All posts by Rosemary Kneipp

French customs, Hungary, Loire Valley, Uncategorized

Weekly Blogger Round-Up: New Year etiquette in France – Christmas produce markets – Authentic restaurants in Budapest

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For this week’s Blogger Round-Up, I have two posts related to Christmas and one from a new member of the blogosphere on Budapest. Phoebe from Lou Messugo explains the do’s and don’t’s of wishing people a merry Christmas and happy new year in France while Susan from Days on the Claise takes us to the last market before Christmas – but it’s not too late because the same scenario will be repeated for New Year. Our new blogger is Anda from Travel Notes and Beyond whom you have already seen in one of my earlier posts. You’ll love her suggestions for authentic restaurants in Budapest. Enjoy! 

Merry Christmas, don’t mention New Year

by Phoebe from Lou Messugo, a traveller, francophile, expat, mum and foodie now living in Roquefort les Pins where she runs a gîte after many years of travelling and living in Asia, Eastern Europe and Australia.

Christmas_cardsIt’s the build-up to Christmas and every time I see someone I won’t see again until after the new year I wish them a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year…if I’m speaking in English to a non-French friend.  However, if it’s in French to a French friend then it’s a more generalised greeting “bonnes fêtes de fin d’année” which means happy end of year celebrations and is more like the American “Happy Holidays”.  I could say “joyeux noël” (happy Christmas) though it’s less common but I mustn’t wish them a Happy New Year.  It’s considered bad luck to wish Happy New Year before midnight on the 31st. Read more

The Last Market Day Before Christmas

by Susan from Days on the Claise, an Australian living in the south of the Loire Valley, writing about restoring an old house and the area and its history and running Loire Valley Time Travel.

loches_market1Saturday was the last market day in Loches before Christmas. I took a few pictures to try and give a sense of market shopping, but to be honest, it isn’t easy to take photos and shop at the same time.

Standing in line at the cheese stall. Note the pair in the background exchanging the standard cheek kisses in greeting. The cheese stall had twice as many staff as usual and there was still a queue, so they were doing good business. Read more

Restaurants in Budapest

by Anda from Travel Notes & Beyond, the Opinionated Travelogue of a Photo Maniac, is a Romanian-born citizen of Southern California who has never missed the opportunity to travel.

butapest_mattjas-pinceBudapest is not short of good restaurants, cafés, and bistros, but finding real authentic ones that are also a good value for your money is not easy. As in any big city with a plethora of choices, visitors get confused by the internet reviews and recommendations, often sponsored by the restaurants themselves. Like many others ahead of me, I had my fair share of disappointments and paid my price for the knowledge I gained in this field. Below is my list of recommendations, based on what I feel makes a good value restaurant. Read more

 

 

Country living, Loire Valley

Snakes in the Wood Pile

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We arrive at the sawmill in the middle of Cheverny forest just before midday and not at 11.30 am as planned. We can hear machinery but can’t see any people. We finally see a man pull up in a large truck and get out. Jean Michel goes over to talk to him.

Arriving at the sawmill
Arriving at the sawmill with not a soul in sight

I can see them arguing. Oh dear. They both come towards me and I learn that the man knows nothing about the wood we ordered on the phone at 10 am. I check my trusty iPhone to tell him the number we rang. “Yeah, well”, he says (in French, of course), “it’s the right number but it’s up at the office along the road a bit and no one told me anything about someone wanting firewood. And we’re about to knock off for lunch.”

The pile of wood we are to help ourselves to
The pile of wood we are to help ourselves to

In the end, he calms down and so does Jean Michel and we are shown a large pile of 50 centimeter logs. Wood in this country is sold by the stère which is a cubic metre of wood usually cut to 50 cm lengths. He has a look at the trailer and tells us that when we’ve filled it we can go over to the work canteen and get someone to come and measure it.

The trailer backed up as far as possible to the woodpile
The trailer backed up as far as possible to the woodpile

Jean Michel backs up the trailer as close as he can to the wood pile without getting it stuck in the mud. I’m glad I’m wearing my big boots, thick socks, a polar fleece windcheater, anorak, cap with ear flaps and working gloves. It’s about 5°C but sunny.  Another man arrives, much more cheerful than the last, and measures the trailer. We come to the conclusion that it can take 2.40 stères at 51 euro a stère. He leaves us to it.

Some of the equipment in the sawmill
Some of the equipment in the sawmill

We start picking up logs. Jean Michel explains I mustn’t take whole logs. They have to be split at least once. After we’ve sorted through the ones closest to the trailer, he climbs into it to start stacking them up. Some of my logs get rejected. Too short apparently – some are only about 40 cm. I’m instructed to get the tape measure out of the car. I can’t find it of course which doesn’t go over well. How come I don’t automatically understand what sort of logs I’m supposed to be getting? I tell him to stop being so snakey (well, my language was maybe a little bit stronger than that …).

