The Summer Apéro Series
A drink and a recipe, wherever I am
There is a specific time in France that doesn’t exist anywhere else in the world, there is no exact hour but it happens sometime in the afternoon, when the sun is still warm but you can smell the evening arriving.
Friends and family come together for a crisp drink and a few bites. Someone brings a bottle of something cold, someone else turns up with a random bag of crisps or nuts. All of a sudden, some sort of board appears? Nobody asked for it, it just arrives with more nibbles, charcuterie, and most likely a baguette ready to be ripped apart.
This isn’t dinner, it doesn’t count as food. Like how airport food doesn’t count.
This is apéro.
I’m writing this from my family’s mill in the French countryside, where apéro happens on a wooden table outside next to the water or on our neighbor’s “parking” lot ie our pétanque court. The only rule here, unspoken and absolute, is that you cannot be in a hurry. There is no “I need to be back inside cooking by 7” or “the roast chicken needs to be out of the oven in 20 min!” Just enjoy your apéro and the rest can be dealt with later.
This summer I’m bringing apéro with me everywhere I go.
Welcome to the Summer Apéro Series!
Every Tuesday from now until August, you’ll receive both a drink and a recipe from wherever I am. France first, then London, then Los Angeles because I want to show you that apéro is a way of life and doesn’t need a specific location to happen. You better believe there will be a football themed apéro in there to celebrate the World Cup!
Each post will include one drink, one food, and one thing I’ve learned about the ritual of doing absolutely nothing productively. The first proper installment drops next Tuesday: pastis, pétanque, and a cameo from jambon fromage Monster Munch that I promise will make complete sense.
Subscribers will get a drink and food recipe every Tuesday - first one’s next week!
See you for apéro!
Claire
Exactly the way you describe it! 💚