Hello Paris

by Maggie Battista on January 19, 2010

in about, featured, france

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[The gorgeous photo above was taken by Johnny Santo Domingo. Don't you love it?]

Over the next few months, this site may appear a little… foreign… to some of you. I’ve taken on a new gig that needs me to spend some time exploring Paris. I’ll be eating, walking, shopping, photographing and generally visiting with the City of Light this winter and spring. Yes, I fully realize that I am one lucky lady.

How did this all happen? It’s a long story. I’ll just say that I made a promise to myself that I would continue to explore my dreams and discover my passions in 2010. I adore sharing authentic food, travel and shopping tidbits with the world, and I found a gig that would let me further flex those skills. My focus will be on delivering my kind of old-fashioned hospitality, while sucking in as much of Paris as I can.

Starting in February, I’ll be eating, shopping and living differently, something that will definitely be reflected in what I share on this site. I sure do hope you stick around to see all my adventures in the ultimate food city.

Okay, now that you know, I need to enlist your help. I will be living in an apartment that has a fully-equipped kitchen. I plan to cook a lot. And while the Internet is filled with gorgeous recipes that I can easily access while abroad, I know I’ll miss my 400+ cookbook collection.

If you could bring one, just one, cookbook with you to Paris, which would it be? I’ll list out some options below, but am so happy to hear your take on the cookbook you’d want to have with you in the most delicious city in the world.

Some of my favorites from my current collection:

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Maggie Battista

Maggie, is chief tasting officer and founder of Eat Boutique. She started the site in 2007 as a way to highlight and celebrate the best pure, local and comforting handmade foods, and now sells unique and delicious handmade food in monthly tasting subscriptions and seasonal gift boxes. Fostering vibrant real world communities around food, Maggie now hosts Eat Boutique’s Local Markets, where she spotlights cookbook authors and undiscovered food makers. Maggie is a community evangelist with more than 15 years of Web community building and outreach experience, connecting millions via sites like Lycos, Tripod and TripAdvisor. She’s written for Time Out New York, the former I.D. magazine and Hip Paris, and created retail experiences for the largest floral and event design company in New England. Maggie regularly visits Paris and travels far distances to find the next great chef, farmer, food maker or host. You can follow her worldwide - and homemade - gastronomic adventures on Twitter at @mizmaggieb or @eatboutique.

  • chardrucks

    well, to get in the spirit of your remarkable journey, i'd say: http://www.amazon.com/French-Feasts-Traditional-R… or one of simone beck's books, which you can find via amazon or ebay (get an out-of-print paperback real cheap and lightweight); or else, an elizabeth david book. also great for such an enterprise as yours, patricia wells' bistro cooking (http://www.amazon.com/Bistro-Cooking-Patricia-Wel…

    final option, if you're going to be there solo, judith jones's The Pleasures of Cooking for One
    http://www.amazon.com/Pleasures-Cooking-One-Judit…

    for non-french themed books, i'd probably have gone with the River Cafe originals

    ENJOY!!!

  • http://mrswheelbarrow.blogspot.com Cathy

    Sunday Suppers at Lucques (Suzanne Goins)
    Really, I would be shipping books to myself. There's no way I could be there without all that you mentioned, and a few more.

  • http://www.thesocialorganization.com Rachel Happe

    That is a really tough question as it depends so much on the type of food you will want to and have time to cook. And… I use most of my cookbooks only sparingly for certain things. However, I have one cookbook series that I use over and over and over again. Easy to assemble recipes that have minimal fuss but have unexpected combinations. It's the Uncommon Gourmet Series (http://bit.ly/7DfmYC). Surprising that I love the cookbooks so much – no pictures to tempt but I've just never hit a bad recipe. So – it tilts toward the every day cooking but that's what I do most of the time.

  • http://twitter.com/cookbook Maureen

    Hi! I'm @maureen, or more commonly @cookbook on twitter. I had to respond, because what a good question! I've moved abroad with a suitcase and brought a single cookbook before, so I know how important the answer can be. Hmm…

    I would bring a practical food encyclopedia to cover my bases and inform me at Paris' markets (e.g. Larousse Gastronomique, Margaret Fulton's Encyclopedia of Food, or Harold McGee's One Food and Cooking).

    Of course, I would inevitably stock up on new niche cookbooks while there. Check out the cookbooks at galignani.com the "first English bookshop established on the continent, circa 1520". Cookbooks are also a fun way to practice a language (if you aren't fluently French. If you are — respect!)

    I highly recommend Guy Martin's "Légumes" in this sense: adventurous nouveau cuisine with a simple/fresh focus, to balance out more classic French style dishes you might be trying.

    P.S. It's almost too much for my humble sense of myself to bear, but I too am one lucky lady. I will be living in Paris in June, and possibly part of May (I'm in Ireland right now). If you'll be there then, maybe we should have a foodie tweet up! If you're into that kind of geekery. (I'm a kind of old-fashioned nerd in that I'm pretty shy. But it would be fun.)

