Emily in France 🇫🇷 How to Feel at Home
A new normal.
My lifestyle means that I move around a lot. It's something that requires a lot of planning (and that means that I have contact lenses in every bag I own), but it's far from all bad, despite the aghast looks I sometimes get from well-meaning friends wondering how I could possibly live out of a bag and stay sane.
Well first off, I'm not all that sane. And second, it doesn't take much for me to feel at home.
I love the feeling of settling into a new normal, a place that was, until moments ago, totally foreign to me and that has, in an instant, become mine: Thanks of my pile of books; thanks to my identifying a reading chair; thanks to a cup of coffee in the mug that will be mine; thanks to the securing of a bowl large enough to hold my salads.
(My salads, friends, are large.)
I like that moment, before you've built your habits, of not knowing what your normal will look like, here, now. I like turning a foreign place into a home in an instant.
Cheese of the Week
This Savoyard tomme cheese is dubbed tomme au marc due to the present of grape pomace – a byproduct of winemaking – on the crust. A traditional preservation method in Savoie, it's a cheese made locally from October to March. Nutty and rich, it tends to get funkier over time. The one I found at Terroirs d'Avenir was perfect!
To discover more of my favorite cheeses, be sure to follow me on Instagram @emily_in_france and tune into the Terroir Podcast, where Caroline Conner and I delve into France's cheese, wine, and more one region at a time.
Where I'm Going
1. To the American University of Paris, to offer a cheese tasting to 50 (!) alums.
2. To Laurent Dubois' cheese-focused restaurant at the top of Printemps Department Store, to make sure it's holding up.
3. To Le Grand Bain for what I'm sure will be another delicious experience!
What I'm Eating
I’ve had the pleasure of interviewing Ed Delling-Williams, the young British chef formerly at the helm of such illustrious Parisian tables as Au Passage and Le Grand Bain, on numerous occasions: about the dearth of phenomenal French bistros, about the absence of white tablecloths on Parisian tables, and more. And each time, he’s wowed me with his ability to have his finger on the pulse of what’s interesting, boring, changing, and perennial on the French culinary landscape. So when he left Paris during lockdown, suffice it to say, I was intrigued, and this weekend, I had the opportunity to pay him a visit in his new chez lui. More on the blog.
Discover more of my foodie finds via Instagram @emily_in_france.
What I'm Writing
1. Le Mermoz has secured itself as one of my favorite Parisian tables. To find out why, check out my review on Paris by Mouth.
2. If you love wine and tacos, why not have them together? That's what Los Angeles somm Rebecca Phillips does. She's teaching us how to dedramatize wine with fast food pairings for InsideHook.
3. From the archives: Pale pink Provençal rosés may be some of the most familiar, but they're far from the only ones out there. I delved into the darker side of rosé for Pix.
What I'm Reading
1. World War II propaganda is at the heart of the myth that carrots make your eyesight better. In Smithsonian Magazine.
2. This heartbreaking story about a child who mistakenly shot another is an emotional ride and well worth a read. In the Washington Post.
3. Some of my writer friends love sharing early drafts; others sit on books for years before letting us read a few pages. So when's the right time? Some thoughts in the Atlantic.
A bientôt !