“Unfortunately, my taste in libraries requires me to book a ticket to France.”

‍What with promoting Lost in France, liking French language Facebook tutorials, and reading blogs about French real estate and one-euro houses on my socials, all sorts of Frenchy things now flow into my FB feed, like this post from the French embassy.

‍Apparently the astute embassy social media marketing team has my demographic—well, fine, me, to be exact—pegged.

‍“Unfortunately, my taste in libraries requires me to book a ticket to France.”

‍Come to think about it, a lot of things in my brain tuck easily into this sentence.

‍“Unfortunately, my taste in croissants, baguettes, and all other carbs requires me to book a ticket to France.”

‍“Unfortunately, my taste in tiny Medieval villages requires me to book a ticket to France.”

‍“Unfortunately, my taste in what I’d absolutely adore to do on a daily basis with my 60+ writerly, wanderlusty life requires me to book a ticket to France.”

‍Or maybe not so unfortunately.

Tarte Tatin for Tout Le Monde

On July 28, I was in Ottawa at Evermore Books giving my “How to Write a Romance Novel in 10 Steps” workshop. We stayed with Kirk’s Aunt Sheila, who is delightful (and just let me take a moment to say, God bless the people who make book tours possible by feeding and housing authors and their knitter-driver-husbands while we put kilometres on our vehicles promoting new releases).

Sheila volunteers at the Book Nook run by Riverside United Church, selling used books to raise funds, and she found a big shiny hardcover recipe book for me there called Rick Stein’s French Odyssey, because she had all things French on her mind, given she’d just read Lost in France.  

The page literally fell open to the recipe for Tarte Tatin, which I have been dreaming about recently, because a delicious, caramelized Tarte Tatin is featured in Book 2 of the Lost in France series which I am currently writing (draft update: I’m 75% finished the first pass, and tipping headlong into the climax where everything goes wrong for Marlow and crew, and then all threads deftly come together to not only resolve certain storylines, romantic and otherwise, but set up others for book 3. So. You know. No writerly pressure at all).

Here’s a bit from a website called La Patisserie du Monde about the interesting history behind the dessert of our dreams. We’ve all heard of Tarte Tatin, and some of us have been lucky enough to eat a slice of it, warm, alongside a dollop of homemade vanilla ice cream on some wicker-chair-small-round-table sunshine-lit terrace of a restaurant in France, looking out at passersby and listening to nearby conversations in that gorgeous mellifluous language, while savouring each apple-buttery-sugary bite and thinking we’ve died and gone to French heaven. But not all of us know the dessert’s backstory, so let me entertain you:

‍“Tarte Tatin is a delicious French dessert known for its caramelized flavor and unique upside-down cooking method. Its history dates back to the late 19th century at the Hotel Tatin in Lamotte-Beuvron, France, where it was run by the Tatin sisters, Stéphanie and Caroline. According to legend, Stéphanie made a mistake while preparing a traditional apple tart, forgetting to put the pastry on the bottom of the pan before adding the apples and caramelizing them.

‍To salvage the dessert, Stéphanie decided to place the pastry on top of the caramelized apples and then bake the tart. When the dish was turned upside down, they discovered that the apples were tender and caramelized, while the pastry had acquired a delicious flavor from absorbing the apple juices. The hotel's patrons were delighted with this culinary creation, and the Tarte Tatin quickly gained popularity among diners.

‍The success of the Tarte Tatin spread beyond the Hotel Tatin, becoming a classic of French cuisine.”

‍And here is Rick Stein’s recipe for Tarte Tatin from the book Sheila gave me: ‍

Also—just saying—Sheila bought a bottle of Saint-Emilion red wine for our dinner together the night before the workshop to keep the French theme going for our visit. I mean, COME ON. Like I said, bless her.

And finally, I leave you with this, as it captures my feeling about books, but even more about writing, and made me laugh.

PS.. Hope to see you at the fabulous Blue Heron Books on Sept 16 for French fun and an author talk about Lost in France.

Keep reading and writing, friends.

Claire