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Picnic in Provence: A Memoir with Recipes
The bestselling author of Lunch in Paris takes us on another delicious journey, this time to the heart of Provence.
Ten years ago, New Yorker Elizabeth Bard followed a handsome Frenchman up a spiral staircase to a love nest in the heart of Paris. Now, with a baby on the way and the world's flakiest croissant around the corner, Elizabeth is sure she's found her "forever place." But life has other plans.
On a last romantic jaunt before the baby arrives, the couple take a trip to the tiny Provencal village of Céreste. A chance encounter leads them to the wartime home of a famous poet, a tale of a buried manuscript and a garden full of heirloom roses. Under the spell of the house and its unique history, in less time than it takes to flip a crepe, Elizabeth and Gwendal decide to move-lock, stock and Le Creuset-to the French countryside.
When the couple and their newborn son arrive in Provence, they discover a land of blue skies, lavender fields and peaches that taste like sunshine. Seduced by the local ingredients, they begin a new adventure as culinary entrepreneurs, starting their own artisanal ice cream shop and experimenting with flavors like saffron, sheep's milk yogurt and fruity olive oil.
Filled with enticing recipes for stuffed zucchini flowers, fig tart and honey and thyme ice cream, Picnic in Provence is the story of everything that happens after the happily ever an American learning the tricks of French motherhood, a family finding a new professional passion, and a cook's initiation into classic Provencal cuisine. With wit, humor and scoop of wild strawberry sorbet, Bard reminds us that life-in and out of the kitchen-is a rendez-vous with the unexpected.
Ten years ago, New Yorker Elizabeth Bard followed a handsome Frenchman up a spiral staircase to a love nest in the heart of Paris. Now, with a baby on the way and the world's flakiest croissant around the corner, Elizabeth is sure she's found her "forever place." But life has other plans.
On a last romantic jaunt before the baby arrives, the couple take a trip to the tiny Provencal village of Céreste. A chance encounter leads them to the wartime home of a famous poet, a tale of a buried manuscript and a garden full of heirloom roses. Under the spell of the house and its unique history, in less time than it takes to flip a crepe, Elizabeth and Gwendal decide to move-lock, stock and Le Creuset-to the French countryside.
When the couple and their newborn son arrive in Provence, they discover a land of blue skies, lavender fields and peaches that taste like sunshine. Seduced by the local ingredients, they begin a new adventure as culinary entrepreneurs, starting their own artisanal ice cream shop and experimenting with flavors like saffron, sheep's milk yogurt and fruity olive oil.
Filled with enticing recipes for stuffed zucchini flowers, fig tart and honey and thyme ice cream, Picnic in Provence is the story of everything that happens after the happily ever an American learning the tricks of French motherhood, a family finding a new professional passion, and a cook's initiation into classic Provencal cuisine. With wit, humor and scoop of wild strawberry sorbet, Bard reminds us that life-in and out of the kitchen-is a rendez-vous with the unexpected.
385 pages, Paperback
First published April 7, 2015
234 people are currently reading
5353 people want to read
About the author
Elizabeth Bard
8 books312 followersElizabeth Bard is an American journalist based in Paris. She has written about art, travel and digital culture for The New York Times, The International Herald Tribune, Wired, Time Out and The Huffington Post. She makes a mean chocolate soufflé.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 384 reviews
July 24, 2016
Fantastic timing I started this along with the Tour de France 2016. I made the recipes, absorbed the advice, laughed with her misadventures while watching the bikes travel through France.
This book is more than just a memoir. It is a journey of self discovery, enjoying life , simplifying and finding the career that fits. This is also a cookbook, filled with tasty recipes, filled with fresh whole ingredients, seasonal and healthy. There are some very important life lessons learned, simple common sense no voodoo magic or doctor visits necessary. Honest, eyeopening and educational.
When a city girl from New York, marries a frenchman and moves overseas her life is already altered to the extreme. While on a historical hunting adventure through France they stumble onto a town that will alter their lives in a massive way. They buy an old home, previously lived in by a French poet, her husband admires, they get pregnant, change career plans and directions, and she learns to function as local, slowly and sometimes painfully.
