FAQ
Paris and The Little Paris Kitchen
- What inspired you to move to Paris?
A love of food and pastry in particular inspired me to give up my fashion PR job in London and move to Paris. I enrolled at La Sorbonne to learn french and Le Cordon Bleu to study pâtisserie – the rest, as they say, is history.
- How do you keep your kitchen so organised?
As you might have noticed, my kitchen is small but perfectly formed! The key is to keep things really well organised so I make the most of the walls, storing food on shelves (some a little too high to reach which is where a step ladder comes in very handy). I also bought an island from Ikea which doubles up as an extra work surface for rolling out pastry, and as a storage space for all my pastry ingredients. I also use the outside of my kitchen window to store vegetables and potted herbs.
- What tips for keeping tidy in the kitchen?
Do away with any non-essential utensils; you don’t need a ton of knives, just a good chef’s knife, a paring knife and a bread knife fit in this category. If you wash up as you go you go, not only do you not have to finish your dinner and do a ton of dishes, but you can reuse your pots and pans as you go.
- What is your favourite type of cuisine?
As well as French cuisine, I love Malay-Chinese food.
- What is your favourite ingredient to work with?
I love cheese, in all its forms.
- Is your restaurant still open?
My home restaurant is no longer open.
- Do you actually live in that small studio?
I do indeed. This is not a set, it’s my life!
- How big is your apartment?
21m2.
- Are those all your things or were they styled for the show?
Pretty much everything you see is mine. We had to rearrange things a little during filming to make room for the crew, but on the whole, what you see is a peek into my little Parisian home.
- Where can I get nibbed/pearl sugar for chouquettes in the uk?
You can buys some online from Amazon.
- What mandoline do you use?
I use this Japanese mandoline
Style
- What lipstick do you wear?
At the moment Cherry Lush
- Where did you get your bracelet from?
I bought it a little shop, Virginie Monroe on rue Charonne in the 11th. Unfortunately they don’t stock my bracelet anymore but they have lots of other lovely jewellery.
- Where do you buy your dresses?
A selection of second hand and high street.
Some of them from here:
Coiffeur Vintage
32, Rue de Rosiers
75004 Paris
Free ‘P’ Star
8 rue Ste-Croix-de-la-Bretonnerie
75004 Paris
Fripes Star
1, Rue de la Verrerie
75004 Paris
Vide grenier (literally means emptying ones attic) is the French version of a car boot sale (minus the car). I love hunting and haggling for a bargain.
There’s a handy Iphone ap: Brocabrac
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/brocabrac/id365244386?mt=8
which lists all the vide grenier and antique markets in France. It’s updated on a weekly basis and you can search by city or French region. For the moment it is only available in French.
- How are you not a heffalump living in the land of croissants and cheese?
I have the pleasure of living next to one of Paris’s best parks for jogging, Les Buttes Chaumont, so I try and keep fit to compensate for my cheese consumption. I also love yoga. I don’t tend to eat processed foods, they are just empty calories.
Career
- Where did you learn to cook?
My family always cooked a lot so I learned to love food from a young age. I then moved to Paris and trained at Le Cordon Bleu to learn the more technical aspects of pâtisserie.
- How do I become a TV chef?
There is no easy way into the world of television. Learn as much as you can about a subject you are passionate about, start a blog, try and meet people in the industry, put yourself out there.
Contact
I emailed/tweeted/facebooked you but I haven’t received a response. How do I contact you?
I try to respond to as many emails/tweets/facebook comments as possible but it’s not always. If you want to contact me in regards to business, please click on the contact page for further information.