Thank goodness it’s spring. I’ve been having a great time buying strawberries, ail des ours (wild garlic), rhubarb, and fresh garlic at the markets. Oh, how can I forget, asparagus, too. We’ve planted some herbs in our garden in preparation for summer, and cherry tomatoes, which are the only kinds of tomatoes you can grow in Paris, as well as cayenne and Espelette pepper plants. Within 48 hours, les limaces already began chowing down on the basil, despite the plants being in a high pot, surrounded by crushed eggshells, and surrounded by copper wire.
Apparently, the slugs were just as anxious to eat some fresh basil as we were. They also decimated a cayenne pepper plant down to the roots. Yes, we tried the beer trick, which didn’t work very well—maybe French slugs prefer a crisp Chablis over a Heineken? So I got my hands on a few million nematodes, which I hope will take care of the slugs, who got to most of what was growing in our garden last year before we could. I think it was William Alexander who said in his very funny book, The $64 Tomato, that having a garden is great…until the pests discover it. So we’ll see how the nematodes take care of the slugs. Nematodes are tiny worms that slugs eat, which kill them due to a bacteria they contain. But they don’t stop there. Once the slugs expire, the nematodes reproduce inside them, creating a new generation of them to go after the rest of the slugs. The process is giving me The Last of Us flashbacks, which I had to stop watching due to the violence. (I have no idea how people sleep after watching things like that.) But I don’t mind it happening in my garden if that means we get fresh basil. Priorities, people…
It does make me appreciate more the fresh produce that we’re able to buy. And the moral of William Alexander’s story is that gardening is so time-consuming and costly, that if you add everything up, a tomato costs $64. So don’t fret when you see tomatoes at the farmers’ market this summer for a fraction of that price. But it is nice to walk outside while making dinner and snip off some fresh tarragon to make tarragon vinaigrette, figs to make jam, or a fresh chile pepper to spice up a salsa. There’s been a cavalcade of visitors coming from the U.S., who are clamoring to be in France right now, enjoying everything from white asparagus to French pastries. A friend came last month with his Costco card, so we made the trip to Costco France, an hour away from Paris, which I wrote about in Part 1 and Part 2. It was interesting to see what the supersized American commerce giant stocked for its French clientele. But France is no stranger to hypermarchés; the first Carrefour opened in 1963 and boasted to be a place that offered libre-service (serve yourself) and 400 parking spaces. There are now three of their smaller “City” stores within a couple of blocks from me in Paris, which are convenient if you need last-minute lemons or butter, but they’re rather soulless.
They are more convenient, hence their popularity, and they stay open later than 8pm (a good thing if you need late-night butter, for example), which is when other grocery stores close, but I still like shopping at the small stores in my neighborhood, where they know me and the produce comes from small or local producers. I guess if I had six people to feed, I would feel the pinch, but the prices aren’t that much more than they are at supermarkets, and the taste of the produce is usually far superior.
Contrary to what people might think, we eat pretty simply at home. When I post pictures of strawberries or asparagus on social media, people often ask, “What are you going to do with them?” The good news is that the simplest preparations are usually the best way to serve them. My culinary training primarily was about finding good ingredients and finding the best way to feature their flavor, rather than learning fancy techniques (which often don’t produce the most optimal results). One of my challenges of having a newsletter is there are so many things I want to write about. I always want to share new places to eat in Paris, favorite food finds, recipes, and even a few duds, as in, I’m trying to figure out why anyone would produce a non-alcoholic “spirit” that tastes awful. I tasted three of them and one, my non-drinking friend spit out. It’s like making bad gluten-free or vegetarian food. Why? With all the great grains and vegetables around, it’s hard to understand why people don’t want to make them shine. Because my mind works faster than my fingers, I’ve started a number of newsletter posts that I’ve never finished, from CBD Madeleines and Kinako ice cream to 10 Things I Want to Get Off My Chest, but I could only come up with four, so that one’s still resting in my Drafts folder. There’s also a recipe that requires argan oil, which is extracted from the poop of fruit tree-climbing goats in Morocco (who eat the fruits, and, um…expel the kernels), that I started, which I’m sure very few of you could make. And there’s a recipe for the chocolate craquelins featured on the cover of the new edition of Ready for Dessert.
That one’s coming before the book comes out in September, I hope. I’m crossing my fingers I’ll get to it.
Kicking off May, I’ve just turned in another big writing project that I’ve been dipping into for the last year or so. Some new visitors are here, and more are on the way. And I’m trying to figure out how to take one of these pottery workshops at Not Frères pottery in August…  …although I’ve already got plenty of pottery, so maybe it’s best if I sit that one out. For now, I’m staying home, doing my best to beat the slugs before they hit the cherry tomatoes and my lone remaining Espelette pepper plant, nd hoping the cayenne plant springs back to life. (Breaking: Just this morning, I found they decimated one of our four cherry tomato plants, which is why it’s a good idea to promote diversity—the three other varieties are still standing.) But with my writing projects submitted, I am ready to go out more, now that the weather in Paris is sunny and warm, which what we’ve waited for all winter. So it’s time to enjoy it. -David
Links I’m LikingWoman finds the world’s most uncomfortable restaurant chair in France. (Eater) Hostile vs. friendly punctuation, in the digital age. (Time via Michael Ruhlman) Trial opens in France for the “grandpa robbers” who robbed $10 million in jewels from Kim Kardashian. The oldest was 79 years old and even wrote a book about it. (RFI) Someone complains to Miss Manners that their friends only want to talk about food. And the problem is…? (Washington Post/unlocked) Paris pastry shop creates the world’s longest Fraisier, a French strawberry cake. (AFP Video) They’re a bit of a project to make at home, but here’s a recipe from The Kitchn, and another recipe from The Pastry Nerd. Who was Carême, the father of French gastronomy? And subject of a new series on AppleTV (NYT/unlocked) How Duralex French glassware company was saved from bankruptcy by its workforce, who turned it into a cooperative —which makes it one business in France where the workers won’t go on strike. (World Crunch) How to pasteurize eggs at home, and do they work in mayonnaise and meringues? (Serious Eats)
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Wednesday, April 30, 2025
May 2025 Newsletter
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