While taking a walk through a tiny old village called, Chagny, my S.O. suddenly stops in mid-step and says, “whoa.” He was looking at this French “American Grill,” mouth gaping. It was somewhat of an eye sore with its OH SAY CAN YOU SEE decor. The place definitely grabs your attention whether you like it or not.

The only thing, though, is that we wondered why the logo of the American Grill in Chagny had a picture of what appears to be a sombrero sporting Mexican man with a poncho draped over one shoulder. Perhaps not such a bad thing we thought, “Maybe they have Mexican food!” (we simultaneously screamed hopefully).

But we could see the “moules/frites” (mussels and fries) sign plastered outside loud and clear, which didn’t instill much confidence in our hopes of finding some Mexican yummies. The menu was posted outside and we hurried over to check it out. S.O.: “Snails! Beurk. More Snails! Beef Bourgignon. Prawns. Scallops.” There was something called “Indiana Beef” which was grilled pieces of beef in salsa. If they just threw in some tortillas and grilled onions, bell peppers and some guac, they could’ve called those Fajitas! In all fairness, they did have all kinds of burgers, a milk shake, hot fudge brownies – we weren’t in the mood for, but it’s a place to keep in mind when we feel like some burgers or babyback ribs or coq au vin.

“Oh yes,” says the woman, “it’s been lovely meeting people from so many countries. You get to understand a little bit about a country based on the people, even French people!”

Me: “Really? What have you learned about French people?”

Woman: “The French tend to complain more than anyone else.” She continues, “and there are so many Dutch people that come to look for houses to buy in France. We probably have more Dutch than any other people.”

Me: “They probably need to find another home before Holland sinks.” She gave me a puzzled look.

She goes on to say, “…but Americans. They are the worst!”

Me: “Really???! How so?!”

Her: “Americans are dirty!! All of the Americans who’ve stayed here have been just horrible. They really are dirty. One couple had spilled shredded carrot salad all over the room and even in the bed! They didn’t even clean it up. When I would go in to do the bed and clean up, I’d see a barely recognizable room. Dirty clothes and shoes thrown everywhere, a literal pigsty. And it wasn’t just them. ALL the Americans who come here are like that. Really dirty.”

Me: “I’m American.”

Her: “OH! You are??! Well. I’m not talking about you, but Americans are dirty.”

Me: “That’s what some Americans say about the French.”

Her: “French people ARE dirty but in a different way.”

Me: “My husband is French. He’s not dirty – in any way.”

Her: “Maybe so, but French people do not shower half as much as Americans.”

At this point in a vicious circular conversation going nowhere and testing my last nerve, her husband walks in, so she mentions to him that she was telling me about Americans.”

Him: “Americans are so dirty!”

Me: “We have to leave now.”

It looks like the Chateau Belair in St. Emilion, wine country near Bordeaux, has put their extra wine to good use by infusing salt with it. I wanted to buy it but the shop was closed and I completely forgot to go back.

I’ve tended to think that all the millions of “flavors” of salt (pink salt, smoked salt, GRAY salt, French sea salt) were more about marketing than about actual flavors with a different taste. I mean, c’mon, is “French Sea Salt” better than just regular sea salt? (the price of $15 more than the regular version makes you believe yes!) The only flavored salts that I’ve seen that purport to taste differently than regular sea salt I’d think would be a flavor distinctive enough to penetrate the flavor of salt (particularly when it’s cooked) like saffron, truffle or wine. Though, I really don’t know for sure. I haven’t tried all of those different salts so if you have please let us know if there is, in fact, a real difference between, for example, gray sea salt and fleur de sel, etc. (note to readers: fleur de sel is harvested differently; fleur de sel is obtained by hand harvesting the young crystals that form on the surface of salt evaporation ponds and it has a higher mineral content than table salts.) I prefer to use regular sea salt over table salt only because it seems to get integrated into food a lot quicker. I’ve always wondered about all those salts, though. I’ve heard they have salt flavored with wood. Please, if you know about this, feel free to email me or comment here. I’d really be interested to know.

Coming back to the subject of this post, I wonder why Chateau Belair decided to call this salt, “Fleur de Pinot” leading you to believe the salt was infused with Pinot. A quick looksee to the Chateau Belair website revealed that their vines are 80% Merlot and 20% Cabernet. No Pinot! Besides, the best Pinot Noir wines comes from Burgundy. Ah! That’s why they decided to call this salt Fleur de Pinot? (selling it in Burgundy) People should not lie like that.

CORRECTION: According to a commenter below, the salt is indeed infused with Pinot Noir, as Chateau Belair actually does produce Pinot Noir per the request of the distributor (of the salt). I suppose they make Pinot Noir only for them (perhaps others) but not the general public as they do not advertise Pinot Noir at all at least on their site. Interesting. And! Apparently, this salt creation has been around for generations (started by “M. Delbeck’s great great something grandmother”) and is not due to the wine lake! Thanks for the correction.

Oh no! another CPE post. Last Tuesday there was a national strike in which millions of people all over France protested against the new labor law, the CPE. (btw, there is supposed to be another national strike in three days.) We happened to be in Chalon sur Saône visiting and we didn’t really expect any demonstrations in such a small town (population 52,260), but there were quite a lot of people.

