I feel somewhat ambivalent about this memoir. I very much enjoyed the cooking lessons and market tour I took through La Cuisine Paris, the business run by the author. The memoir is ostensibly about her move to Paris for a different job and eventually opening La Cuisine. And yet it felt a little…elementary, maybe? Very much about her mid-western “can do” ethos vs French culture, and less about the specifics of building the business. The French culture was mostly things I already knew from reading and school and basic research in advance of being a tourist there, so maybe I wasn’t the right audience for the memoir or had misplaced expectations. I will say that the tour of the king’s kitchen garden at Versailles was absolutely a highlight of my trip to Paris a decade ago, although I’m not sure it is offered any longer. The macaron lesson was fun, too, though, would recommend.
Finished watching Black Sails. I found the change in costuming for Flint to be fascinating. And the morphing of Silver, both the legend of Long John Silver and who he became and how he manipulated basically everyone. Same for Billy Bones. The pacing was a little slow for my taste but the cinematography was lovely. I am fascinated by how fandom (including academia) has interpreted the various sexual relationships – poly, queer, hetero. I’m kind of curious about whether there is word of god on them, but I haven’t gone looking.