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Dec 6

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No. 68: L’Artisans: PEP’s, Réparation de Parapluies

artisan: a worker in a skilled trade, especially one that involves making things by hand; craftsman, craftswoman, smith, wright, journeyman; one that produces something (such as cheese or wine) in limited quantities often using traditional methods.

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I love that France is full of artisans and that the French government only allows craftspeople who have studied, apprenticed and passed all their exams to call themselves artisans.

Yesterday, I was delighted to visit PEP’s Réparation & Vente Parapluies, Ombrelles & Cannes, and meet the only artisan in Paris who will diligently and lovingly repair your broken umbrella, parasol, or cane.

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PEP’s

Passage del’Ancre Royal

30 rue de Turbigo

75003 Paris

01 42 78 11 67

Dec 6

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No. 66-67: Croque Monsieur et Croque Madame

Croque

During November, I became slightly addicted to a bit of French comfort food, the Croque Monsieur.

It wasn’t great for my waistline, but it certainly helped me get through my daily intensive French class. I justified eating a couple a week (okay, sometimes four), by telling myself that I needed to speak French with the real French, in the real world (e.g. my boulanger), on the way home from my course. You know, to reinforce the daily lessons.

When made right, this creamy and delicious French sandwich is the answer to a really good and buttery greasy-spoon-American-diner grilled cheese sandwich, with the brilliant addition of béchamel sauce.”

Yes, you heard me right, béchamel sauce.

Julia Child may have said, “if you are afraid of butter, use cream”, but I would say, “if you are afraid of anything (par exemple, un cours de français), add béchamel sauce.

The story surrounding the Croque Monsieur (literally, crunchy/crispy mister) is that a couple of French laborers “invented” it when they accidently left their lunch pails filled with ham and Gruyère sandwiches by a hot radiator in the morning, and by lunchtime found themselves enjoying warm and gooey grilled sandwiches. Who knows if this is true, but by the early 1900s, the Croque Monsieur was a standard on every French café menu, and the rest, as they say is history.

So, what is a Croque Madame? It is a Croque Monsieur with an egg on top, because the ladies, of course, can always do better than the gents.

foodnetwork.com

And, just incase neither the Croque Monsieur nor Croque Madame is decadent enough for you, you could always try the croissant au jambon (with béchamel sauce, bien sûr).

Still need a little bit more? Here are some delectable variations on the original:

  • Croque Auvergnat: substitute blue cheese for Gruyère cheese
  • Croque Campagnard: substitute hardier bread, country ham, and add a mix of three cheese: Comté, cheddar and Parmesan
  • Croque Norvégien: substitute smoked salmon for the ham
  • Croque Provençal: add tomatoes
  • Croque Savoyard/Croque Tartiflette: substitute Reblochon cheese for the Gruyère cheese and add thinly sliced fried potatoes.

If you don’t have a French café nearby, try this recipe from www.recipes4us.co.uk at home:

Croque Monsieur  (Serves 4)    

Ingredients

8 slices sandwich bread

2 tbsp Dijon mustard

8 thin slices of Ham

176g/6oz Gruyère cheese, grated

2 tbsp Butter, softened

120ml/4fl.oz. COLD Bechamel sauce

Instructions

  1. Preheat the grill to hot.  Spread 4 slices of bread with the mustard then top each with a slice of ham
  2. Reserve 2 tablespoons of the cheese and divide the remaining cheese between the ham topped slices of bread, sprinkling it evenly over the ham.
  3. Place the 4 remaining sliced of ham on the cheese and top with the remaining 4 slices of bread to make a sandwich.
  4. Place the sandwiches on a baking sheet, butter the top slices with the butter then grill for 4- 5 minutes until well browned and crisp.
  5. Turn them over, and grill for a further 3-4 minutes until well toasted.
  6. Remove from the grill, turn them over again then spread the top of each with the cold béchamel sauce, sprinkle with the reserved cheese, place back under the very hot grill and cook until golden and bubbling. Serve immediately.

Vocabulaire:

boulanger: baker

croissant au jambon: croissant with ham

par exemple, un cours de français: for example, a French course

Dec 4

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No. 65: Gustave Eiffel: Magician of Iron

 

“The first principle of architectural beauty is that the essential lines of a construction be determined by a perfect appropriateness to its use.”

