Category Archives: Weekly Blogger Round-Up

Food, Germany, Lifestyle, Weekly Blogger Round-Up

Weekly Blogger Round-Up: Saxon Switzerland – Dying Overseas – Chinese New Year Treats

February 4, 2014 Rosemary Kneipp 6 Comments

This week’s Blogger Round-Up starts in Germany, in Saxon Switzerland, where Anda from Travel Notes & Beyond has inspired us to go on another cycling holiday this summer. Australian blogger Paula McInerney from Contented Traveller broaches the somewhat taboo subject of what happens if you die overseas while, on a less serious note, Adelina from Pack Me To, talks about all the wonderful goodies to eat at Chinese New Year. Enjoy!

Königstein – the Fortress of Saxon Switzerland

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

From Bastei Rocks our trip continued to the town of Königstein. From atop the table hill bearing the same name, Königstein – Germany’s largest fortress – towers over the Elbe Valley and the Saxon Switzerland landscape. Rising 240 meters above the river, the 24 acres rock plateau offers stunning views that rival with the famous Balcony of Europe in Costa del Sol, Spain.

Festung Königstein (as the Germans call it) started in the early 13th century as a medieval castle belonging to the Bohemian kingdom. In the 1400s the castle fell into the hands of the Saxon rulers and was later transformed into a monastery. In the mid 1500s by the order of Augustus, Elector of Saxony, a deep well (152 m) was drilled through solid rock on the site creating an important condition for the construction of a fortress. Read more

What happens if you die overseas?

By Paula McInerney from Contented Traveller. When they are not living in Australia, she and her husband Gordon travel the world, trying out houseboats, tatami mats, cave houses and over water bungalows, with serendipity as their watchword.

Strange conversations happen around our dinner table and one segued into what would happen if you died whilst overseas. Everyone’s response was varied, from leave me there, to bring me home. This then led into the conversation of whether people wanted to be buried or cremated and how they wanted their send off to be. Scattered over an ocean, under a tree in the bush, quickly and with no fuss, it all varied. It is worth discussing with your family and friends what you do want .. and around the dinner table is as good a place as any.

I myself think that if I died overseas just bury me there. Note the bury; I don’t want tot be cremated because it seems a bit too final. Yes, the derision at the dinner table was palpable but bad luck, I am entitled to my belief. Others wanted to be bought home to be buried, whilst some wanted to be cremated wherever, and their ashes bought home. Read more

The Best Part of Chinese New Year – the Food

by Adelina from Pack Me To, a Chinese American who’s been traveling for as long as she can remember and has lived in the Netherlands and Hungary. She loves telling stories, and eating and exploring her way around the world.

Happy lunar new year! January 31 ushered in the year of the horse. The best part of Chinese New Year for me is of course the food! There are so many delicious treats to be had during this festive holiday. As previously explained, the Chinese are a superstitious group. There are certain foods that are eaten during the holidays which are supposed to bring good luck and prosperity in the new year. Plus, they all taste delicious, so why not?

The Meals

During the 15 day festival, there are a number of meals where family come together to eat. In my family, we have a meal on Chinese new year eve with my immediate family, and sometimes with my father’s side of the family, and on day 2 of the new year, we have a meal with my mother’s side of the family. I love Chinese New Year food so much that one year my flatmate and I attempted to cook a massive new year dinner while living in Budapest for 26 people! We were crazy or what?! Here are a few of the must have dishes gracing the table. Read more

French customs, Weekly Blogger Round-Up

Weekly Blogger Round-Up: Galette des rois – The Cake of French Kings

January 7, 2014 Rosemary Kneipp 10 Comments

For this week’s Blogger Round-Up and as a follow-up to my last Friday’s French post, I thought I’d find three different posts about the galette des rois or the French cake of kings, an increasingly popular tradition in France which starts on or about January 6th (feast of the Epiphany) and continues right up until the end of the month. Susan from Days on the Claise explains how to make your own galette, Mary Kay from Out and About in Paris reports on turning the tradition into a fund-raising initiative for maladies orphelines while Janine from The Good Life France gives us a very complete description of the galette and its various traditions. You might also like to read my own post on the subject written a couple of years ago. Enjoy!

Galette des rois, à peu près

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.

Now, I know that this is stepping dangerously into Walt’s territory, but since we are approaching Epiphany, I’m going to talk about making galette des rois.