Her moments with the French government, child care, child birth and attitude of raising children is eyeopening. They seem to have such a better grasp on the humanity of bringing children into the world and the woman's needs. The governmental laid back attitude is a hard adjustment for her, as it would be for any of us who are always rushed to finish, get ahead, to get their first.
I found some of the lessons she learned useful in my own life. Her happiness in infectious! A slight adjustment in my attitude has made a nice change. I have one phrase stuck in my head that came from a man who commented when she broke the unwritten rule of eating while on the go "Watch your kilos" The diet/meal schedule was simple. I gave it a go for 3 weeks, my family loved the large lunches, the soups and fresh breads for dinner, the fresh fruit desserts and didn't miss snacking at all.
I am going out to get her other book Lunch in Paris this week.
Thank you Goodreads for offering this in your giveaway that I won. :D
This book is more than just a memoir. It is a journey of self discovery, enjoying life , simplifying and finding the career that fits. This is also a cookbook, filled with tasty recipes, filled with fresh whole ingredients, seasonal and healthy. There are some very important life lessons learned, simple common sense no voodoo magic or doctor visits necessary. Honest, eyeopening and educational.
When a city girl from New York, marries a frenchman and moves overseas her life is already altered to the extreme. While on a historical hunting adventure through France they stumble onto a town that will alter their lives in a massive way. They buy an old home, previously lived in by a French poet, her husband admires, they get pregnant, change career plans and directions, and she learns to function as local, slowly and sometimes painfully.
Her moments with the French government, child care, child birth and attitude of raising children is eyeopening. They seem to have such a better grasp on the humanity of bringing children into the world and the woman's needs. The governmental laid back attitude is a hard adjustment for her, as it would be for any of us who are always rushed to finish, get ahead, to get their first.
I found some of the lessons she learned useful in my own life. Her happiness in infectious! A slight adjustment in my attitude has made a nice change. I have one phrase stuck in my head that came from a man who commented when she broke the unwritten rule of eating while on the go "Watch your kilos" The diet/meal schedule was simple. I gave it a go for 3 weeks, my family loved the large lunches, the soups and fresh breads for dinner, the fresh fruit desserts and didn't miss snacking at all.
I am going out to get her other book Lunch in Paris this week.
Thank you Goodreads for offering this in your giveaway that I won. :D
July 6, 2015
More France, less emotion, please.
I read this book for a summer vacation escape, not for an angsty foray into feelings of inadequate parenting.
I read this book for a summer vacation escape, not for an angsty foray into feelings of inadequate parenting.
May 26, 2015
I absolutely adored this book. I hated finishing it. I love Elizabeth, Gwendal and their son Alexandre, and her life in Provence is like comfort food for the soul ( and for the stomach- the French food and recipes in each chapter are amaaaaazing) . If you haven't read her first one, Lunch in Paris, read it now. Then jump right into this one. If you've never been to France you'll be booking your flights. I finished this on my birthday and it felt like a gift to myself ❤️❤️
February 8, 2017
In 2011, it was just dumb luck that I came across Elizabeth Bard’s first food memoir, Lunch in Paris, A Love Story with Recipes, while I was perusing the food memoir section at a bookstore. A story of living in Paris, meeting the man of your dreams, it was a truly fun story and one of the better food memoirs I’ve read. So imagine my delight when I was in the same section of the same bookstore (the Northshire in Manchester, Vermont. It has the BEST food memoir selection I’ve ever seen!) to find that Bard has continued writing and has moved to Provence!
Picnic in Provence, a Memoir in Recipes is a true delight. Now married to Gwendal and in tow with tiny Alexandre, Bard retells the story of finding the small town of Céreste in the heart of Provence, where she and her family move into the home of poet René Charr. Now she’s not a visitor, she is entrenched in day-to-day village life. And what I liked about this is Bard shows us life in another country as well as her vulnerable side; as a new mother, she writes about her questions and fears with her son when it appears he prefers his father to her. The back and forth of should she give up her U.S. citizenship to become a French citizen? (She does.) What it’s like to be an American living in a country where there is a certain “style,” ie. French women don’t get fat. One of my favorite chapters was when her friend, Courtney, visited. A woman who suffered from bulimia and binge-eating, Bard turns to look at her own eating habits and those of France vs. the U. S. “A French diet is a balancing act. If you eat a little extra dessert at dinner, you have a bowl of soup or a plate of steamed vegetables the next day for lunch. I call it the quiet diet. It’s nobody’s business but mine.”
