44 French Dishes You Must Try

Baked Camembert, Comptoir des Archives

Website Buzzfeed recently published a list of 44 classic French meals everyone needs to try before you die, and I’m pleased to say I’ve already had 26 of them (many multiple times as French food is my absolute favorite). Which dishes are your favorites? Which are you dying to try? Continue Reading →

Try a Classic French Dish at La Poule au Pot

Poule au pot 2

History books often claim that the pledge to provide working-class families with a “chicken in every pot” was first uttered by U.S. president Herbert Hoover during the beginning of the Great Depression. But actually, the honors go to France’s King Henri IV, who in the 17th century pledged to create policy so that the nation’s peasants would have a “chicken in his pot every Sunday.” And from that pledge—completely unfulfilled, but the way—was born the classic dish poule au pot (chicken in the pot), a “peasant dish” that has evolved to become a staple of French cuisine. And one of the best places to get it in Paris is at the aptly named restaurant La Poule au Pot. Continue Reading →

A Promenade on the Pont Alexandre III

Pont 7

Today’s Paris memories center on the city’s beautiful bridges, but especially the ornate and gorgeous Pont Alexandre III. The bridge was a gift to the citizens of Paris from Russian Czar Alexander III, and crosses the Seine between the fantastic Grand Palais and Petit Palais on the Left Bank and the Invalides complex on the Right Bank. Continue Reading →