All moments, past, present and future, always have existed, always will exist.
–Kurt Vonnegut, Slaughterhouse-Five
Strasbourg, France is one of my moveable feasts. Years on, my glorious and trying stint in Strasbourg moves with me and through me. The city has accompanied me in my successive endeavors. I protect Strasbourg. I revel in Strasbourg. I share Strasbourg. On occasion, I return to this cherished touchstone city.
Last night, when tragedy struck in my old stomping grounds, I realized that a part of me still inhabits Strasbourg. If I’ve kept this place with me through the years, I now understand that I also left a slightly younger, more naïve self in the stunning city on the banks of the Ill River. Removed from time, I still gaze at the pink sandstone cathedral in the center of town, I wander the uneven pedestrian ways of La Petite France, and I frequent the Marché des Producteurs on Saturday mornings. I pop into chic boutiques, and I track down the flakiest baguette in the city.
The Christmas market violence that rocked Strasbourg also shook me. It rattled all of us who entrust our more innocent, wide-eyed selves to this timeless place.
Inspriations
A favorite Strasbourg tea spot
I love a beautiful cheese board. I love savory and toothsome charcuterie. This holiday season, though, I’m making a departure from my savory standbys. This year, I want bright, crisp vegetables to take the place of the denser, fattier meats and cheeses that I usually serve.
Visiting the Château of Versailles can make for a long day: lines, crowds, and so much sumptuous history to take in! For sanity’s sake, why not break up the day with a calm, delectable lunch?
[DECEMBER 2018 NOTE: The Rabbit Hole’s Redfern location will close after December 23, 2018, but Barangaroo location will still be open.]
T Totaler is a homegrown tea business, focusing on Australian grown teas and botanicals. Founded in 2012, Amber and Paul Sunderland make custom tea blends for restaurants, develop tea-based “mocktails”, and teach workshops. At their Newtown tea bar, I sampled a dazzling Teagroni, an iced White Peony tea with rose petals, and a hot Australian grown Sencha with coconut and lemon myrtle. Each one was perfect in its own way, and the tea bar’s decor was charmingly cozy with fiddle leaf figs and apothecary jars. Since my visit, T Totaler has opened a second location in the center of Sydney, which is now their primary location.
One of Sydney’s favorite dumpling restaurants, Lotus The Galeries also features a range of teas. I had the privilege and pleasure of sharing dumplings and tea cocktails with Sydney’s own teagramming sisters Neha and Smruthi. This charming and generous sister team marries the art of tea with the art of cocktails on their 
Sydney’s innovative and cutting edge tea scene also leaves room for traditional afternoon tea that showcases high end teas and fine pastries incorporating local ingredients. I spent a leisurely and luxurious afternoon at the Langham Sydney. This afternoon teatime is perhaps the most perfect I’ve ever experienced—attentive service, perfectly-infused teas, delightful savories and sweets, a cozy armchair. The pink champagne enhanced my languorous afternoon! I was able to sample a number of teas—a subtle Orange blossom tea, a creamy black Assam, and a white tea with melon. The scones were warm and crumbly, and other sweets were graced with an Australian touch: a hibiscus and guava tart and a cherry lamington. The savories were traditional and spot on: a curried free range egg finger sandwich as well as a prawn, shallot and dill finger sandwich.
The delight in this spontaneous dinner is in its mix and match nature: a 15-minute meal built on little floral plates, purchased in flea markets and antique shops; an assembly of vegetables, herbs and cheese that I had on hand. No fiddling, no stirring, no oven! It was the happiest, most delicious meal I ate all week.
“Are you a real fairy?”
The soul becomes dyed with the color of its thoughts.