Trouver par hazard

Posted on May 31, 2012 by

I stumbled across a gorgeous French life-style blog last week, Trouvais, devoted to “French interiors, rough luxe, and flea market finds.” Author Trish Lyon Allen lives in northern California where her home and garden serve as endless inspiration for the beautiful pictures featured on her blog. Her home may literally be located in California, but the look is pure French. Her entries are more about images than text, but if a picture is worth 1,000 words, Trish is writing volumes. She loves antique fabrics and delicate, embroidered 18th century shoes. Some blog entries are organized arounda favorite color, some around a favorite flower. All are a visual feast.

Today’s expression, trouver par hazard (truevay par hazar) means “to find by accident.” I may have found Trouvais by accident, but I’ll be coming back over and over again on purpose.

The New French Interior

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Cinéma d’art et d’essai

Posted on May 30, 2012 by

Brussels-born director Agnès Varda was born on May 30, 1928. Her mother was French and her father was a Greek refugee. She studied photography as the Louvre but was interested in getting into film. Her first film, La Pointe Courte, had many of the hallmarks of La Nouvelle Vague  before the movement was officially launched. Her films are characterized by the co-mingling of documentary and fictional elements, such as hiring professional actors for the lead roles and using volunteers for all of the supporting roles, in a style known as neo-realism.

I saw Cléo from 5 to 7 last year with a French cinephile group in Philadelphia. It’s about a two hour wait for the results of a biopsy for a Marilyn Monroe clone – and it ends just before we find out if she actually has cancer. It’s meant to be deep – but since I didn’t care at all about the protagonist, I didn’t feel too invested in analyzing the profundities. Since the film starred Varda’s daughter, I imagine she felt rather differently. Varda was married to fellow Rive Gauche director Jacques Demy. She won a César in 2009 for the best documentary and a lifetime achievement award from Cannes in 2010.

Today’s expression cinéma d’art et d’essai (sin-ay-ma dar ay desay) means “cinema of art and experimentation.” It’s the term used for an art-house that shows non-mainstream films, like the type of place where people understand films like Cléo from 5 to 7 and can clue me in on what I’m not getting.

Four by Agnès Varda (La Pointe Courte, Cléo from 5 to 7, Le Bonheur, Vagabond)

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Le Sacre du Printemps

Posted on May 29, 2012 by

On May 29, 1913, Igor Stravinsky’s “The Rite of Spring “  or “Le Sacre du Printemps” premiered for the first time in Paris at the Théâtre des Champs Élysées. The music was the background for a ballet choreographed by Vaslav Nijinsky and produced by Sergei Diaghilev for the Ballets Russes. The idea behind it was a pagan girl who dances herself to death. It was unlike all other music – atonal, asymmetrical, and assonant – and it literally caused a riot. There were catcalls, boos, arguments between proponents and opponents, and fist fights in the aisles. The police were called, but they were unable to restore order. Diaghilev kept turning the house-lights on and off to try to calm the crowd.

Others say that it was the choreography and rough, canvas costumes, rather than primarily the music that caused the riot, but Stravinsky, who sought the notoriety that the scandal fomented, appropriated the “blame” and history has generally accepted this version of the facts. The ballet closed after the scheduled 6 performances. For many years, the music was performed without the ballet. The US premier was in Philadelphia and the Orchestra reprised their original performance in Disney’s Fantasia (1940).

The story of the riot has shown up in a 2005 BBC movie entitled  Riot at the Rite as well as the 2009 film Coco Chanel & Igor Stravinsky that traces the troubled relationship between the two creative forces.

Le Sacre du Printemps (luh sackruh due prahntem) actually means “the consecration of spring.” The title in Stravinsky’s native Russian is “Sacred Spring.” Each language brings its own nuances of meaning. I recently heard the Philadelphia Orchestra re-stage the work sans riots. I can’t say I was a major fan. I prefer music I can hum when I leave the Kimmel Center.

The Rite of Spring, the Philadelphia Orchestra, conducted by Leopold Stokowski

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Soyez des nôtres

Posted on May 28, 2012 by

French pastry chef Gaston Albert Célestin Lenôtre was born on May 28, 1920 on a small farm in Normandy. Both of his parents had been cooks at prestigious establishments in Paris, but his father’s illness forced the family to return to Normandy. Lenôtre fils made such a success of a bakery in a small town in Normandy and then moved to the chic 16th arrondissement.

Lenôtre hit the scene at a time when French cooking was becoming lighter and focused on natural flavors. He was able to marry these lighter flavors and textures with classic pastries, thus creating a whole new take on dessert. His best known confection was the Opéra – chocolate covered almond cake, and coffee-cream. Lenôtre became a brand. Paul Bocuse, the best-known celebrity chef of that generation said that Lenôtre’s name was as important “as the Christian Dior name on a dress.” I used to enjoy dining at the beautiful Lenôtre restaurant on rue Cler. It was like a jewelry store, not a pâtisserie.

He expanded to create savory dishes, catering, and 60 boutiques in 12 countries. In 1971, he opened a pastry school in the appropriately named town of Plaisir (pleasure), west of Paris. The best pastry chefs in the world are trained there. He sold the business to the Accor hotel group in 1985, but stayed on to run several of the businesses. For his 80th birthday in 2000, he was presented with a 33-foot high cake. Lenôtre elevated the simple pastry to high art as well as big business. Last year, the Lenôtre group was responsible for over 100 million Euros in sales. He died on January 8, 2009.

The expression soyez des nôtres (swayeh luh notruh) means “won’t you join us.” Lenôtre’s talents for creating beautiful dining experiences made many a guest glad to join him in his long, delicious career.

