Welcoming summer with stories, recipe links, and more in my monthly newsletter!                                                                                                    [June 2021 Newsletter]( [David Lebovitz](
Jun 1 [Share]( There are a number of reasons Iâm glad itâs June. Yes, because the strawberries, apricots, nectarines, basil, and summer vegetables are showing up at the market. But also because I can finally give a definitive answer to the question that people have been asking me for the last fourteen months: When can I visit France? As a cookie baker, it was tough for me to give a definitive answer as Iâm not a government official nor an infectious disease expert, so I wasnât privy to any intel. (But in reality, even those folks couldnât predict that.) But now I can give you an answer: The French government has announced the borders are [opening June 9th to visitors](. A few tips for travelers: First, welcome back! You were missed by many. By the time you come, youâll find the daily curfew bumped back to 11pm, museums will be open (with capacity limits and some requiring time-specific tickets purchased in advance to avoid overcrowding), and restaurants will be open for indoor dining at half-capacity. As of now, the terraces are open with certain protocols, such as distancing between tables and a maximum occupancy of six people per table. (An informal survey of places Iâve walked by or eaten at, I saw neither of those happening. So if you plan to eat inside or out, expect to be seated close to other patrons.) Also expect restaurant reservations to be a âhot commodityâ so make sure to reserve in advance, and keep in mind that you may need to call the day before, or day of, to confirm. Let them know if youâd like to dine inside or out when reserving, be on time - due to reduced seating capacity, restaurants may assume youâre not coming if youâre overly late and give your seat away (which would be a bummer! But theyâre struggling and canât afford empty tablesâŠ) And if you canât make it, always call to cancel even if itâs just 5 minutes before your reservation time. (But preferably as soon as you know you wonât be coming.) There are always walk-ins that would love your place at the table. If renting an apartment or staying in a hotel, the extended [cafĂ© terraces and relaxation of protocols have created a noise issue]( and younger Parisians are celebrating hard (and loudly) outside. So if you want peace & quiet, ask if they have any rooms not overlooking the street or sidewalk when booking, especially in the summer when youâll probably want to keep the windows open. Masks are still mandatory although quite a few people either didnât get that memo, or havenât figured out that a mask should cover your nose, not just your mouth. Or your chin or your arm. (Just a note that Covid cases have decreased 42% over the last two weeks in France and 16% of the population is fully vaccinated and 37% have received one dose, with news reports now saying 65% of people want to get it. Second doses in France are spaced out longer than they are in the U.S. to get a first dose into as many people as possible.) A â[Covid Pass](â will be introduced in June/July, although itâs not clear what itâll look like but youâll probably need either proof of vaccination or a negative Covid PCR test, or both, to enter France. The government recently announced that they will offer free PCR tests [for those arriving](. (Not sure if itâs going to be upon arrival because right now, you need a negative test to board the plane. So more shall be revealed, I presume.) If you travel, note that quarantine rules may can change; France just announced a [mandatory 10-day quarantine]( for people coming from the UK, for example. Youâll need PCR test results from a swab taken within 72 hours of your departure, which can be tricky if you have an evening flight as most labs close at 6pm so getting a test 72 hours before your flight may pose an issue since youâll need a lab that will give you results in a shorter window. (In NYC, you can get fast results at one of their [rapid results labs](.) The situation is evolving and the website of your airline or the State Department of your country will likely have the most up-to-date info. France updates the rules [here]( and [here](. And the French government is requesting that people download the [TousAntiCovid app](, which is available in French and English. (Note: You may not be able to upload the QR code from a U.S. vaccination site.) IMPORTANT: For any documents that may be required to travel, itâs best to download and print them out and bring them with you. Electronic documents may not be accepted and a paper document (preferably with some sort of official stamp on it) is still the gold standard in France. Lastly, not to be [Debbie Downer](, but after our lockdown last spring, everyone insisted âItâs over!