When this interview was recorded I was seated at Les Editeurs in Paris' 6eme arrondissement with a very pregnant author awaiting both the birth of her first child and first book. I am happy to report that mom and both her baby and book are doing well.
TG: When did you first come to Paris?
EB: My first trip to Paris was during my Jr. Year Abroad in Scotland - I came with my lactose intolerant, almost vegetarian best friend. We slept in one big bed with a hole in the middle and ate a lot of mango sorbet.
When and why did you come back (to stay?
I guess it's a classic - but I came for "l'amour"- I had been dating a Frenchman (now my husband) for two years - and it was time to make a choice -back to my 5-year plan in New York or love nest in Paris. I chose Paris - the rest, as they say, is history.
When Elizabeth Bard, a New Yorker raised on Twizzlers and instant mac and cheese, fell for a handsome Frenchman and moved to Paris, she discovered a whole new world of culinary delights. First in Paris, then in a tiny village in Provence, Elizabeth explored the markets, incorporating new ingredients and rituals into her everyday meals and routines.
After 15 years of cooking in her own French kitchen, making French friends--and observing her slim and elegant French mother-in-law--Elizabeth has gathered a treasure trove of information that has radically changed her own eating habits for the better.
Ten years ago, New Yorker Elizabeth Bard followed a handsome Frenchman up a spiral staircase to a love nest in the heart of Paris. Now, with a baby on the way, Elizabeth takes another leap of faith with her husband when they move to Provence and open an artisanal ice cream shop. Filled with enticing recipes such as stuffed zucchini flowers, fig tart, and honey-and-thyme ice cream, PICNIC IN PROVENCE
is the story of everything that happens after the happily ever after.
In Paris for a weekend visit, Elizabeth Bard sat down to lunch with a handsome Frenchman--and never went home again.
Was it love at first sight? Or was it the way her knife slid effortlessly through her pavé au poivre,
the steak's pink juices puddling into the buttery pepper sauce? Lunch in Paris
is a memoir about a young American woman caught up in two passionate love affairs--one with her new beau, Gwendal, the other with French cuisine. Packing her bags for a new life in the world's most romantic city, Elizabeth is plunged into a world of bustling open-air markets, hipster bistros, and size 2 femmes fatales
.
I love Martin Walker's novels and was turned on to his work by a British guest at Chateau Dumas near Caussade.
Have been to Chateau Dumas twice as writer-in-residence.
(You and I met a couple of times in Michael Larson and Elizabethh Pomada's kitchen.)
Speaking of kitchens, I now have one of the largest private collections of antique kitchen utensils in the U.S. Just returned from buying loads of French implements in England. Curious how they migrate.
