Back in October, we mentioned that the longtime New York Times Paris bureau chief Eliane Sciolino was being reassigned to the terrorism/nuclear proliferation beat. Sciolino just wrote a tribute to Paris that was surprisingly warm and touching.

The best part? Sciolino is proud to admit that she humiliated herself in front of a senior Foreign Ministry official, the Swedish ambassador and deputy treasury secretary Robert M. Kimmitt... all while making chocolate chip cookies:

I was making chocolate chip cookies one Saturday afternoon and ran out of butter. Dusted with flour, still in my morning jogging clothes, I dashed out to the convenience store up the street. The problem was that it is not just any street. It's the Rue du Bac, one of the most chic places to see and be seen on Saturdays. I heard my name called and turned to face a senior Foreign Ministry official, dressed in pressed jeans and a soft-as-butter leather jacket, wearing an amused look, and carrying a small Nespresso shopping bag. We went to a corner cafe for a drink. The Swedish ambassador and his wife stopped as they were riding by on their bikes. Both were in tailored tweed blazers, slim pants and loafers. Then Robert M. Kimmitt, the deputy treasury secretary, walked by. He and my foreign ministry friend joked that my style didn't match the setting. I made the point that it was my neighborhood and I could dress however I wanted. But as my French women friends told me afterward, jogging clothes (shoes included) are to be removed as soon as one's exercise is over.

Coming up next: We blog about the time we went to Per Se in a Metallica shirt.

(Image via PBS)