le blog

Anisette Cookies I absolutely love everything about anise - especially the licorice smell and taste. Every time I leave our local Indian restaurant, I grab a dozen or so anise seeds along with a few sugary candies from the neighboring dish and eat them on my way home. Anise seeds after a meal help to aid in digestion, not to mention they taste lovely. I think I love doing that so much because the combination reminds me of one of my favorite French bon-bons, Les Anis de Flavigny .  les Anis de Flavigny  If you have never had the pleasure of tasting les Anis de Flavigny bon-bons, they are a hard, white candy surrounding a little anise seed. If you don't like in your face black licorice taste of candies like Good-n-Plenty, these offer a delicate, subtle licorice flavor. While the brand currently offers a wide variety of flavors, my go-to is the traditional anise, whose origins in Flavigny (Burgundy) date back to 1591! And if you're looking to purchase some in the US, Am

Today is day #2 of everyone being in school and just Lila and I at home. Although I find myself longing for fall, when I stepped outside in the cool late summer morning air today, I was inspired by nature's autumn preview. I stayed in my yard and took some pictures of colors and textures that caught my eye - that made me feel content.  Our hydrangeas' blooms have changed from mid-summer's bright blues and purples to late-summer's mauves, pale purples, and greens. Well, all but this lone blue hydrangea that is simply refusing to let go of summer! Even our scented geraniums' green leaves are beginning to brown. There are still a few fuchsia colored flowers left, which did not go unnoticed by this busy bee. Before we wandered into the back yard, Lila agreed to pose for a couple of pictures. She loves the cooler morning weather! The only real remnant of summer in our back yard is our lavender; however, even its norm

As much as I loved seeing so many new places in France, it felt wonderful to settle back into my favorite city, Paris.  On our first day there, our guide Myriam walked us by the Allée des Justes to show us the wall of the Righteous - Gentiles who had helped out Jews during the Shoah and been named Righteous Among the Nations by the Yad Vashem. I was pleased to see the Trocmés but nothing prepared me for seeing the names of Marie Chotel and Henri Briard.  Several years back when I was taking a graduate class on Women and the Holocaust, I read the book Doors to Madame Marie  by Odette Meyers. She chronicled her time in France during the Shoah, and it was her landlady Marie Chotel and Marie's partner Henri Briard who risked their lives to save Odette and her mother. I had the good fortune to meet Odette's son Daniel in Paris that summer and so I felt a bit of a personal connection to those names.  André and Magda Trocmé, along with their entire village of Le Cham

I have been fascinated by Mont-Saint-Michel for years, so this time, I made sure to go! It was a steep walk up, but well worth the burn! The architecture and the views were stunning. I had hoped to get some shots from the beach, but we were warned that the beach is full of areas of quicksand! Needless to say, I was not about to venture onto the beach, so these photos will have to suffice!