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My trip to Ravenna, Italy

March 1, 2015 by Ann

Last February, I had the opportunity to visit Ravenna, Italy, a small city in the Emilia-Romagna region known for its stunning collection of Byzantine-era mosaics. You can read more about my adventures in my article for New York Times Travel, but the trip was so visually memorable, I wanted to share some of my photos. The Basilica di San Vitale, pictured above, is Ravenna’s most visited site.

Built in 525, San Vitale allegedly inspired the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul.

Mosaics lavishly decorate the apse.

Basilica di Sant’Apollinare Nuovo.

The three Magi at Sant’Apollinare Nuovo wearing outfits that inspired Roberto Cavalli.

The buildings—like the Arian Baptistry—so humble from the outside, revealed glittering artistry within.

Like this water wrought in mosaic.

The Basilica di Sant’Apollinare in Classe is two miles from Ravenna.

At the Mausoleo di Galla Placidia, these leaping flames inspired Dante’s “Inferno.”

The starry sky and trompe l’oeil border date to 425. NBD.

Ravenna is a well-heeled town with a very accessible (and adorable) historic center.

After finishing his masterpiece, “The Divine Comedy,” Dante died here in exile in 1321. Locals say his unhappy spirit still wanders the streets. His tomb, pictured above, resembles a pepper pot.

A lamp burns continuously in Dante’s tomb, the oil a gift from his guilt-ridden hometown, Florence.

The Romagna region is famous for piadina, a type of griddle-coked flat bread. Here, a sandwich filled with proscuitto, arugula, and squacquerone cheese.

I also loved the handwritten menu at Osteria dei Battibecchi, a small restaurant near the Piazza del Popoplo dripping with Old World charm.

I usually don’t like eating out alone, but the food here was so good—rustic and honest—it was company in and of itself, like these handmade spinach-filled tortolloni, tossed in sage butter sauce.

I had never seen peas and meatballs together, but this plate of polpette e piselli were a meal unto themselves, no spaghetti necessary.

The Piazza del Popolo is truly the heart of the town.

It rained during nearly my entire visit, but when the sun emerged, it gleamed in bright slivers. I left Ravenna clutching a hunk of Parmagiano-Reggiano (produced in the neighboring Emilia region, but fresher than what we’ve got at home), and dreaming of ancient glass tiles.

La Table d’Aki, Paris

December 4, 2012 by Ann

The last Tuesday dinner I had in Paris was at La Table d’Aki, a 16-seat bijou of a restaurant near the Boulevard St-Germain. This is “French food cooked by a Japanese chef,” the chef/owner Akihiro Horokoshi told me. Every bite was exquisite. You can read more about my meal in the Bites column of the New York Times, and I also wanted to share some photos with you, too. (Click on any photo for a full slideshow.)

P.S. I’m traveling in New York this week — I’ve exchanged apartments with Amy of God, I Love Paris. (She is the Cameron Diaz to my Kate Winslet — or is it vice versa?) I’ll be back soon with an update on my trip and more Tuesday dinner next week!

Best craftsmen of France

October 12, 2012 by Ann

One of the things I admire most about French culture is its preservation of traditional métiers. Walk down a street in Paris and chances are you’ll find a family-owned bakery, run by a boulangère proud to carry her name above the door. There are independent pastry shops, fromageries, charcuteries and butchers. Or even boot-makers, or hat designers, or wood-workers. And if you look closely, you’ll sometimes see four special words on the awning or window, printed above or below the shop’s name: Meilleur ouvrier de France, or best craftsman of France.

The first time I saw it, I laughed. Best worker in France? Those who criticize the French work ethic would almost certainly call that an oxymoron. But then I had the chance to meet un des meilleurs ouvriers — Pierre Gay, a fromager in Annecy who helped me with research for my book — and as I learned more about the title, I became fascinated by the path of endurance and excellence required to attain it.

This weekend, I’m thrilled to interview five MOFs — as they’re affectionately nicknamed — for an article in the New York Times. There is a baker, a florist, a corset-maker (his atelier is pictured above), a fromager, and a chocolatier, each of them the owner of an independent, Paris-based boutique.

It was fascinating to talk to these men — and, yes, in this article, they’re all men — about their backgrounds and paths to success, and to learn a little more about the challenges they face as small business owners. Others may disagree, but I think France is one of the hardest climates in which to own a small shop. Along with universal worries like cost-cutting chains and consumers who prefer the convenience of the supermarché, French employers also face concerns like the 35-hour workweek and hefty payroll taxes.