Throughout it all, Bard gives us mouth-watering recipes and food descriptions. “There’s something a little greedy about roasted tomatoes. Slick with olive oil and mellowed with garlic, pulpy like a supermarket romance novel, they are my attempt at pleasure hoarding. I want to be able to peek into the freezer in December and know I can use this spark of sunshine to light up a winter pasta sauce or guarantee a sensational base for braised veal shank or white beans.” (I’ll be doing that this summer.) French cooking isn’t about fancy cooking with sauces, most of it is simple, local, fresh food since you go to the market regularly throughout the week. White Beans with Tomatoes and Herbs, Zucchini Gratin, Lentil and Sausage Stew, Arugula Salad with Chicken, Fresh Figs, and Avocado, Mulled Wine Roasted Plums. (Is your mouth watering yet?)
I won’t spoil the ending for you like the book jacket did for me (grrr), but I have a feeling in the next few years I will find yet another chapter in Bard’s food life on the shelf of a bookstore. If I’m lucky enough.
Picnic in Provence, a Memoir in Recipes is a true delight. Now married to Gwendal and in tow with tiny Alexandre, Bard retells the story of finding the small town of Céreste in the heart of Provence, where she and her family move into the home of poet René Charr. Now she’s not a visitor, she is entrenched in day-to-day village life. And what I liked about this is Bard shows us life in another country as well as her vulnerable side; as a new mother, she writes about her questions and fears with her son when it appears he prefers his father to her. The back and forth of should she give up her U.S. citizenship to become a French citizen? (She does.) What it’s like to be an American living in a country where there is a certain “style,” ie. French women don’t get fat. One of my favorite chapters was when her friend, Courtney, visited. A woman who suffered from bulimia and binge-eating, Bard turns to look at her own eating habits and those of France vs. the U. S. “A French diet is a balancing act. If you eat a little extra dessert at dinner, you have a bowl of soup or a plate of steamed vegetables the next day for lunch. I call it the quiet diet. It’s nobody’s business but mine.”
Throughout it all, Bard gives us mouth-watering recipes and food descriptions. “There’s something a little greedy about roasted tomatoes. Slick with olive oil and mellowed with garlic, pulpy like a supermarket romance novel, they are my attempt at pleasure hoarding. I want to be able to peek into the freezer in December and know I can use this spark of sunshine to light up a winter pasta sauce or guarantee a sensational base for braised veal shank or white beans.” (I’ll be doing that this summer.) French cooking isn’t about fancy cooking with sauces, most of it is simple, local, fresh food since you go to the market regularly throughout the week. White Beans with Tomatoes and Herbs, Zucchini Gratin, Lentil and Sausage Stew, Arugula Salad with Chicken, Fresh Figs, and Avocado, Mulled Wine Roasted Plums. (Is your mouth watering yet?)
I won’t spoil the ending for you like the book jacket did for me (grrr), but I have a feeling in the next few years I will find yet another chapter in Bard’s food life on the shelf of a bookstore. If I’m lucky enough.
July 4, 2015
This is the memoir of an expat New Yorker who fell in love with a Frenchman and totally immersed herself in the lifestyle and cuisine of rural France. Though the book is well written I just felt that her story is a bit too snobby and will only connect with extreme foodies and people of great monetary substance and not to common folk like me. The recipes that she interspersed throughout the text are full of ingredients that are simply not available to a typical person who is not blessed with a fig tree in your front yard and a ready supply of fresh saffron, lavender, truffles and dozens of other hard to get ingredients. A book with a narrow, narrow audience of which I was not one.
