nichole's Page

I judge books by their covers.

I developed this nasty habit during the height of the chick lit boom in order to avert purchasing yet another book about Lisa the aspiring writer, her mean boss, her raw food diet and her jerk ex-boyfriend.

If a book cover has a martini glass, black stiletto, engagem… Continue

Did you know I was a bartender when I was in college? Not the seedy, shorts-wearing, cussin' kind, of course. No, I made fruity drinks and served them to khaki-clad country clubbers. It was fun, it was lucrative, and I learned how to make a mean margarita.

In addition to bartending, I served tables. And as… Continue

I'm working on a project that requires me to piece together my favorite places to eat in the Marais. Looking at the first draft of the list, I'm surprised by the number of them that are carts or small food stands. In short: I eat a lot of street food.

Top on the list is L'As du Fallafel.

Having lived in New Y… Continue

When it comes to pleasures, I'm in two camps.

Tactile pleasures like freshly laundered sheets, the smell of rain on a hot pavement, cupcakes. And intellectual pleasures.

I often joke that I married my husband because he's smarter than me and keeps me on my toes. And it's true. We work together most of… Continue

The essence of Matthew Arnold's 1867 essay Culture and Anarchy, as he wrote in the preface, is "to recommend culture as the great help out of our present difficulties."

I struggled to remember Arnold's theory of sweetness (appreciation of beauty) and light (pursuit of knowledge) as I walked around Notre Dame this… Continue