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Light Meals and Weekend Treats from an English Woman in Berlin

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book review

Lunch in Paris: A Delicious Love Story, with Recipes by Elizabeth Bard

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A lesson in love told through recipes. The book begins with an American woman falling in love with a French man and follows her journey through adapting to a different culture – Paris.

It begins with Elizabeth going to lunch with a French man and falling in love. Through time she ends up moving to Paris, setting up a new life and discovering a whole new culture. Each chapter covers her story from that first date, the big move to Paris, the first supermarket trip, discovering markets, meeting the family and learning the language. It also deals with the sometimes more negative aspects of living abroad that any expat will experience at some point. Being away from her family and friends, alienated by not speaking the language, just wanting chinese from a box and tinned ravioli and poor (or standard European) customer service. …

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The Little Paris Kitchen – Rachel Khoo

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For all you food fans out there this is a must see! Rachel is a Brit living in Paris who is cooking up a storm in her tiny little flat. She hosts supper parties for couples in her small flat and makes French cooking look easy! I can’t help but think of Rachel Khoo as a modern day Julia Child who is showing us all how to master the art of French cooking.

I watched her TV show last night and can’t wait to try out some of the recipes. She also has a cookbook that has just been released. What I love about this is that Rachel adds her own British home comforts to meals. Her spring lamb stew is made with a mint sauce, something both Rachel in her TV show and my French colleague said is one of the things that the French cannot stand – ‘adding a thing like mint sauce to such a wonderful meat’. I can relate to this as I am also forever trying to find solutions to cooking in Berlin. I add my British treats to meals and my kitchen is also full of goodies from ‘home’. …

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Bumped to Berlin by Savannah Page

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This book is highly recommended! Savannah Page is an American expat in Berlin and her book is full of details of everyday life in Berlin. My favourite chapter is ‘Mastering the Art of Grocery Shopping’. It is an hilarious account of dealing with a German supermarket and in particular the speedy checkout process. I can also understand the length of time being spent wandering up and down aisles looking for one product – to then finding it just as you are about to give up.

The book is not just about shopping. Each chapter has a clear emphasis and is not a negative response to living in Berlin at all. In fact it is a very positive account of a successful move from the US to Berlin. Savannah presents Berlin’s eating out experience as laid back, fun and affordable – I couldn’t agree any more. Of course, my experience of living in Berlin is not exactly the same. A visit to the UK can be done over a weekend, last minute and affordable. Yet, I can relate to a lot of the book. What is also interesting is that my Mum also found it hilarious. My Mum can also relate to some of the chapters, for example the cost of medical products here in Germany. I often receive packages of supplies after complaining about the costs. Therefore it is not just a book for those living in Berlin. …

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My Life in France by Julia Child

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Anyone who has seen the film Julie and Julia will be familiar with Julia Child’s time in France. Moving to France in the later 1940s, Julia and her husband set up a life together. The film explores Julie’s task of blogging about Julia Child’s recipes. It switches between Julia (played by Meryl Streep) and her time in France to modern day America and Julie’s blog.

My Life in France goes into more detail and is a personal account by Julia. Moving to France Julia appreciated the good food but her first attempts to cook were disastrous and so eating out became the only viable option. Julia joined a cooking class and from there she began to learn how to cook, leading to a collaboration with two French ladies for a French cookbook for Americans. The book had to draw American women into testing out ambitious and new French recipes and Julia succeeded in doing so. Her cook book ‘Mastering the Art of French Cooking’ became a bestseller and led to a further 2 volumes being published. …

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