Paris in July 2025 -- Reviews, food, music, and more

Paris in July 2025 is hosted by Emma@WordandPeace.

This is my first year participating. Unlike other reading challenges, this challenge asks participants to not only read books set in France, but to eat French food, watch French movies, practice speaking French, anything French. So here is what I've done for the challenge so far this month....

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Coq au Vin

1. Don and I spent the better part of a day on July 7th making Coq au Vin (Chicken in Wine), a first for both of us. It was so delicious we both just about died and went to heaven. It was worth the labor that went into creating this dish. It is possibly the best meal we've ever fixed. We got the recipe from NYT Cooking. We subscribe to their recipes. I hope you can open it. If you can but don't have a subscription, print it immediately. Next time you won't be so lucky.

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2. While the chicken was simmering, I sat down and made a "Paris in July 2025" playlist on Spotify. Here is a link so you too can listen to music sung in French or played by French musicians, too. My husband commented on how sexy the music, while he was slurping down his meal. 😚

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Soufflé au chocolat mi-amer (Bittersweet Chocolate Soufflé)

3. Our second night of Coq au Vin I decided to make another recipe, Soufflé au chocolat mi-amer. As I was readying the ingredients, "mise en place," my husband was preparing the vegetables for dinner. He was slicing the zucchini with a mandolin cutter when, distracted, he sliced the top of his two fingers. Dinner plans were instantly changed as we scampered to the emergency room to staunch the bleeding and make sure he was okay. He is. Next night, we tried again. This time my daughter and I were able to mix up the souffle and get it in the oven while the Coq au Vin was reheating and the vegetables were stir-fried with no fingers or blood. An odd aspect of the recipe is that it called for placing the souffle pan directly onto the bottom of the oven, not on a rack. Wanna guess what happened? You guessed it. The bottom burned. Sigh. All that work for a burned souffle. Next time, I will just put in on the bottom rack. Others said it was good, I thought it wasn't worth the effort. I was lovely, though.

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4. Review: The Paris Apartment by Lucy Foley -- a murder mystery. When Jess gets to Paris to stay with her half-brother, he is missing. She eventually sneaks into his apartment to wait for him. When he doesn't show up, Jess starts to snoop around. She notices odd things -- a broken St. Christopher necklace, a blood stain on a cat, and a floor board bleached a different color than the rest. As days go by Jess becomes more and more sure her brother is dead and everyone in the apartment -- the owner, the nice guy, the alcoholic, the socialite, the young girls, and the concierge -- all are suspects. But where can Jess go for help? She's tried the police, but that didn't seem to do much good. And now everyone is warning her to leave or else...what?

The Paris Apartment isn't the type of book I usually read but I found it to be a compelling, fast-moving plot and I was interested to figure out who dunnit. As a book for Paris in July, it had just enough about Paris culture and the use of French words to make it feel very French. I discovered that quite a few of the French words were actually swear words when I translated them. So now I've expanded my French vocabulary, ha!

My rating: 4 stars. E-book.

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5. Movie: Widow Clicquot -- After scrolling though our options on Netflix, my husband and I settled on watching a movie set in the Champagne Region of France, about the woman Widow Clicquot, who, through her own will and determination, successfully figured out how to bottle champagne. Her practices, which she started fine-tuning during the reign of Napoleon, are still largely used today. The movie, was conducted in an almost dreamlike quality with lots of flashbacks to her earlier life with a mentally-ill husband. It was well-done and interesting but I wouldn't recommend it to anyone who loves a lot of action.

My rating: 4 stars.

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6.  My husband has been teasing me about everything I do these days that has even a hint of French to it... For example I bought a jar of apricot fruit spread made by Bonne Maman, a French company whose claim to fame is they only use natural ingredients in their jams. I do love their apricot spread but I wouldn't think of blogging about it.  Tee-hee!

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Where will the second half of the month take me?  I've order two middle grade books in French from the library. Will I be able to read them? It has been so long since my 5 years of French classes in college and high school. I hope to make a Strawberry Rhubarb Galette. And I do hope to watch a few more movies. Any recommendations?

-Anne