ââŠwhich seemed a little premature since the virus was wreaking havoc elsewhere. I was shushed quite a few times for my skepticism (although [some experts]( agreed) but, malheurseusementâŠthe virus returned, and France racked up some of the highest infection rates in the world, which have fortunately dropped substantially in the last few months. But wherever you travel, while things may seem to have gone back to ânormal,â itâs always best to soyez prudent, or be careful. And do check your [health and travel insurance]( to see specifically whatâs covered, what is, and what isnât, covered if traveling during a pandemic. --------------------------------------------------------------- In last monthâs newsletter, I started off saying I had trouble thinking of this year as 2021, and while I got the year right at the top of the newsletter (yay me!), I get the month wrong. Oops. Then in a recipe post for [chocolate yogurt cakes](, I wrote about the tricky art of adding metric conversions to recipes since having two systems of measurement adds between 750 to 3000 more places in a cookbook to make a goof. Fortunately, I didnât get a single conversion wrongâŠbut a reader kindly chimed in to let me know that ââŠ2 1/2 inches is 6 cm, not mm.â So Iâm thinking of giving up on using dates, months, years, cups, inches, centimeters, and time zones once and for all, and moving to the country to raise goats because theyâre so cute and donât ask for anything but food and shelter, which seem like reasonable demands. They donât care what time zone youâre in or how many grams is a cup of flour. Arenât they adorable? Theyâre just content to be nibbling on grass. They probably donât have sleep issues, passwords to remember (aargh - arenât those a pain nowadays?), and conjugating French verbs. Goats are so calming that people are now doing yoga with them. As a woman says in the video (below), âItâs impossible to be sad and depressed with goats around you.â I am relaxed just looking at them. I donât do yoga anymore, and am not sure if I would suffer from cuteness overload if I was surrounded by baby goats all day and night, but am willing to try. When I was in San Francisco a few months back, I had dinner at the home of my friends, which was new and strange and wonderful. Dinner inside someoneâs homeâŠwith someone fixing me a drink for a change! (Thanks Chris & John!) Before we rediscovered the outside, again, a favorite activity has been to discuss what weâve been watching. Personally, I didnât mind being homebound for a while as there was so much good tv to watch, but I really hate the violence in many of them. Ozark, for example, is outstanding. But every episode had a segment that was overly graphic and it didnât seem really necessary to show certain things in detail - which I wonât recount here because you donât need to know about them either. Schittâs Creek was simple, sharp, funny, and charming. Every episode made me smile, rather than hide my eyes from the screen. My friends recommended [The Durrells in Corfu](, a PBS series based on the true story of a British family, a widow and her four children, that packed up and moved to Corfu, Greece, in the 1930s. [Michael Ruhlman also mentioned it in his newsletter](. Someone had given me the book itâs based on, [My Family and Other Animals](, written by the youngest son, Gerald, and may be one of the best book titles ever. What interested me about the show was that my own memoirs, [The Sweet Life in Paris and LâAppart](, may someday be on the small screen, too. I spent an inordinate amount of time when writing [LâAppart]( making sure that the tone of the book was not a âhit pieceâ on anyone, but a tale of my experience as a foreigner who came into the situation with different expectations, which is natural, and how things can go wrong when youâre not prepared for them. French friends who had also purchased and renovated apartments pointed out that my story was completely accurateâŠperhaps a little too accurate, and they understood and nodded in agreement about every foible (and catastrophe) I encountered. It was a tough story to tell, but I think itâs interesting to present different sides of a city, and culture. Yes, Paris is about macarons and baguettes and croissants, but