Dinner Chez Moi

Tips, tricks and recipes to make your feasts and fetes more French, from the New York Times bestselling author of Lunch in Paris and Picnic in Provence When Elizabeth Bard, a New Yorker raised on Twizzlers and instant mac and cheese, fell for a handsome Frenchman and moved to Paris, she discovered a whole new world of culinary delights. First in Paris, then in a tiny village in Provence, Elizabeth explored the markets, incorporating new ingredients and rituals into her everyday meals and routines. After 15 years of cooking in her own French kitchen, making French friends--and observing her slim and elegant French mother-in-law--Elizabeth has gathered a treasure trove of information that has radically changed her own eating habits for the better. She realized that what most Americans call "dieting"--smaller portions, no snacking, a preference for seasonal fruits and vegetables, and limited sugar--the French simply call "eating." And they do it with pleasure, gusto, and flair. With wit, sound advice, and easy-to-follow recipes, Bard lets her readers in on a range of delightful--and useful--French secrets to eating and living well, including hunger as the new foreplay, the top five essential French cooking tools and 15 minute meals popular throughout France, and the concept of benevolent dictatorship: why French kids eat veggies, and how to get yours to eat them, too. Whether you're ready for a complete kitchen transformation or simply looking for dinner party inspiration, Dinner Chez Moi is a fun, practical, and charming how-to guide that will add a dash of joie de vivre to your kitchen--and your life!

Laura Calder is one of Canada’s most charming Food Network hosts, proving herself witty, engaging, an excellent teacher and a great deal of fun. Laura’s passion for cooking and writing about food shines through in her elegant cookbooks. Dinner Chez Moi is menu-based and seasonal, offering multiple options and mix-and-match menus, which gives cooks as many ideas for meals as there are days in the year. Dinner parties, Laura says, are not stuffy and difficult ordeals; rather, as she puts it, “In my world, ‘dinner party’ just means eating with others. It can be as simple as an omelette or a baked potato, but if I’m not stuck eating it alone, that’s party enough for me!” Dinner Chez Moi is a book for anyone who wants to cook for people they love. Detailed plans and menus deliver thoughtful advice and guidance, with a light touch. Photography is as lovely as in French Taste, with a fresh and elegant design.

Laura Calder is one of Canada’s most charming Food Network hosts, proving herself witty, engaging, an excellent teacher and a great deal of fun. Laura’s passion for cooking and writing about food shows in her elegant cookbooks, and Dinner Chez Moi is no exception. A menu-based, seasonal cookbook offering multiple options and mix-and-match menus gives cooks as many ideas for meals as there are days in the year. Dinner parties, Laura says, are not stuffy and difficult ordeals; rather, as she puts it, “in my world, -dinner party’ just means eating with others. It can be as simple as an omelette or a baked potato, but if I’m not stuck eating it alone, that’s party enough for me!” Dinner Chez Moi is a book for anyone who wants to cook for people they love. Menus deliver delicious food, thoughtful advice and amusing real-life stories, with a light touch.

Tips, tricks and recipes to make your feasts and fetes more French, from the New York Times bestselling author of Lunch in Paris and Picnic in Provence When Elizabeth Bard, a New Yorker raised on Twizzlers and instant mac and cheese, fell for a handsome Frenchman and moved to Paris, she discovered a whole new world of culinary delights. First in Paris, then in a tiny village in Provence, Elizabeth explored the markets, incorporating new ingredients and rituals into her everyday meals and routines. After 15 years of cooking in her own French kitchen, making French friends-and observing her slim and elegant French mother-in-law-Elizabeth has gathered a treasure trove of information that has radically changed her own eating habits for the better. She realized that what most Americans call "dieting"-smaller portions, no snacking, a preference for seasonal fruits and vegetables, and limited sugar-the French simply call "eating." And they do it with pleasure, gusto, and flair. With wit, sound advice, and easy-to-follow recipes, Bard lets her readers in on a range of delightful-and useful-French secrets to eating and living well, including hunger as the new foreplay, the top five essential French cooking tools and 15 minute meals popular throughout France, and the concept of benevolent dictatorship: why French kids eat veggies, and how to get yours to eat them, too. Whether you're ready for a complete kitchen transformation or simply looking for dinner party inspiration, Dinner Chez Moi is a fun, practical, and charming how-to guide that will add a dash of joie de vivre to your kitchen-and your life!

