Thursday, 06 September 2012 07:35
Written by Madelaine Bullwinkel

LA RENTREE

Paris was uncommonly quiet when we arrived last week. Summer tourists had departed; the city's inhabitants were on holiday until the end August. (Their return over the weekend is called la rentree.) In that calm interim week, I restocked my kitchen pantry and searched for a new chef on the restaurant scene. It didn't take long to find one!

THE COOK'S SECRET INGREDIENT

The August air smells of sweet, ripening fruit. It also swarms with pesky fruit flies. By all means, DO eat the fruit. But DON'T swat the flies. They are distant relatives! We share with them 75% of our genetic material which makes them invaluable to medical research. And these seasonal flies also happen to be a cook’s best friend!

INSIDERS' GUIDE TO PARISIAN ETIQUETTE

Getting ready for a trip to Paris means hitting the books. Guide books that is. The choice is amazing - everything's been researched, from the city’s monuments, restaurants, gourmet food, to lingerie shops (there are lots of these). What’s missing? A guide to the city’s inhabitants. Parisians can be intimidating with their impossibly thin profiles, trend-setting chic and "dangerously high self-esteem" (my daughter's expression). How can we Americans in our jeans and sneakers hope to win them over?

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