The protesters were fairly mellow (except for the firecrackers going off periodically and the lousy singing in speakers with major sound distortion). We approached the crowd and noticed that a very teeny tiny percent of the strikers were actually students. Click on the photos to enlarge them and see for yourself. Most were from the unions (FO, Force Ouvrieres and the CGT, daddy of unions in France) doing most of the demonstrating. A beautifully perfect day to play hookie from work and strike for the people entering into their first job contracts.

A guy from flower children days gone by was holding a sign that said, "The majority of the citizens do not want the CPE nor GMO" It was a good opportunity to throw in another cause, against genetically modified food since he was out striking. Why not? A "Feed two birds with one seed" moment so to speak or the French version: Faire d’une pierre deux coups (ok i know the saying is "kill two birds with one stone" but that is so violent.

Just published:

My Life in France by Julia Child, Alex Prud’Homme (Julia’s grandnephew)

From Julia’s Introduction:

This is a book about some of the things I have loved most in life: my husband Paul Child: la belle France: and the many pleasures of cooking and eating. It is also something new for me. Rather than a collection of recipes, I’ve put together a series of linked autobiographical stories, mostly focused on the years 1948 through 1954, when we lived in Paris and Marseille, and also a few of our later adventures in Provence. Those early years in France were among the best of my life. They marked a crucial period of transformation in which I found my true calling, experienced an awakening of the senses and had such fun that I hardly stopped moving long enough to catch my breath.

From the Publisher:

In her own words, here is the captivating story of Julia Child’s years in France, where she fell in love with French food and found ‘her true calling.’

From the moment the ship docked in Le Havre in the fall of 1948 and Julia watched the well-muscled stevedores unloading the cargo to the first perfectly soigné meal that she and her husband, Paul, savored in Rouen en route to Paris, where he was to work for the USIS, Julia had an awakening that changed her life. Soon this tall, outspoken gal from Pasadena, California, who didn’t speak a word of French and knew nothing about the country, was steeped in the language, chatting with purveyors in the local markets, and enrolled in the Cordon Bleu.

After managing to get her degree despite the machinations of the disagreeable directrice of the school, Julia started teaching cooking classes herself, then teamed up with two fellow gourmettes, Simone Beck and Louisette Bertholle, to help them with a book they were trying to write on French cooking for Americans. Throwing herself heart and soul into making it a unique and thorough teaching book, only to suffer several rounds of painful rejection, is part of the behind-the-scenes drama that Julia reveals with her inimitable gusto and disarming honesty.

Filled with the beautiful black-and-white photographs that Paul loved to take when he was not battling bureaucrats, as well as family snapshots, this memoir is laced with wonderful stories about the French character, particularly in the world of food, and the way of life that Julia embraced so wholeheartedly. Above all, she reveals the kind of spirit and determination, the sheer love of cooking, and the drive to share that with her fellow Americans that made her the extraordinary success she became.

Le voici. Et bon appétit!

Click here for more information on: My Life in France (April 2006 published posthumously)

[via Simply Recipes]

You might have 2 week’s worth of non-stop music in your iPod but don’t you need more? 14 days sound like a lot but to me, it isn’t enough! The Podcast Directory has a section of podcasts in French and there’s a lot of variety in the listing; there’s something for everyone including all kinds of different music and some interesting interviews and programs.

If you’re not in France or a French speaking country, it doesn’t matter. You can brush up on your French comprehension by listening to an interesting podcast. There are so many hidden treasures in the podcast world, but you have to find them and sometimes it takes some effort. But they’re out there!

By the way, if you know of any really great podcasts, feel free to let me know about them.

Podcasts in French

Not more than a couple of weeks can go by without exposing my geekiness, so here’s today’s tech post. It doesn’t sound very French but Nabaztag is a product that launched about a year ago from the very cool French company, Violet. The company is dedicated to the design of products that marry holistic calm with today’s technologies: “calm technology” (the other cool product they have is a usb essential oil diffuser called the Osmooze Pad.)

Nabaztag (meaning bunny in Armenian) can do oh so many things. It is a wi-fi enabled bunny rabbit that can tell you, by flashing lights, moving its ears, talking, playing music or making sounds, that you have new email, or how the traffic is, or what the weather will be like or tell you how your stocks are doing. It does these things by accessing the internet. It can also communicate with other Nabaztag bunnies! You can program it specifically so that, for example, when your sweetie has just gotten into the office and is online, your Nabaztag swivels his ear. Or if you have email, you can set it to light up a certain way. It can remind you to take meds, go to an appointment, shower and lots more. You can send songs to people and receive them too. Nabaztag can also show its own emotional state.

I totally don’t need one but I really really want one.

[related: Nabaztag Hacks - MakeBlog, Ben Hammersley’s Dangerous Precedent and a Nabaztag Widget: Nyami Labs]

Nabaztag by Violet
Nabaztag costs 95 euros. Here’s a list of places you can buy Nabaztag in stores and various places online.

