Paris was splendid, and what made it extra special was our friend Elise. We are back home with a heart full of lovely memories – and every moment of those memories is linked with her.
Elise often travels to India but this was our first visit to her home country and she took on the role of guide and big sister. She made sure that we visited her favourite cafes and cherished spots in Paris, regaling us with events and news that kept the laughter on. Relaxed under her wing we had a fabulously local experience of Paris which we could not have found as tourists. (Click on the arrow in the centre of the photo below to see a slideshow.)
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As you can see on her absolutely gorgeous website, Elise Collet Soravito is an artist extraordinaire who paints with her heart and soul. We first met her at Beijing in April 2007 at the Gourmand awards event. Her 1st book ‘Elise Et Ses Delices’ – a cookbook featuring Desserts written in French won her the “Best Cookbook Illustrations in the World”, and on the same stage, our book ‘Cooking at Home with Pedatha’ won the award of “Best Vegetarian Cookbook in the World”. In that heady moment, as we hugged and congratulated each other, we also found a friendship of a lifetime.
Here is a lovely salad with fenuile which is a leafy vegetable of the fennel family that Elise tossed up with absolute ease for us one evening. Having eaten fennel only in its seed form, we were excited at this fresh avatar of fennel – even more alluring!
A simple salad of sliced fennel with a dash of salt, pepper, olive oil and lemon juice. Toss with fresh chopped parsley and coriander leaves and enjoy immediately.
Spending 5-6 full days with someone should reveal some flaws, a little impatience at least, but Elise remained the perfect host till she waved us bye. To us she was affection personified.
“Thank you for everything Elise: for Anthony’s apartment, for the lovely breakfast laughters, for the eateries in Paris, for the open bus tour, for the cathedral, for your cafe, for that lovely dinner at your place, and for that quaint village we visited – the list is endless. You are such a true and smiling friend, full of zest and warmth, may you always be just like this. Never ever be tempted to change.”
Posted by Jigyasa & Pratibha
