French Handwriting

When I took French in school, I remember asking my teacher if their handwriting was much different than Americans.  She pulled out a postcard she had from friends in France, and it was amazing to me how different their penmanship looked.

With such a rigid school system, handwriting is still an art form to master in grammer school.  I remember practicing cursive in elementary school, and even though I hated it, how I wish I was forced to have such beautiful script....

Les Fleurs

Parisian flower markets.  Just because. 

Le Goûter

The French don't snack.  Another thing I need to add to my list entitled "huhh?"

You eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner ...and that's it.  However, there is something known as "le goûter" a snack or small meal you eat around 4pm.  My research has proven different as to who enjoys what I think will be a life saver pour moi.

A frenchman I have been consulting has told me you only eat a goûter if you're under the age of 12.  I think it usually consists of something like a piece of bread with nutella.  Other resources have informed me, that anyone can take part of this late afternoon nosh session.  I would imagine that I will be eating a daily goûter since the French don't eat dinner until about 8pm... That's going about six to maybe eight hours between meals.  Mon Dieu!

The official French stand on snacking is that it's bad for your health... snack food advertisements are required to have a warning (not unlike their cigarette packaging ) that mentions the health risks involved with snacking.

There have been lots of books and articles written about how superior French parenting is to our own.   I believe there is a chapter in "Bringing up Bèbè" that talks about how we Americans are always giving our kids snack*.  Going to the Park?  Better bring a snack.  Taking a long car ride?  Grab a bag of gold fish.  And Jesus, Mary, and Joseph... don't forget the juice cup.  I don't have an opinion on this yet, since I have successfully  used snacks to quiet fussy and cranky children.  And haven't the French heard of food bribery?  Seriously, a kid will do anything for a cupcake.  I even use it myself.  In college, I would reward myself with *three* cheezits for every page of a reading I was supposed to get done. This no snack thing is also in direct conflict with my idea of healthy eating which is basically to eat all day long without ceasing... that way your metabolism doesn't stop.  Right?



*Okay, I haven't read that book yet.  There is like ten holds for it at our library.  

Les Bons Mots

I had a post planned today for more phrases.  But then I talked to a real French person, telling him about all of the obscure French I have been teaching myself...  He didn't understand anything.  Err....

After telling him about all the reading I've been doing to educate myself in the ways of "Les Français" he said to me, "well, I'm sure there are tons of things that are in your books that won't prove to be true.  You're just gonna have to see for yourself."
At this point, I don't know if he imagined me across the Atlantic ocean looking like Barbie up above, or if I just want to be French Barbie (well, who wouldn't?).

Alors!  My new French phrase I learned from a real Frenchmen, not a book...

Putain
fuck. 
My Larousse translates this as "whore."  Not unlike one of my favorite Italian dishes "Pasta Puttenesca" which basically means Slutty Spaghetti.  But this words meaning has been transformed into the ever loved F*@$!

Upon researching (I know, who researches foreign explicatives?)  I found this funny video.  Enjoy!

Les Macarons

Before the idea of moving to Paris even entered my mind, it seems like the entire world was going crazy for  les macarons.  Brides were incorporating them in their wedding cakes, books were being published solely about these pretty little cookies.  I was tempted to buy a print of one and I've never even tasted them.  Luckily, I am about to move to the city that is the mecca of macarons:

Les Bons Mots

While perusing the French Language section at my library I stumbled upon the book, "Les Bons Mots: How to Amaze Tout le Monde with Every Day French."  It is basically a collection of sayings or colloquialisms in French that don't translate out word for word en Anglais.  I thought it would be fun to read through it every now and again to pick some phrases up.  So for lack of better posts, I will post a few "bons mots" that I particularly enjoy....

il y a loin de la coupe aux lèvres 

there's many a slip between cup and lip

The message is clear: "nothing is certain til you have it in hand"; literally, "it's a long way from the cup to the lips."  So maybe it's a good thing to take your stock market profits from time to time. 

être noyé

be all at sea

Also translated as "be out of one's depth," more literarily as, "fail to understand."  A state I plan to be in consistently.  

casser les pieds à quelqu'un 
bore someone to death 
Less dramatically translated as "wear someone out," "bore someone stiff," or "get on somebody's nerves."  The literal translation is "break someone's legs."  The French take boredom seriously.  

Bon Appétit!

I just finished "My Life in France" by Julia Child last night.  It is part of the informal "education" I am giving myself before I flit off to Paris.  It was a very interesting and entertaining book, but did not offer much in the way of getting around Paris as an American.  Not that it would matter now; it was set in the 50's and 60's and was about her culinary training and "cookbookery" as she called it.  There are lots of stereotypical French dishes I am dying to try... Croissants and Pain du Chocolat, Les Macarons from Laudrèe, Boeuf au Bourguignon, and Coq au Vin just to name a few... But Child has inspired me to try a few other dishes like Dover Sole à la Meunière.  The Dover Sole can only be found in European waters, and this dish in particular was the first Child had in France, and also it was the dish that changed her life.  The sole is lightly flowered and sautéed in butter and topped with a beurre blanc with lemon and parsley.  I think I can put my poisson-phobia aside for once.