There’s no getting around it: January is no one’s favorite month in everyone’s favorite city. (Although I’d like to add some good news here: Next month is spring!)
When I moved to Paris from California, I was surprised to see so many ads for winter vacations, with photos of sunny beaches, people sailing over the Mediterranean on water-skis, and frolicking in the blue surf. They are particularly alluring when you’re bundled up in an Arctically-rated down coat, a scarf, a hat, a mask (or two, when on the métro), and gloves. In San Francisco, they say the only way you know what season it is, is by what’s at the farmers’ market. In Paris, it’s definitely by the travel ads. At least in the winter.
When you’re under gray skies and cold weather for a few months, a time that’s even more challenging by a can-we-be-over-this-now-please? pandemic putting a damper on things, seeing a billboard of people roasting in the sun while you roast in your winter-weather duds waiting for the métro, it is nice to mentally imagine yourself in a swimsuit drinking a perfect Margarita…even if you don’t look like one of those models, and even if it’s not going to happen. (In fairness, they often show entire families frolicking on the beach. On the other hand, my father never had abs like that.)
For some reason, people think I travel a lot. “You’re going away—again?!” I read in my comments if I go somewhere. I made a joke a while back in a video that I was wearing an ankle monitor since many were curious about where I happened to be. Someone took it seriously and sent a message to Romain, asking if I was in trouble. No, I’m not. But I haven’t been to a beach in years, which I hope to remedy this summer. And if I do, I’m leaving my ankle bracelet at home.
Until then, I had a very interesting talk with Adam Roberts on his podcast about the move from blogs to newsletters. Adam was one of the very first food bloggers, starting his blog, the Amateur Gourmet, in 2004. He was probably the first to get a lot of notice, by CNN, which was a huge deal for a blogger back then. It was for his quirky Janet Jackson “fashion faux-pas” cupcakes, modeled after a “fashion fail” during a live television event, which was a big deal at the time. But who can even remember scandals from way back then, let alone the ones from just last week? Yes, that’s where we are now.
We talked about how blogging has shifted in the last few years, and newsletters are taking their places for some of us since they feel like the old days of blogging where you didn’t have to look over your shoulder when writing a post, and just have fun with it. Adam wrote an in-depth and spot-on newsletter, When Food Blogs Became Newsletters. (Possible paywall, but his newsletter is worth subscribing to.)
To quote Adam about the early days of blogging, “You could write about anything!”
That doesn’t seem like a strange phrase, does it? That’s what writers have always done. But for those of us who write and share online (in a place that the founders of Substack referred to recently as the “online Thunderdome”), a blog post that might be controversial or heretical, say…swapping bacon for guanciale in pasta Carbonara, putting sugar in cornbread, beans in chili (which puzzles me because I thought it was a good thing to get less meat and more legumes in our diets?), or cooked vegetables on a salade Niçoise, can bring a maelstrom of the wrong kind of attention. Adam talks about the “avalanche” of disapproval if you get something wrong and how things can heat up quickly.
Personally, I can’t imagine spending my life running around the internet, slapping wrists for putting steamed green beans on a Niçoise salad or breadcrumbs on cassoulet, although my friend Kate in Gascony sometimes sends me a disapproval emoji if I do the latter. As Gaston Lênotre, the father of modern French pastry said, quoted in Bill Buford’s book Dirt, “You can change anything, as long as you make it better.” Merci, chef.
Don’t get me wrong. I don’t mean to be a Wendy Whiner. I love my readers and commenters. I’ve learned so much from them, and many make me laugh (a lot more than make me cry) and 99.999% of everyone I communicate with online is part of a wonderful experience.
That’s one of the reasons I’ve moved to this Substack newsletter that you’re reading: Because I can write what I want and it’s a better, more thoughtful place to have a discussion. I learned to cook by cooking with—and for—others. I got and gave a lot of feedback, and all of it was helpful, whether I disagreed with it or not. So let’s remember to be more generous with our knowledge.
One of my all-time favorite comments on my blog came during that time, when we were under strict lockdown and shopping for food was, frankly, terrifying. And no one wanted to let anything go to waste either.
I decided to ramp up my blog during those months when we were all in a daze of not knowing if we needed to wash down bottles of milk, or the cardboard boxes of frozen pizzas that you once turned your nose up at the supermarché, which you put in your shopping cart without a trace of guilt. Okay, I did get shamed for it. But I didn’t care. I learned that adding extra chorizo, extra cheese, olives, and Calabrian chile paste, and baking it 25% longer than the package indicates, can transform a ho-hum pizza into something not-too-bad when you need a break from cooking and washing dishes.
One recipe I posted on my blog, a Mint Zhoug that I made with a precious bunch of fresh mint that wasn’t looking so great and I didn’t want it to go to waste, wasn’t really zhoug at all, but I thought the world was ending, so what the heck?
