Jewish Food in France

A couple years ago, my friend Joan Nathan, a Washington, D.C.-based food writer and author, called and said she was coming to France, doing research for a new book. I snapped to attention, not just because I love Joan but also because I loved the topic: Jewish food in France. Joan was looking for cooks, stories, recipes, family lore, historical documents--anything that would help her piece

Provence All Over the Web...

I've seen lots of great Provence and France articles online during the last month or so. And because I live to please you, dear reader, I've collected some of the best.  Here you go...enjoy!


In the New York Times, Eric Asimov rated 20 rosé wines from Provence. Read all about it here.


The Times also featured a great piece about the Luburon.


Have any of you tasted Andrea Calek's wines?

Would You Fly Marseille to JFK?

If you travel between the U.S. and Provence, you know it can be quite the shlep. But things might get a bit easier in the next couple years.  


To promote the Marseille-Provence Capital of Culture events in 2013, The Mediterranean Anglo-American Business Network (MAABN) is helping the Marseille Provence Airport document demand for a direct airline link to New York. If this is an initiative you

Not So Fast...

Don't you hate it when you're doing a little renovation and you have to stop because you find 2,000-year-old Roman ruins in the cellar? That's what happened to the folks converting the 12th-century Hotel-Dieu in Marseille into a four-star hotel. Read all about it here.
Thanks to Laurence at ProvenceConfidential for the heads up on this great story and photo.

Air France to Take On Ryanair and EasyJet?

La Tribune reports this morning that Air France is planning to go head to head with EasyJet and Ryanair by launching a range of low-cost domestic flights linking French cities. The plan is to use Nice as a base for the operation. I checked in with my contact at Air France who said the company had no comment at this time.

The story says Air France will use its sister brand, Transavia, to offer

Sous La Neige!

Photo by Francis Manguy, http://francis.manguy.free.fr/photos/, http://www.flickr.com/photos/barrail/3184983866/ Photo by Polbar: http://www.flickr.com/photos/46064269@N00/481062305/ Photo by Jaffi: http://www.flickr.com/photos/31055972@N04/4017623848/ Photo by Beril Hansson: http://www.flickr.com/photos/bertilsud/91856488/

Photo by Jonathan Giuntini: http://www.flickr.com/photos/

Happy Birthday Balthus

My friend Peter Gillespie tells me that the gallery of La Fondation Ecureuil (Marseille) has a unique retrospective for the 100th anniversary of the birth of the French modern painter Balthus, running until April 2nd. Peter says: “The artist’s fame is largely built around his star status as the son of Polish émigré intelligentsia, who were major players in the Surrealist social scene in Paris in