Best of Gaston Lenôtre’s Desserts: Glorious Desserts of France’s Finest Pastry Maker

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Une brise de mer

Posted on May 27, 2012 by

Since it’s Memorial Day weekend in the United States, the unofficial beginning of summer, I’ve been thinking about great summer getaways I’ve enjoyed in France. A few years ago, my daughter and I were spending the summer at the Institut de Touraine during a particularly hot spell. Naturally, there was no air-conditioning either at school or our apartment. One day, my daughter actually passed out in class! A weekend by the sea-side was not just a good idea, it was medically necessary!

The problem was where to go? EVERYONE was in the same boat. When we went to the SNCF office, trains to everywhere I could think of were already sold out. The lovely young man behind the counter suggested Saint-Malo, in Brittany on the English Channel. We booked our tickets on the spot and then began the task of finding a hotel. We had to cast our net a bit wider due to the last-minute timing. We booked a room at Hôtel La Rance in Saint-Servan, a community that has been enfolded within the official embrace of Saint-Malo. The hotel was lovely, homey and family run. It was located right on the bay at the foot of the 14th century tour Solidor and our window opened onto a balcony and let in a welcome sea breeze or une brises de mer (breeze duh mare).

Saint-Servan is about 20 minutes on foot from the walled city of Saint-Malo. The city ramparts are the main attraction. On one side are amazing sea views and on the other are the grey-blue stone walls of the medieval houses of the old town. Saint-Malo dates back to the 6th century and it has a proud history of independence.  In the 15th century, its motto was “not French, not Breton, but Malouin.” It was the home to many corsairs – a kind of cross between pirates and naval ships that patrolled national waters. The most famous was Robert Surcouf. They could engage any foreign ship in battle and take its cargo and the ship itself as a prize and the men of Saint-Malo grew rich on their spoils. Jacques Cartier, the great explorer, was from Saint-Malo. The tides change the landscape dramatically. At low tide, the islands of Grand and Petit Bé are accessible across the sands. There’s a seawater pool so that swimmers can enjoy the saltwater without the danger of undertows. There are great restaurants that specialize in seafood, crêpes, or both together. After a wonderful weekend in Saint-Malo, we returned to our studies in Tours, rested and refreshed by the fresh brises de mer.

The Most Beautiful Villages of Brittany

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Réalisme magique

Posted on May 26, 2012 by

French-British author Joanne Harris has just released her latest book, Peaches for Monsieur le Curé. (It won’t be released in the US until October, under the title Peaches for Father Francis.) This is the third volume that focuses on the characters from Harris’s most acclaimed book, Chocolat, that was turned into the wildly successful film, starring Johnny Depp and Juliette Binoche, nominated for 5 Academy Awards. A sequel, The Lollipop Shoes, was released in the US under the title The Girl with No Shadow.

Harris’s books are often written in the magic realism style, réalisme magique (ray-al-ees-muh mah-zjeek), where the known and natural world is often layered with mystical elements. Many of her books also feature the symbolic importance of food, so it’s no surprise that Harris has also written two cookbooks: My French Kitchen: 120 Treasured Recipes and The French Market: More Recipes from a French Kitchen. I’ve enjoyed a number of her previous books, particularly the ones set in France, so I’m looking forward to reading her new release.

Harris’s French mother made sure her English born-and-raised daughter kept both sides of her culture alive. Her first language was French and her nickname at school was “The Frog.” She attended her first live theater when she was just four: a production of Molière’s Tartuffe, no less. Not only did she understand the 17th century comedy, she heckled the villain in French. She toiled as a French teacher at a boys’ school until fame hit. Harris once met actor Ewan McGregor at a party and, mistakenly thinking that he was one of her former students, let him have it about letting his French get out of practice. Ooops. I feel like she and I would have lots to discuss if we ever met – teaching French, our mutual passion for the color red and beautiful shoes, and our gift for blurting out the wrong thing. We even look a little alike!

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Un escalier en colimaçon

Posted on May 25, 2012 by

The royal Château de Blois is unlike the other castles of the Loire Valley; it’s not as “pretty”, but it has a rich history. It was the residence of 7 kings and 10 queens during the Renaissance era and the kings who lived there put their mark on the château. The façade shows Classical, Renaissance, and Gothic styles of architecture, built during a four hundred year span from the 13th to 17th centuries. Of the 564 rooms in the château, only two dozen were used on a regular basis. The panoramic photo, above, flattens out the perspecitve. The Classical wing faces the Gothic one across the courtyard.

Blois first became a royal residence at the end of the 15th century under Louis XII who added the red brick and stone Gothic wing. His successor Francois I built the most distinctive wing, with the dramatic Renaissance circular staircase. Louis XIII gave the château to one of his nobles who developed the Classical wing, ornamented with Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian columns. During the Revolution, the long-neglected, dilapidated château was totally trashed by looters. It was then turned into a military barracks. Under the last of the French kings, Louis-Philippe, the château was restored and preserved as a national monument.

Today’s phrase, un escalier en colimaçon (uhn ess-kal-e-ay ehn kol-e-mah-sohn) means a spiral staircase, like the beauty at Blois. Un colimaçon is also a synonym for a snail, more familiarly known as un escargot. Colimaçon tend to be smaller than their slimy cousins, something the massive, sprawling Château de Blois is definitely not. While you’re there, make sure you visit the terrific restaurant Au Rendez-Vous des Pêcheurs, where escargot are probably on the menu. Yum.

Loire Valley (Eyewitness Travel Guide)

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