Thinking about teatime in front of fire gives me extra energy
Thinking about teatime in front of fire gives me extra energy to move the logs

By then, I have removed the anorak, the windcheater and the cap. When he’s finished stacking he gets the tape measure (on the floor was the instruction he failed to give me) and I keep measuring the logs until I’m sure I can judge the size correctly, ignoring him as best I can. He has to climb up onto the woodpile and throw logs down to the bottom near the trailer. I start collecting some others (carefully measured) from the back of the pile so I won’t be (accidentally) struck by the logs.

Throwing the logs around seems to have a positive effect on his mood and he surprises me by apologising for his snakiness.

Our nicely stacked woodpile
Our nicely stacked woodpile in the bike shed (and former pigsty)

It takes us about an hour to fill the trailer. The friendly man wanders over and measures our pile. We write out a check and off we go.

The woodpile at the back against the ugly wall that is waiting to be rendered ...
The woodpile at the back against the ugly wall that is waiting to be rendered …

After a well-deserved lunch, I go back to my translating while Jean Michel spends the next three hours unloading the wood and stocking it in two piles, one behind the house and one under the steps in the bike shelter. The woodpile has a lovely oaky smell. We’re waiting to see how long the wood will last before we have to go back to the sawmill. But it now seems that we need smaller bits of wood as well …

French language

Friday’s French – parapharmacie, paramédical & paramedics

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I was doing a translation today and had to find a solution for the word parapharmacie. A parapharmacie is a shop that sells everything you would find in a French pharmacy except medication, and you usually pay a lot less.

parapharmie_leclerc

From my FaceBook research today, it seems that there is nothing similar in the UK. I don’t know about the US. Parapharmacies also sell certain brands of dermocosmetics that are not sold in department stores or large supermarkets.

I go there to buy shampoo, skincare products, bandaids and make-up.

In France, there are no pharmacy chains such as Boots the Chemist although some pharmacies may use a central buying office. Most pharmacies are independently owned. The parapharmacies, however, are usually chains. The Leclerc hypermarket and supermarket chain has its own parapharmacie.

The suffix para comes from Ancient Greek παρά  meaning beside; next to, near, from; against, contrary to” which means that there are a lot of very different words starting with para.

Take the word paramédical in French. It applies to healthcare professionals with the except of physicians i.e. ambulance drivers, nurses, nurse’s aides, dental assistants, chiropodists, dental technicians, physiotherapists, opticians, occupational therapists, osteopaths, dieticians, nutritionists, medical secretaries, medical reps, medical laboratory technicians and so on.

A paramedic in English however is a healthcare professional who works in emergency medical situations which means that most paramedics are based in the field in ambulances, emergency response vehicles and specialist mobile units. In the hospital, they may treat injuries. So not the same thing at all. Paramedics are all paramédical but not the opposite is not true.

Parachute, which comes from para and chute (fall) is actually a French word.

A parapluie keeps off the rain. When he was little, my son called it a rainbrella in English which we thought was very cute of course.

So, what did I do about parapharmacie in my translation? Since it was a didactic text aimed at instructors, I was able to explain the term then use parapharmacie in Italics, but it’s not always that simple!

Food, French customs, French language, Lifestyle, Weekly Blogger Round-Up

Weekly Blogger Round-Up – Getting Tough in French – Top 7 moments in France – A French library and literature

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This week’s Blogger Round-Up starts with two expats talking about their experience in France. Wendy from Random Ramblings describes a major breakthrough in French while Bread is Pain shares her top 7 moments in France as part of the Expat Blog Award which I didn’t have time to enter this year. After you read her post, don’t forget to write a comment and help her win an award. Finally, Claire from Word by Word, source of many of the books I read, takes us around the media library in Aix-en-Provence and talks about the contemporary French literary scene. Enjoy!

Getting tough

by Wendy, an Australian Photographer and Psychologist living in Paris, enjoying life and working hard. Random Ramblings is where she shares a story or two.

getting_toughWalking in the forest recently, I came across an elderly lady walking her dog. It was a little dog, playful and excitable a puppy perhaps. As the puppy ran towards me I bent down to pat it, to only hear the lady calling out ‘ne touchez pas’ french for don’t touch.

