I was already juggling a couple of things I wanted to do on a recent mid-week night when I stopped by The Cookbook Store to check out the latest offerings and chat with its resident maven/manager and my longtime buddy Alison Fryer.

Alison is plugged into all things culinary happening in our city (Toronto, by the way) and asked if I was going to George Brown College that night to hear a talk on food blogging by Clotilde Dusoulier.

I already knew about this up-and-coming young French woman from her popular little book “Chocolate & Zucchini: Daily Adventures in a Parisian Kitchen.” I had also heard that she was currently at the chefs’ school in Stratford – the small Ontario town that has long been home to the famous theatre festival and was briefly home to me (more of that some other time) – as writer-in-residence.

What I didn’t know but soon realized as I sat listening to her that night in the small George Brown amphitheatre among a large group of avid bloggers, chefs and foodies was that the 30-something Ms. Dusoulier is one brilliant woman with charisma, charm and, in spite of her rising fame, a good dose of humility. Read more…