September 29, 2015
After reading Lunch in Paris, I looked forward to reading the sequel, Picnic in Provence. Lunch in Paris told the story of Elizabeth and Gwendall and their life in Paris with all its quirks..I loved it and loved the recipes at the end of each chapter. It was simply charming. Picnic in Provence has the couple and their new addition, Alexander, moving to a small idyllic town in Provence. Although sweet, this book lacks the magic of Lunch in Paris. Elizabeth seems to add much personal and opinionated commentary about parenting, french education system, healthcare, and even cooking. This was an enjoyable book, for I loved the stories of living in a provincial town, but it did not hold the same allure as her first book.
August 20, 2017
The sensory detail surrounding French cuisine and countryside was lovely to read about and made me feel like I was in France. However, only about 1/4 of the way through the over-generalizations and the author's pretentious tone got to me. It was very "Oh, look how much superior my life in France is to you mere North Americans." That, in addition to a few jabs aimed at Babybel cheese and self-serve yogurt counters, made this book quite unbearable, but to each their own I guess.
April 15, 2015
I loved Lunch in Paris and I loved Picnic in Provence. I can't decide where I want to live more, Paris or Cereste! Just like in LiP, PiP has tons of great recipes. I have made her lentil dish from LiP dozens of times and it's one of my favorites, and there are many I can't wait to try from the new book.
June 2, 2017
The sub-title says it all. Unusual for a Foodie book there's not a glossy photo in sight. Instead there are loving descriptions of seasons, produce, countryside, friends and family - vivid, lush and full of flavour. Practically every page made me feel hungry! The recipes are helpful and unpretentious - just good, commonsense directions. I'd love a copy of the book for my own library.
December 17, 2015
Simply put, if I was to compare this book to something it'd be with a breath of fresh air.
I was a bit worried before I started this book that I remembered her previous book far too fondly, as I had read it earlier in the year. And that perhaps I had given her previous book too much credit. I realize now I should have had complete faith in my tastes earlier in the year, and that I would enjoy this book just as much as I did the first one.
It's something about her writing style and the way the story often revolves around food that just makes this such a relaxing read. Because believe me, a relaxing read is something I need at this point in the year. I don't really know how else to describing her writing as anything but relaxing, it has a certain poetic tone to it but at the same time is more than readable.
Once again I had points where I didn't agree with her words or tone on certain issues but as I said before, these points were far and few and didn't detract from the story in the slightest. But that's the only real flaw that comes to mind for me.
That and some french passages left untranslated, which didn't so much as annoy me as it might for another purely because I saw of it as more of a learning opportunity, something to google quickly really.
I was a bit worried before I started this book that I remembered her previous book far too fondly, as I had read it earlier in the year. And that perhaps I had given her previous book too much credit. I realize now I should have had complete faith in my tastes earlier in the year, and that I would enjoy this book just as much as I did the first one.
It's something about her writing style and the way the story often revolves around food that just makes this such a relaxing read. Because believe me, a relaxing read is something I need at this point in the year. I don't really know how else to describing her writing as anything but relaxing, it has a certain poetic tone to it but at the same time is more than readable.
Once again I had points where I didn't agree with her words or tone on certain issues but as I said before, these points were far and few and didn't detract from the story in the slightest. But that's the only real flaw that comes to mind for me.
That and some french passages left untranslated, which didn't so much as annoy me as it might for another purely because I saw of it as more of a learning opportunity, something to google quickly really.
September 1, 2015
Three and half stars for this memoir of a New Yorker married to a Parisian and their new life with their young son in Provence. I listened to the book on audio and it is a lovely story for the end of summer, filled with the sights, smells and foods of southern France. It wasn't gripping, but a pleasant enough book. The author does a fine job of reading aloud her own work, but her accent is off-putting: an American living in France, who speaks with a bit of an upper class British accent. A down to earth delivery would have made her story more relatable and her character more sympathetic.
May 8, 2015
Loved this memoir and her first one as well. Written with such detail and so personable. Love the recipes too! Hope she writes a third. :-)
July 28, 2016
Well written, interesting recipes, but in the end, I just felt sad for the author and her life-long search for happiness and peace.
