What do you take to a Christmas pool party that will not shrink like a violet in the chlorine air and which is small enough to lay out on a pool basin rim? Most participants are bringing champagne, juice, cookies, Lebkuchen (German gingerbread), chocolate Santas and other typical Christmas-y treats but I am always starving ...

As a child growing up in France with my elderly French Grandmaman, I greatly enjoyed the time of l’apéritif, now commonly called l’apéro. On Sundays, my Grandmaman and I would meet up with her 3 great lady friends for the day. This involved bathing the day before, putting on your Sunday best, going to church, ...