A Few Things | July 3

A lighthearted discussion during a heavy news week, and the first review of The Kids Are All Right.

A Lighthearted Discussion during a Heavy News Week

The other day, over dinner, Ben Blair brought up this very important topic: If you were on a talk show and someone asked you your favorite sandwich, what would you answer?

Sure you could just say whatever sandwich comes to mind — PB&J, tuna melt, Philly cheesesteak — all of those are delicious. But in order to be an interesting guest, you’d want to have an interesting answer. Either the sandwich itself needs to be unusual and interesting, or the reason why you like the sandwich needs to be unusual or interesting.

I decided my answer would be one of these two:

1) The French classic, Jambon Beurre. It’s the simplest sandwich but one of my very favorite. Baguette, butter, and ham. That’s it. But since it’s the best bread in the world, the best ham in the world, and the best butter in the world, it’s an absolute delight of a sandwich. And it’s available every day at every French boulangerie (bakery), so it’s also really reliable; a tried and true option.

Or 2), an Eight to Five Sandwich. Here’s a little background on the Eight to Five: Ben Blair and I moved to Athens, Greece just weeks after I discovered I was pregnant with my oldest child. I was working as an art director at Ogilvy & Mather and everyday we'd order out for lunch. One of the nearby restaurants was called Eight to Five — because they were only open during business hours and catered to the working population in the area.

I ordered their signature sandwich, also called the Eight to Five, during the lunch break on my first day of work. It was delicious. Maybe even heavenly. And it was one of the first meals that seemed to settle my morning-sick digestive system. I ended up ordering this same sandwich every single day I worked at Ogilvy & Mather. Literally every day. It got me through that first pregnancy and has been a favorite sandwich ever since.

Eight to Five Ingredients: Baguette, Avocado, Cream Cheese, Lettuce, Bacon. For those who want to try one, here are the directions:
-Take a section of baguette (about 6-8 inches long) and slice it length wise.
-Mash the avocado and spread one piece of the sliced baguette with it.
-Spread the other slice of baguette with cream cheese.
-Add bacon and lettuce between the slices of bread.
-Enjoy a little bit of heaven.

One note. In Athens, the restaurant would mix the mashed avocado with some mayonnaise. It was yummy and salty and creamy. But for whatever reason, I've skipped this step for years.

What about you? How would you answer the favorite sandwich question?

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In The News

My news feeds have been dominated by Supreme Court opinions and presidential election opinions. I’m sure yours have too. I’m working on a separate essay with my current thoughts on all of this, but for now I’ll just say: I believe supporting the Biden-Harris ticket gives us the best chance of winning in November, and I’m most encouraged when I see Democrats taking bold action — like seeing AOC announce articles of impeachment against Supreme Court Justices.

If it helps, I’ve been collecting the best threads I’ve found over at @threadsbydesignmom.

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First Review of The Kids Are All Right

I received a message on Instagram yesterday that said:

I’m counting this as the first official review of The Kids Are All Right — and I am especially delighted it came from someone who does not have kids and has no plans to have kids. I’m so glad to hear it resonates.

Ben Blair and I went to Paris last week to record the audiobook. It was not what we expected at all! I recorded my last book in the same studio two years ago, and it was just me, alone in a small, dark room, and I could see the recording engineer in the next room through a window.

But for this book, Ben Blair and I, and the engineer, Leo, were all in the same room while a pdf of the book was projected on a large screen. Ben and I would take turns reading — one of us would read for a page or a page and a half, and then we’d switch.

It was interesting, because for the audiobook, we would make some changes to the text on the fly. Like there’s a line in the introduction that says something like we’re waving hello from Normandy while we type, but for the audiobook we changed it to we’re waving hello from a recording studio in Paris. Also, since we wrote the book together, it’s written in a shared 3rd person perspective, where a paragraph might say Gabrielle’s family did this, or Ben remembered that. But for the audiobook, we would just switch to first person if we were reading a paragraph where our name came up — My family did this or I remembered that.

In addition to the audio engineer who was with us in Paris, there was also a director, Arran, who was with us the whole time via an audio-only zoom link. He was calling in from England. He was great — he’d have us reread a line if we needed better enunciation or needed to slow it down (I am a fast talker), and sometimes we would need to decide if we were going to use a U.S. or U.K. pronunciation for a word. He would also remind us to smile when we were reading happy or lighthearted parts — he said people can hear the smile when they are listening.

It took us two days to record the whole book (recording sessions were 10:00am to 4:00pm with a break for lunch). And I loved getting to have reading breaks every page or so, it helped keep our voices rested and ready.

As we were packing our bags to head to Paris for the recording, I was anxious and irritated — worried about blocking out two days of work when I had several deadlines looming, and dealing with the general nervousness about making sure the kids would be fine while we were gone. I could feel myself getting grumpy and angry, and I suddenly had a moment of clarity: I was going to Paris. With my husband. To record a book. A book that we wrote together. How cool is that??!!! How many couples ever get to do such a thing?

I took a few moments to clear my head and from that point on, tried hard to really appreciate and enjoy the experience. And I’m so glad I did. I hope the gratitude I felt showed up in my voice while I read.

The book comes out in October, but you can pre-order it now on Bookshop.org or Amazon or wherever you like to buy books. (And pre-orders really help the success of a book, so I sincerely thank you in advance.) You can also find more reports and images from our audiobook recording in the Audiobook IG highlight.

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Registration for the 2025 Normandy Retreats is Now Open

As I mentioned in an earlier newsletter, based on your feedback, I’m offering three different retreat types in 2025 — Gabrielle’s Retreat (a retreat where you get to experience my everyday Normandy), the Repose Retreat (all about rest and relaxation in a luxe atmosphere), and the Relocation Retreat (focused on information about buying property in France, or relocating to France). You can read about them and find the registration links on the Normandy Retreats page. Registration for all three options is now open!

Wish you didn’t have to wait until 2025? You’re in luck! We have one more spot available for the September 5-11, 2024 retreat. (In theory, we could add 2 people if you’re coming with a friend.) It’s going to be so good. I can not wait! Click here for info and links.

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That’s all for now. I hope you are having a wonderful weekend. Feel free to comment on anything I mentioned above, or whatever is on your mind.

kisses,
Gabrielle