October 4, 2016
Iritoval ma celý Piknik. Autorka iba opisovala okamihy zo svojho života – toto by dokázal každý a ani trošku spisovateľského talentu by v sebe nemusel mať. Opakujem: len napísala to, čo videla. Nevšimla som si ani to, že by svoj prejav nejako okrášlila. Kto by túto suchú výpoveď chcel, preboha, čítať? No dobre – ja, no to som naozaj netušila, do čoho idem. Keby sa aspoň posnažila.. Možno jej krivdím – snažila sa, ale výsledok nikde. Ľudkovia, musíte mať minimálne štipku talentu, aby ste mohli písať. Nikto vám nič nezakazuje, ak vás to baví, tak to robte, no buďte k sebe takí sebakritickí, že si uvedomíte, že toto do žiadneho vydavateľstva posielať netreba. Bestseller? To si zo mňa robíte srandu, však? Ona vraj napísala najlepšie hodnotenú knihu?
Elizabeth nemá v sebe ani štipku humoru. Keď sa snažila zavtipkovať, dopadlo to zle. Jej zmysel pre humor je veľmi suchý, takže keď sa v knihe odohralo niečo, čoho by sa výborný spisovateľ chytil a premenil to v zlato, ona to premenila v blato.
Naivne som si na začiatku myslela, že to môže byť rozbeh, že všetko bude mať úžasný strhujúci priebeh a ja si to užijem. V polovici som zistila, že nič také sa nekoná. Knihu by som prirovnala k starému autu, ktoré sa snaží svojim majiteľom poslúžiť, no už jazdí z posledných síl. Teraz sa cítim skutočne zle – ako učiteľka, ktorá má povedať žiakovi, že jeho slohová práca je príšerná, ale aj snaha sa počíta. Tou snahou by som označila recepty – veľmi podrobné, takže aj osoby, ktoré majú problém s varením ich dokážu urobiť. Niektoré z nich určite vyskúšam, pretože ma zaujali. Hrozné, recepty sú jediné, čo ma nadchlo a aj kvôli ním dám dielu vyššie hodnotenie.
Ďalšia vec, ktorá ma najprv bavila a potom mi liezla na nervy, bolo porovnávanie francúzskej a americkej kultúry. Tešila som sa ako malá, že toto je niečo, čo zdvihne kredit, no prečítala som si pár strán a porovnávanie kultúr sa zmenilo na nariekanie nad tým, aké to má ona ťažké, že bola zvyknutá na niečo a teraz musí robiť to namiesto toho. Čo vám poviem, jedna katastrofa. Nejdem sa už viac rozčuľovať. Ak chcete, tak si knihu prečítajte.
Elizabeth nemá v sebe ani štipku humoru. Keď sa snažila zavtipkovať, dopadlo to zle. Jej zmysel pre humor je veľmi suchý, takže keď sa v knihe odohralo niečo, čoho by sa výborný spisovateľ chytil a premenil to v zlato, ona to premenila v blato.
Naivne som si na začiatku myslela, že to môže byť rozbeh, že všetko bude mať úžasný strhujúci priebeh a ja si to užijem. V polovici som zistila, že nič také sa nekoná. Knihu by som prirovnala k starému autu, ktoré sa snaží svojim majiteľom poslúžiť, no už jazdí z posledných síl. Teraz sa cítim skutočne zle – ako učiteľka, ktorá má povedať žiakovi, že jeho slohová práca je príšerná, ale aj snaha sa počíta. Tou snahou by som označila recepty – veľmi podrobné, takže aj osoby, ktoré majú problém s varením ich dokážu urobiť. Niektoré z nich určite vyskúšam, pretože ma zaujali. Hrozné, recepty sú jediné, čo ma nadchlo a aj kvôli ním dám dielu vyššie hodnotenie.
