Ordering a book before the pub date helps authors, publishers, and booksellers alike. Here’s how to pre-order.

This website is all about France. For news and reviews on the Des Moines Dining Scene, find me on Substack!

Announcing: My food memoir, to be published in July.

Few people remember the Parkade Pantry, a downtown coffee shop in Des Moines. But I think of it often—and how kind the workers were to the hungry.

Yes! I’ll serve you a vegan meal … if you’re really a vegan.

“French people of my generation … knew that our hosts had spent a lot of time cooking in order to offer a real treat for her/his guests. That meant something to us, and we were educated to show some respect.”

“I kept experiencing that sense of time passing, of growing old—a feeling that comes into sharpest focus when you come upon faraway places you had visited in your youth.”

Readers tell beautiful stories of of their first meals in France — from the perfect French onion soup a Les Halles, to wondering “what could have been” at Lasserre.

If soup’s on the menu for Christmas Eve at your house, consider making this great Christmas Eve French soup—Scallop Chowder with Fines Herbes. It’s so easy.

What’s a classic French menu for New Year’s Eve? I’ll show you. Better yet, I’ll tell you how to make much of it in advance.

What to get the person who loves France? Here are five can’t miss gifts for Francophiles for this holiday season.

My French Pot Roast
Is it gravy or is it sauce! I’ll tell you.

A creamy sausage and caramelized onion pasta with sausage. Everyday French cooking at its 30-minute best.

An easy recipe for Turkey Divan, without condensed soup. Plus the fascinating history of Turkey Divan.

Links to All My French Cocktails in One Place

Here’s how to serve Starlino, a new-to-me bitter-orange aperitif in the vein of Campari and Aperol.