Feb 20
I love my new French phrase: métro, boulot, dodo.
I’ll be using it a lot when winter break is over, and we’re back to keeping our noses to the grindstone.
Métro:
Boulot:
…back to work for Taz in Paris…
DoDo:
La routine: commute, work and sleep; the rat race
When the modest pomme de terre arrived in Europe via the Andes Mountains in the 1500s, much like corn in modern day France, they were used only to feed hogs. They were also thought to cause leprosy.
However, in 1772, Monsieur Parmentier, a chemist by training, seeing the benefits of nourishing the famished masses with this compact carbohydrate, came up with a peculiar plot to trick the French into eating this humble tuber.
His plan? To plant a field of potatoes in the outskirts of Paris. His trick? To have arm guards watch over the crops in the daylight, and leave them unprotected when the sun went down. Convinced that the crop in the mysterious field must be valuable, the curious Parisians began to steal the potatoes under the cover of darkness and realized they were pretty darn good for dinner (and lunch and breakfast, I assume).
These days, I can’t imagine French cooking without potatoes. So many French dishes feature or are complimented by these earth apples, and parmentier, pronounced par-maan-tyé, is now used as an adjective to refer to mashed or boiled potatoes in some recipes.
I first became interested in Monsieur Parmentier when my friend Hélène served a delicious Parmentier de Confit de Canard at one of her winetasting. After several months of bugging her for the recipe, she invited a few of us over for a quick cooking lesson from a busy French woman’s kitchen.
This is when I discovered that French women are full of all sorts of secrets and shortcuts that make them seem super human in the kitchen when, in fact, they are mere mortals. In less than 2 hours we had prepared, cooked and eaten a perfect and delicious Parmentier de Confit de Canard accompanied by a fresh green salad and a lovely bottle of wine.
So what is the secret? A couple of hints: you won’t find the answer at the butcher’s, but you will find it at your local super marché; no need to head to the milkman’s—no butter, milk or crème fraîche required.
Now keep this on the low down, but the answer comes in a tin.
Only in France can you find a large can of duck legs perfectly preserved in their fat. Add one of Monsieur Parmentier jewels per person, and some garlic powder, and voilà! Parmentier de Confit de Canard Express.
Vocabulaire
Parmentier de Confit de Canard: a dish similar to shepherd’s pie, consisting of a layer of shredded roasted duck legs topped with a layer of mashed potatoes baked briefly at a high temperature to form a golden brown crust on top.
pomme de terre: potatoes; literally earth apples
super marché: supermarket
giverny
source: profdefrances.blogspot.com
Je crois que c’est mieux to play the game of love, effeuiller la marguerite, in France than in America.
The odds are forever in your favor. You have at least a 4 out of 5 chance of finding some degree of love when pulling petals from a daisy en France.
source: satinandlace.blogspot.frl
Vocabulaire
effeuiller la marguerite: to play “he loves me, he loves me not”; literally, “to pick the petals off the daisy”
en français: in French
je crois que c’est mieux…I believe it is better to…
Feb 14
This one goes out to mon chéri, mon cœur, mon trognon.
Happy Valentine’s Day, Superman.
What’s your favorite term of endearment?
