Welcome to June! It's been a lovely spring, with lots of strawberries, asparagus, and other signs of spring popping up at the markets. I saw a few cherries, although they're still not quite as abundant as I like to see them, when more arrive, I'll kick things off with a Cherry Clafoutis and put up a few jars of No-recipe Cherry Jam.

In the meantime, I'm getting my fill of chocolate chip cookies, and other non-seasonal treats. (Wouldn't it be awful if chocolate chip cookies had a season, and you could only have them once a year?)

So much has been going on this spring that it's hard to keep up. My next book, L'Appart, is finally at the printer, ready to be released in the fall (the pre-order price on Amazon is nearly 40% off!). I've been working on it for two years, and I can't wait to when I can finally hold a copy of the finished book in my hand. I'll be making some appearances next fall, which I'll announce on my blog and on my Schedule page.

In other breaking news, France finally has a new President. Unlike elections in the United States, French elections don't start two years ahead of election day, so people aren't worn out by the time it finally comes time to vote. After the first round of voting, it's just a couple of weeks between the primary (when the field of candidates is whittled down to the final two) and the final election, so things happen a lot faster, meaning there's less time to fret and get overwhelmed. There were profound ideological differences between the two candidates in France, so a lot was at stake, but the winner, Emmanuel Macron, now will get to work on his to-do list.

If you're anything like me, or even if you aren't, you're likely finding daily life more topsy-turvy lately, with all that's going on the world. A friend suggested Headspace, an app that teaches meditation, and although I was skeptical (I have the world's shortest attention span...), she said it helped her a lot. So I gave it at go.

It not only helped me to take 10 minutes out of my day to sit still, but guided meditation techniques were spot-on (and that's coming from someone who usually can't sit still for more than 10 seconds). One particularly helpful bit of advice was to think of life as watching a couple of lanes of passing traffic. A lot of stuff going on out there, but you can choose to jump into the fray...or remain on the sidelines and simply watch.

If you want to try it, here's a promo code for the 10 session introduction. (This isn't an affiliate link or a paid placement.) In case you need a little peace of mind, you might want to check it out.

Now that summer seems like it's just around the corner, I hope there will be a lot of sunshine, cold drinks (and cold rosé), warm beaches, and more, coming up in the next few months. I ended May in chilly Rhode Island, where the blustery, drizzly weather prevented us from hitting the beach, except for some beach-combing. That didn't stop us from stuffing ourselves with clams, lobster and grilled pizza at Al Forno, though.

- dl