Perhaps these cases were isolated, but my experiences at BBQs chez French people’s houses involve…well, heavy in the stomach mega-hungry-man amounts of meat eating. Yeah, I know that’s what’s the main ingredient at a barbecue but I am simply AMAZED at the level of meat consumption there is – And very negligent in the vegetable category. Imagine the food pyramid here!! Top tier: meat. Second tier: meat: Third: meat and one speck of the corner: potatoes.

A while back we had a BBQ chez my French inlaws; they had sausages, big slabs of steak and that’s about it but really a lot of it. No skewered kebabs, ribs, shrimp, burgers, marinated chicken or vegetables to bbq, you know? (Being from California, I got really used to eating vegetables.) To-date, I’ve noticed no marinated meats at BBQs here. It’s just that during the summer, I really like a light fare, fresh crisp salads and vegetables with a little bbq is great. It was a surprise.

My mummy-in-law drops eight (yes, eight!) BBQed sausages on my plate, so I then ask out loud, “Who wants sausages?” She says, “But! Those are for you.” (I didn’t eat beef at the time so I had to eat the pork).

Me: “ALL those sausages are for me?!! I only want one, two max.” These are not teeny tiny breakfast links but rather, 10-inch-ish long pork sausages. That one plate of sausages alone was more meat than I’d eaten in the last 10 years total! (of course, that has changed since my vegetarian days and definitely since living in France. Now, just call me PT Carnivore)

I look over to my S.O. to push some sausages onto his plate but his is already piled mile high with gobs of BBQed meat. He smiled as he saw the panicked look on my face as I imagined me later turning into a contorted pretzel in agony while having cardiac arrest. “Ok, one or two and even possibly (but a stretch) three but EIGHT?!” I hadn’t even begun eating and felt tight-chested. Right about then, a glass of water sounded great for dinner.

After calming down a little, I got up to look for some fresh vegetables, salad or something that could, you know, even by a mere thread of hope, offset the terrible effects of all the meat I was about to assault my body with. I didn’t see anything.

S.O.: “What are you looking for?”

Me: “The sides. Is there a salad or some veggies anywhere?”

S.O.: They’re coming.”

Me: “What’s coming??”

S.O.: “French fries.”

Me: “Great.”

No one expected it but Les Bleus won against Togo by the necessary 2 points! They now can proceed on to the next round of the World Cup.

I was at a meeting with our environmental group so I missed practically all of the game. I did, however, notice that some people quietly tip-toed out to *cough* *ahem* “go somewhere important” right before the start time of the match.

It reminded me of that commercial on TV, where two people are on a date at a restaurant and the guy excuses himself because he gets a call on his cel phone. He says, “Sorry, work.” Then leaves the room to watch the football game.

I don’t blame them; it was probably a pretty good match

Related: I Think I Heart Football

Tags: france, coupe+du+monde, world+cup, french, team, wins, sports, togo

While everyone in France was preparing to watch the World Cup match with France playing against Togo to try to qualify for the next round, Jacques Chirac unveiled a new website called Géoportail offering high-resolution aerial imagery of France and all of the French territories, in an attempt to rival the planetary success of the US pioneer in the field, Google Earth. Despite the gobs of people more concentrated on all things football, there still was a formidable number of users trying to access the service to try it out, but because the system wasn’t prepared to receive all of the traffic once launched, the system crashed.

Boo hoooo!

[via AFP/Yahoo]

Tags: france, french, google+earth, geoportail, launch, crash

Via Gizmodo

Lawmakers in France approved a softened copyright law that allows a workaround for Apple to keep their iTunes and iPod in the market. The law still tries to make Apple open up their online music service to other MP3 players, but also has a loophole that allows companies like Apple to make a deal with copyright holders—the record companies—to keep the iTunes/iPod bundling intact. Along with having to get permission from the big 5 record companies, iTunes needs to track down all independent labels and strike deal with them too—something the indies may not be quite willing to do. This could possibly mean that parts of iTunes tracks will be available to non-iPod players in France. Something we’ll have to keep an eye on.

