Paris Week: Eight Questions for Heather Stimmler-Hall

This interview is from The Gypsy's Guide archives, and first appeared in December, 2008.   I was feeling a little naughty, though, and what's better than Heather's book about the naughty side of the City of Light as part of Paris Week?  Enjoy!


Heather Stimmler-Hall's book, Naughty Paris: a Lady's Guide to the Sexy City, debuted last fall and is a "specialty guidebook." Specialty guidebooks, sometimes called "secondary guidebooks," are those which focus on revealing a specific aspect of a place, in this case the erotic side of the City of Lights. The book's description reads, in part:

"Sure, there are plenty of books out there for “romantic” Paris. While they will tell you where to buy stylish clothes and designer perfume, Naughty Paris direct you toward luscious leather corsets and the sauciest, silkiest French lingerie. They list the family-friendly restaurants. We list female-friendly bars. You'll discover sexy hotels where couples ignite their passion, not extinguish it beneath girlish chintz and doilies."

Heather was on tour with Naughty Paris and was kind enough to answer a few questions...

AKN: Did you always want to be a writer? How did you get started in writing?

Heather Stimmler-Hall: I was a writer as young as I can remember. I wrote poems, plays, stories, all sorts of things as a kid, then took journalism classes in high school and had an after-school job as the teen correspondent for the daily newspaper in Phoenix. When I went to college I actually majored in political science because I thought I'd be a White House journalist. I've strayed a bit, lol!

AKN: What is the attraction of being naughty?

Heather Stimmler-Hall: Oh, I think it's in our genes, naughtiness. Anything that's "interdite" or otherwise off limits is fascinating. Everyone likes to rebel in their own way once in awhile. For some of us being naughty could be cozying up with a box of chocolates and a romance novel instead of working. ;) Being naughty on vacation is particularly attractive because we're less likely to get caught by anyone we know. 

AKN: Tells us about the evolution of your book The Naughty Paris Guide.  Where did the idea come from?  How hard was the concept to sell to a publisher?
 
Heather Stimmler-Hall:  I've been writing about Paris for over a decade and giving tours for four years, and so I had a lot of people asking me for this information which, as far as I could tell, only existed in French. I had the idea to do a guide to naughty Paris for years, but the idea for doing it as more of a light-hearted women's guide, something fun and sexy, not sleazy or seedy, was suggested by a friend of mine in 2004. It took me three years to finally write and produce the book myself (with a professional photographer and design team) after not finding a publisher willing to do it the way I thought was best. I'm a bit stubborn, but I've also been doing this for years for other publishers and sometimes I think I know better what tourists in Paris are looking for than the publishers in their New York offices do.

AKN: For someone who has never been to Paris, when would you say is the best time to visit?

Heather Stimmler-Hall:  Anytime is a good time to come to Paris. But if you had the choice, come between late April and October. It's still fun in the winter, but just very cold and wet.

AKN: What is your favorite naughty place in Paris?  
 
Heather Stimmler-Hall: I'm not sure I have a favorite naughty place...although I do go to the Bonheur des Dames soirée with my girlfriends a lot. It's fun, free, and there's complimentary food and drinks in addition to the male striptease show, ooh la la!

AKN: In this season of naughty and nice lists, which list would you rather be on? 

Heather Stimmler-Hall:  Oh, I'm actually a very nice girl, lol! Even though I wrote a naughty guide, it's easy to research things as a journalist, but in reality I'm actually very old fashioned. I like to go to dinner and a movie with my boyfriend, not swinger's clubs and fetish parties. Maybe some day, if we ever need to shake things up a bit, lol!

AKN: What is the primary message you’d like your readers to take away from this book?

Heather Stimmler-Hall: That being a beautiful, sexy woman is more about your attitude than anything you wear. That men are more attracted to a woman who loves herself, who is confident and happy.

AKN: What’s next for you?

I'm looking for writers to do the Naughty London and Naughty New York guides!

