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Posts from the ‘Around France’ Category

Mar 5

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No. 161: Getting Ready for the Cloche Volant (Flying Bells)

church-bells-paris.jpg

Today is Ash Wednesday, the beginning of the Lenten season, and for Roman-Catholic France that means it’s time to start readying their church bells for their flight to Rome on Good Friday. Now, even as a lapsed Catholic, I know that Good Friday is at the end of Lent and that Easter is still 40 days away.

It’s just that I love the myth around the Easter bells in France, so I wanted to share it early on. Plus, I like to imagine that those chimers need at least 4 or 5 weeks to get polished up and ready for their long journey.

France is a country where even the smallest villages have a Catholic church and most of those churches have steeples. So it follows that there are a large number of bells that need to brush up on their flying skills between now and Easter. As the crow flies, it is 687-miles/1,106-km between Paris and Rome, and many of the bells have much further to travel than that.

If you live in France, you’ll notice that all the bells are completely silent between Good Friday and Easter morn. Not a clink or clank nor a ding or dong will be heard over those 48-hours. Why? Because those curious bells have all packed up, left their steeples, and taken off for the Vatican to visit the Pope, bringing with them their Lenten sorrows.

But don’t fear, before the sun comes up on Easter morning, they quickly make their way back to their homes in France and ring with joy as dawn breaks to celebrate the Resurrection. Les cloches de Pâques, as they are now called, bring with them Easter eggs, chocolates bunnies and other treats, dropping them (to the delight of French children ) into homes along their flight path.

Which to me makes just as much sense, if not more, than a 6-foot tall, bipedal bunny, with a kind of scary face, sneaking into our homes on Easter Eve and hiding eggs and baskets in hard to reach places.

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So, keep you eyes peeled over the next 40-days to see if the bells in your closest steeple are gussying up for their voyage to Italy. And of course, be on the lookout for the glorious chocolate bells starting to appear in your local chocolatiers’ windows.

Vocabulaire

Les cloches de Pâques: The Easter Bells

Mar 4

5 Comments

No. 160: Mardi Gras

Today is Mardi Gras, or as we say in America, Fat Tuesday. I was hoping for a parade in Paris this afternoon, but no such luck. (There are, however, some real New Orleans’ jazz musicians gracing a couple of jazz clubs around town tonight.)

As nothing grand is going on in my neighborhood, shall we just imagine we are celebrating the end of the Carnival season on the dazzling French Riviera, say Nice for example?

I had dinner with some American expats the other night who usually head down south at this time of the year, but this year are staying put à Paris. But from what they tell me, Nice is every bit as nice as New Orleans, with a glitzy parade, frivolous floats, glittery costumes, street performers, concerts, and apparently gorgeous women engrossed in a “battle of the flowers”, seeing who can toss the most flowers to the thousands of parade goers.

Now, that’s the kind of battle I’d like to be part of.

Mar 2

No. 157: Even Burnt Cake!

Yesterday at the Salon l’Agriculture one of the many interesting things I came across was this:

Tourteau-Fromagé.jpg

My first thought was, “Yum! A large chocolate globe.” My second thought was, “Is that burnt?”

Turns out I was right on track with the whole overcooked thing. After taking a few pictures and catching the twinkle in the eye of the vendeur, I summoned up the courage to ask him just exactly what the heck those big black, burnt things were. Noticing of course, that I speak French with an accent, he asked me where I was from. When I told him I was from the States, he said, in French, “This is the French version of New York Cheese Cake, the Tourteau Fromagé”, or the Cheese Crab.

cheese crabs….

cheese crabs….

They do look a little like giant crabs, don’t you think? They are also known as Tortue Fromagé (Cheese Turtle) and Tourteaux Fromagé (Cheese Cakes).

I had never laid eyes on a Tourteau Fromagé until 24-hours ago, but already I’m a convert. How is it that the French can even make burnt cake taste good??

The Cheese Crab/Cake is a specialty of the Poitou-Charente region in Southwest France, and not usually found at a boulangerie or a pâtisserie, but rather in a fromagerie—especially those that specialize in goat cheese.

