by jessica yoon
This month is my grandparents’ 60th anniversary. To celebrate we’ve planned a number of festivities, the first of which was a family dinner party. They put me in charge of the menu, which was a big responsibility, especially because the other hosting candidates were professional caterers and fancy hotel restaurants, but I gave it my all and played the granddaughter card, which definitely scored me some extra points!
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Although I’ll be in Paris for about a year, I decided to pack light, or rather, as light as possible. This is extremely difficult for someone who is a sentimental pack rat who likes to keep everything from useless trinkets won at state fairs to report cards from the sixth grade. I did my best to cut back and consolidate, but ended up having to ship an extra bag and carry on a mini suitcase that was 15 pounds overweight. It sounds like a lot of stuff, but once I got here I realized that I really did cut back on a lot (including an unconscious decision to leave out pajamas).
I wanted to bring a lot of books on Paris but narrowed it down to three: Clotilde’s Edible Adventures in Paris by Chocolate & Zucchini blogger Clotilde Dusoulier, Hungry for Paris by Alexander Lobrano, and Zagat: Paris Restaurants. Yea, they’re all about food. I’ve been ferociously highlighting and jotting down addresses of places that sound good. My list is probably already long enough to take a year to get through!
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