Grab your diving gear and head over to Tignes, France (Alps) before April 13th. There’s a lake in Tignes, the very same lake where Luc Besson filmed Le Grand Bleu (The Big Blue with Jean Reno, Rosanna Arquette and Jean-Marc Barr). At the lake you can take a refreshing (or cold!) plunge and check out the underside of the frozen lake. You don’t need any prior experience (the instructors from the diving school give you the necessary training and are with you at all times). Cost 70 euros.

Ice Diving in Tignes (December to April)
Website: Ecole de plongée sous glace de Tignes (in French)
Alban Michon, Directeur de l’école de plongée sous glace
Email : alban@tignesplongee.com
Tél : 06 89 15 18 34
Watch the video

Even the curator at the Parisian museum, Musée Bourdelle says that attendance to the museum is abysmal because…the museum is lame. Normally, the museum’s permanent collection consists of sculptures, documents and graphic works by Antoine and Cléopâtre Bourdelle, all of which are easily eclipsed by Paris’ more famous works at sexier museums. The house collection doesn’t seem to attract many visitors, but that has drastically changed recently.

There’s a new exhibition in town, and it’s pretty cool so people are checking it out. Artist Felice Varini has brought in his exhibition without moving any of the sculptures or furniture. His work appears painted on all the walls and corridors of the museum. When standing at a certain perspective, you will see his “2D paintings” perfectly aligned in a 3D environment. (like you can see in the photo from another Felice Varini exhibition at Château de Suze-la-Rousse – photographed by André Morin)

Exhibition of Felice Varini – until May 21
Musée Bourdelle
18 Rue Antoine Bourdelle, 75015 Paris France
Tel: 01 49 54 73 73
Métro Montparnasse/Bienvenüe / Falguière
Bus n° 28, 48, 58, 88, 89, 91, 92, 94, 95, 96
Open: Tuesday – Sunday 10am to 6pm
Admission Fee: free for the permanent collection, standard 4.50 euros, 14-26 years 2.20 euros, free for less than 14 years old, reduced price 3 euros

Lulu is looking pensive as she sits at the memorial dedicated to the people killed in both World Wars. It reminds me (a little) of the Vietnam War Memorial wall in Washington just on the mall.

There are names of the soldiers along all the walls here in Boulogne-sur-mer but nothing in comparison to the list on The Wall in DC.

Following prodigious turmoil and press coverage related to the controversial labor law, the CPE, France is on the move to attract more world attention with this recent protectionist and astonishing declaration.

According to the Standard Guardian Evening Times, the French government, all supported by the French Parliament along with unanimous agreement of the Conseils des ministres and the president himself, Jacques Chirac, a new international law has been imposed by France, a law that impacts all businesses across the globe selling French fries. France claims to own the patent for frites and anyone selling them, whether they call them “freedom fries,” “fried home potatoes” or anything for that matter, if they are fried potatoes of any shape, France owns them. Anyone commercially engaged in its sale, must pay royalties to France.

Thierry Breton, France’s Minister of Finance made this recent statement to the press, “With this new international law, we have the ambition to diminish our deficit in record time.” It is clearly known that France’s deficit is a shameful 1,065,000,000,000 euros*. A later statement by the President revealed him interjecting, “C’est pour l’effort national! (It’s a national effort!),” adding, “The political and economic destiny of France will be compromised if this law is NOT enforced! We must continue to protect our heritage, and although Belgium claims they invented “fries” well, that is moot now because we officially patented it first.”

“The government’s responsibility is to guarantee investment and production capacities, even abroad” Dominic de Villepin, France’s Prime Minister said in the statement. “The ownership of the world’s French fry supply is one of the most strategic stakes for France.”

Amidst angry cries of protectionism, France is now poised to finalize the measure, which will be followed by an official announcement today in a simultaneous global press conference. The conference will be broadcast on television and internet television, podcasted, teletexted and faxed. Additionally, a crawl of the conference will appear on-screen on all major news agencies such as CNN, NHK, BBC, etc.

“Taking into account the strategic importance of fries, the enforcement of this law seems to be the most appropriate track, and now that the CPE has nearly come to a close, I can focus fully on fries,” Villepin said after an emergency meeting with George W. Bush last night.

When asked to respond about the new law being imposed by France, the President of the United States answered, “We might have to ban fries in Amurrica.” It was reported that Bill O’Reilly, famous French basher, was present in the press conference audience and was suspiciously quiet. Eye witnesses reported that a badly disguised O’Reilly was seen slowly trying to discretely exit the room, holding a red container filled with fries and accompanied by his lover of 20 years, Brigitte Bardot.

Happy April Fools.

* this number is sadly not a joke. that is the real deficit of France.

Opinion article from the Economist:

…Yet the striking feature of the latest protest movement is that this time the rebellious forces are on the side of conservatism. Unlike the rioting youths in the banlieues, the objective of the students and public-sector trade unions is to prevent change, and to keep France the way it is. Indeed, according to one astonishing poll, three-quarters of young French people today would like to become civil servants, and mostly because that would mean “a job for life”. Buried inside this chilling lack of ambition are one delusion and one crippling myth.
…

Read the article