To set the record straight, it is nothing like New York Cheese Cake, but it is a lot like a springy and airy Angel Food Cake, with a bit of tangy sweetness.

The cake’s story is one I can relate to: a harried baker accidently shoved a goat-cheesy gâteau into a blistering-hot oven. She smelled something burning, and opened the oven to find a blackened and hardened crusted cake. Obviously she must have been having company, because she tried desperately to salvage it. She lowered the temperature, crossed her fingers, and hoped for the best. To her surprise, the burnt crust protected the inside of the cake, and her finished creation was a spongy, sweet but slightly tart, absolutely perfect cake.

After sharing one with my family last night, I must admit, it seems like a very versatile creation. You could eat it as a breakfast cake with a café au lait, or at lunch with a little fruit on top, or it would be divine after dinner with some strawberry ice cream, and maybe just a wee bit of chocolat noir. It also seems very well suited for a picnic or car trip as it would take a good deal of force to flatten this crab / turtle en route.

Tourteau-Fromagé.jpg

When I asked the vendeur if I should eat the crust, his response was, “Comme vous voulez!” I liked it better without the crust, but admittedly, I ate a slice with the crust. Yes. It tasted markedly burnt. Mais it’s a thin crust, and the inside is most definitely worth tasting.

Vocabulaire

boulangerie: bakery

chocolat noir: dark chocolate

Comme vous voulez: As you like.

fromagerie: cheese shop

gâteau: cake

mais: but

pâtisserie: pastry shop

vendeur: seller, merchant

Mar 2

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No. 156: Signs of Springtime in Paris

After a seemingly endless and bold fall, and a warm and mild winter (en fait, I’m not even sure winter ever visited), springtime in Paris has already arrived. Here are a few signs, in case you need some convincing. I shot all of these photos this morning, I promise.

1. The daffodils are blooming along the Quai.

The daffodils are blooming along the Quai.

The legions of tourists are back and queuing everywhere.

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The grass is STILL resting, comme d’habitude.

The Eiffel Tower has some gorgeous new arm candy.

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That rascal, Taz, is digging in the flowers.

The rooftops are in top form.

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The Parisians have swapped out part of their black wardrobe in favor of vivid colors.

The annuals have been planted and are blooming just like the flowering trees.

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It’s time to decide which warm weather handbag to use.

Vocabulaire

comme d’habitude: as usual

Feb 28

No. 153-154: Cinemas and the UGC Illimité

jaws.jpg

I love going to the movies. I always have. My daddy was a big filmgoer and I have many fond memories of us watching movies together. One of my best memories with him is sitting through JAWS three times on Denver’s largest movie screen in the summer of ’75 and, by the way, still being scared out of our wits when the credits rolled for the final time.

source: plumdeluxe.com

source: plumdeluxe.com

Well, luckily for me, I now live in a country with the highest number of movie screens per million inhabitants: 89…versus 60 in Germany, 56 in the UK, and 24 in Japan. In Paris, the weekly what’s-on-in-Paris guide, the PariScope, usually has 50-60 pages listing all the films showing in the city. That’s a lot of movies, my friends.

The number of Art Houses in France also seems much higher than other places I’ve lived and there are lots of exciting film festivals held around the country throughout the year.

And here’s a small bit of history that I just discovered: France is also home to the world’s oldest surviving cinema. The Eden Theatre in La Ciotat (in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur region near Marseille) just re-opened a few months ago after a massive and spectacular overhaul. The Eden is the theatre where the Lumière brothers showed the very first moving picture to a dazed and frightened audience in 1899. The 50-second black-and-white silent movie, filmed in 1895, shows a train pulling into la Ciotat station and passengers getting on and off. The audience was so spooked by the train hurling towards them that they dove from their seats in horror, at least that’s how the story goes…

…oh, the French, they do love their stories and films (and everyone else’s too)…and boy have we’ve come a long way, Baby, since that first chugging choo-choo.