Merci beaucoup, Heather!  

Heather's book is called Naughty Paris: A Lady's Guide to the Sexy City.  You can read more about Naughty Paris on the Naughty Paris blog .  There you will also find information about Heather's tours of the erotic side of Paris . 

Paris Week: A Thirty-Something Blogger on "Julie & Julia"

I left the movie theater pensive, teary, and, frankly melancholy. Not because “Julie & Julia” was a sad movie in the least – the film glows with joy. Nora Ephron has created an elegant love letter to America’s favorite French chef and the blogger who made her name while making Julia’s recipes. Indeed, Meryl Streep brings luminosity and comedy to her tall, solid Julia Child – traits which, by all accounts, the real Ms. Child possessed in spades. And Amy Adams’ portrayal of Julie Powell is one of humor and life as well.

But when I left the movie theater last week, I wasn’t filled with a great sense of joie de vivre. Instead, I was fighting back tears.

“Julie & Julia” is based on two books: My Life in France by Julia Child and Julie and Julia: My Year of Cooking Dangerously by Julia Powell. The stories of Julie and Julia’s lives are whipped together creating a confection – and I mean that in the yummiest sense of the word -- that is both sweet and satisfying. Truly, it is a tale of passion. Julia Child, newly married, finds herself in post-war Paris where women of her station are expected to make hats and to play bridge. But when she says, “I am very conventional,” the irony is as thick as her beurre blanc. Julie Powell, also a young married woman, spends her days dealing with post-9/11 insurance calls in a scarred and broken New York City. She has written a novel no one bought and glumly cites the writer’s mantra, “You’re not a writer unless someone publishes you.”

Not only is this a movie about two women separated by half a century, it is also about their two cities separated by time as well as an ocean. Julia Child’s Paris is gorgeous – too gorgeous for post-war France. But that’s part of Ephron’s fantasy. Paris is, once again, a city of colorful markets, tidy streets, and charming patisseries where there is never a shortage of butter for the woman who loves butter as much as I do. Julie Powell, however, lives in Queens – the antithesis of Paris – on a noisy street above a pizzeria. Where Julia walks into her new Parisian apartment and declares, “It’s Versailles!” Julie turns around in her dingy kitchen and asks her husband, “What are we doing here?” Julia flourishes in Paris; Julie flourishes living vicariously through Julia.

On the surface both women find their salvation in cooking. Indeed, as Julia heads to Le Cordon Bleu and Julie to her tiny, dysfunctional kitchen, it seems they both will end up cooking their way to happiness. And they do, sort of. But if that was all there was to the story, I’d have just left the theater hungry.

Indeed, there’s no fighting it: you will leave the theater hungry. From piles of onions sliced for practice to boeuf bourguignon, decadent chocolate cakes, lobster thermidor, to the most gorgeous roasted chicken you’ve ever seen… the film is a visual feast. My Diet Coke and Twizzlers were rather unsatisfactory in comparison.

And therein lies the problem… after “Julie & Julia” I am having trouble being satisfied with my own real life.

But there is more to the story that satisfied stomachs.  Watching the film I was struck by how many facets of my own life flickered across the screen...

Both Julie and Julia have husbands they adore and who adore them. I am so lucky to recognize that look on Paul Child’s face as he looks at Julia as the same look my own husband gives me. Where Eric is Julie’s greatest cheerleader, so, too, is my own husband mine.

And when Julia reaches across the dance floor to grasp her sister’s hand, my own hand fluttered, thinking of holding my sister’s hand at her wedding last year. The pain on Julia’s face when a baby carriage passes… I know that pain.

As Julie struggles with blogger’s narcissism – a natural byproduct of writing about yourself and your life all the time – I see myself and think, “I have to let this one blog post go and call my sister instead.” Both women ride the proverbial publishing roller coaster – the agony of rejection letters I know too well and the joy of acceptance. I remember the first comment I got on my blog. The dance Julia does when her book is finally accepted for publication – I did that dance, too. And the last vignette – as Julia holds her published book at last – left me breathless with its honest glee, a feeling I can tell you is exactly how I felt the first time I held my book, too.