Well, sort of. I’m going to tell you how to make a quick and easy version, that, although it won’t be in the same league as Walt’s and your local pâtissière’s, is still a very acceptable addition to the post-Christmas table — and the real thing is getting very expensive, so homemade is an economical option! Read more

King Cake (Galette des Rois) and the meaning of “Maladie Orpheline”

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

In spite of having been married to a native French speaker for many years, I’m not fluent in French. But since we raised our children in a bilingual home, my comprehension is usually fairly accurate. All of this is just a roundabout way of admitting that I felt really foolish after incorrectly translating maladie orpheline on Twitter. Here’s the tweet:

Best pastry chefs in Paris sell King Cakes to fight childhood illnesses. Jan 4. Place Saint-Germain des Prés:quefaire.paris.fr/fiche/76201_la…

In a hurry to help spread the word about a fund-raising initiative by some of the top pastry chefs in Paris, I didn’t take the time to google maladie orpheline. Instead, I rapidly translated it as “childhood illnesses” and waited until my walking French dictionary returned home from work. “I’m confused about something.” Read more

Galette des Rois – The French Cake of Kings

By Janine Marsh from The Good Life France, an independent on-line magazine about France and all things French, covering all aspects of daily life including healthcare, finance, utilities, education, property and a whole lot more.

The 6^th of January is a special day in France, it is the 12^th day of Christmas, the date of the Epiphany and most importantly the day when all over France the cake known as galette des rois is traditionally served.

This flaky cake known as the King’s Tart is a piece of French gastronomic history which goes back several centuries.

The cake is made of a seriously buttery puff pastry, filled with almond paste, baked and often decorated beautifully with candied fruit. Patisseries and boulangeries compete to create the most magnificent of cakes and supermarket shelves will be heaving with boxed galette des Rois from the end of December. Read more

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

December 17, 2013 Rosemary Kneipp 2 Comments

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.

Walking 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

Yesterday 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

Food, France, Italy, Paris, Weekly Blogger Round-Up

Weekly Bloggers’ Round-Up: How to make a Christmas log – Favourite places in the Marais – Limone in Piemonte

December 3, 2013 Rosemary Kneipp 2 Comments

A little bit of Christmas to start this week’s Blogger Round-Up with a recipe for French Christmas Log from French Moments, followed by Paris Weekender‘s favourite haunts in the Marais. To finish off, fellow Aussie Chrissie from Riviera Grapevine takes us on a visit to Limone in Piemonte in Italy. Enjoy!

French Christmas Log – Bûche de Noël

by French Moments, a Sydney-based organisation with an international focus which promotes the French language and culture to English-speakers worldwide. Their French team is all about the language, culture and experience

A Christmas log is the traditional dessert for the French Christmas meal on the 24th of December. It is a rolled sponge / Genoese sponge in the shape of a log, most often with chocolate ganache inside or chestnut cream and icing on the outside to make it look like a log ready for the fire. In Provence there is an entire ritual revolving around a wooden log in the chimney that is carried three times around the table by the youngest and the oldest members of the family, sprayed with wine and meant to burn for several nights. It is believed the Christmas log is originated from this custom. Read more

The Best of the Marais (So Far)

by Abby from Paris Weekender, an American living in Paris who offers suggestions for Paris weekends, either staying put or getting out of town

It’s been a little over a year since I moved from Saint Germain to the Marais. Here is a sampling of my “favorites” so far. I admit they are a bit 4th arrondissement-centric, as that’s where I live! Read more

Warming up for Winter in Limone

by Chrissie from Riviera Grapevine, a Sydney girl living in Nice with an insatiable thirst for the wines of the Var, Alpes Maritimes and Liguria. She happily sells, drinks and blogs about wine.

Time to let you in on a little secret. If you’re a fan of the wonderful Italian region Piemonte, as I am, you don’t have to head all the way to Alba for your fix of Barolo, Moscato d’Asti and my personal favourite, Arneis (not to mention the food, THE FOOD!!). The closest corner of Piemonte is a mere hour and a half away from Nice, and has a cute-as-pie village centre with some great value restaurants. What’s more turns into a veritable winter wonderland come snow season.

Yep, I’m talking about Limone. More often referred to Limone, Piemonte, to avoid confusion with Limone, Lake Garda. Read more

Aussie in France