Emily in France 🇫🇷 Time is Weird
Time dilates.
If you need something done, give it to a busy person.
I'm perhaps the textbook definition of this, allowing the work I have to expand (or contract) to fit the time in which I have to do it. If I have one article to write and ten hours in which to write it, that's how long it'll take. If I have five articles to write in half the time, I may finish bleary-eyed and barely coherent, but I'll get 'er done, too.
One of these days, I'll learn to trick myself into believing I only have four hours to work, so my work will fit into four hours, and I'll get the rest of the day off. Until then, I'll continue cracking my own whip and writing pretty much all day, every day.
Of course, when you're writing the kind of stuff I am, it's not a bad problem to have.
What I'm Eating
It's not uncommon in a boulangerie, or bread bakery, to have the lab on the premises, so that upon entering, clients can smell the heavenly aromas of freshly baking baguettes or croissants. It's quite a bit rarer in a pâtisserie, which is only part of what so dazzled me on a recent visit to KL Pâtisserie. (For the rest, read on.)
What I'm Writing
1. In the heart of France, in a village known mainly for its seven castles, a women-led team is making beer out of the most essential of French food waste: scraps of unsold bread. Discover Cocomiette (and to see far better pictures than my snapshot above, care of the oh-so-talented Eileen Cho) in Good Beer Hunting.
2. I'm a little bit obsessed with Gordon Ramsay, but for as much as I love his swearing, he has tripped home cooks up on some of the essentials of cooking on more occasions than one. Here are just some of the cooking myths the Scottish chef had you believing, for Mashed.
3. Washington D.C.'s newest Michelin-starred chef shared his background, his inspiration, and his famed paella recipe with me for the Inside Hook.
What I'm Reading
1. The Stationery Shop is so much more than a love story. Discover my thoughts on this work of historical fiction set against the backdrop of the political upheaval of 1950s Tehran on the blog.
2. Even as a 19èmeiste, I am very not-thrilled that the French government decided to rebuild Notre Dame's historic spire as it once stood (especially considering that in contrast with the over-800-year-old cathedral, the baby spire was barely 200 years old. The ecological repercussions of the decision are detailed in the Smithsonian Magazine.
3. We can't even dine outdoors, yet, in Paris, but I was intrigued to discover what indoor dining is like in NYC on Grub Street.
A bientôt !