Swish new art exhibition featuring the Impressionists and the fashions of the times You can almost hear the swish of women’s dresses in the new exhibition “L’Impressionisme et la mode” (Impressionism and Fashion) at the Musée d’Orsay in Paris. This groundbreaking show highlights the portrayal of clothing and accessories in the works of late nineteenth…

This week’s article features Susan Herrmann Loomis of On Rue Tatin cooking school in France. Susan moved to France from the U.S. more than twenty years ago and currently teaches the art of French cooking in Paris and in Normandy. She has also authored multiple cookbooks and regularly writes food articles for major publications. There’s…

When I was living full-time in Paris, one of my favorite pastimes was wandering through open-air markets in whatever part of the city I happened to be in. Fruits and vegetables in season, fresh and aged cheeses, breads, whole fowl of every kind, rabbits and other game, seafood, spices, and more were a feast for the eyes…

One of my favorite pastimes in France is to wander into a church when music is playing. A few weeks ago, I got a two-for-one organ bonus at the lovely Abbaye Saint-Michel de Frigolet in the Provence countryside. The secluded monastery traces its origins to the tenth century and has two main churches, the romanesque Eglise Saint…

This past week, I had the privilege of speaking with British-American food writer and cooking instructor Anne Willan. Anne is one of the world’s foremost authorities on French cooking and has written more than 30 books and cookbooks. She founded La Varenne Cooking School in Paris in 1975, one of the first professional cooking schools…

It is lavender time in Provence. At last. Southern French fields and gardens explode with the fragrant flower beginning mid to late June. Then the vibrant violet blooms color the landscape for a few weeks – or until they are picked. Lavender has a good history. The Romans used it to keep linens fresh and…

Everything is leisurely in Provence. Particularly the lunch hour, or hours I should say. Shops, markets and often museums close about 12:30 or 1pm and don’t reopen until 2:30 or 3 in the afternoon. So the best thing to do as the southern French do and find a good spot to enjoy the mid-day meal…

I like old things. Places, villages, buildings, castles, antiques, all of it. I think it’s something about la patine du temps (the patina of old age) that makes the object in view more interesting and worth knowing more about. I remember seeing the enormous Roman aqueduct, the Pont du Gard, in southern France for the…

Provence and the sun are a match made in heaven. The famous chef Auguste Escoffier born in the south of France called his native region ‘blessed by the gods’ with its lovely climate of over 300 days of sun per year. Indeed, la Provence and the sun are so entwined that Provence without sun would be…