Emily in France 🇫🇷 Would You Like to Be a Potter?
Greetings from La Ciotat!
Hello from the beautiful seaside village of La Ciotat, where Camille and I are hard at work planning your retreat!
(And... yes. Drinking local beer on the port. We're just making sure it's good enough for all of our guests!)
No, but in all seriousness.
Camille and I have been dreaming of creating a retreat like TERRE/MER for pretty much as long as we've known one another. (That is to say... almost ten years.) A marriage of our passions for food and art, all in the beautiful seaside destination that Camille calls home, the retreat will include 20 hours of hands-on ceramics with master potter Camille as well as cooking ateliers and cheese, wine, and beer tastings with yours truly.
Plus, you'll learn to play pétanque in the city that invented the game!
Sounds dreamy, doesn't it? Snag your spot before they all sell out – Early Bird pricing is only in effect for a few more weeks!
Cheese of the Week
I've been meaning to pay Fromagerie Goncourt a visit for a very long time: Its beautiful blue storefront is oh-so-tempting, but more than that, I love the story behind its mission. The brainchild of Clément Brossault, it opened in 2013 only after the cheesemonger had completed a 3,500 kilometer bike journey through France's cheesemaking regions, where 25 different local producers taught him what they know about raw milk cheese, seasonality, and more.
This cheese was one I'd never seen before: a fresh goat cheese from one of my favorite regions, Auvergne. The Palet d'Auvergne from a small producer in Joursac is fresh and grassy, exactly what I look for with goat cheese. But what that photo doesn't quite reveal is its unique texture: a bit firm and almost filandrous, like a good ricotta or fresh mozzarella.
Over time, the little palet grew denser and fudgier but never overwhelming. The last few bits featured heavily in my favorite heat wave salad, which is really just a bowl of fruit and tomatoes (also a fruit) seasoned with olive oil, fresh basil, salt, and pepper.
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.
What I'm Eating
I finally made it to Shabour, where the lunchtime “Voyagette” tasting menu offered a marriage of Middle Eastern flavors and French art de la table. Even as someone whose assessment of aesthetic frequently leaves something to be desired (and I say this as the child of an artist and an interior designer…) I was overcome with the work that must have gone into sourcing the many elements quotidian and obscure that made appearances over the course of the meal. More on the blog.
Discover more of my foodie finds via Instagram @emily_in_france.
What I'm Writing
1. It would be easy, in spotting a downy, barrel-shaped Chaource, to confuse it for double-cream Brillat-Savarin. I’ll admit I’ve done it several times before. But I stand corrected, and now, so can you. Find out more about this fudgy, mushroomy delicacy in my latest cheese column for My French Life.
2. Where does the no-tip trend go from here? A San Francisco restaurant vet weighs in. For InsideHook.
3. Troy Tingling of Miami's Soulfly Chicken schools us on cheese-free mac and cheese and chicken-free fried chicken for InsideHook.
What I'm Saying
1. France's favorite cheese – and the one it produces the most of – hails from the idyllic Franche-Comté, also home to a unique oxidative wine and... a lot of cows. Join me and Caroline on the Terroir Podcast as we delve into this haven of great dairy and wine and explore the contentious coexistence of a cheese that transcends international borders.
2. What the hippies were to North America, the 68ers or 68ards were in France. To address this political movement that essentially saw France shut down in May of 1968, I'm joined by Dr. Ben Mercer, Senior Lecturer at the School of History at the Australian National University. He’ll be exploring how this movement embodied some values of French society that still hold true today. Tune in here!
What I'm Reading
1. I may be in the South of France, but that doesn't mean I've forgotten all about my home. I just finished a fascinating overview of the history of food in Paris written by Jim Chevallier. While a bit dry in parts (and understandably so – it explores thousands of years of food history), it does a notably fantastic job exploring the history of the birth of various eating establishments, from restaurants to traiteurs, bouillons to bistros. Highly recommended for the food nerds among you.
2. Some sad news: production of one of my favorite hard cheeses (and cheddared cheeses) is suspended due to drought. More in the Guardian.
3. As writers, we're constantly evolving our craft. So what happens when a seasoned writer dares to look back on their first novel. Do they give the characters they created a better chance at success by... rewriting a published book? Here's an exploration of the subject from one author who did in the New Yorker.
A bientôt !