Ďalšia vec, ktorá ma najprv bavila a potom mi liezla na nervy, bolo porovnávanie francúzskej a americkej kultúry. Tešila som sa ako malá, že toto je niečo, čo zdvihne kredit, no prečítala som si pár strán a porovnávanie kultúr sa zmenilo na nariekanie nad tým, aké to má ona ťažké, že bola zvyknutá na niečo a teraz musí robiť to namiesto toho. Čo vám poviem, jedna katastrofa. Nejdem sa už viac rozčuľovať. Ak chcete, tak si knihu prečítajte.
June 6, 2015
I won a copy of this book free through Goodreads First Reads. I'll definitely have to pass this one on to my mom so she can read it and try the recipes, but not till I've copied down the recipes I want to make soon.
This book is not just a memoir about food. The author, an American, talks about being a mother and about getting used to life in a small town in France, after living for years with her French husband in Paris. Along the way she shows some of what makes French lifestyles so alluring to many younger Americans I know, the low-stress, healthy foods and balance approach to life that differs quite a lot from the culture I and most people I know were raised in. Bard is not replacing her American background, though, just incorporating her past into her current life in France, so this is not an American-bashing book, and she has some interesting perspectives on American life along the way, too.
My copy of this book was an uncorrected proof copy, so it had quite a few typos and sentences in need of editing, and there was no index or 'about the author' in my copy, just blank pages, which may come in handy for making recipe notes if I get my book back after Mom's read it.
This book is not just a memoir about food. The author, an American, talks about being a mother and about getting used to life in a small town in France, after living for years with her French husband in Paris. Along the way she shows some of what makes French lifestyles so alluring to many younger Americans I know, the low-stress, healthy foods and balance approach to life that differs quite a lot from the culture I and most people I know were raised in. Bard is not replacing her American background, though, just incorporating her past into her current life in France, so this is not an American-bashing book, and she has some interesting perspectives on American life along the way, too.
My copy of this book was an uncorrected proof copy, so it had quite a few typos and sentences in need of editing, and there was no index or 'about the author' in my copy, just blank pages, which may come in handy for making recipe notes if I get my book back after Mom's read it.
July 25, 2015
Picnic in Provence by Elizabeth Bard is a delightful, inspiring novel set mainly in Provence, France. I thoroughly enjoyed this novel. It takes you on a journey this time right into the heart of beautiful Provence. After living in busy, bustling Paris a huge decision is made to move to the quieter more countryside part of France in Cereste, Provence. Starting a new local artisanal ice-cream shop together as a couple is not easy but somehow they find a way by discovering new seasonal delectable flavours through spices, herbs and spring/summer fruits. This novel is full of enticing recipes such as stuffed zucchini flowers, fig tart and honey & thyme ice cream, just to name a few. From Picnic Blanket to Table and adventures through markets in Provence this novel will be a delight to all. Highly recommend. Enjoy your reading.
August 24, 2016
I bought this and the much more venerable, A Year in Provence by Peter Mayle, in anticipation of an upcoming family vacation to Provence. Peter Mayle's best-selling account failed to pique my interest, but I really enjoyed Bard's memoir, probably because it is more current and we are (roughly) in the same demographic. She talks about her decision to move from Paris to a village in Provence and eventually open an ice cream shop with her French husband and young son, as well as her relationships with her family and about being an American in France. I devoured this on the long flight home and just wish I had read it on the front end of my trip so that I could have sought out her ice cream shop.
December 30, 2016
This book was lovely and delicious...much like France itself. I will admit that I skipped through most of the recipes because well, I'm not ready to gut my own fish or make my own ice cream and sapphire is not currently in my budget but I thoroughly enjoyed the stories of moving to a small town, trying to be French enough to fit in while also maintaining her Americanness, and the strength and struggles of building a family, keeping a happy marriage, and starting a business with her husband. I could taste the culture in this book and thought the author did a great job of melding this travelogue/cook book/memoir. Overall, c'etait super!
November 22, 2017
This is practically a fantasy book. Woman leaves her life in chic Paris for a life of culinary delights with her new family in Provence? Sounds dreamy.
Bard, however, makes sure we know its not all the titular picnic. There is plenty of work in a life in Provence, but also a lot of pleasure.