A lot of them also complained about the lack of motivation among today’s youth. “I don’t understand how they could want to play video games rather than work on this!” a charcutier once said to me, this referring to the preparation of blood sausage. But I think that’s probably a complaint as old as the métier itself.

Related links from the internets:

In Paris, Five Shops Where Artisanship becomes Art (New York Times)

Meilleurs Ouvriers de France (official site)

Kings of Pastry documentary on the MOF pâtisserie competition (trailer)

A Visit to Patrick Roger — Chocolatier, MOF (David Lebovitz)

Franck Kestener comes to Paris (David Lebovitz)

The best baguette in Paris

June 13, 2012 by Ann

You guys. You guys are the best readers a blogger could ask for. You guys are the best friends a girl could ask for. Your funny and heartfelt comments on my last post have made me laugh, cry and brim with new appreciation for our new apartment (tiny though it may be). Most of all, they have encouraged me. I feel fortified by your kind words, mes amis. I’m down but not out. I’m screwing my courage to the sticking place. I still have a few months left in Paris, which amplifies to dog years when it comes to food discoveries. And so, ladies and gentlemen, I present: the City of Light’s best baguette.

Last month, Sébastian Mauvieux of the Boulangerie Mauvieux was awarded the prize of “Best Baguette in Paris” in a competition run by the city. A few days after his big win, I met Mauvieux at his shop in the 18th arrondissement, descending to a tiny, cramped, basement laboratoire, which was suffused by the oven’s fierce heat and the scent of yeast.

Mauvieux credited many factors for his win — high-quality ingredients, the dough’s leisurely overnight rise, his own savoir-faire — and he also made sure to acknowledge his apprentice, Roues Ngeht, who hails from Cambodia. Ngeht (pictured left in the photo above) mixed, kneaded, shaped, and formed the winning baguettes, just as he creates every one of the baguettes the boulangerie sells. The result is a golden crusted, honeycomb crumbed beauty, a marvel of crunch and chew.

Read more about the prize of Meilleure Baguette de Paris at the travel blog of the New York Times.

Boulangerie Mauvieux
159 rue Ordener, 18e
tel: 01 42 62 76 70
Closed: Saturday, Sunday

Victor Hugo’s Guernsey exile

May 7, 2012 by Ann

Here in France, there is a new president elect. But I’ve been wondering, if Victor Hugo was alive, who would he have supported in the election — Sarkozy, Hollande… or exile?

You see, last summer, I was lucky enough to visit the Channel Island of Guernsey, where Hugo, a fierce critic of the Second Empire, spent over 15 years. And, last Sunday — election day in France — I was so chuffed that my article about retracing the writer’s footsteps appeared in the New York Times!

As I wrote in the article, Hugo spent his exile in Guernsey unleashing a prolific outpouring of writing, as well as decorating his home, Hauteville House (photo above). He had an imaginative eye, combing the island’s junk shops for ordinary items, which he repurposed into ornamental elements. But he didn’t decorate alone. By his side was his faithful mistress of fifty years, Juliette Drouet, who had accompanied Hugo to Guernsey (along with his wife, children, and small band of followers).

On the island, Juliette lived in a series of rented rooms and houses. Among her first stops was this pub and boarding house, the Ship & Crown.

I easily found another of her rented residences, Hauteville Fairy, pictured above, a modest building located down the street from Hugo’s home. But another, La Fallue, seemed to have disappeared without a trace.

During my sojourn on the island, it sometimes felt like I was retracing Juliette’s foosteps, as well as Victor Hugo’s. I kept asking about La Fallue, but no one knew anything about it. But then I queried my guide, Gill Girard, and her response sent chills down my spine.

You see, the hotel where I was staying, The Pandora — located a few doors down from Hugo’s Hauteville House — had been created in the 1970s or ’80s from a cluster of old houses, now connected by rambling, wonky hallways into a sprawling hotel slightly reminiscent of Fawlty Towers. Gill told me that La Fallue, Juliette’s home, had been one of the original houses, and, as she described it, I realized it currently formed the part of the hotel where I was staying.

From the window of my room, number 14, I could see a glass conservatory — Hugo’s third-floor office and bedroom, which he called “the lookout” (photo above). According to the Victor Hugo biography by Graham Robb, every morning the writer would signal from his eyrie to Juliette, tying a white handkerchief — a “torchon radieux” — to the railings to indicate he was awake. Is it possible that my room in The Pandora had been part of Juliette’s house?

I can only say that I slept like the dead in that room, unusually well for someone who is a bit of a nervous traveler. Perhaps it was the ghost of Juliette, Victor Hugo, or both, who ensured my rest.

Read the full article in the New York Times, and check out the accompanying slideshow of beautiful photographs.

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