French Village Diaries: Books, Cakes, French Life and More

Jacqui Brown

With ski season behind me, I suddenly have a voracious appetite for reading. I always want to read and to me, it’s one of the most relaxing and enjoyable activities in the world. But during ski season I’m exhausted in the evenings and tend to just zone out in front of the TV and then head to bed before there’s time for a leisurely read. (Also,  I often stay up late when engrossed in a good book and that certainly doesn’t gel with a ski instructor’s need for a long, fat sleep.)

Being the Francophile that I am, I love reading books set in France. Whether it’s Paris or the provinces, if the writing is rich, I relish being instantly transported to my beloved land. So you can only imagine how thrilled I was when I discovered Jaqui Brown’s charming website/blog, French Village Diaries. There you may delve into an abundance of book reviews on books relating to France and then shop in her online bookstore which features titles she has reviewed and more. Jacqui, a Brit that moved to France in 2004 with her British husband, scours the internet for the most interesting reads on her adopted country. That’s how she found my book, A Tour of the Heart:  A Seductive Cycling Trip Through France, and then wrote it up at French Village Diaries.

I’m happy to be connected with Jacqui, a woman who’s passionate about everything French and life in France in general. Sure, there are many ladies like her (and me), however, with Jacqui and her writings I feel a special kinship. Perhaps it’s the combination of books and France that resonates so much with me.

I also delight in many of Jacqui’s blog posts and recipes. Saturday she posted a Provençal Style Yoghurt Cake with Olive Oil and Quince. I wrote about the first olive oil cake I ever tasted in A Tour of the Heart, one of the most memorable culinary experiences of my travels. Enfin, I found a recipe that seems to correspond with the memory I’ve preserved of that incredibly moist and flavorful treat.

Now, I can’t wait to make that olive oil cake. And then sit down and savor it with tea and a good book, one that takes place in France, bien entendu.