Carrie Solomon is a young American photographer and cookbook author.
She is the mother of two little French-American girls, aged 4 and 6.
Your Proustian madeleine?
The smell of my mother's cookies.
Your favorite family (besides yours and ours)?
The Obamas!
Where do you go for lunch as a family?
To the Coffee Club on rue d’Assas or the Coffee Parisien on rue Princesse. I am a consulting chef for both locations. The latter reopened after one month of renovations. I created a children's menu and my daughters love going there. Sometimes they run around a bit and make a mess, but the servers are really cool.
What does a family snack time look like at your house?
My daughters and I often test and experiment with recipes, especially when I was writing my cookbook "Food with the Kids" (La Martinière, 2016). A pretty surprising recipe that became one of their favorites—you won't believe it... carrot-zucchini muffins.
A really fun activity with the kids?
The Cité des Sciences. They have a blast playing construction site and building games. They love building; at home we often make things out of large cardboard boxes: boats, space rockets, stuffed animal houses... Then they have fun decorating them. They always have a list in mind of what we could make next.
A recipe you can make in no time?
Bear toast. Spread 4 slices of sandwich bread with peanut butter or almond butter, (or obviously À la Mère de Famille's chocolate-hazelnut spread!), then create the ears, snout, and eyes with banana slices, blueberries, and/or pumpkin seeds.
How do they behave?
With big "hugs" and "I love you to the moon and back and back..."
What do they make a big deal out of?
When I don't let them play with my cameras.
A favorite "À la Mère de Famille" product?
I am crazy about pralines.
A gift for À La Mère de Famille for its 256th birthday?
A one-hour delivery service, especially on Sunday nights.
As Annie Cordy said in Cho KaKao, "If I give you chocolate, what do you give me?"
Oh, I don't know that song! I'd say kumquats; I love citrus and chocolate together.
