The Kasbah Chronicles: on the trail of my Alsatian ancestors as described in Bitter Sweet: A Wartime Journal and Heirloom Recipes,
The Kasbah Chronicles and New Cookbook/Memoir from Kitty Morse
June 2023
The Kasbah Chronicles: on the trail of my Alsatian ancestors/Bitter Sweet: A Wartime Journal and Heirloom Recipes.
Musings
Part 1: Devoir de memoire:
Reconnecting with my Alsatian roots. Mission Accomplished
A word about Paris: CROWDED
News from the Vista Kasbah and beyond
Thinking ahead: Gift for the year-end holidays
Where to purchase Bitter Sweet
Book a presentation for Bitter Sweet through Novel Network
https://novelnetwork.com/home-author-connect/
A Family Recipe: Civet de lapin (Rabbit Stew)for Prosper
An invitation to:
Inside the Author's Studio (MINE!) I will give a presentation along with a taste of Bitter Sweet, at my home on Vista, CA on Sunday, August 27 from 1 to 3PM. Space is limited. Pls visit http//:adventuresbythebook.com to register.
MUSINGS:
I apologize once again for my tardiness in answering all your kind words, and your increasing "clicks" to subscribe to The Kasbah Chronicles.
I DID IT! Mission Accomplished! I DID MY DEVOIR DE MEMOIRE AS THE FRENCH SAY. My Duty of Memory is ongoing however. I followed the leads in my great-grandfather's WW2 journal, and this is what I encountered.
I travelled to France in early May to retrace the footsteps of my ancestors, Dr. Prosper Lévy-Neymarck, and his wife Blanche whose documents I relied on to write Bitter Sweet: A Wartime Journal and Heirloom Recipes from Occupied France. Their written words took me to Alsace and Lorraine, a region of north eastern France now called Le Grand Est. The fear of COVID had me postpone the trip for a year, and I rebooked my new flight with some trepidation for May 2023 (cautionary tale about my disastrous air ticket below).
I did not stop running from the moment I set foot on French soil. TWO WORDS DESCRIBE PARIS AT THIS TIME: UNPLEASANTLY CROWDED. Bear in mind that the Louvre is filled to capacity hourly, and if you are there to view the Mona Lisa, good luck. You will stand in a crowd as thick and slow-moving as a human lava flow. Is La Joconde really there, past this ocean of heads? I couldn't see it. Instead, we had to play hide and seek among the Egyptian mummies for an hour before we found the exit. NOTE: the signage inside the Louvre is as bad as it gets).
Three days on, we were thankfully on our way to Châlons-en-Champagne, about 2 hours east of Paris (after getting on the wrong train because the Gare de l'Est was mobbed and the signage similar to the Louvre's)... we arrived in Châlons, haggard, sweaty, and SO THANKFUL to find Bruno Malthet, Châlons historian par excellence, waiting for us on the platform. MERCI BRUNO: tu nous as sauvé la vie! Bruno Malthet, official Châlons historian, has made it his life's work to bring to light the long history of his native town, with publications, historical pamphlets, and a fact-filled annual catalog titled Le Petit Catalaunien Illustré. (catalaunien.net, https://www.facebook.com/catalaunien).
Merci Bruno:
Yours truly at the Pompidou Mediathèque with Bruno Malthet
From then on, we were in expert hands. We followed our "guide" to the highlights mentioned in Prosper's journal: The three Lévy-Neymarck homes in Châlons, still lived-in; the hospital where Prosper once practiced (during WW1); the headstone of ancestors going back to the mid-1800s; Le Petit Jard (parc) the lovely park with a river running through it where my mother used to take walks before WW2; the former butcher shops belonging to my great-great-grandparents (modernized and occupied); the formal room in city hall where my great-grandmother went to get married; another friendly châlonnais, familiar with the name Lévy-Neymarck, offered to open the town's synagogue for me: I was stunned to find out that Alfred Neymarck, a noted economist with a city street named after him, donated a giant silver menorah in 1872, in honor of HIS mother. I was struck then at just how deep my roots go back in that part of the world. To tell you the truth, I am not quite sure how to process this time-travel down memory lane. And that's not all.
This headstone marks my maternal great great grandparents’ passing in Châlons.
The formal ballroom where newlyweds sign their marriage certificates
Bruno organized and publicized far and wide my presentation of Bitter Sweet in French at the beautiful Pompidou mediathèque in my mother's hometown. I had hoped against hope that I might connect with a lone survivor to the horrendous ending that befell the Lévy-Neymarcks as it did millions of other Jews. But it appears the Nazis were extremely thorough in their exterminations. Thus, my mission now is to tell this family story through my book, through their recipes, and through my Power Point presentations (book clubs, this is a topical subject, and a personal one with family recipes!)
