Mimi Thorisson left Paris for rural south-west France nearly five years ago and hasn't looked back since. The former TV executive now lives in a charming stone farmhouse in Médoc, a six-hour drive from Paris, with her photographer husband, children (they have seven between them, including three from previous relationships) and their 15 dogs – and the life change has also sparked her now thriving career as a chef.
Mimi kicked off her popular food blog Manger after moving to rural France
Mimi, who grew up in Hong Kong with her Chinese father and French mother and went on to live in London and Paris, created quite a stir with her blog Manger, so much so that she has appeared in French TV show, La Table de Mimi, and has published her first cookbook, A Kitchen in France: A Year of Cooking in My Farmhouse. She also runs workshops and is planning on opening a pop-up restaurant within her family's home.
The success of the brunette beauty's blog may be down in part to the dreamy lifestyle that she, her husband and their children lead – she chronicles it all through the seasonal foods that come from the farms, forests, and waters surrounding her home.But it's Mimi's passion that is her driving force. For, she tells HELLO! magazine's sister magazine HOLA! – "Food is fuelled by desire and passion". Her cooking in particular, she says, "reflects food memories from my past, as well as my passions for a particular seasonal taste."
Mimi recently published A Kitchen in France: A Year of Cooking in My Farmhouse
The blogger of the moment and cookbook author – who has also appeared on HOLA's TV channel – focusses on rustic, French country cooking with seasonal and freshly-picked ingredients.Thanks to Mimi's blog, Médoc, north of Bordeaux, has received a new influx of visitors that have been wooed by her accounts of the undiscovered region that boasts sprawling forests, vineyards, orchards, charming villages and markets filled with abundant fresh produce.
Pink praline tart and ile flottante
Who inspired her cooking? "My aunt and grandmother inspired me to cook," she says, remembering how "as a little girl I watched them cook the most amazing meals in the South of France", where she holidayed.
Aside from her "own little twist" that she always puts into her recipes, Mimi's final ingredient of success must be beauty. Having worked in the fashion industry before starting her career as a chef, she says: "Perhaps the link between these two worlds is the sense of beauty I love when I visualise food, decorating a table, a plate, the house...".
The recipe for this summer trifle can be divided into individual servings perfect for one
There is, of course, the wonderful setting of Médoc. And the photography for Mimi's recipes, her blog and cookbook mustn't be forgotten – it completes the idyllic picture, and is all taken by her beloved husband Oddur.