itâs also a real city, where people actually live and work. I like to write about the jumble of things, which I think is fair to the culture. Not everyone is chic or skinny or sexy or lives in a fancy neighborhood. Emily in Paris [took some hits for](how Paris was portrayed, and when asked by people what my take on the show was, I said that I hope in Season 2, the star gets to see a little more of the city and interact with different kinds of people. But as [Heather Stimmler pointed out in our Q+A]( interview, ââŠhow would they portray a friend whoâs a single mom trying to raise three kids on a low-wage job and living in a crappy two-room apartment in a rough part of town, without coming across as patronizing or even insulting by minimizing her real problems?â Itâs true that not everyone wants to see all aspects of Paris, and to be honest, they probably donât have a place in a rom-com, but I do like showing a city that is diverse, with different cultures, neighborhoods, and cuisines outside of the obvious. Thatâs why I like going to restaurants out in the Avenues in San Francisco, instead of walking across the Golden Gate Bridge, and in New York, I might head to Bay Ridge to the stores that sell Middle Eastern ingredients, not to Times Square or to shop on Madison Avenue. (Although other vistors might.) My Parisian partner has told me that he likes Paris because itâs âdur,â or hard. Things arenât always easy, but they are always interesting. As they say: Paris isnât a museum. What was interesting was how The Durrellâs in Corfu avoided tropes and managed to find the lovely, yet sometimes awkward balance foreigners face when integrating into a new culture, with curiosity and an ernestness, in good times and in bad. As [Jessica B. Harris]( noted in a recent [NYT article]( on her book High on the Hog (see below) when your book gets turned into a film or tv show, âItâs like giving your child up for adoption, and you have to trust the adoptive parents.â So I am looking forward to my books getting a proper upbringing! In what may be the Worldâs Longest Newsletter (sorry! and apologies for any grammar gaffesâŠIâm finishing this before running to a pastry shop opening this morningâŠ), in the category of, "Yes, your dreams may come true,â after he wrote about [well-known bartenders rendered in LEGO](, I inquired in last monthâs newsletter if there could ever be a LEGO edition of me. Iâm happy to say that [Brad Thomas Parsons]( took the gentle hint and created a LEGO not just of me, but also a mustached Romain with a baguette and croissant. Iâm one gap-toothed one brandishing a [The Last Word]( cocktail, a scarf, and a Boston Cream Pie, ready for its chocolate glaze. Bravo Brad! I canât say if the action figures will ever go on sale, but am happy to have two first editions đ Lastly, most people in France spend a lot of time working on making plans for their summer vacations, which are extremely important to the French. Itâs a hot topic that starts right after the New Year and reaches a peak crescendo as summer inches closer. But some are still undecided, as are. I havenât been able to focus on anything really but getting by week-by-week. Honestly, how can you plan things if youâre not even sure whatâs going to be open? All I know is that Iâd like to be near a beach, preferably somewhere with rosĂ©, and in a kitchen filled with summer fruits and berries, with perhaps a few goats grazing alongside me⊠-David --------------------------------------------------------------- June Events Last month I had my first event in over a year, which was a booksigning at [Slope Cellars]( in Brooklyn. I also signed books at [CafĂ© MĂ©ricourt]( in Paris. So if youâre in one of those places and youâd like a signed copy of [Drinking French](, they got âem. (Neither one ships, but [Omnivore Books]( has bookplate signed copies, and they do.) - Last month I chatted with Amber Stott about cooking and food shopping in Paris, and other topics, on her [Finding Kale podcast for the Food Literary Center]( in California. - June 3rd: I have a live Zoom chat with food writer [Alec Lobrano](, author of [My Place at the Table](, talking about how he created his delicious life in Paris, going from fashion writing, to food. [Register here](. (I interviewed [Alec in a Q+A for paid newsletter subscribers here](.) - June 9: Join me in a Zoom chat with [Dianne Jacob](, author of the new, updated edition of [Will Write for Food](, the ultimate guide to food writing, and weâll talk about what to know about writing a cookbook, how to launch a podcast or blog, whatâs happening in the food writing world, and more! [Register here](. Also, if youâd like a Drinking French Bar Box, you can get them at [Slope Cellars]( and [K&L Wine Merchants](. Each contains a special selection of French spirits and a signed copy of Drinking French. Both are available for in-store pickup and delivery; check their websites for shipping info. ---------------------------------------------------------------
