Ooh-la-la Jean-Marie does it again! The best of French cooking
Let me take you to the French Alps where my friend Jean-Marie Cravero—who is one of the best cooks I know—will show me how to make his scrumptious tian. It’s a 
southern French recipe composed of layered vegetables, rice and ham, then crowned with cheese and breadcrumbs and baked to a wonderful crusty goodness. When Jean-Marie was growing up in a city on the Mediterranean Sea, on Sundays women would assemble tian to serve for lunch and then take them to a public oven to bake them.
Check out my videos about overcoming adversity at: http://www.youtube.com/annelipscomb
Tian for 5 - 6 people:
Butter a gratin dish about 14 inches long by 10 inches wide. Preheat oven to 350º. Cut each zucchini lengthwise into 4 pieces. Remove the seeds. Cut the zucchini into a medium dice and boil in salted water for 4 - 5 minutes. Drain and set aside.
Put water in a saucepan with beef bouillon cubes, a clove of garlic, bay leaf, thyme and rosemary. (Jean-Marie puts the thyme and rosemary in a cheesecloth bag for easy removal after cooking but if you don’t have one, put the loose herbs in and pick them out after the rice is cooked.) There should be enough water so that the rice is swimming in it. Add the rice to the rice cooking water and simmer for 10 minutes. Strain the rice, set the strainer over a bowl to drain thoroughly, and set aside.
Place the pork and veal cutlets in a skillet with a little oil over medium heat. Sprinkle crumbled sage on the pork cutlet. Sauté cutlets until they’re fully cooked. Cut the cooked pork and veal cutlets into pieces. Slice both hams into pieces. Put the meats through a meat grinder with large holes. If you don’t have a meat grinder, cut the meats into small pieces.
Mince parsley until it’s fine. Stir together the zucchini, half of the rice, half of the ground meats, parsley, pepper, and a splash of oil and cream to moisten everything. Stir in beaten eggs and minced garlic along with the remaining meats and rice.
Deglaze the skillet with meat juices in it by adding 3 - 4 tablespoons of cream. Gently simmer for a few minutes, then pour it over the zucchini mixture. Pour the zucchini mixture into the buttered gratin dish and lightly tamp it down with a fork. Sprinkle on breadcrumbs and grated cheese. Bake for 25 - 30 minutes.
overcoming adversity.
I always enjoy hearing about which things fascinate my Parisian friends the most when they visit the U.S. for the first time. Who could guess that one of the top things would be our four-way-stop signs! In this video I’ll share with you why.
sessions at the Apple store, 30 calls to Apple’s telephone technical support line, and at least 30 hours with independent computer consultants. This video is a story about how having to learn sophisticated computer skills has reminded me of living part-time in Paris. 
For me, this saying boils life down to its essence. It extends beyond one’s love for other people such as a spouse, family or friends. The quote expresses how what matters most is that I try to be a carrier of love in everything I do, and that I love life itself.
Finkelsztajn’s recipe comes from the owner’s Polish grandparents. It’s lighter and more moist than American-style cheesecake tends to be. Then I’ll show you a gorgeous nearby park where you can take your dessert and enjoy eating it out of doors.
When I’m living in Paris, each week my friend Yukie Matsushita and I meet in a café in our neighborhood to begin the day over a tiny cup of noisette (espresso with a splash of milk), while sharing our lives. Sometimes instead we’ll sip hot chocolate, served beneath billowing clouds of whipped cream, and nibble on flakey, buttery croissants. I treasure our simple weekly ritual. 
cities. But let me be clear: New Yorkers and Parisians still tend to be way more fashionable than we Seattleites. But since my illness led me to living part-time in Paris, I now realize that there is one area where Parisian women have not gone casual. It is one area where many of them still tend to dress to the hilt. Let me show you what I mean in this video. 
visiting Paris, their melt-in-your-mouth mantecao biscuits can easily be taken home as gifts because the cookies last up to one-and-a-half months in the La Cure Gourmande’s decorative tins. I must admit that I can’t verify the shop’s claim because I inevitably eat my mantecados long before that. 
number of misplaced things. Sometimes I forget to pack something important, which can’t be easily found in France. These certainly aren’t serious problems, but on some days, they can drive me just a little crazy. So I’m happy to report that on my fifth year of doing this, I no longer spend much time looking for my things. In this video, I’ll share with you my top three favorite techniques that help me stay organized as I move around.
part-time in Paris. The answer is that yes, I see those places regularly, especially since several of my healthcare providers’ offices are located just off the square where St. Sulpice sits. Some of my favorite Parisian haunts happen to be around Da Vinci Code sites so in this video, I’ll share them with you. 
My father died too young. If I could see him again, I would thank him for gifting me with this nugget of wisdom. From my father I’ve learned that if I look to others to tell me when I’ve been successful at something, or if I’m reluctant to do something because I won’t get enough applause for it, I construct a kind of prison around myself which not only limits my happiness, but also who I can become and what I might do with my life. 
I remind myself of this periodically because with our unrelenting American drive to achieve and cram as many activities and tasks as possible into a day, it's easy to forget about cultivating joy and happiness.
I love this Chinese proverb. 
that when life hasn’t gone the way I wanted it to, or when something I’ve worked hard to make happen hasn’t materialized, it can unexpectedly be a new beginning or lead to different experiences—even if I can’t see those doors opening at the time. And sometimes, just sometimes, a door can open onto something even better than what I wanted in the first place. When this happens I can actually find myself saying, “Thank goodness that I didn’t get what I wanted!” So on my next Paris stay, I plan to try and put aside expectations and let it be an adventure of the unexpected.
energy I can summon.
even when I’m housebound. Ultimately, it has helped me transcend the boundaries of my long-term sickness. This habit doesn’t cost money and is surprisingly simple.