In 2014, we English speakers in France have to be patient as we wait for the new releases from the US and the UK to arrive, but eventually most everything comes our way. They’ve even started running French films with French subtitles for the hearing impaired, or the linguistically challenged (comme moi).

On top of that there are several cartes de fidélité which allow you to watch as many films as you want to (or are able to) for a monthly subscription. The best deal I’ve found is the UGC Illimité. Every month for a 20€ inscription, I can see a movie at one of 600+ different salles in Paris, as well as use my card when I’m traveling throughout France.

C’est super, génial, formidable, et chouette, n’est-ce pas? It’s hard not to become a film fanatic in France.

Vocabulaire

cartes de fidélité: frequent viewing/buying cards

C’est super, génial, formidable, et chouette, n’est-ce pas! That’s super, great, terrific and cool, don’t you think?

comme moi: like me

n’est-ce pas: isn’t that so/ don’t you think

salles: room, hall, screening room

And, by the by….

les-Césars-French-Oscars-2014

…les Césars (the French equivalent of the BAFTAs and Oscars) are being handed out in Paris at the Théâtre du Châtelet as I publish this. François Cluzet (Intouchables) is hosting and there’s lots of French political drama unfolding as Julie Gayet the new “First Girlfriend” (sort of?) to the President  is up for a supporting actress award for Quai d’ Orsay. Stay tuned.

Feb 26

6 Comments

No. 152: Train Station Croissants

croissant au jambon et fromage et croissant aux amandes

croissant au jambon et fromage et croissant aux amandes

In a testament to how seriously the French take their pastries, I have found that even train station pâtisseries are delicious, and I’m not talking about the Paul chain of boulangeries. Even the less known and more mom-and-pop type stands sell high quality croissants and civilized, albeit, not spectacular, espressos.

My very last croissant au jambon before the real regime starts on March 1.

My very last croissant au jambon before the real regime starts on March 1.

After nearly 2 weeks of travelling on the East Coast, and too many train, plane and ferry terminals (where we grabbed far too many crappy and prepackaged meals), I’m happy to be back in the land of buttery flakiness and artisanal bakers.

Feb 24

6 Comments

No. 151: Quiet Restaurants

The new Paramount Theatre at Emerson University, Boston

The new Paramount Theatre at Emerson University, Boston

After following Button around on a 10-day audition whirlwind tour between Boston and New York City, my appreciation for the quiet and calm restaurants of France has only deepened.

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Holy Smokes! Eating out in America can be agitating.

Between the throbbing red lights at Lolita’s Mexican Restaurant in Boston and the Vanderbilt in Brooklyn serving up pounding heavy metal music at 11 p.m. on a Sunday evening, my vocal cords and eyeballs could use a rest. There is nothing worse than shouting at your girlfriends or daughter between bites of a fancy meal or $15 cocktails.  So glad we had a kitchen to cook in for most of our days in the States.

The best meal we had was a late-lunch at Legal Seafood in Boston (a chain restaurant of all places) because we arrived at 3 p.m. after the lunch crowd and were the sole guests dining. The lobster rolls and crab cakes were wonderfully fresh and the noise level was limited to two expats using our “French voices”, or our inside voices, which Americans seem to have forgotten how to use inside. To top things off there were no flashing lights, no obnoxious soundtrack imposed on our meal, and no one trying to rush us out so they could give the table to the next guest.

The crab cakes in Boston are amazing...

The crab cakes in Boston are amazing…

Lovely lobster roll

Lovely lobster roll

I know some Anglophones complain about restos being so hush-hush in France and the French squelching the fun out of dinnertime, but I am convinced that the unruffled atmosphere in French restaurants makes French food taste even better, is infinitely better for the digestion, and certainly more conducive to cultivating friendships.  Even in a crowded café the noise levels never require you to raise your voice. I couldn’t imagine the French engaging in a shouting conversation over a meal, and I wish it wasn’t the norm in the States too.

While it is always nice to spend some time in my homeland and there are many things I miss, I am happy to be headed home today and am looking forward to enjoying some serene meals en famille surrounded by quiet French voices.

Vocabulaire:

en famille: with family

restos: short for restaurant

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