As I approached the lady she began to tell me the dog was young and needs to learn to not jump. I responded that I had thought she was telling me not to touch the dog. Read more

Top 7 “Moments in France”

by Bread is Pain, a 30-something American living in the Rhone-Alps, getting her master’s degree, learning French and slowly eating and drinking herself through the country

Being an expat has moments that are difficult, funny, exciting, even terrifying and no two countries are alike.  Here are a few of the moments that France has to offer:

# 7: The Language Moment: The time you accidentally offend people.

Speaking in a different language is always complicated, no matter how long you have studied it.  Every language has subtle nuances and phrases that are cultural not just linguistic.  You may be able to understand every single grammatical rule of a particular language but still be lost when you are in a country that actually speaks it…and French is no exception.  Read more

They’re Reading Thousands of Great Books Here, Cité du Livre – A Local French Cultural Centre and Library

by Claire from Word by Word, Citizen of Planet Earth, Anglosaxon by birth, living and working in France, who loves words, language, sentences, metaphors, stories long and short, poetry, reading and writing

library-aix-2Yesterday via a link on twitter, I read a provocative article in BBC News Magazine by Hugh Schofield entitled Why don’t French books sell abroad? It was an interesting, if superficial article, that made a few observations without going into any depth to understand the contemporary literary scene in France. It asked questions, reminded us of some old provocative stereotypes and did little to enlighten us on the subject of what excites French readers and why the English-speaking world aren’t more aware of their contemporary literary gems. Read more

Cooking, Food, Uncategorized

Fried Onion Rings on a 5:2 fast diet feast day

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Apparently fried onion rings are an important part of Thanksgiving in America but most people buy them in cans which I can’t even begin to imagine. It would be like buying tinned battered fish surely. But I checked it out on the Internet and would you believe it, one of the popular brands is called French’s and they are called French fried onions which I have never seen in France …

canned_onion_rings

I got the Thanksgiving information from the Bread is Pain Food blog but more importantly, I also learnt how to make them. Now in the past, this is not the sort of thing I would have even thought about making because of the calories. However, now that we practise intermittent fasting, I don’t have any qualms.

I want to give Jean Michel a surprise which is easier in a large house than in an apartment. He’s in the workshop trying to flush out the sludge from our in-floor heating system which has not been working very well this winter.

baked_vegetables

I’ve already prepared the baked vegetables – potatoes, sweet potatoes, sliced green pepper, parsnips,  butternut pumpkin and beetroot. Yes, beetroot, bought raw and baked. I’d never heard of it until I had lunch at Susan and Simon’s from Days on the Claise. Delicious.

I’ve sliced the onion (you only need one for two people) and beaten the egg yolk and milk together in a soup plate. Bread is Pain’s recipe helpfully says “a little milk” so I put the equivalent of an egg yolk. I’ve put flour in another plate.

cote_boeuf

As soon as I hear Jean Michel raking the embers in the fireplace upstairs  in order to grill the côte de bœuf, I put a centimeter of oil in a deep frypan (sauteuse) and turn on the heat.  I dip the onions in the egg mixture and then roll them in flour after which I put everything in a zip lock bag and shake to get rid of any surplus flour as per Bread in Pain’s recipe.

When the oil is hot (I test with a small onion ring to see if it sizzles), I add a layer of rings to the pan. I turn them over and start to get a bit worried. They do not look like the photo in the recipe. I turn them again and lo and behold, they are starting to be golden. I had turned them too soon.

onion_rings

I scoop them all out when they’re done and put them on a paper towel then proceed with the next batch. This time, I am more expert. I try one. Out of this world! When they are all done, I take them triumphantly upstairs to an amazed Jean Michel. He doesn’t know they are onions and it takes him a couple to identify what they are!

I had thought they would be a bit greasy and heavy but they’re not. The taste is actually quite delicate. I’m going to make them for Christmas and stun the kids as well.

I love the 5:2 fast diet!

Closerie Falaiseau, Loire Valley

Photos of the week – Through my window in Blois

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Sunrise from my office window in Blois
Sunrise from my office window in Blois
Morning frost from the same window
Morning frost from the same window
Late afternoon suj
Late afternoon sun

We’ve been having lovely weather in Blois – very cold, with minus temperatures at night and sometimes throughout the morning followed by bright sun and blue skies. The view from my office window is unfortunately marred by those horrible cables. They’re supposed to go underground in a couple of years’ time.

For more photos of Blois, you can visit my photo site Blois Daily Photo.

Accommodation, French language

Friday’s French – gîte

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Even French people confuse gîte and chambre d’hôte. I know this for certain because when I tell people I have a gîte they often start talking about le petit déjeuner which, of course, is only served in a B&B.

Our gîte and future permanent home
Our gîte and future permanent home

Before it came to mean a self-catering cottage in the country, gîte, which comes from the verb gésir, derived from the Latin jacere (to lie down), meant any place to sleep either permanently or temporarily.