— Gustave Eiffel

Anyone who knows me well knows that j’adore la tour Eiffel.

I’ve written a lot about it in the past, and I’ve read many books and articles on its construction. Every time I read something new, I am stuck (again) by Gustav Eiffel and his vision. Because I am a woman obsessed, I just spent the last couple of days, reading even more about this fascinating man and his iconic structures. Every time I tried to stop myself and get on with some paid work, I got sidetracked by another enticing story or structure.

Yes, structures, plural. While most of the world knows him and loves him for his “tragic street lamp”, la tour Eiffel, I am equally enamored with his less known, but certainly not less beautiful, creations.

Born in Dijon in 1832, to a family of weavers, Eiffel graduated from the École Centrale des Arts et Manufactures in 1855 as a civil engineer and began to specialize in constructing with metal. Initially he made his name designing bridges for the French railway network, but as we all know, he didn’t limit himself to bridges only.

Here are some Eiffel’s structures I find most interesting—some already visited, but most on my Gustave Eiffel bucket list:

 

Passerelle Eiffel Iron Bridge in Bordeaux, France, 1858passerelle1861

At only 26-years-old, Eiffel was the construction designer of an iron bridge in Bordeaux designed to link the Orleans rail station to the Midi rail station. Imagine the spectacle before the bridge was completed, when carriages were transferred between the two stations on a ferry across the Garonne River.

Suspension Bridge, Parc de Buttes Chaumont, Paris, 1867

source: Paris walks

The suspension bridge designed by Eiffel was one of two bridges used to access the park’s “Temple of Sybille” in one of Paris’ most beloved parks. It is 64 meters in length and 8 meters above ground. Unfortunately it is currently closed to foot traffic.

 

Church of San Marco, Arica, Chile, 1871-1875

© - Barbara Boensch

© – Barbara Boensch

In 1871, the Peruvian President José Balta commissioned the workshop of Gustave Eiffel to build this church. The all-metal prefabricated building was manufactured in France and shipped to South America in pieces to be assembled on site.

 

Bon Marché, Department Store, Paris, 1872-74

Eiffel collaborated with the architect. L.A. Boileau on the first glass and cast iron department store in Paris. This popular and fashionable store still stands, albeit with its masonry skin added in the 1920s.

 

Les Halles (Dijon Covered Market), Dijon, France, 1875

Beautiful, light and airy, this historic covered market in Eiffel’s hometown features his iconic iron columns and glass and is a wondrous market to visit.

 

Statue of Liberty, Internal Frame, 1876

When the Statue of Liberty’s initial internal engineer unexpectedly died, Eiffel was hired as the new engineer. Eiffel created a skeletal system for the statue that relied on the internal metal structure to support Bartholdi’s copper plates and sculpture. EIffel and his company built the statue from the ground up and then dismantled it for its journey to New York.

 

Nyugati Railway Station, Budapest, Hungary, 1877

Budapest railway station (www.quora.com)

Budapest railway station (www.quora.com)

One of the earliest examples of the combined use of metal and masonry, this train station is definitely high on my list to visit. Where you might have seen it: The 2011 film Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol took place in and around this station.

 

Ruhnu Lighthouse, Estonia, 1877

wikimedia commons

wikimedia commons

A lighthouse with a red metal cylindrical tower made in the Le Havre plant in France and shipped and reconstructed on the highest spot on Ruhnu Island, in 1877. It is the only lighthouse of its type left in the Baltic Sea region.

 

Ponte Maria Pia, Oporto, Portugal, 1877

ponte maria pia, portugal (wikimedia commons)

One of Eiffel’s most famous bridges which spans the Douro River in Portugal. No longer in use, two Portuguese architects want to transform the bridge into a monument by moving the disused structure from its present location to the city center (as seen above).

 

The Eiffel Bridge, Viana do Castelo, Peru, 1878

eiffel bridge, viana do castelo, portugal, 1866 (wikimedia commons)
eiffel bridge, viana do castelo, portugal, 1866, at night, (wikimedia commons)
Two-level bridge, Viana do Castelo, Portugal (source: modestine.blogspot.fr)

The Eiffel Bridge crosses the River Lima near the mouth and connects the city of Viana do Castelo. Its two stories are more than 560 meters in length and a spectacular feat of engineering.