A day at the Verdun Battlefields followed: I had NEVER visited such a site, bomb craters, destroyed villages, downed trees left were the fell, and more. But I will reserve this for another Chronicle.
To top off my ancestral meanderings, in Rosières-aux Salines, where my great-aunt and her family lived (also victims of the Holocaust) I sat at the threshold of the tunnel where Prosper sat during the bombardment of NANCY, and was offered a CIVET DE LAPIN (Rabbit Stew recipe in my book) by his protectors, the Grandeury Sisters. How should I react to this, except by crying my eyes out. Next: the concentration camp of Ecrouves where Blanche wrote her last letter before being taken to Auschwitz, and uses Ecrouves as a return address (the letter is in Bitter Sweet.) Enough for Part 1.
Recipe: In memory and with thanks to the Grandeury sisters whose house I visited in Rosières aux Salines:
The Grandeury's Civet de Lapin for Prosper
Civet de Lapin au Riesling
Rabbit Stew with Riesling Wine
serves 4
one (2.5 to 3 lb) rabbit), cut up (frozen and defrosted)
3 cups Riesling wine, divided use
2 sprigs dried thyme, divided use
2 bay leaves
4 peppercorns
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 whole onions, sliced
2 garlic cloves, peeled and sliced
1 carrot, peeled and sliced
4 tablespoons flour
1 slice calf liver (about 5 ounces), diced
1 ounce dried morel mushrooms, soaked and drained
2 teaspoons salt
¼ teaspoon pepper
The day before, marinate the rabbit with 2 cups of the wine, 1 sprig of thyme, the bay leaves, and the peppercorns. Cover and refrigerate.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Drain and reserve the rabbit marinade. In a heavy cast iron pan over medium heat, heat the oil and brown the rabbit pieces on all sides. Transfer them to a plate.
In the same pan, add the onions, garlic, and sliced carrot. Sprinkle with flour and cook, stirring occasionally, until the onions are translucent, 8 to 10 minutes. Return the rabbit and marinade to the pan. Add the calf liver and the morels. Season with the salt, pepper, and the second sprig of thyme. Cover tightly and bake for 50 to 55 minutes. Remove the lid and let the sauce reduce for 10 to 15 minutes in the oven. Remove pan from the oven. Using a fork, coarsely mash the liver. Discard the bay leaves and serve.
In Châlons, we were fortunate to reserve a lovely Air B and B run by mother and daughter, Marie and Caroline, La Maison de Marie Caroline (Châlons-en-Champagne) | Châlons-en-Champagne - La parenthèse touristique (chalons-tourisme.com) Caroline is a chef who has won numerous accolades and keeps one of the best tables in town. The mother/daughter team purchased an old house in the center of town a dozen years ago and remodeled it with "eclectic" charm.
Chef Caroline and her assistant (L)
BITTER SWEET IN THE FRENCH PRESS:
Bitter Sweet in the FRENCH media:
L'Hebdo du Vendredi, weekly online newspaper, Châlons-en-Champagne
BEWARE OF AIRLINE SCAMS: Back to the modern world and my tale of woe regarding by air ticket purchased from a third party. Topbusinessclass.com: STAY AWAY from this and other sites like it. Unbeknownst to me when I made my reservation, I got caught in a "not illegal" though "not legal" scam called "HIDDEN CITIES" or SKIPLAG.COM. It has been written up in Conde Nast Traveler https://www.cntraveler.com/story/hidden-city-ticketing-everything-you-need-to-know and AARP, but I didn't know that.
The Top Business Class contact, a certain Marc Ruiz in San Francisco, sold me a discounted ticket San Diego-London-Paris on British Air with return Paris-Philadelphia-San Diego on British air and American in the US, but my itinerary stated the last destination was VANCOUVER. I kept telling the scammer, "I DO NOT WANT TO GO TO VANCOUVER, I need to get off in San Diego with my suitcase." I checked the suitcase upon my departure from San Diego. Major mistake, but he didn't warn me.
"Don't worry, said Ruiz, "it's cheaper for me to route you to Vancouver. You just get off in San Diego with your (checked? NOT…) suitcase. I realized something was not right, but couldn't put my finger on it. He sent me to a fake final destination: Vancouver, and failed to mention to me that I could NOT get off with my checked suitcase in San Diego.
"You can have your suitcase retagged in San Diego once you are in Paris," he maintained. The check-in person at American Airlines in Paris said no, the suitcase would be retagged in Philadelphia. Still believing the ticket seller's retagging scheme, I made my way to the connection desk at Philadelphia Airport, where I was faced with the rudest American Airlines ground staff I have ever met in the US. I asked to have my suitcase retagged from Vancouver to San Diego as last destination.
"We can't do that," barked the woman at the desk, a supervisor. Your ticker says Vancouver."
"I was told in Paris that you could retag it."
