When I first received The Little Paris Kitchen in the mail, I spent a good hour just sitting on the couch and flipping through the pages. All those photos of bistros, Parisian markets, dinner parties on adorable little balconies...it all sounds so cliché, but I thisclose to booking a plane ticket to Paris. (That's the power of photography!)

And then there are the recipes: very simple, nonfussy French comfort food, pretty much food I crave everyday.

Over the weekend I made the lemon and lavender chicken, a nice twist on the simple roast chicken. What could be more spring-like than lavender? If I can't jet off to Paris and drive down to the lavender fields of Provence, at the very least I can roast some chicken.