Offrir le gîte et le couvert, for example, means to offer board and lodging.

A gîte, I have just learnt, is also a resting place for hares. Ten points to anyone who knows the equivalent in English! I certainly didn’t. “Hares do not bear their young below ground in a burrow as do other leporids, but rather in a shallow depression or flattened nest of grass called a form. All rabbits (except the cottontail rabbits) live underground in burrows or warrens, while hares (and cottontail rabbits) live in simple nests above the ground, and usually do not live in groups.” Thank you Wikipedia. And thank you Susan from Days in the Claise who has posted a photo of a form.

A mineral deposit is also called a gîte, as in gîte de zinc but an oil deposit is a gisement de pétrole. And pétrole is not petrol as we say in Australia for gasoline – you fill your car with essence in France. Pétrole means oil or petroleum. Diesel engines take gas-oil or gazole (pronounced gaz-well, don’t ask me why!)

beef_16x9 Boeuf

Gîte (short for gîte à la noix) is also a cut of beef corresponding more or less to what we call topside (UK) or bottom round (US). French and English butchers don’t cut up beef in the same way so quite often there is no real equivalent (entrecôte, côte de boeuf, T-bone, etc.), as you can see from the drawings. You can read more on the subject in Posted in Paris.

Another expression with the verb gésir is Ici gît le roi d’Espagne (here lies the King of Spain). Other examples are: un trésor qui gît au fond des mers = A treasure lying on the bottom of the sea and ses vêtements gisaient sur le sol, a somewhat literary way of saying that his clothes were strewn all over the floor.

So now you know the difference between a gîte and a chambre d’hôte – and a lot more useful things besides!

French customs, Germany, Italy, Paris, Uncategorized

Weekly Blogger Round-Up: A Provençal Christmas village – European Christmas Foods – The Notre Dame Christmas Tree

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With Christmas approaching, the theme for this week’s Blogger Round-Up was easy to find! Phoebe from Lou Messugo takes us to the Provençal village of Lucéram famous for its Christmas cribs, while Carolyn from Holidays to Europe introduces us to various European Christmas foods; meanwhile Mary Kay from Out and About in Paris explains why the lights on the Christmas tree in front of Notre Dame are vertical. Enjoy!

Lucéram, the Christmas village

by Phoebe from Lou Messugo, a traveller, francophile, expat, mum and foodie now living in Roquefort les Pins where she runs a gîte after many years of travelling and living in Asia, Eastern Europe and Australia.

luceram_8In our quest to get into the Christmas spirit, we recently spent a day in Lucéram, a pretty medieval hill village north of Nice and less than an hour from Lou Messugo.  Why?  Because it comes alive in December with its “Circuit des Crèches”.  Literally every tiny alley, every balcony, every doorway and every nook and cranny is decorated with pine branches, red and gold ribbons, and nativity scenes in every conceivable shape and size.  These scenes (the creches) are made out of wood, paper, glass, pinecones, traditional santons (earthenware figurines), clothes pegs, matches, wool, twigs and even bread.  They come in every size from minute tucked into holes in the wall to a 10m long replica of the village and everything in between.  Even the village’s numerous fountains and old wash-houses are all decked out with their own floating creches. Read more

European Christmas Foods

by Carolyn from Holidays to Europe, an Australian based business passionate about sharing their European travel expertise and helping travellers to experience the holiday in Europe they have always dreamed of

german-christmas-foodsThe lead up to Christmas can be one of the best times to travel to Europe, not only to visit the amazing Christmas Markets that are held each year but also to sample the delicious food that plays a big part in the festivities.

Marrying into a German family many years ago, I’m now well accustomed to some of the German Christmas treats and I always look forward to indulging in my favourites when the festive season comes around. Read more

Love, tenderness, understanding and unity: lessons learned from the men responsible for Notre-Dame’s symbolic Christmas tree

by Mary Kay from Out and About in Paris, an American by birth, Swiss by marriage, resident of Paris with a Navigo Pass for the metro that she feels compelled to use

notre_dame_treeFor a bi-cultural couple, celebrating Christmas and other holidays can be liking walking through a cultural minefield. Christmas stockings, decorations and traditional foods can all provoke heated debates. If your spouse is from Switzerland, he may claim that Baby Jesus delivers presents to the good little girls and boys around the world when you know for a fact that it’s a jolly man dressed in a red suit. As an American, I find it somewhat hard to believe that a tiny baby could handle the stress of landing a sleigh on a steep Parisian rooftop without bursting into tears. After all, Santa has a hard enough time maneuvering through the city traffic, and he’s a robust man accustomed to managing an entire village of elves. Read more 

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