Me: Sunflower, MS (my beautiful and wonderful mother was a French WWII bride); Lyon, Paris, Aix-en-Provence, Brussels, Tokyo, NYC, Boston, New Orleans, back to NYC.
We still have a family home near Lyon, France (left to my mother by my grandparents and now to me) where we spend summers, Christmas holiday, and basically whenever we can get there.
All my living family (other than my wife and children) - aunts, uncles, cousins are from my mother’s side of the family.
You win for living in the absolute best places for food.
You’re good. A food soulmate.
I promise that I can talk a better meal than I can prepare. I leave that to my aunt. She cooks rings around me and makes sure everybody is having a great time while she does it. I’ve never seen it done so effortlessly.
It is a joyful thing to watch someone who cooks that way. That is why Lidia Bastianich is so fun for me. She can compose wonderful meals, not just dishes. She doesn’t fuss over imperfection. Instead she corrects it. She tastes a lot as she goes. I would love to be at her counter with both of us having a glass of Barolo while she cooks!
That’s pretty much it. She can shop, prepare, cook, and in the middle of it all keep everybody entertained from age 4 to age 94. It has to be in her DNA. She’s most definitely my second mother.
I hope that’s what we all really aspire to!
Such an incisive comment. Thank you.
Her knife skills are not to be underestimated either!
Funny and sweet anecdote – my daughters speak fluent French, but mostly with a Parisian slant/bent (my damn fault!). My aunt always has a fit and gets them “back on track” and in sync with “their grandmother.” I love that so much. She won’t ever let them forget their grandmother as long as she is alive.
Retirement for me is only a few years away but it will be most definitely in France. I have first cousins who I adore and are close to my age. I frankly can’t wait!
US Navy?
One of my oldest friends is from Lyon. Nearly four decades ago, before she left for a job in another city, she invited several of her friends over for dinner. It was one of the best meals I have ever had. I asked her about the recipe. She laughed and showed me her one cookbook. It was yellow. … all these years later, I have my own copy!
Fish poached in white wine. Ratatouille. And she didn’t even have a purpose-built fish poacher!
I have prepared meals with her; she has an amazing instinct, totally without pretentiousness. I’m culturally envious 
No,
Major universities–mostly Cornell, USC. Cal Tech
Wonderful story. Thanks so much for sharing it. I have a file box full of recipes from my mother and my aunt. They are probably worth a fortune. They certainly are to me.
I’ve often thought about writing a book, I certainly have enough material to do so, I lack the confidence to go through with it.
In Okinawa?
Just write a little bit every day. Think of a chapter as a paper- breaking the impossible into manageable bits. Like a mis en place. Speaking from experience 
Regarding the word ‘worrying’ which Ray uses.
I don’t worry when I use one of my ZDP 189 67 Rockwell knives and even less so with my SG2/R2 63 Rockwell knives, but I do plan ahead when I’m using them and for what.
If I worked as a professional chef I would never bring a ZDP 189 knife to the job. It’s too brittle, too expensive and you have to pay attention to what you use it for.
Instead I would bring a Wüsthof or a Zwilling chefs knife, a workhorse of a knife which you can use for most tasks without thinking further about what you cut into.
And yes I expect knife enthusiasts to know you can’t cut into frozen vegetables or frozen meat and even less so bones with a regular kitchen knife as that would be outright moronic behaviour.
I worry even less than some people here. I think the discussion could be phrased different. It isn’t so much about should one keep a softer steel knife as back up? It is the fact that a knife which the user need to constantly worry about chipping should not be considered as a main knife. A main knife should able to handle vast majority of the situations except for special cases. If it cannot handle most situations, then it isn’t a main knife.
There are plenty hard steel knives can be used as cleavers. Zhen has a HRC61-62 meat cleaver. It is fine.
Sugimoto has “No. 3 Cleaver” which is designed to cut up bones and it is harden to HRC62-63.
I lived there for three months in a condo–also had other shorter term visits. Taught “systems” as part of a USC master’s degree program to pilots.
Noma was a great eating experience - including a surprise ragout of reindeer genitalia. However, I’m not sure I’d claim it as the best meal I’ve ever had.
Plus we caught covid there, so that was an unexpected “bonus”….
In France, professionals are requested by law to use plastic cutting board, wooden boards are illegal. Of course at home, you use what you want. Are there similar laws for pro in other countries on cutting boards?
I would imagine it is state by state. I have seen wood used in Texas but also seen plastic.
I’m no authority but it appears in California and Minnesota wood can not be used as a food contact surface except for hard maple or an equivalently hard, close-grained wood used for cutting boards, cutting blocks, bakers’ tables, and utensils.
*California Health & Safety Code.
