It’s been a year or so since I tracked down Nathalie Kent, the French cowgirl with a boutique  on Canyon Road in Santa Fe…and immediately decided that the two of us would be friends. She’s a former accessories editor at French Vogue, which shows in the way she pulls together and easy Frenchy meets Southwest style at Nathalie. I got it — and her — immediately, and when we realized that we were both from the same arrondisement in Paris, too, it just seemed like we were destined to find each other.

It’s here…spring!…the cookbook!…and  very soon, I’ll be on the road, kicking off the Cowgirl Chef Summer of 2012 World Tour. (Do y’all think I need to get t-shirts?)

More Big Easy than Big D, with its bowtied waiters and simple, Cajun-inspired menu, S. & D. Oyster Company where I’ve always gone for a gumbo fix. Problem is I can’t seem to stop there. I always want fried oysters, too, and I must have fried shrimp, and since the combo plate comes with both – along with hush puppies and homemade fries — what’s a girl to do but order it all?

(When I was in Dallas earlier this year, I had some tacos. Actually, lots of tacos. But I kept going back to this place, time and time again.)

Last week, X told me that he wanted to go out for a burger, and that he’d found just the place —  Le Bistrot des Compères in the Marais. I’d not heard of it, I told him, nor had I seen it mentioned on anyone’s favorite burger in Paris list or website, and between you and me, I gotta tell you, I was skeptical.

Lately, each weekend, it seems, I’ve been hopping on the metro and heading to the east side of Paris – to eat Italian, or Spanish, or in this case, some wonderful and well-priced bistro cuisine (three courses for just 30 euros).

When I return to Texas, one of the first places that I go to for Tex-Mex is Mazatlan, a family-run place that’s in an old Dairy Queen in Denton. When I’m back in Paris, usually the first week or two after a trip away, I come here, to Caves Saint Gilles, for Spanish tapas. Now I know what you’re probably thinking. Spanish food? Really?

I can’t believe I’m getting to write this post.

At the end of the week, after I’ve tested I don’t know how many recipes, I’m often in the mood for something simple. Like a good pizza.

This is my mom. Isn’t she cute?