This post originally appeared in my newsletter, The Sophisticate.

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Something to Try

Many of us dream about being the kind of woman who can actually speak a bit of the local language when traveling. Even knowing just enough French to order a croissant in Paris or enough Spanish to get directions in Barcelona feels so elegant and worldly. If you mostly slept through your high school foreign language classes, fear not, there are so many resources to pick up a second (or third or fourth) language in your spare time as an adult. 

I took Spanish in high school and fell in love with language during a foreign exchange in Spain. As a result, I went on to teach myself French using mostly free resources online and can now communicate almost entirely in the local language when I visit France. Here are some of the most impactful things I did in the process. 

1. Start on Youtube. There are thousands of Youtube channels teaching your target language. I recommend getting started with purely “instructional” videos at first, where a teacher will walk you through things like basic phrases, grammatical structure, and the 100 most commonly used words. This will be a good foundation to get started with, but if you want to learn quickly, the best way to do so is by listening to native speakers as often as you can. I LOVE the Easy Languages channels. They conduct street interviews on any number of topics, so you can hear a wide range of vocabulary and understand how native speakers actually talk, but with both English and target language subtitles so you can follow along.
2. Change the language and subtitles of your favorite shows. Streaming services, especially Netflix and Amazon Prime, offer many popular shows with dubbing and subtitles in foreign languages. I recommend starting with a show you’ve seen before so you have some familiarity with the dialogue. Start by switching the audio dubbing to your target language but keeping English subtitles so you can follow along. As your understanding improves, change both the audio and subtitles to your target language. You’ll be shocked at how much you pick up just by rewatching a show. 
3. Practice writing in your target language. Pick up a journal and find some basic prompts you can challenge yourself to write about in your target language. Even just a few minutes a day of trying out your ability to form sentences and communicate your thoughts in a new language can make a huge difference.
4. Change the language of your phone. Go into your phone settings and change the language of your phone to your target language. This is a small change that really helps with immersion. You can set the overall system to be your target language but set individual apps back to English if need be. It’s a great way to intuitively learn new vocabulary.
5. Speak it as often as you can. This one can be tricky if you’re learning outside of a classroom and you don’t have any native speakers in your life. Try repeating phrases out loud when you hear them in a show, reading your journal entries out loud after you write them, or even just narrating your day in your target language. You’ll quickly pick up on where your pronunciation could use some work or where you stumble to think of the right vocab word. If you’re feeling adventurous, check if your city has any free groups that meet in person to learn a new language together to find some speaking practice partners. 
6. If you’re willing to invest in a dedicated program, try Pimsleur. I highly, highly recommend this method for learning a new language as quickly and effectively as possible. It takes the form of 30 minute daily lessons you can play in your downtime. You’ll get both listening and speaking practice built in. It does cost $20/month, so I only recommend it if you are looking to commit to daily practice. For more casual, long-term learning, prioritize more of the other methods listed above.

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Something to Know

Allow me to describe my ideal Friday night: it’s early fall, the sun is setting, and my kitchen is lit by a dimmed chandelier and candles scattered around the countertops. I have music playing in the other room, maybe old French songs or something like Frank Sinatra. I’ve opened a bottle of the good wine I save for evenings like this one, not the $6 bottle from Trader Joe’s, and I am about to start cooking. 

I enjoy cooking in general, but when I make the effort to really turn it into a romantic, slow, sensory experience, it feels like an art form. This kind of cooking deserves only the best ingredients: basil from the garden, bread I baked myself, the balsamic vinegar I brought home from Italy. And it especially deserves the good parmesan. 

Parmesan, more accurately called Parmigiano Reggiano, is an aged Italian cheese with a rich, salty taste. It’s a staple of Italian culinary tradition, found in pastas, pizzas, salads, etc. It has a distinct nutty complexity and granular texture that result from the aging process. If you want to cook really good Italian food, you’ll want to make sure that your parmesan is indeed parmigiano reggiano, which is not often the case in the US. 

