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Taxis

Taxis in our two great cities work quite differently. In NYC, you raise your hand and a magic yellow chariot stops and you get in. You tell your driver where you want to you and he has to take you there. You pay with either a credit card or cash and the chariot disappears. If you are coming in via bus, train or plane, you wait courteously on a taxi line and get into the next taxi when it is your turn. In Paris, it is another thing entirely. You can hail one on the street, but the chances are not very good, since taxis are supposed to wait at a taxi stand. This system, while saving gas, does not have the convenience factor built-in to the NYC system. It also is stacked against those who don't know the city very well. At some taxi stands, I have never seen any cars at all. You probably think that this seems minor but there are some glitches here. Paris is a bit more flexible on process. One time Helmut and I were coming in late via train and we were in the taxi line. After about ...
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Shaving the Yak*

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I am planning to make chocolate chip cookies for Christmas here in Paris. Very American, chocolatey, how can I go wrong? "And," I think, "I have always made everything from scratch, so I will have no problems getting my ingredients." I even think I have put in some safeguards and bought some items in NYC, just to be sure. Baking soda? Check. Baking powder? check. The oven is celsius, but armed with a browser and Google, I'm good to go, right?Here are the ingredients: flour (all purpose), baking soda, salt, unsalted butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar, corn syrup, egg yolk milk vanilla extract, chocolate chips. My first inkling that things may not be as easy was the chocolate chips. I was planning on buying them, but Helmut told me the chips can easily be found in Paris ("of course they are.") and he was right. BUT... they are tiny. If I used these, they would melt, and would turn the cookie into a chocolate cook...
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Early summer

My  friend Joey graduated from Columbia this year. I could have gone to the ceremony, but instead, I am flying her to Paris for three weeks. She majored in architectural history, studied French for 2 years and has never been to Europe. I know! Could not have been a more obvious choice.  Joey is staying at the apartment of a friend of mine here, who is elsewhere on her own vacation. Joey is here alone to start and the boys (her husband Ben and their 10-year old son, Owen) will follow in about a week. I have a few things planned, but mostly time together. Joey and I stay in touch but we both miss our time together. When she was in school, we would have lunch every Thursday and mull over the issues of the day. This time in Paris is a joyous time for me; time to reconnect and to get closer. It has a touch of sadness as well. When this time is over, when will we be able to do this again? No, not for now. Now we will revel in the time we have.  Of course we have to see some of ...
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