Lunch in Paris by Elizabeth Bard

genre: memoir, recipes

Elizabeth's spent much of her young life abroad, enjoying the adventure and uniqueness of travel and different cultures.  So when she meets a young Frenchman and falls in love, a desire to be with him and live in Paris is enough for her to do a huge life pivot.  And pivot she does.  Living in a tiny apartment, shopping in open air markets and small shops instead of a grocery store, learning the language, finding friends, all of this is life in a foreign country.  She finds comfort in good cooking and in the new world of her Frenchman.

Okay.  So, I did read the whole thing although not really that much happened, truthfully.  She is a bit complainy and SO much body shaming, so much diet talk, skinny talk, eat to stay slim talk.  It really dated this memoir, in fact, I went and looked at when it was published because I thought SURELY in this day and age we are NOT talking about women's bodies and how they should look anymore.  I did find it in a thrift store, so there you go.  But I did get an eye into French culture, even if the recipes she shares are, almost entirely, way more effort than I would ever make for a meal. But I know that's me.  I'm rounding up to three stars because even though it was sometimes aggravating, it wasn't a slog either.