But it is that question that all bloggers ask – “Is there anyone out there reading me?” – that cuts to the quick. Julie Powell had incredible, out-of-the-blue, phenomenal success as a blogger and then as a writer. Heck, I used to read The Julie/Julia Project when it was just a baby blog. And like Julie all bloggers dream of the book contract and the movie deal that allows us to leave our day jobs to do that which is truly fulfilling. Yes, even you sitting there so smug. You know that’s the pie-in-the-sky fantasy.

And we tell ourselves that it DOES happen. I mean, it happened to Julie, right? Otherwise, it is far to easy to feel like we are just spitting these words out… countless words day after day… words for which we don’t get paid but which we write because we hope that one day the book/movie/syndication fairy will drop in out of the sky and click that little “contact me” button in the right hand column… and suddenly all of that work and effort will be worth it and we, too, will have 65 phone messages from agents and publishers and t.v. producers and our books will “change the world” just like Julie and Julia’s did.

Until then, though, we must carry on. We thirty-something women (and my birthday last week planted me closer to the movie’s Julia than to Julie), we must “be fearless” as Julia admonishes. “Never apologize. No excuses. No exclamations,” she declares as she scoops up an omlette that didn’t quite flip in the pan.

And this story of two women in their thirties offers an anthem of solidarity to us all. There is more out there than making hats or answering phones. And while we may right now be working to keep the creditors at bay or to keep from defaulting on our student loans or to keep the bank from foreclosing on our homes, like Julie and Julia we must not bury our true loves. Those passions we feel are not silly indulgences. And the relationships we have are to be cherished and fed with buttery goodness.

And when I write all of that, I feel that wave of inspiration and joy that Nora Ephron wants me to feel… but it would be a lot easier to believe it all if I could look out the door and see Paris.

Paris Week: Eight Questions for David Lebovitz

David Lebovitz makes his living doing that which many of us dream of: making desserts in Paris and writing about it.  The pastry chef has roots in San Francisco and learned his trade at Alice Waters' revolutionary restaurant, Chez Panisse.   But about seven years ago, Lebovitz sold all of his belongings and moved to Paris where he writes cookbooks and blogs about his experiences.  The Sweet Life in Paris, his latest book, debuted this summer and mixes memoir with recipes for a delicious read. 

AKN: The Sweet Life in Paris is about your life in Paris, France and your observations about your neighbors and friends. It isn’t your first book, but it is your first memoir. How did the book come about?

David Lebovitz: I was being asked the same questions and thought I'd take the time to answer them all; "Why do you live in France?" "Did you speak French before you moved to France?" "Aren't the French mean? Don't the French hate Americans?" And the impossible-to-respond-to: "How long are you going to stay in France?" I never understand the last one, because if I could see into the future I'd stop writing and start buying lottery tickets.

AKN: Your book is a mix of recipes (50 total) with stories and tips for the Parisian-wanna-be. How do you go about developing a recipe for the home cook? 

David Lebovitz: I just write down and try to capture what I'm doing in my kitchen. None of my recipes are all that challenging and if I could make them in my tiny kitchen here in Paris, anyone can, no matter where they live.

AKN: You spend a lot of time talking about shopping in Paris – trying to find the right ice cream scoop, returning said ice cream scoop when it breaks, standing in line, greeting shop employees, etc. Is the internet shopping culture taking hold in France as it has in the US?

David Lebovitz:  Online shopping hasn't taken off as much as it has in America. For one thing, the French government doesn't allow stores to have 'soldes' (sales) except during certain times of the year. So the online price will be the same as it is in the stores, plus you'll pay for shipping. (The concept of "Free", including "Free shipping", hasn't quite taken hold here yet.)

