Normal is defined by everyone as the familiar, as what they know. When you’re a child, your normal is defined by your environment, namely, your family. It’s the reason why people start…
Author: emiglia
Frisée and Green Apple Salad
It’s January, but you wouldn’t guess it here in Paris. The streets are flooded with sunlight; it’s warm enough for a light jacket. If I had to guess, I’d say it was…
Pumpkin Cream Cheese Quickbread
I have a habit of not only doing things that no one else does, but also of doing the things that other people do in a crazy order, as though I took…
Steak with Beurre Rouge and Aligot with Comté
“C’est l’histoire d’un garçon mélancolique parce qu’il a grandi dans un pays suicidé. C’est l’histoire d’un pays qui a réussi à perdre deux guerres en faisant croire qu’il les avait gagnées, et…
Zuppa di Pesce
Christmas is a period when most bloggers are updating constantly with cookies, cakes and treats, traditional dishes from their backgrounds, their families, their childhoods. To those of you who have been sending…
Flaneur à Paris
“Les gens de Paris ont l’air d’être toujours occupés, mais en fait ils se promènent du matin au soir.” I’ve discovered the writer known as Céline this year, a writer whose name…
Beethoven and Brownies
I don’t usually play with the medium I’ve chosen to express myself. There’s something that seems so unromantic about the Internet, as though typing one’s words and sending a hyperlink into cyberspace…
Almost American
The Almost Frenchman has found his match in the Almost American, someone I’ve met this year who yearns for America about as much as the AF yearns for France. I would love…
Faits d’hiver
There’s a linguistics phenomenon–I’m drawing a blank on its name at the moment, though I’m sure someone will remind me promptly–that says that a person or culture will justify an erroneous statement…
Meudon and Midnight Tomatoes
When I was growing up, I used to save everything. Letters, homework papers, candy wrappers… just in case. In case of what, I’m not sure–I don’t know that I knew at the…