 

Observatory Dome, Nice, France, 1879

Moving away from bridgework, Eiffel created the dome for the astronomical observatory in Nice, France. It is most notable for a revolving cupola that opens to the sky. The building itself was designed by Charles Garnier (architect of the Opera Garnier and one of the most prominent critics of the Eiffel Tower).

Where you might have seen it: The 1999 film Simon Sez.

 

Garabit Viaduct, Ruynes-en-Margeride (Cantal), France, 1884

wikimedia commons
1877 (wikimedia commons)

Maybe Eiffel’s most famous bridge, this engineering marvel spans the River Truyère (near Ruynes). It significantly shortened the rail route between Paris and Marseilles.

Where you might have seen it: Henri-Georges Clouzot 1964 film The Inferno (L’Enfer)

 

The Eiffel Tower, Paris 1887-1889

A subject of another detailed post soon. Meanwhile see: The Sparkling Tower.

 

Konak Pier, Izmir, Turkey, 1890

konak pier, turkey, 1890 (wikimedia commons)
konak pier, izmir, turkey, 1890 (skyscrapercity.com)

Originally built as a warehouse and French customs office and restored in 2003, it is now an upmarket shopping center, featuring seaside restaurants and cafés.

 

Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) Main Post Office, Vietnam, 1886-1891

saigon central post office, 1886-1891 (wikimedia commons)

saigon central post office, 1886-1891 (wikimedia commons)

Designed and constructed by Eiffel when Vietnam was part of French Indochina.

gustav eiffel, liberty park, NY (photo: Suzanne Murphy)

Do you have other favorite Eiffel creations? If so, let me know, I’d love to add them to my bucket list.

Dec 3

No. 64: The American Library in Paris

When you are a foreigner in a foreign land, sometimes it is nice to make a break for the familiar. For me, the American Library in Paris provides the homey haven I occasionally need.

As the largest English-language lending library on the European continent, it has enough books, magazines and media and enough of an Anglo-feel to sooth my occasional American longings.

It also has quite an interesting history (retold here thanks to their informative website) beginning in the final years of WWI when hundreds of American libraries launched a massive project to send books to the doughboys fighting in the trenches (accumulating in nearly a million and a half books by the end of the war). As the website says:

“When the American Library in Paris was founded in 1920, its initial collection was composed of those wartime books. With the motto: Atrum post bellum, ex libris lux: After the darkness of war, the light of books, its charter promised to bring the best of American literature and culture, and library science, to readers in France.

History_of_the_American_Library_in_Paris

Among the first trustees of the Library was the expatriate American author Edith Wharton. Ernest Hemingway and Gertrude Stein were also early patrons. Thornton Wilder and Archibald MacLeish borrowed books. Stephen Vincent Benét wrote “John Brown’s Body” (1928) at the Library, and Sylvia Beach donated books from her lending library when she shuttered Shakespeare & Co. in 1941.

With the coming of World War II, the occupation of France by the Nazi regime, and the deepening threats to French Jews, Library director Dorothy Reeder and her staff and volunteers provided heroic service by operating an underground, and potentially dangerous, book-lending service to Jewish members barred from libraries. One staff member was shot by the Gestapo when he failed to raise his hands quickly enough during a surprise inspection.

When Reeder was sent home for her safety, Countess de Chambrun rose to the occasion to lead the Library. In a classic Occupation paradox, the happenstance of her son’s marriage to the daughter of the Vichy prime minister, Pierre Laval, ensured the Library a friend in high places, and a near-exclusive right to keep its doors open and its collections largely uncensored throughout the war. A French diplomat later said the Library had been to occupied Paris ‘an open window on the free world.’image4

The Library prospered in the postwar era as the United States took on a new role in the world, the expatriate community in Paris experienced regeneration, and a new wave of American writers came to Paris – and to the Library. Irwin Shaw, James Jones, Mary McCarthy, Art Buchwald, Richard Wright, and Samuel Beckett were active members during a heady period of growth and expansion. During these early Cold War years the Director Ian Forbes Fraser barred the door to a high-profile visit from Senator Joseph McCarthy’s notorious minions, who were touring Europe in search of ‘red’ books in American libraries.”