mon amour: my love, mon ange: my angel, mon bébé: my baby
ma belle my beautiful
ma biche: my doe, fawn, ma bichette: my little doe, mon bijou: my jewel
ma caille: my quail, mon canard: my duck
mon chaton; my kitten, ma chatte: my cat, mon cher / ma chère: my dear
mon chéri / ma chérie: my dearie
mon chou: my cream puff (my cabbage), mon petit cochon: my little pig
mon coco: my coco(nut) / rooster, ma cocotte: my hen
mon cœur: my heart, ma douce: my sweet / sweetie
mon doudou: blankie, soft one
mon grand / ma grande: my big guy / girl
mon lapin: my rabbit, ma loutre: my otter, mon loup: my wolf
ma mie: my dear/love (from mon amie, also the soft part of bread)
ma miel: my honey
mon mignon: my cutie, mon minet / mimi / ma minette: my pussycat
ma moitié: my half
mon nounours: my teddybear
mon petit / ma petite: my little guy / girl, ma poule: my hen
mon poulet / ma poulette: my chicken
ma poupée: my doll, mon poussin: my chick
mon précieux, ma précieuse: my precious, ma puce: my flea
mon sucre d’orge: my barley sugar / candy cane
mon trésor: my treasure, mon trognon: my (apple) core
source: Huffington Post
…and some equally amusing terms of endearment en anglais:
Angel, Angel Face, Boo, Baby, Baby Cakes, Babe, Bean, Bug, Bunny, Button
Chicken, Cookie Ears, Crab Cake, Cupcake, Cutie Pie, Dumpling, Darling, Goose
Hookie Poo, Honey, Honey Pie, Honey Bunny, Little Bucket
Little One, Love, Lovey, Love Bug
Mate, Muffin, Noodle, Pumpkin, Pookie, Pumpkin Pie, Peanut, Potato, Pine nut
Sassafras, Sass, Spicy Pepper, Soul Mate, Sweetheart, Sweetness
Sweet Thing, Sweet Pea
Sweetie-pie, Sweets, Sweet Cheeks, Sugar, Sugar Bug, Sugar Plum
Tootsie Pants, Toots, Widget
…and my all-time favorite: Cheese Weasel
Feb 13
Feb 11
Today is the last day of the winter sales in France. Over the last 6 weeks, boutiques, department stores, shoe and bag shops, and even hardware stores have been clearing out items from the previous season, gradually slashing prices as the weeks tick by. Paris has been plastered with colorful soldes signs and we have been in the thick of deep markdowns for the last two weeks. This is the stage of the sales called the dernière démarque, or the final markdown (as opposed to the nouvelle démarque or the deuxième démarque) of the biannual government-sanctioned sale.
sometimes the nouvelle démarque is just as good as the dernière démarque
The dernière démarque is usually as much as 75 percent off the original price, but one year I bought a coat on the last day for ten percent of the original cost. Sometimes good things truly do come to those who wait.
However, this year, I haven’t really had the heart, money or patience to hit the sales. I did come across some deeply discounted sweaters and a few basics on my way to the cinema the other day. I couldn’t resist them. Picking them up for a mere 33€ in total.
Coming from a culture of “Sales! Sales! Sales!”—where you can find some sort of massive discount on something nearly 24/7—moving to a country with sales only twice a year was a bit of a shockeroo to the system. But I have to say, I have really come to appreciate and love this aspect of France. I find that biannual sales force you to buy less and buy better. I used to wonder how so many Parisians succeed in looking so flawless every day. Now I know. They wait, they scheme, and they work the soldes to their advantage. Their closets are less full, but full of great pieces.
It’s certainly something to aim for, and something to consciously save for, and of course, something to find the will to cultivate the patience for: la dernière démarque.
Vocabulaire
dernière démarque: final markdown
deuxième démarque: second markdown
nouvelle démarque: the new, and first markdown of a sale
soldes: sales
Feb 11
Before moving to France I took for granted all the things we call “French” in English. Since I’ve lived here, I’ve become curious to find out exactly what those things are.
I mean French bread—loosely refers to a baguette, although much larger and wider in most grocery stores in America. A French braid, I’m very familiar with, as my girls have spent hours plaiting each other’s hair. We all know what a French kiss is, and as teenagers became familiar with “Frenching”, the verb. But what exactly are French lentils or French vanilla? What does French blue mean? And why do we refer to a disgusting mayo, ketchup and sweet relish dressing as “French”, when I’ve never, ever seen it in France?
Donc, whenever I have a long bus ride, or am bored, I’ve been looking up these curious items to figure out what is what. This is what I’ve come up with so far. Some are more obvious than other. As I’m on a diet, today’s post focuses on food, of course…corrections welcome, svp.
Whew.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to open my French door to use my French press after taking out my French twist before I have a lie down in my French bed under my French roof…
…to be continued…
365+ Things I Love About France 