In Italy, products like wine, olive oil, and cheese are regulated by DOC (Denominazione di Origine controllata, or “denomination of controlled origin”) laws. These laws are essentially meant to preserve gastronomical authenticity and heritage. As Italian food is deeply rooted in local and regional traditions, these laws help ensure that you are consuming a product with authentic ties to its place of origin, not an imitation. Other countries like France and Spain use these laws in a similar way. 

Authentic Parmegiano Reggiano is made from cow’s milk, aged for a minimum of 12 months, and is produced in one of the following regions of Italy: Bologna, Reggio Emilia, Mantua, Modena, or Parma. Within the European Union, both “Parmigiano Reggiano” and “Parmesan” are legally protected terms that guarantee the product is authentic. Outside of the EU, however, parmesan may or may not refer to real Parmigiano Reggiano cheese. 

A cheese labeled as parmesan in the U.S. that is not genuine Parmigiano Reggiano may still be a tasty artisanal cheese made using a method that closely mimics the original. It is most often a rubbery, one-note imitation. The catch: real parmesan is naturally much more expensive than its imitations, so there are some cases where you might choose to save your money and buy the unregulated version. 

Here are a few tips to keep in mind when buying and using parmesan:

• Check that the cheese is clearly labeled Parmigiano Reggiano, and if it’s visible, check if Parmigiano Reggiano is written in dots on the rind.
• Not all packaging will list the location of origin, but if it does, be sure that it doesn’t come from any other country than Italy. 
• When in doubt, visit a grocery store that has a cheese counter with a dedicated employee. They’ll know which products are authentic.
• If authentic parmigiano reggiano isn’t always in the budget, save it for uses where the flavor of the cheese is integral to the dish. Think pasta sauces like cacio e pepe or carbonara. 
• If the cheese isn’t necessarily the star of the show, e.g. blended into a caesar salad dressing or added to a tomato sauce, the nutty, complex flavors of real parmesan are less prominent, so this is a great time to use locally-produced, more inexpensive cheese.
• Avoid pre-shredded parmesan cheese in pretty much all cases; it is almost always coated in an anti-caking agent that completely degrades the flavor and texture.

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Three Good Things

First and foremost, The Sophisticate is not in the business of trying to sell you things you don’t want or need. This section is meant to share three things that have improved my life, and a little bit about why you might like them too. 

These will occasionally contain affiliate links. If you click one and ultimately decide to make a purchase, I may earn a small commission of roughly 5-10%. If you want to shop using my links, great! Easy for you, teeny tiny paycheck for me. 

However, it’s very important to me that you trust that I’m not just pushing links to make money, so if you’d rather purchase outside of my affiliate link, I completely get it! To do so, just be sure to shop from an incognito browser and type the product name into search rather than copy and paste my link. 

That said, I hope you’ll find that some of these recommendations may be the solution to a problem you’ve been having, or are simply a fun little luxury to add to your daily life.

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Recipe of the Day

In an effort to be more prepared for last minute guests, I starting keeping my kitchen stocked at all times with a handful of ingredients that can quickly be turned into a snack to serve alongside wine or cocktails. One of the most-complimented snacks I serve is also the most simple – roasted peppers with Boursin. You’ll need just 3 ingredients and less than 30 minutes start to finish. 

Ingredients

• 1 lb mini sweet peppers
• 1 5.3 oz box of Boursin
• Flaky sea salt

Recipe

Spread a little of the Boursin in each pepper scoop, placing them on the sheet pan as you go. Sprinkle with flaky sea salt, then roast in the oven for 10-12 minutes or until the cheese just starts to turn golden brown.

Preheat the oven to 400°. Line a sheet pan with parchment paper. 

Cut off the tops of the peppers and remove their seeds, then cut them in half down the length of the pepper so you end up with little triangle-shaped scoops.

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Tasteful Living, As Told by You

One of the things that inspired me to create The Sophisticate was reading what other women online had to say about taste, style, and living well. This section is dedicated to tips and advice submitted by you, The Sophisticate subscribers! 

Send us a message on Instagram @sophisticate.newsletter to share your favorite little luxuries, healthy habits, or other tasteful tips with us and we may include you in a future newsletter.

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