I don’t know Yael, but if you’re out there, I just want to say: That’s how you leave a comment (even if it’s recycled):
Thanks to Yael, I learned something, and he was so encouraging it made me want to try the authentic version now that the end isn’t as near as we once thought it was, and I can get the right ingredients. Although I’m not quite sure where to get a mazhaga in Paris? 😅
Speaking of blogging, I launched a redesign of my website/blog to bring things up to date. It’s been a few years and the relaunch went off without a hitch, although I need to go back through all the recipes and remove the step numbers, as the newer version of the recipe plug-in automatically adds them, so you might find some of the recipe posts have double numbers. (Okay, there goes my spring vacation…)
While we’re working on that, and dreaming of the beach (rather than sifting through 2,257 blog posts), I hope all is well where you are. The good news is that Spring is coming up next month—in March! We’ve made it this far, folks, we’ve got this…
- David
Links I’m Liking
How to make any baking recipe vegan. (Bon Appétit)
A look inside Alton Brown’s loft. (Atlanta Monthly)
Amazing vintage photos of Paris. (CNN Traveler)
Long-time Paris correspondent Mort Rosenblum wonders, Has Paris Become An Immovable Beast? (The Mort Report)
From the Hard to Swallow Dept: Diners sell coveted restaurant reservations for $1,500 during Omicron. (Eater)
Martha Stewart opens her first restaurant in Paris…Paris, Las Vegas. (Eater Vegas)
Project du jour (or jours): Making choucroute garni to warm up this winter. (Serious Eats)
Is Gruyère still Gruyère if it doesn’t come from Gruyère? The judge’s verdict says ‘Yes’… (NPR)
Some of my tips, as well as tips from Apollonia Poilâne and Rebekah Peppler, for Picnicking in Paris. (PriorWorld)
The perils, and promise (and ethics), of bean-to-bar chocolate. (Vittles)
So…what about Simca Beck, the “Other” French Chef? (Hazlitt)
A French fashion mark leaves a bad taste with locals in Mexico. (Vice)
Sticklers vs. Improvisers, and Following (or not following) Recipes. (Stained Page News)
Would get my ears re-pierced just to wear these Moka pot earrings. (Etsy)
Recent Posts and Recipes
I added a third granola recipe to my repertoire, which includes my go-to apple-based granola, as well as peanut butter & chocolate chip. This Fig-Candied Ginger Granola from Tara O’Brady is clumpy and downright fun to eat, with bits of chewy dried figs and sparks of spicy ginger. It’s a winner! (Or at least a three-way tie…)
Yes, that’s me hamming it up on my rooftop, circa 2006, outside of my very first apartment in Paris. (I have no idea why I was holding a ham outside, but c’est la vie…) I dug a bunch of pictures deep out of my computer archives and am sharing pictures of me, and my first two apartments, including some photos of the renovation of my current place with “before & after” pics in a series of posts about Finding an Apartment in Paris, chronicling our search for a new place. I’ve archived them all here.
(Because some of them contain personal photos and pics, a few of the posts are for paid subscribers only, not out there for the general public. If you want to read them all, you are welcome to upgrade your subscription.)
Yes, winter can be triste (sad), but there’s nothing better to brighten things up than citrus, which fortunately is booming at the marchés in Paris. Les clementines are a Very Big Deal in France and every market stand has a pile, or two…or three, of different varieties, some from Corsica, some with leaves, others sans pépins (seedless). They’re one of the few things the vendors offer tastes of in France, as discerning shoppers go from stand-to-stand to find the best ones, which I do too. This colorful, flavorful Tangerine Sorbet is one of my very favorites. It’s great on its own but also plays nicely with a scoop of dark chocolate sorbet or white chocolate sorbet, or spicy gingersnaps.
Emily, who works with me, returns with a popular (and spot-on) post: 12 Useful Tips for Your Next Visit to a French Food Market. She’s a regular market shopper and shares her valuable tips and insights for anyone wanting to get the most from the market!
A new favorite in town, Capitale in the Belleville quartier of Paris is offering up a delicious brunch and lunch menu which hits allthe right notes, including the levain grillé (toasted bread) with white chocolate-hazelnut spread, sea salt, and housemade jam, which I later realized was a Frenchified peanut butter & jelly (which is why I liked it so much!) as well as ricotta sandwich with crisp kale, chiles, and preserved lemons. The owner, Margot Lecarpentier, is a great bartender and here, everyone can enjoy her drinks, which range from cocktails to non-alcoholic, brunch- and lunch-friendly concoctions.
And lastly…whenever I need to smile, I watch this video of a friend of mine competing in the Crystal Light National Aerobics Championship in 1989. He told me they kept telling him he needed to shave off his mustache to win, and he kept telling them “No.” (When he first showed me this video at his apartment in San Francisco a few years ago, I was laughing so hard I literally fell off his couch…)
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