Plus one of the pleasures about Paris is going to the specialty store, the one that sells ice cream scoops, and only ice cream scoops, and having the salesman show you each and every one, with an expertise usually reserved for discussing fine wines. Of course, it will be insanely expensive, but since the culture of 'cheap' is relatively unheard of here, you'll come home with a great ice cream scoop. I made the mistake of buying mine in the supermarket, perhaps the worst place to buy anything in France.

AKN: Americans often find Parisians to be rude – a fact which you both confirm and explain. What point of Parisian manners have you found to be most surprising in your immersion?

David Lebovitz: Aside from their habit of walking right into you, I like Parisians. They have a pretty good sense of conviviality and if you go to the same cafés and restaurants, the waiters and cooks will treat you like a friend, unlike in America, where they're usually just being nice to get a tip out of you.

I would say Parisians are more 'reserved' than 'rude', and if you ask a stranger for directions, they'll spend 5 minutes telling you the route to get there. Of course, they love any chance to tell someone else what to do.

A European friend of mine was in San Francisco and asked a transit employee where to buy tickets, and they guy told him he was off-work, then called him an "asshole." That doesn't mean Californians are rude, but there are douchebags everywhere.

AKN: You write that you are not fluent in French and have great fun with the common and sophisticated gaffes which come for anyone learning a second language. At this point do you spend most of your life functioning in English or in French?

David Lebovitz: No, English is good for some things and because of its nuances and the gazillion verbs, French is better for others.

AKN:  With the Julie and Julia phenomenon this summer, Americans are dipping into Julia Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking with wild abandon. As an American baking and writing in France, do you feel a kinship with Ms. Child? How has her work influenced your own as a chef and as a writer?

David Lebovitz: Julia Child set the bar right away and so far, no one's been able to reach it like she has. I never felt influenced by her in any way, other than admiration for what she did on her own and being a pioneer.

Oddly, so many people say, "I would never buy a cookbook without a lot of pictures" not realizing that all those photos they want would price the book a lot higher than they're willing to pay. But Mastering the Art of French Cooking didn't have photos, and it's one of the most popular and longest-selling cookbooks of all time. Julia's voice comes through in every page of that book.

AKN: Americans have a bit of an inferiority complex when faced with foods from Italy, Spain, and France. What can the American home cook learn from the French?

David Lebovitz:  Americans could learn not to be afraid of butter, cheese, and bread. All those things have been demonized, yet obesity just keeps rising in the America. And Americans with out 'customer is king' attitude, could learn how to go to restaurants, and let the chefs plan our meals for us, rather than try to control the experience. There's so much figeting and customizing with menus by customers in America.  I'm like, "Can't you just let the restaurant do what it's supposed to do, and relax and enjoy the experience?"

What lessons can the French home cook take away from American cuisine?  

The French could learn from the local and regional food movement that has taken ahold in lots of cities in America, where Farmer's markets have stands by actual farmers (as opposed to people re-selling produce they buy at a central produce market). And also to start thinking about the seafood they're buying. We're eating fish to extinction, knowingly, and while I love looking at all the amazing fish they sell at the poissoneries, it's sad to think about how all that will be gone.

AKN: Have any of your Parisian friends read The Sweet Life in Paris yet?

David Lebovitz:  Yes, some of my friends have. Most think it's funny, but a few disagreed with some of my points (namely about the quality of French supermarkets and my amazement of how they can tolerate such crappy, foul-tasting coffee.) Since it's my book, I explain, it's my experiences in Paris that I'm writing about. And if they don't agree, I tell them that they should write a book that expresses their feelings. So far, no one's taken me up on that offer.

Many thanks to David Lebovitz!  His latest book is called The Sweet Life in Paris: Delicious Adventures in the World's Most Glorious - and Perplexing - City, and you can check out his other books as well as his blog at http://www.davidlebovitz.com.