Emily in France 🇫🇷 Rain, Go Away!
It's raining on Paris' parade.
I can't count the number of times restaurants have had to readjust to various lockdown rules over the past year. Total shutdown. No, wait, you can open outside. No, actually, you can open inside, but at a reduced capacity, and everyone needs to be masked. No, wait, outside only. The constant changes are enough to make anyone's head spin – and I've been reporting on it for work!
What I can say is that – knock wood – it looks as though we've finally got a new rollout plan. Beginning tomorrow, France's restaurants will be opening for outdoor dining only until 9pm curfew; from June 9, they will be also allowed to open at 50% capacity indoors.
The extended terraces invading parking spaces and sidewalks will thankfully return this summer, and I'm tentatively excited to see socially distanced Parisians dining and sipping rosé out of doors once more.
As soon as the rain lets up.
Paris is notoriously rainy in May, but we're noticing it even more this year, when so many people's livelihoods depend on sunshine. I'm crossing my fingers and toes that the grey, drizzly days will let up soon, and that Paris' restaurants will finally be able to get back to doing what they do best.
(And so, too, then, will I.)
What I'm Eating
Despite this pastry shop's name, the tartlets at Tartelettes were surprisingly not my favorite thing on offer.
Want to know what was? Read on.
What I'm Writing
1. A classic French breakfast is far simpler than the morning meal enjoyed in the U.S. or even in nearby England or Germany. A short-and-sweet combo of a bit of buttered bread or a croissant and a coffee is usually all the locals here enjoy. But this wasn't always the case, as I explored for Life & Thyme.
 2. If you ask eating psychology expert Elise Museles, calorie counting is not the secret to sustainable weight loss. Want to know what is? Check out this interview I did for Organic Authority.
3. Are you afraid of your microwave? You don't need to be. Find out why in this research-backed piece I wrote for Mashed.
What I'm Reading
1. Severance hit a liiiiitle bit too close to home, but it's worth a read, if only because of how weird it is that it was written pre-Covid. My thoughts on the blog.
2. I have hated Zoom since the beginning of the pandemic, and the effects it has on the natural flow of conversation is only one reason why. The Washington Post looks at how Zoom changed conversation patterns.
3. I want to read a novel all about the crack team of librarians helping people track down forgotten books, but in the meantime, discover their mission in Atlas Obscura.
A bientôt !