Please join us in welcoming Chef David Shalleck to The Window Seat. He is the author of Mediterranean Summer, a new travel memoir. His guest blog tells you how to shop local farmers' markets like an expert.

One of the greatest things about traveling is to taste something that is truly local. A locality has a flavor, and the best place to find this is in open-air markets and neighborhood shops. Markets are also wonderful destinations for people watching, hearing the sounds of a foreign language, smelling fresh produce or chicken roasting in a rotisserie, and with permission from the vendor and a light touch, feeling ripeness. You can learn a lot this way, and the experiences create seductive and lasting memories.

Photo courtesy of Paul Moore.

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Posted in Author's Corner, Culinary Travel, International Travel, Western Europe
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Please join us in welcoming Catherine Sanderson to The Window Seat. She is the author of Petite Anglaise, a popular blog and new memoir of the same name. Her guest blog gives you an insider's look at a special Paris neighborhood off the beaten path.

Every time I cross over the rue de Belleville, just below Pyrénées métro station, I’m greeted by a surprisingly clear view of the Eiffel Tower. From this vantage point, the city’s most famous landmark dominates the thin sliver of skyline, looking deceptively close, even though it’s actually four miles away. This view sums up what I love most about my neighborhood—and why it plays such a prominent role in my memoir, Petite Anglaise—it’s undoubtedly Parisian, but also a world away from the bustle of the city center and the well-trod path of the tourists’ trail.

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Posted in Author's Corner, Western Europe
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Please join us in welcoming Liza Monroy to The Window Seat. She is the author of Mexican High, a new novel about Mexico City that goes on sale today.

Upon a first glance at Mexico City’s smog and traffic, a traveler might be tempted to say no gracias and bolt to the nearest beach. I’ve experienced this sentiment, as does Milagro, the protagonist in my first novel, Mexican High. Also like Milagro, (who, embarrassed by her unusual name, insists on being called Mila) I went to high school there, and spent months adjusting to the megalopolis. Once I did, though, I discovered into-the-wee-hours nightlife, delectable cuisine, and abundant art, history, and culture. Eleven years post-graduation, I still return as often as I can. Mexico’s capital rivals any European one, and with a better exchange rate. The trick to catching the Mexican high is knowing exactly where to go. Here is a shortcut through my top things to do on a visit.

Photo courtesy of Liza Monroy.

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Posted in Adventure Travel, Author's Corner, Guides & Planning, International Travel, Mexico
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Join us in welcoming to The Window Seat the lovely Clotilde Dusoulier, author and celebrated Parisian blogger behind Chocolate & Zucchini. Her delicious guest blog will tempt you with an insider's look at Paris.

I’ve lived in Montmartre for over five years, and if I’d been paid one centime for every time I’ve directed visitors to the Sacré-Coeur or the Moulin Rouge, I could afford to stay in bed eating chocolate for the rest of my life.

But I worry: once they reach those landmarks, if they get hungry, will they know where to go? Tourist traps lie in wait all over the hill, but Montmartre is a very residential area and locals eat there, too, so there is plenty of good food to be found if you know where to look. Here are a few favorites.

Coquelicot
This bakery makes what I think is the best baguette in Paris, a free-form beauty called “la piccola,” and their chouquettes (sugar puffs) are first-rate. You can sit inside or outside to enjoy a breakfast of café au lait and buttered tartines, or a light lunch of salads and omelets.

24 rue des Abbesses in the 18th, +33 (0)1 46 06 18 77. Métro: Abbesses.

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Paris by day is elegant and refined. But you don’t have to scratch too far beneath the picture postcard surface of the City of Light to discover there is a deliciously louche, borderline seedy side to the world’s most-touristed city.

How do I know? Because I have been living here eight years, because I have spent an inordinate amount of time and money in cafés and bars conducting “research,” and because the fruit of that labour – a new book called A Town Like Paris - has just been published.

At the heart of the book is a love story. My love story. I came to Paris from Australia as a swinging bachelor – a young man bent on adventure, determined to foist myself upon an unsuspecting French female population and, in the process, eat my fill of Hemingway’s fabled moveable feast.

Photo of Shay courtesy of Carla Coulson.

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Posted in Author's Corner, Bars & Nightlife, Entertainment, Western Europe
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