    I hope you have a culinarily marvellous time in fine food's home town!

  • Monica

    I would take The Better Homes and Garden's Red Plaid Cookbook. It's the one that I constantly go back to to improve and expand my taste and technique. They describe how to cook just about anything you would ever want to cook, and then you can go on to the recipes.

    Enjoy! Have fun! Be brave!

  • http://www.chloeblogue.wordpress.com Chloe

    While I have no book to suggest, I would recommend you focus on something close to your roots. Comfort food, something that you know well and that will bring you back to a place where you feel good about yourself and your cooking , something that represent some kind of classic for you.

    For me, it is some Quebec classics like Jose Di Stasio's first books (http://aladistasio.telequebec.tv) which represent well the simple blend of North American and European culture that Quebec is about. She just came out with an English but I could not find much about it yet.

    You'll have plenty of exotic over there, I say bring something that'll keep you feeling warm and fuzzy and that'll help you express your true self to your future French friends.

  • http://intensedebate.com/people/mizmaggieb mizmaggieb

    These suggestions are all amazing! They've all gone into my wish list.

    Charlotte: Of COURSE, I should take that Judith book. How silly of me to not think of it. Purchased!

    Cathy: You are right. I am tempted to send a box ahead of me. A small box. A very small box. Only say, 10 books or 37.

    Maureen: I am such a geek and tweet-ups are my thing. Alas, I leave EU in late April. However, if a weekend trip to Ireland is in the cards, I'll ping you!

    Monica/Chloe/Rachel: Thank you! And, Chloe, you're likely right, I should take what I want to feel comforted. Of course, I'd feel *most* comforted if you visited me and we did a totally foodie day!

    Keep it coming, folks. I'd love to tell my hubby I had to buy 50 cookbooks BEFORE my trip to Paris. He'd just love that. :)

  • http://twitter.com/kimworld Kim

    Maggie, This is AWESOME! Can't wait to read more about your trip! LOVE Paris!

  • http://jessicadeva.posterous.com Jessica Deva

    Hi Maggie,

    When I was living in Paris I used to buy cookbooks in English ALL THE TIME because translating recipes from French to English was just too hard. As simple as it sounds, The Art of French Cooking is the one I used the most because I was, in fact, trying to better my French cooking specifically, not my cooking in general. It can be very overwhelming to prepare a meal when everything about it – from the transport to the shop to the packaging and selection of the items to be cooked to the money used to buy the items – is unfamiliar. Having a familiar cookbook was like having a good friend to help me.

    ~ Jess @jessicadeva

  • http://blog.healthy-green-lifestyle.com Winnie

    Maybe this is lame, but I think if it were me, I'd take Joy of Cooking. Just because it's basic and it's got a bit of everything.

  • Paula

    Oh Maggie…..I am absolutely so jealous…..this is a dream come true for you. I look forward to following all your adventures and recipes throughout Paris
    Enjoy !!!!

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  • aussiekk

    Maggie,

    I think you should wander the markets daily, bring home what inspires you and cook from the heart – no recipe books. Or, learn French very fast and buy French books on Chef's that you've researched. Perhaps you can find their books published in English?

    I'm a Donna Hay junkie and any of her books are great as long as you buy quality ingredients and where you're going there will be an abundance of those.. You'll be able to get any cut of meat you want! Ah for lamb loins and fillets, ah for veal shanks.

  • crissie

    I've got a FOOD & MENU pocket TRANSLATOR, FRENCH EDITION.

    May I send it to you? Have you seen overseas postal rates lately? Don't send your cookbooks…the joy of finding cookbooks will keep you going for months. Then you'll get to mail them all home in April! Food is so fresh, you'll be creating your own recipes!

  • http://intensedebate.com/people/mizmaggieb mizmaggieb

    Kim/Paula – Thanks for the kind words!

    Jessica – Of course! I should have thought of that one.

    Meg – I always use the interwebs for recipes too. But I figured a real, sold book would give me a little comfort in a foreign land. LOVE Marcella!

    Oh, and Charlotte – Judith Jones' book is on its way to me. :)

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  • marilyn

    ENJOY. This is wonrderful for you. Iwell be thinking of you.

  • http://www.kitchenist.com Ele

    Maggie- SO lucky! Wow. I'd be inclined to take The Sweet Life in Paris and rely mainly on the internet, memory and innovation for everything else- but bring a notebook so you can record anything delicious you do think up. There's nothing more annoying (for me) than excess "stuff" when abroad. Conversely, you could buy an entirely new-to-you cookbook and work your way through it while there- that way, certain recipes from that book will always make you think of Paris in the future! (I guess I'm pretty sentimental, huh?)

    BTW, thanks for your comment on my blog last week- it's wonderful to have the support of so many people, near and far. xo

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