible to avoid spreading this virus. The latter is winning. But when I do venture out, about every 5-6 days, I try to shop at the small, local places. Obviously, tourism has been hit HARD, so I'm not working for the time being. This means I could be doing many things to fill my...