The rich smells drifting from our kitchen are different in winter….Because the days are so short, the evening dinners are long, and long prepared for. 3
Frances Mayes, Under the Tuscan Sun
…je portai à mes lèvres une cuillerée du thé où j'avais laissé s'amollir un morceau de madeleine. Mais à l'instant même où la gorgée mêlée des miettes du gâteau toucha mon palais, je tressaillis, attentif à ce qui se passait d'extraordinaire en moi. Un plaisir délicieux m'avait envahi, isolé, sans la notion de sa cause. II m'avait aussitôt rendu les vicissitudes de la vie indifférentes, ses désastres inoffensifs, sa brièveté illusoire, de la même façon qu'opère l'amour,…1
Marcel Proust, A la recherche du temps perdu
…I raised to my lips a spoonful of the tea in which I had soaked a morsel of the cake. No sooner had the warm liquid mixed with the crumbs touched my palate than a shudder ran through me and I stopped, intent upon the extraordinary thing that was happening to me. An exquisite pleasure had invaded my senses, something isolated, detached, with no suggestion of its origin. And at once the vicissitudes of life had become indifferent to me, its disasters innocuous, its brevity illusory - this new sensation having had on me the effect which love has… 2
Marcel Proust, Remembrance of Things Past
At this time of year, the days are growing shorter, there’s a chill in the air, and thoughts turn to indoor gatherings and activities at home, and with friends and family. As barbecues and picnics fade into pleasant memories, our meals with family and friends range from informal feasts while watching football on TV to more formal and festive family gatherings to observe Fall and Winter holidays, with a world of possibilities to explore. From the globalization of the American menu to extreme cuisine, please enjoy the selected list of print and other resources on food – and more – that I would like to share with you. As always, this list is highly selective, and highly subjective. Please feel free to contact me with your recommendations – I will be happy to add them to the website.
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'Asking a Frenchman about food, as I have often found, has the makings of a perfect relationship: he talks, you listen. But, unlike his countrymen, you don't argue with him. This is a major social asset, and you are looked upon with a measure of sympathy. You are still a foreigner, certainly, but a foreigner whose heart and stomach are in the right place, willing to sit at the feet of a master and learn about civilised matters.' 4
Peter Mayle
There is something about Sunday lunch in a French country restaurant that goes beyond food. But unfortunately, ambience doesn’t travel. 5
Peter Mayle, French Lessons
We had been introduced to our new neighbors by the couple from whom we had bought the house, over a five-hour dinner marked by a tremendous goodwill on all sides and an almost total lack of comprehension on our part. The language spoken was French. 6
Peter Mayle, A Year in Provence
