Loving the Sweet Life...

When Borders went under, I know I was supposed to be sad.  It was the passing of a great Bookstore chain (that I was never a big fan of anyway, but that's beside the point).  But all I could think was "Let me at the sales!"  I pictured each stores inventory being carted out the door at rock-bottom prices.  I envisioned buying extra book shelf  just to catch the run-off. Unfortunately, while they did have sales, they were not what I was dreaming of.  That didn't stop me however, from spending 3 hours roaming my local store one afternoon looking for the volumes I was coveting.  In that afternoon, I picked up (along with another 7 books, slightly embarassing I know, but the first step is admitting I have a problem...)  "The Sweet Life in Paris".  It caught my eye not because I had been waiting for it to go on sale for months, and not because it was on any great sale but because it had the word "Paris" in the title and I'm a sucker for the City of Light.

I finally grabbed it off my shelf a few days ago and I'm so glad I did.  I couldn't put it down and finished it in 3 days.  It's written by David Lebovitz who was a professional pastry chef for years at Chez Panisse in San Francisco (Sweets and San Fran: how could I not love this book?)  After his partner passed away, he moved to Paris and in hopes of a Parisian life.  Things, as he and I learned, aren't always what they seem.  France and the US are so completely different and the experiences he had could only happen in Paris. 
Lebovitz has such a way with words and I fell in love with his commentary immediately.  I was excited to learn that he's also written multiple cookbooks (Decadent sweets: Be still my heart!) and is the author of a popular blog on his website.
He's quickly become one of my favorite foodies and I would recommend him to any sweets-loving francophiles out there like me.