Links Iâm Liking - How a restaurant in New York City [loses money on a $14 sandwich](⊠(Eater) - A compelling argument for [the end of corporate food festivals](. I agree: Thereâs nothing interesting about waiting in a 30-minute line for a one-bite taste of something served on a bamboo skewer. ([Max Falkowitz]( for Grub Street) - Next on my watchlist is [High On the Hog](, a new Netflix series about the roots and evolution of the importance of Black culture to the American food movement. (CN Traveler) And fans of Lupin, like me, will be happy that [part 2 lands on June 11th](. - Speaking of waiting: The new film, [The French Dispatch](, is coming this fall by Wes Anderson. (Variety) - Always a hot topic: [How to avoid cultural appropriation]( in food writing. (Will Write for Food) - The [forgotten queer legacy of Billy West](, founder of Zuni, where I worked when I arrived in San Francisco back in the 80s. (NYT/Possible paywall) - Fun interview with [Tahira Allen](, the woman who runs the celestial (and highly interesting) [NASA Instagram account](. (Rachel Karten newsletter) - [Orange (wine) may be the New RosĂ©](. (Yahoo!) - I appreciate the effort of Why the Food [is better in Britain than in France](, but beg to differ on quite a few points. For one thing, just because youâre Italian doesnât automatically mean youâre good at making pizza. (Iâve had so-so American, Italian, Swedish, and French food served by locals.) (Spectator) - Nik Sharma dives into [the science of vegan meringue](. (Serious Eats) - Melissa Clark deftly [explains all those onions](âŠand garlics, and garlic shoots, etc⊠(NYT/Possible paywall) - Yup, you can [own a room]( in a chĂąteau in France! (Paris Property Group) --------------------------------------------------------------- Recent Recipes from My Blog I dug deep to learn how to make [Tahdig](, the crisp rice dish from Persia, with the fragrance of saffron wafting through a mound of fluffy steamed rice. It took me a few tries to get it right, and I wrote it all up, so you can get it right, too! Honest, itâs not that hardâŠbut it is crunchy, and delightfully so. The [Boston Cream Pie]( of my youth eluded me, leading me to conclude that the ones I so fondly remember may have been made from a mix. Now that Iâm an adult, I avoid cake mixes and make cakes from scratch. Few know that the original didnât have a a chocolate glaze, but I think bittersweet chocolate ganache is worth adding. (Purists can leave it off, but Iâm glad to declare that Iâm not a purist.) I handed the reins of my blog to [Emily](, who works with me (and is a native Australian) to show us how to make authentic [Anzac Biscuits](, the crisp/soft biscuits that tend to raise hackles if not made correctly. But whatever you do, donât call them cookiesâŠat least in front of Australians or New Zealanders. Iâve long loved these types of seedy crackers and had been sitting on a few recipes that put me off with too many steps and a lengthy list of ingredients. So I shelved the idea until I found these gluten-free seedy crackers, which I toggled to use furikake, the Japanese seaweed blend that gives them a delightful salty taste reminiscent of the sea. These [Seedy Furikake Crackers]( are so easy, they can on your appetizer table within an hour. So what are you waiting for? --------------------------------------------------------------- Lastly, itâs almost summer! Hereâs a blast from my past, soaking up some sun with two of my bestest pastry pals (co-workers) from the early 90s (?) at a park in San Francisco⊠Recent newsletters for paid subscribers included Favorite New York Food Addresses and my wondering why people avoid buying cookware made in China but are fine buying other things, like electronics from there. Thereâs also an interview with Paris-based food writer Alec Lobrano. If youâd like to upgrade your subscription, tap below. If notâŠIâll see you here next month! đ [Subscribe now]( [Share]( Youâre on the free list for [David Lebovitz Newsletter](. For the full experience, [become a paying subscriber.]( [Subscribe]( © 2021 David Lebovitz [Unsubscribe](
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