"You have to buy another ticket," she barked again. "And you know we can't understand your language," continued the charming counter person. Really? I was an English as a Second Language teacher for decades and have been in the United States for over 50 years.
Cost of a new ticket, economy class, Philadelphia to San Diego, USD565, including a $30 SURCHARGE FOR TYING THE TAG TO MY SUITCASE. ARE THEY NUTS??
I checked American's record on the web, and it seems this airline has the worst customer service, and I am not even describing their ghastly plane. Shocking. Shame on you American.
Onto more pleasant experiences:
I laughed when I read this pseudo French advertising online:
Vous exagerez quand même:
I leave it to you, English speakers, to figure it out. Et vous, francophiles et francophones, vous comprenez???
Here it is word for word: in perfect Franglais
"DISRUPTION D'ICI ET D'AILLEURS #18...
CAMPSIDER OU LA SECONDE MAIN DES PRODUITS DE SPORT OUTDOOR. Campsider est une marketplace de matériel de sports d'extérieur d'occasion qui disrupte le marché de sport outdoor. Associée à un mode de consommation conscient, vertueux et écologique, la seconde main est une des tendances positives marquantes de l'époque.
https://france-amerique.com/how-france-is-bringing-back-american-tourists/?utm_source=Weekly+Newsletter+-+France-Amerique&utm_campaign
The world is converging on Paris. Good luck!
Bitter Sweet in the FRENCH and EXPAT media:
L'Hebdo du Vendredi, online newspaper, Châlons-en-Champagne
L'Union Républicaine
L'Est Républicain, Rosières-aux-Salines
https://www.estrepublicain.fr/culture-loisirs/2023/05/18/une-journaliste-culinaire-americaine-a-la-recherche-de-son-histoire-familiale
Kitty & Me
Keep your eye on THE PARIS READERS CIRCLE
Kitty will be my guest on a futureschmoozecast
Terrance Gelenter, an American expat has lived in Paris for over 15 years and hosts a weekly writers and readers' group for English-speakers at the famous café La Coupole He also publishes Paris readers Insider and The Paris Reader's Circle
https://secretsofparis.com/?https://mail.terrance-paris.com/
https://mail.terrance-paris.com/
and my friend and colleague, the writer Mary Duncan hosts a writers' group and invited me to give my presentation to the http://pariswritersgroup.net and the Paris Writer’s Atelier on the Rue de la Bucherie, right around the corner from Shakespeare and Co. Merci Mary! It was lovely! And what a view from your window: Notre Dame being restored!
Shameless plug once again: AMAZON REVIEWS SELL BOOKS I AM TOLD. If you have purchased Bitter Sweet from Amazon.com. please consider leaving a review on the Bitter Sweet/Amazon website or write a comment on my own website, on the Bitter Sweet page of https://www.kittymorse.com.
How to order Bitter Sweet:
https://www.amazon.com/Bitter-Sweet-Wartime-Heirloom-Occupied/dp/0578361647
Barnes and Noble stores, wake up. https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/bitter-sweet-kitty-morse/1142191250?ean=9780578361642
Bitter Sweet IS available on the B&N website and also from Ingram specifically for bookstore owners and resellers. Your local indie bookstore need only push the same button to order from INGRAM.
Zoom presentations:
January 2023: International Association of Culinary Professionals (IACP)
February 2023: Culinary Historians of Chicago
April and July 2023: Mira Costa College, Oceanside: LIFE Mira Costa College Foundation
In person:
In San Diego and Los Angeles Counties, and soon, in ANCHORAGE, ALASKA
Where can you find Bitter Sweet:
Bitter Sweet has found a home in the following bookstores and museums.
The Skirball and the Holocaust museums in Los Angeles and Washington DC. Check their websites.
Kitchen Arts and Letters in New York
Now Serving in Los Angeles
Omnivore Books in San Francisco
Books Inc, Palo Alto and San Francisco, CA
The Bowers Museum, Santa Ana, CA
Chaucer's fine Books, Santa Barbara, CA
How cool is that? Bitter Sweet on the front table at Chaucer’s Books:
Farenheit 451, Carlsbad, CA
Mission San Antonio de Padua, Jolon, CA (east of Carmel Valley, CA)
Mission San Luis Rey, Oceanside, CA
Not of this World, Santa Rosa, CA
and the list keeps growing.
I LOVE feedback. If you have a contact or an idea for a bookstore or other venue that might be interested in carrying my book, please let me know. You may get a surprise gift in the mail!
Merci mille fois for reading my blog,
Kitty:
https://www.kittymorse.com.
Hello Kitty, I loved this post. It was very fun (and frustrating) to read of your adventures promoting your book. I have your older book, Cooking At The Kasbah, and love it. I am curious, in looking at the list of where your new book is sold, I'm wondering how did you end up with your book being sold at 2 Missions (Oceanside and Jolon). I live near Jolon and it's such an out of the way area :)