(top-left) photo courtesy of terra momo restaurant group. (bottom-left) photo by jeffrey e. tryon. (top-right, bottom-right) photos by jeffrey e. tryon. (top-left) Denis and Christine Granarolo of Terra Momo Bread Co. (top-right) Petits délices at The Little Chef Pastry Shop. (bottom-left) Assortment of cheeses on display at Bon Appétit. (bottom-right) Edwige “Pouchon” Fils-Aimé, proprietor and trained pastry chef at The Little Chef Pastry Shop.
some spouses who have given up their jobs to come here for their partner’s career may not be happy to have left their home, they may be homesick or, if they come from Paris, they may feel lost in a small town. But in a few months they begin to find their feet. We don’t try to replicate France or to cocoon people in French culture but to help them make a new home here.” “When you move abroad,” says Bailly, “the immediate focus is on the language difference, but much more is involved in learning to navigate a new culture; finding out what makes people tick, can be an everyday challenge.” “One of the goals of Oh La La! is to share the French aesthetic appreciation for quality over quantity and to make that accessible in the Princeton area,” says Rice-Soumeillant. Bailly illustrates this difference every time a buyer of the fine French linens she imports and sells at the Princeton Farmers Market exclaims that they are too nice to use everyday. “That is precisely the point,” she says. “Use and enjoy beautiful things everyday in celebration of life, I tell them; I use them every day. Life is short. Please use and enjoy.” The ASFP was a resource for Chrystèle Baden when she came to Princeton with her late husband
50 |
and children Laure (now 9) and Lucas (now 6). The children attend the French American School and Baden now thinks of Princeton as her home. She is now ASFP vice president of the organization and will take over from Arnoux in June. “There is always someone speaking French or some other language on Nassau Street or in the local cafés and many of the restaurants are influenced by Mediterranean style cooking that favors olive oil and fresh vegetables. And then there is the local market for fresh farm produce. Not only that there is the best bread at Terra Momo and good croissants made by the Le Petit Chef on Tulane Street, but you have to get there early for those.” “Le Petit Chef does pastries like you would find in France,” adds Arnoux. “And of course you can get a selection of French cheeses at Bon Appétit, McCaffreys and Wegmans. Who wouldn’t enjoy living in Princeton?” Now a realtor, Baden joined Callaway Henderson Sotheby’s International Realty as a sales associate last September. At first it was a struggle to find her place in Princeton, she says, after leaving a high level job in Paris with the French railway system, SNCF. With a background in physics and engineering, her job was to advise architects and
contractors expanding the Metro system in the cramped city, building more platforms and tracks on top of existing lines: no mean feat, especially as the work has to be done while trains continue to run. As copies of Ernest Hemingway’s A Moveable Feast (Paris est une fête) fly off book shelves in Paris, members of Princeton’s French community continue to ponder the shootings. Asked if they are worried about their country, Baden and Arnoux respond with true Gallic calm. “No, not especially,” says Baden. “We were in shock, we didn’t see it coming, we were not prepared enough. France is traditionally a very open society accepting of others and we are not scared to go back to Paris to visit our relatives and friends.” “You can’t change your life because of what happened, it can happen anywhere at any time but you cannot live in fear,” adds Arnoux. In the spirit of liberté, equalité and fraternité, Arnoux points out that a senseless shooting is deplorable whether it takes place in Paris or in Baghdad.
PRINCETON MAGAZINE february 2016
FrenchFeb2016.indd 6
1/18/16 10:48:05 AM