Bonjour,
c’est lele.

I’ve always believed that food is the front door to any culture. Turns out I’ve been walking through that door as often as I can since January 2017, when I stepped off a plane in Paris for a semester abroad and realized my life was about to split into “before France” and “after France.”

I grew up in Los Angeles, went to Skidmore College in upstate New York (double major in Health & Exercise Science and French, a combination that only makes sense if you know me), and spent most of college quietly plotting how to get back to France. It worked. After graduating in 2018, I landed in the Alps near Nice teaching English to high schoolers, which sounds romantic until you realize your entire social life revolves around a town with one brasserie and a ski lift.

In September 2019, I took the leap and bought a one-way ticket to Toulouse. I told everyone it was for the job. It was also for the marchés, the terrasses, the Garonne at golden hour, and the fact that people here take apéro seriously. Seven years later, I’m still working in Communications and Marketing, I’m still here in la Ville Rose, and I’m still discovering new pépites around every corner.

These days you’ll find me exploring the city, cycling through the Pyrenees, or standing in front of a cheese counter looking confident while internally panicking about which tomme to pick.

This blog is where I keep the restaurants that made me close my eyes mid-bite, the trips that turned into stories, the recipes I actually cook at home, and the very specific chaos of being an American building a life in franglais, bien sûr!

xx lele