At forty-three, Myriam has been a wife, mother, and lover—but never a restauranteur. When she opens Chez Moi in a quiet neighborhood in Paris, she has no idea how to run a business, but armed only with her love of cooking, she is determined to try. Barely able to pay the rent, Myriam secretly sleeps in the dining room and bathes in the kitchen sink, while struggling to come to terms with the painful memories of her past. But soon enough her delectable cuisine brings her many neighbors to Chez Moi, and Myriam finds that she may get a second chance at life and love. Redolent with the sights, smells, and tastes of Paris, Chez Moi is a charming story that will appeal to the many readers who fell in love with Joanne Harris’s Chocolat and Laura Esquivel’s Like Water for Chocolate.

The time is right for getting back to French home cooking and discovering how it has evolved, how easy it is for anyone to make, and how appropriate it is for the moment. Laura Calder reminds us that we don’t have to commit to mastering the entire canon of French cuisine to make a delectable chocolate mousse or a sole amandine. And just because we’re in the mood for coq au vin doesn’t mean we have to start dinner with a foie gras terrine and end with Grand Marnier soufflé. We can integrate a French dish into the menus already in our repertoire -- serve coq au vin as a main course, with gingerbread or ice-cream sundaes for dessert. Why not? French Taste is all about simplicity. If we get too caught up in the “how to” of French cooking, we miss the point. Yes, French cuisine has given the world impressive recipes and techniques, but the most valuable things the French have to offer when it comes to food are a sense of how to eat with joyful abandon, how to make food look as beautiful as it tastes and how to take time to enjoy good food in good company.

In Paris for a weekend visit, Elizabeth Bard sat down to lunch with a handsome Frenchman -- and never went home again. Was it love at first sight? Or was it the way her knife slid effortlessly through her pavé au poivre, the steak's pink juices puddling into the buttery pepper sauce? Lunch in Paris is a memoir about a young American woman caught up in two passionate love affairs -- one with her new beau, Gwendal, the other with French cuisine. Packing her bags for a new life in the world's most romantic city, Elizabeth is plunged into a world of bustling open-air markets, hipster bistros, and size 2 femmes fatales. She learns to gut her first fish (with a little help from Jane Austen), soothe pangs of homesickness (with the rise of a chocolate soufflé), and develops a crush on her local butcher (who bears a striking resemblance to Matt Dillon). Elizabeth finds that the deeper she immerses herself in the world of French cuisine, the more Paris itself begins to translate. French culture, she discovers, is not unlike a well-ripened cheese -- there may be a crusty exterior, until you cut through to the melting, piquant heart. Peppered with mouth-watering recipes for summer ratatouille, swordfish tartare and molten chocolate cakes, Lunch in Paris is a story of falling in love, redefining success and discovering what it truly means to be at home. In the delicious tradition of memoirs like A Year in Provence and Under the Tuscan Sun, this book is the perfect treat for anyone who has dreamed that lunch in Paris could change their life.

In Paris for a weekend visit, Elizabeth Bard sat down to lunch with a handsome Frenchman--and never went home again. Was it love at first sight? Or was it the way her knife slid effortlessly through her pavé au poivre, the steak's pink juices puddling into the buttery pepper sauce? Lunch in Paris is a memoir about a young American woman caught up in two passionate love affairs--one with her new beau, Gwendal, the other with French cuisine. Packing her bags for a new life in the world's most romantic city, Elizabeth is plunged into a world of bustling open-air markets, hipster bistros, and size 2 femmes fatales. She learns to gut her first fish (with a little help from Jane Austen), soothe pangs of homesickness (with the rise of a chocolate soufflé), and develops a crush on her local butcher (who bears a striking resemblance to Matt Dillon). Elizabeth finds that the deeper she immerses herself in the world of French cuisine, the more Paris itself begins to translate. French culture, she discovers, is not unlike a well-ripened cheese--there may be a crusty exterior, until you cut through to the melting, piquant heart. Peppered with mouth-watering recipes for summer ratatouille, swordfish tartare and molten chocolate cakes, Lunch in Paris is a story of falling in love, redefining success and discovering what it truly means to be at home. In the delicious tradition of memoirs like A Year in Provence and Under the Tuscan Sun, this book is the perfect treat for anyone who has dreamed that lunch in Paris could change their life.