For the last 48 years, the Library has been located two blocks from the Seine and two blocks from the Eiffel Tower, on rue du Général Camou, handily right around the corner chez moi.

Library2

When I find myself too distracted by laundry and household chores to get any work done, I make my way to the Library’s large reading room and nestle in for a quiet day of writing and French. Other times, I take advantage of the large selection of French and English DVDs (currently on my list of must “sees”: Le Petit Nicolas, Rue Cases-Nègres, and LOST, Season 4).

Superman regularly checks out a stack of non-fiction reads, and Button heads there to study, and thankfully it also serves as a shelter for me when I have locked myself out of my apartment for the umpteenth time…

…yes, Nicola, I did it again!

Dec 1

4 Comments

No. 63: le boucher (the butcher)

One thing I love about celebrating Thanksgiving in France is the fact that I can’t make my own turkey because my petit four (small oven) is too petite for monsieur Tom Turkey to fit a few legs in, let alone his whole body.

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So for the past two years, I simply head to my favorite boucher, Olivier Kermorvant, on rue de Grenelle, and order a turkey a week before the big day. Et voilà, on feast day, he expertly roasts it for me, and I send Superman to pick it up. Easy-peasy! Talk about taking the stress out of a busy day. I am spoiled.

Nov 30

5 Comments

No. 62: American Christmas or French Thanksgiving

The French have reluctantly taken on a few of our American holidays and traditions…Halloween, bachelorette or hen parties, and lavish weddings, for example. Luckily, Thanksgiving is still a mystery to them. As it should be, given that the history of the holiday is exclusively tied to America.

They don’t have a good handle on what it is all about (and I might add, neither do our dear British allies…).

As I set out on my annual scavenger hunt to find all the necessary ingredients for our feast, I watched several shop keepers have their “AHA moments”, when I told them I needed so-and-so for le jour de grâces.

I even tried: le jour de l’action de grâce.

After repeating it several times, a smile would spread across their faces, and they would say, “Madame, vouliez-vous dire Noël américain?”

“No, kind sir, I don’t mean American Christmas! I mean Thanksgiving.”

“Humph. Noël américain.”

So this year, I decided to celebrate American Christmas in a very French Thanksgiving-ish way. I chose to host a wine tasting Thanksgiving chez nous. Complete with foie gras and strange French farce (stuffing).

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foie gras
farce (meatloaf-like stuffing)

My precious friend and wine expert Hélène chose a yummy menu of four wines (two white and two reds) and a bubbly magnum of champagne to sample over the course of the evening. Who knew wine could taste of grass and honey, dirt and mold, black berries and grapefruit. It was a hoot and a delicious way to remember to be grateful for the wonderful group of international friends we have in Paris…

…and to enlighten a few of our French friends on the finer points of American Christmas Thanksgiving.

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Vocabulaire

le jour de grâces / le jour de l’action de grâce: Thanksgiving

“Madame, vouliez-vous  dire Noël américain?”: “Madam, do you mean American Christmas?”

Noël américain: American Christmas.

 

Autre Vocabulaire (curtesy of Laura K. Lawless, www.French.about.com)

autumn, fall   l’automne

colony   une colonie

family   la famille

feast   un festin, un banquet

football   le football américain

grateful (adj)   reconnaissant 

harvest   la récolte

horn of plenty   la corne d’abondance

native (adj)   indigène

(Native American) Indians    les Indiens (d’Amérique)

November   novembre

parade   une parade

Pilgrims   les pèlerins

settler   un colonisateur

to share   partager

thanks   les remerciements

Thursday   jeudi

tradition   une tradition

traditional (adj)   traditionnel

treaty   un pacte

tribe   une tribu

Some traditional dishes served on Thanksgiving:

food   la nourriture

bread   le pain

corn   le maïs 

cranberry   la canneberge

gravy   la sauce au jus de viande

mashed potatoes   la purée

pumpkin pie   la tarte à la citrouille

stuffing   la farce

sweet potato   la patate douce

turkey   la dinde 

yam   un igname

 

Nov 30

2 Comments

No. 61: The Other Eiffel Tower Park

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