With globalization and the internet, there is less stuff to bring back from Paris that you truly can't find back home, especially if you have a Trader Joes in the neighborhood....  This list courtesy of Food & Wine:VANILLA SUGAR - Packets of this French housewife's staplecan be found in the baking section of the supermarket.  It'sgreat sprinkled on French toast, over fruit tarts, or in cafe au lait.PEPPERCORNS - French supermarkets sell white and mixed(pink, green, white and black) peppercorns in disposable mills.LENTILLES DUPUY - I love these tiny green lentils from theremote Auvergne because they keep their shape when cooked.They are especially good simmered in wine with garlic sausage.FLAGEOLETS - These pale green dried beans shaped like afingernail go with roast lamb like jelly goes with peanut butter.DIJON MUSTARD - The mustard made for the U.S. marketlacks the nose-assaulting bite of the stuff sold in France.MAYONNAISE - French mayonnaise often comes in tubes; it's notsweet like the American version and tastes more like homemade.BOUQUETS GARNIS - The herbs essentialfor pot au-feu and boeuf bourguignon (parsley,bay leaf and thyme) come dried in sachets thatlook like tea bags, so they're easy to remove.HERBES DE PROVENCE - This blend ofdried thyme, rosemary, summer savory and bayleaves is used in Provenqal stews and grilledfoods.  It's amazingly hard to find in the U.S.HERB AND TEAS Some of my favorites areverveine (verbena), tilleul (linden blossom) andfraise-cassis (strawberry and black currant).Bon appetit!

An American mother in Paris/In search of the City of Light's PG-rated attractions Janis Cooke Newman   (05-13) 04:00 PDT Paris -- My date at the restaurant in the Eiffel Tower is making a crayfish dance on the edge of his platter of seafood. He wiggles a little pair of orange claws at me. I smile and tenderly touch his cheek. Then we gaze out past the filigree struts of the tower to the lights of Paris glittering in the night sky.   "Always see Paris with someone you love." The first man who took me to Paris gave me this advice. I was in my 20s, and was certainly in love with him.   We stayed in a little hotel above a 24-hour Vietnamese takeout restaurant and spent hours strolling beside the Seine. Each time we passed beneath a bridge I kissed him.   Now, nearly 20 years later, I'm sitting in Altitude 95, the restaurant halfway up the Eiffel Tower, watching someone I love make a crayfish dance. Someone who earlier this evening dropped a crayon into my white wine: my 5- year-old son, Alex.