Writing for people who use beer funnels

Far be it from me to complain while I'm in France, but this job is really hard. Getting to know a city in 3 days is grueling. My normal day begins at 8 and ends past midnight. Mornings are for shops and tourist sites, then from 12-2 everything closes besides restaurants, so I do those, then shops and such in the afternoon, restaurants again at dinner, and bars after that. I'm glad there's no picture of me, walking th 500 steps up to a chateau in 85 degree heat and carrying 20 pounds of brochures and pamplets I get at every place I visit. I'm having trouble fitting in all the writing, plus it's not cheap to eat in France. People think I'm a freak when all i order is an appetizer.

On top of it all, it's hard to get turned down all the time. Asking for free meals, free samples, free hotel rooms - I probably get 1 in 10 if I'm lucky. It's one thing to hang out in France and see the sites - it's another to badger every person who will talk to me about where they like to eat. And visiting a bar as a young American woman who has to talk to random people... not always fun. This has lead to a failed strike - there are 2 other writers like me in France right now, and one tried to get Frommer's to cough up more dough. It didn't work, but at least it was nice to commiserate with other people who understand.

Anyway, now that I've gotten that out of my system, here's the other hiccup. It's hard to write for an MTV audience - which doesn't like to do the things I do. I've made a real effort to include pizza places in the listings, and other backups that tourists need. But really I want to be writing "try the dish made with goose fat - it's great." Not gonna fly with the type of people who might buy this book.

Like today I stopped by Oliviers and Co - it's an olive oil company (you can find their stuff in the states). But they had 40 different olive oils there - all from different providers. The guy who ran the shop was really nice, and gave me a tasting tour around Europe. Each one was like a wine - totally different and seriously amazing. In case you didn't know, I like olive oil so much I would bathe in it if I could.

But when it comes to my audience - is that the type of thing I include? Chances are the frat boys of the world will go to different areas in France, not my cities, so i feel pretty safe including it. But you never know. I wouldn't come to France to go to a pub and eat "english food." But I do the research just to be safe.

On a side note - I found merveilles! My grandmother used to make them when i was little - they're fried dough with powdered sugar. We used to braid the dough for fun before we fried them. But I saw them at the farmer's market and I was so excited I talked about it for 5 minutes straight with the guy there, and then ate the whole bag.

Sorry to complain - there had to be one post like this. But here's a nice picture of eggs that makes me happy.