This book had less of the philosophical balance between being French and being American, which surprised me, as with a second generation in play I was expecting that to be a bit more front and center.
But I liked it. A pleasant little read, and it certainly does spark the imagination towards fig tarts and honey ice cream.....
Bard, however, makes sure we know its not all the titular picnic. There is plenty of work in a life in Provence, but also a lot of pleasure.
This book had less of the philosophical balance between being French and being American, which surprised me, as with a second generation in play I was expecting that to be a bit more front and center.
But I liked it. A pleasant little read, and it certainly does spark the imagination towards fig tarts and honey ice cream.....
December 31, 2020
Oh how I dislike giving any book only one star. It would be dishonest to give more, however. It took me nearly a year to finally finish. But I am doggedly determined. And hurray for me. I did it. I read every torturous word.
The writing is awful. She switches tenses regularly which is disconcerting. And she bounces all over the timeline. She should fire her editor! The author didn't exactly cover herself in glory; she wasn't particularly likable. Perhaps she deserves kudos for that.
Worse still, most of the recipes would be either impossible to recreate at home, or hideously expensive, or were geared to feeding a mob. Useless in the main.
The writing is awful. She switches tenses regularly which is disconcerting. And she bounces all over the timeline. She should fire her editor! The author didn't exactly cover herself in glory; she wasn't particularly likable. Perhaps she deserves kudos for that.
Worse still, most of the recipes would be either impossible to recreate at home, or hideously expensive, or were geared to feeding a mob. Useless in the main.
July 4, 2015
I did not read the previous book in this series, so I did not come into this already a fan of the author's work.
The only reason I did not give this book one star is because there are lovely descriptions of French life, French food, and the French countryside. Unfortunately, these bits are far too few and when the author involves herself in the narrative the tone inevitably becomes grating and vainglorious. She came across as pretentious, elitist, and shallow.
The only reason I did not give this book one star is because there are lovely descriptions of French life, French food, and the French countryside. Unfortunately, these bits are far too few and when the author involves herself in the narrative the tone inevitably becomes grating and vainglorious. She came across as pretentious, elitist, and shallow.
August 8, 2015
Memoir by an American woman who married a Parisian, and then moved to Provence and opened an artisanal ice cream shop. Each chapter ends with a couple of recipes. Reading about the French countryside is always interesting, and I did find several recipes that I’d like to try. But the author comes off as somewhat melancholy and snobbish… I frequently either felt sorry for or disliked her, neither of which adds anything good to the reading experience.
December 29, 2016
Enjoyable book though I wish there had been more descriptions and details. Except for a few of the recipes, most are nothing I would ever make. I'd like to have seen a few photos included of their house and ice cream shop. And WHY when recipes are included, can't the book designer fit them on one page? Even when they easily could have been fit on a page, they weren't. Interesting bits about French life, which is a lot different than in the US.
August 29, 2015
The real life story of the author and her husband's move to Provence, and the birth and raising of their first child. Filled with typical Provence things, like food descriptions and commentary on the French education system, this book will delight all those interested in all things French. Recommended.
April 27, 2015
Great book! I love Elizabeth Bard's writing style... honest, funny, and very sincere. I love France and to hear her stories is like a treat to me!! Her recipes look amazing too... can't wait to give some a try~
May 30, 2015
This delightful account of life in Provence was engaging. The recipes woven in amongst the text provided tempting distractions and provided a sense of rural life in a small village after the busyness of Paris. Light, refreshing and enjoyable from beginning to end.
July 22, 2016
I have met Elizabeth Bard on several occassions and she writes with such humor and wit. I loved this book and laughed out loud many times. She also intersperses wonderful recipies throughout the book and they are easy to follow and delicious. A very gifted writer.
December 14, 2017
Currently reading but most likely won't finish it. This diary-memoir is hardly a picnic to read, but I'll just leave it at that. The author's mother-in-law is spot on. The single star is for the recipes which are actually good.
August 18, 2015
Wish I could read it again for the first time and sad that it ended. Liked this one a tad more than her first "lunch in Paris" if I had to choose.
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