Clotilde Dusoulier's Tasteful Blog

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SCOTT SIMON, host:

Ernest Hemingway wrote that if you're lucky enough to have lived in Paris as a young man, then wherever you go for the rest of your life, it stays with you, for all of Paris is a moveable feast. Well, no one writes about that feast more avidly than Clotilde Dusoulier, a young Parisian who's the author of a wildly popular food blog, chocolateandzucchini.com. Clotilde Dusoulier joins us now from the studios of the BBC in Paris.

Thanks very much for being with us.

Ms. CLOTILDE DUSOULIER (Chocolateandzucchini.com): Thank you for having me.

SIMON: Do you know how many people come to your blog every week?

Ms. DUSOULIER: I get 9,500 visitors a day. It's been growing ever since I started, but this is the current average.

SIMON: What do you think people like about it?

Ms. DUSOULIER: Well, first of all, they're finding the recipes--you know, people are always hungry for new recipes that are a nice change from what they usually cook on weeknights or whatever. You know, people like to hear about new ingredient combinations. And, apparently, people like to hear what it's like to live in Paris, and eat and shop and cook in Paris. And so I think that's one thing that draws them to chocolateandzucchini.

SIMON: All right. Personal question: Do you buy a baguette every day?

Ms. DUSOULIER: No.

SIMON: Yeah. 'Cause that, I've noticed, seems to be a cultural difference, that the Americans will notice there. As you know, people live in Paris who buy a baguette every day and live by themselves. And whatever is left over, they feed to the pigeons or use for the next two or three days for something else, but Americans are always saying, `My God, how can you--how could you ever eat all that bread?' Well...

Ms. DUSOULIER: Yeah, we usually have leftovers the next day. And a good baguette will still taste good the next day. You can just--we actually wrap it in a kitchen cloth and then in a plastic bag to keep it fresh and toast it slightly on top of the toaster and this sort of freshens it up.

SIMON: You know, I don't want our conversation to end without us getting at least one recipe out of you.

Ms. DUSOULIER: One thing that I can recommend to use up, the nectarines that you might have. They're still in season in the US, right?

SIMON: Yes.

Ms. DUSOULIER: The yellow nectarines? You wash the nectarines.

SIMON: Yes.

Ms. DUSOULIER: You quarter them, stone them, you combine them with just a little cream, like maybe a third cup of cream for 10 nectarines, for instance. You toss them with just a little cream and a fourth of a cup of maple syrup. So you toss that all together, put that in a baking dish, toast some hazelnuts, chop them with your chef knife, and then you sprinkle that on top of the nectarines and you bake that for 20 minutes at 360.

SIMON: That sounds wonderful. Thank you.

Ms. DUSOULIER: Sure.

SIMON: I can hear baking dishes coming out all over the country right now. Ms. Dusoulier...

Ms. DUSOULIER: Yes.

SIMON: ...nice talking to you.

Ms. DUSOULIER: Nice talking to you, too. Thanks for having me.

SIMON: Clotilde Dusoulier blogs chocolateandzucchini.com. You'll find more of her tasty writings on our Web site, npr.org.

Twenty-two minutes before the hour.

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