Emily in France 🇫🇷 America Bound!
On the road again...
I've just touched down in Washington D.C., where I haven't been since my Baby Sister (who is very much not a baby and, indeed, is far more grown up than I could ever aspire to be) lived here as young grad and Working Woman, which inspired me with awe when I first witnessed it and is now Normal until I think about it too much, and then I remember when she was learning how to say my name, and I'm kind of awe-struck again.
But I digress.
I'm always surprised by the things that still surprise me when I return to the U.S. The friendliness among strangers, for one, even when one has just disembarked from a trans-Atlantic flight. The fact that people still say "Excuse me" or "I'm sorry" in a way that feels like they mean it. The French certainly have that kind of phatic speech, but it seems completely divorced from real meaning, and uttering Pardon without really thinking about it as I breeze past someone is definitely an unfortunate habit I've picked up in my time away.
It's been a very long time since returning to the States truly felt like coming home. I'm never sure which side of the Atlantic is the one to hold my heart. I'll be spending the next few days at a press trip (and consuming as much sushi and as many tacos as I can between brewery visits). I'll be missing the long summer days and familiarity of Paris soon enough, I'm sure, as well as the lack of performativeness, the way we can get disgruntled without becoming affronted, and, of course, the cheese. (Can cheese make a place home? Perhaps.)
My hairdresser tells me that your hair knows when you come home, that it always looks at its best when you wash it in the water you were raised in. So if you see me in the next few weeks, let me know if my hair looks happier.
Cheese of the Week
Fourme d'Ambert may well be one of France's oldest cheeses. A relatively mild blue, it was nearly entirely relegated to industrial production until recently; now, producers like Antoine de Boismenu are reviving raw milk, fermier iterations of the cylindrical cheese, and MOF cheese ager Laurent Dubois is peddling perhaps my favorite Parisian iteration, ultra-aged until it's rich, nutty, and sweet.
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 SAVOR, a celebration of American craft beer.
2. To Alexandria, to visit Port City Brewing.
2. To Phoenixville, PA, to squeeze my oldest friend until she bursts.
What I'm Eating
I'm not too sure how to begin to categorize the symphony of flavors that is a meal at Reyna. At this brand-new restaurant from Chef Erica Paredes marries European and Asian flavors with aplomb, delivering on the promise – and her own reality – of Filipino roots with a nomad soul. More on the blog.
Discover more of my foodie finds via Instagram @emily_in_france.
What I'm Writing
1. Have you ever wondered why Belgian chocolate is so good? I've got the scoop for Mashed.
2. Giant's recipe for homemade waffle fries might be the most decadent thing you ever cook, and I've got the recipe for InsideHook.
3. Florida orange juice just got a whole lot more expensive – here's why, for InsideHook.
What I'm Reading
1. Let me be clear: La Tresse is not the kind of book that keeps you guessing. It's clear from a few pages in where the story is going, and the characters, at times, seem more like tropes than people. But in a time when the world feels so divided, an easy read about the interconnectedness of people around the world feels kind of like the perfect book for the beach.
2. The very idea of home is a pretty transient, perforated thing, and I loved this exploration of testing its limits via one of the most esoteric barometers in Off Assignment.
3. Constructive criticism has been a compound noun in my head since middle school, but this essay turns the very concept on its head. In Catapult.
A bientôt !