The Sweet Life in Paris: Delicious Adventures in the World's Most Glorious - and Perplexing - City |  | Author: David Lebovitz
Publisher: Broadway
Category: eBooks
This item is no longer available
Rating:  62 reviews
Sales Rank: 3821
Format: Kindle Book
Media: Kindle Edition
Pages: 304
Number Of Items: 1
Dewey Decimal Number: 641.013
ASIN: B001NLL7VQ
Publication Date: April 25, 2009
| |
| Similar Items:
| |
| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
Like so many others, David Lebovitz dreamed about living in Paris ever since he first visited the city in the 1980s. Finally, after a nearly two-decade career as a pastry chef and cookbook author, he moved to Paris to start a new life. Having crammed all his worldly belongings into three suitcases, he arrived, hopes high, at his new apartment in the lively Bastille neighborhood.
But he soon discovered it's a different world en France.
From learning the ironclad rules of social conduct to the mysteries of men's footwear, from shopkeepers who work so hard not to sell you anything to the etiquette of working the right way around the cheese plate, here is David's story of how he came to fall in love with—and even understand—this glorious, yet sometimes maddening, city.
When did he realize he had morphed into un vrai parisien? It might have been when he found himself considering a purchase of men's dress socks with cartoon characters on them. Or perhaps the time he went to a bank with 135 euros in hand to make a 134-euro payment, was told the bank had no change that day, and thought it was completely normal. Or when he found himself dressing up to take out the garbage because he had come to accept that in Paris appearances and image mean everything.
The more than fifty original recipes, for dishes both savory and sweet, such as Pork Loin with Brown Sugar–Bourbon Glaze, Braised Turkey in Beaujolais Nouveau with Prunes, Bacon and Bleu Cheese Cake, Chocolate-Coconut Marshmallows, Chocolate Spice Bread, Lemon-Glazed Madeleines, and Mocha–Crème Fraîche Cake, will have readers running to the kitchen once they stop laughing.
The Sweet Life in Paris is a deliciously funny, offbeat, and irreverent look at the city of lights, cheese, chocolate, and other confections.
|
| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 62
 This souffle fails to rise August 30, 2010
M. Feldman (Bowdoin, Maine, USA)
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
Okay, let's get the subject of the many recipes that appear in "The Sweet Life in Paris" out of the way first. These recipes look great, although I haven't made any of them yet. David Lebovitz is a well-known pastry chef, and when he's talking about food he's on his own turf and his writer's voice is opinionated and sharp. No problem there. His list of chocolatiers and other shops is welcome, too.
It's the non-recipe part of the book I had a problem with. Here, Lebovitz could have really used a good editor, since his short vignettes about life in Paris read like a blog, not a book. What is good for one is not good for the other. Blog entries are short and often read by people new to the web site. It's okay, in other words, to start in the middle (if you're the reader) or repeat yourself (if you're the writer). In a book, however, the recurrence of observations (fanny-pack wearing loud Americans, pushy Parisians, haughty shop personnel, and so on) gets pretty old after a while, particularly since Lebovitz is hardly the first person to write about them. The placement of recipes is also odd; often they are just stuck in at the end of a section, for no particular reason that's evident. Oh for a Laurie Colwin, who built her food essays so beautifully around a particular recipe or two. And David Sedaris, when he writes about his life in France, is a whole lot funnier.
While the recipes may be first rate, there are better books about an American in Paris. There's Julia Child's great "My Life In France," of course, but for something more contemporary there's Adam Gopnik's "Paris to the Moon," which never repeats itself and which opens up aspects of French life that are just plain fascinating. Lebovitz recycles the obvious stuff; Gopnik takes you where you never thought to go in the first place. There are reasons why so many people (including me) love Paris, but "The Sweet Life in Paris" is more likely to make you reach for your whisk and bowls than to make you book a plane ticket.
M. Feldman
 Read before visiting Paris August 30, 2010
Beentheredonethat (California)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
This is the most incredible insight into Paris and its inhabitants, not to mention delicious recipes along the way. Infact, I'd go so far as to say, it should be used as guide for visiting or moving anywhere.
Great travel lit for the Paris sojourn July 11, 2010
Juliana Loh
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
Lebovitz is deeply engaging and it's a brilliant read for that sojourn in Paris. I highly recommend it for travel reading... then proceeding to check out the restaurants and cafes mentioned in the book!"
Sweet life is spot on and hilarious. July 7, 2010
H. Albert (Chicago, IL USA)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
I loved David's book immensely. As an international flight attendant coming to Paris one day a week for twenty years I understood exactly what he was saying. It is easy to become completely enchanted with the City of Lights and then to get frustrated in the next minute. Sweet Life in Paris gets it right and I can't wait to try the recipes.
That's it. I'm moving to Paris! June 23, 2010
Andy Strote (Toronto)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
I was in Paris last month on vacation. I looked at this book before I left and thought, nah, I don't want all those recipes. As soon as I got back, I ordered it. I'm in the middle of it now. Learned a lot for my next trip to Paris, and will have a different perspective.... filtered through a lens of food and chocolate. About the book? Oh, yeah, love it. If you like desserts, Paris and preferably both, this is for you. Yeah, like the others have said, witty, funny, charming as it gets.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 62
|
|
|
