The trouble with living in Paris full time is that many of the foreigners you befriend are transient. You develop strong friendships with people from all nationalities only for them to be taken from you when their desire or ability to be in France expires. The upside is that they never stay away for too long.
One of these new, visiting friends of mine is Mardi Michels of the food blog Eat. Live. Travel. Write. An Australian French teacher to elementary school boys in Toronto by day, erudite foodie and chef blogger by night, Mardi (yes yes, her name means Tuesday in French) has been eating and writing her way through Paris since the beginning of July. We had coffee at Café Charlot on Bastille Day and instantly had a connection. We compared French administrative horror stories and laughed at the absurdity of French banks (when the ATM eats your card, expect a fight to retrieve it).
We parted ways with dinner plans and the sense that we had known each other for years. She invited me to her apartment to test a Sichuan dish (outstanding) she was preparing for her blog and we got to know each even more during the meal. I…
