Transatlantic tales of food and love … with recipes.

January - The Height of Good Taste
Armand is a professional ¿good-and-healthy-life¿ coach. He lives in Manhattan with his young daughter at Rick and Carläs, his employers who can¿t live without his cooking or his good taste advice. Wondering about his future, and whether he will one day meet his soul mate, Armand is not sure if he should move away or continue with the comfortable living Rick and Carla offer him.

February - Happy Hour au Champagne S¿il Vous Plaît!
In Boston, Jessica is meeting with her French friend Anne-Sophie again, their usual Tuesday after-work ritual, for a happy hour with champagne. Today is Valentine¿s Day. Flutes freshly poured, the two friends are immediately accosted by a strange looking woman, Mary-Whitney. She is the wife of Spaulding, Anne-Sophie¿s colleague. Apparently, Spaulding has a thing for Anne-Sophie. Afraid that she may lose her husband, Mary-Whitney has come to ask her for help: could she manage to teach her how to cook healthy French food?

March - Did You Say ¿Fromage¿?
Adam and Paul are two roommates who became good friends while living together in Boston. In order to impress a new woman in his life Paul asks Adam ¿ who is a real cordon bleu chef ¿ to cook a dinner for them. What¿s the reward for Adam? If the gourmet meal succeeds in helping Paul conquer his beloved, he promises to take Adam to Quebec City for a first-class culinary experience.

April - Smart Food Shopping
Claudia is meeting her grandmother Mariette, who has some news for her. She just met a terrific man from Spain at the fancy supermarket in her suburban neighbourhood where she shops for healthy, sophisticated Southern European food. Mariette thinks Claudia should come do some grocery shopping at this supermarket to meet her own Mr. Right.

May - A delicious destination
Thomas is back from his vacation. He and his favourite colleague Heidi go out to lunch, during which he tells her all about his trip to Istanbul. While he was away he sent frequent e-mails to Heidi about the places he visited, particularly about the delicious food he ate in different neighbourhoods of the city. But today Thomas also has something to confess to Heidi that may change the course of their friendship.

June - Freedom Fries and Idiot Cheese
Lucas is meeting his childhood friend Jon at a coffee shop in Cambridge. Jon just broke up with Magalie, a French woman who was getting on his nerves with her annoying habits, especially those having to do with food. Lucas would have liked to have met someone like Magalie, a woman who would share simple, pleasurable moments with him at a sidewalk cafe or over a lovingly prepared meal. Learning that Magalie is now free, Lucas is thinking about seeing her.

July - Breakfast for Two
Brune is French and lives in Boston. She just had a nice dinner with some friends to celebrate the Fourth of July. She is calling her friend Pierre in Paris with whom she likes to talk food. She is telling him that she met a wonderful woman named Elsa who lives in New York and works for a gourmet magazine. Brune is trying to convince Pierre to move to New York in order to meet Elsa. Then they could see each other more often and share their love of food face to face, over a real table in a real restaurant.

August - The American Dream
Spending a few months in Montpellier, Languedoc to study French, every Sunday Matt likes to go into the countryside to a small restaurant that serves authentic regional food for a gourmet meal. There he meets Paprika, the owner¿s daughter. Falling for her, Matt quickly draws up plans in which he pictures Paprika and himself living happily in California. How proud his family would be if he were to bring a gorgeous French woman like Paprika back home!

September ¿ A Taste of Summer in Burgundy
Julie now lives in Chicago, and returns for a visit to her native rural Burgundy where she still expects her friends to enjoy good food, fresh air and relaxed moments with their families. But times have changed...

October ¿ What a spicy treat!
It is Charlotte¿s first Halloween in America. She and her roommate are going to attend a lavish party. Charlotte enjoys her food and drink while thinking that you don¿t really need a man to find happiness. However, from a dark corner Michael has been watching Charlotte with absolute delight: a sensual woman appreciating food like that is a rare thing indeed these days!

November ¿ The Best Ever Turkey!
Victoria is a chef who is beginning to achieve a certain notoriety in New England. She is more than satisfied devoting her life to food and spending the better part of her days advancing her budding career. She works long hours and appreciates what little free time she has doing nothing more than gazing at the ocean from her back porch, her faithful cocker spaniel Chipolata at her side. At a dinner party where she has been hired to do the catering she meets three young women who simply cannot understand the choices she has made in her life.

December Food, Comfort and Joy
Dominic comes to see therapist Elaine because it is a part of his divorce procedure. He tells Elaine that he plans to sue a fast-food chain and a cable TV company because he is blaming them for turning him into an obese couch potato.

Jocelyne Rapinac, originally from France, is a modern languages teacher, who has lived in the US, Switzerland and the UK with her husband James. Freedom Fries and Café Crème is her first novel.