Related: Apple Computer Stores and DRM in France

Tags: france, french, drm, itunes, apple, politics

Today will mark the day in history where French government votes on the issue of Apple’s evil DRM, the digital restriction management attached to each song, which controls the use and access of digital media content on mp3 players and computers. Will they allow Apple to keep this controlling element on downloaded songs? Hope not, but me thinks, oui – We’ll see what happens later on today…

Luckily, there are some alternatives. Enter: Starzik. Despite its weird tagline, “Get hit easy!” this French digital media service is pretty cool. Available only in France for now, Starzik offers songs without any digital rights management attached to them. By negotiating specific contracts with independent digital music distributor, The Orchard, Starzik will be able to offer more than 600,000 tracks of DRM-free music from three major labels and thousands of indie labels. The number of available tracks should grow in time too. Most of the tracks will be offered in different formats: mp3, WMA, Ogg Vorbis, FLAC and AAC. Music categories include: ambiant/diverse, chanson francaise, movie/tv soundtracks, classical, dance/house/techno/electric, children’s music, jazz/blues, Celtic and music from Brittany, world music, pop/rock, rap/hip hop/r&b. There are also training mp3’s available for body building and diet/fitness.

Songs/tracks are 1 euro and albums are 9 euros but you can find many free downloads on the site as well. Some of the music is really old and there are a lot of unknown artists – but just like with all things, if you dig and explore you could be led to some hidden gems.

Visit Starzik

Related: Apple Computer Stores and DRM in France and National Assembly’s Midnight Meeting to Propose Laws on Digital Rights

[via Macworld UK]

Tags: france, drm, itunes, french, music, downloads, starzik, apple

Since our winter lasted so long, now that’s it’s warmer, I simply HAVE to be outdoors. However, it’s hard to stay outside for long periods of time, though, because of all the freakin’ bugs! I’ve been equally fascinated and horrified at the number of insects I’ve never seen before.

Take, for instance, this bee. Yeah, I may have have spent most of my life in large cities but I have seen bees before – but look at this one. The proboscis alone is worthy of a blood curdling scream (from me). It is so long! Just imagine: OUCH!!! And since I’ve never been stung by a bee, but am extremely allergic to spider and mosquito bites, I fear that a bee sting might kill me. (I’m also very melodramatic, paranoid and I’ve watched way too much TV, which ammos my imagination.) Anyway, maybe I’ve lead a sheltered life but this bee is scary! And it’s only one of many that I’ve never seen before. They seem like mutants. Yes. Mutants.

Tags: france, french, bugs, bees, insects, mutants

Ze Bus just announced the dates of their tours around western France, so if you want to see parts of France while surfing the best spots, this is your ticket. You don’t necessarily need to know how to surf. Maybe you like hanging with surfers, I dunno.

Anyway, there are different tours to choose from and some tours are more custumizeable – and it sounds like a perfect thing to do to decompress from school or work and meet new people who are adventurous like you.

Read more about it here: Ze Bus

Tags: travel, france, french, tours, surfing

Lulu Lundi completely slipped my mind yesterday so to offer reparations, here’s a Lulu Mardi!

Click on the photo to zoom out.

Saint Laurent du Var, a beach town sandwiched between the cities of Nice and Cagnes-sur-mer along the French Riviera, is often passed over for its more famous neighboring cities, but is one of the best places to take part in water sports in the south of France. It’s also where you can go shopping at one of the largest malls (CAP 3000) in the area and park for free. There is actually better shopping at the Nice Etoile mall (on and near avenue Jean Medecin near the center of Nice) but you have to deal with the traffic and crowds and pollution and parking. (It’s better to take a taxi or public transportation in this case)

In Saint Laurent du Var, it’s just a little more mellow and off the touristy beaten path, and it’s a good place to take a stroll along the beach, grab some ice cream or meal at one of the restaurants facing the Mediterranean, and relax.

Tags: travel, france, french, beaches, saint+laurent+du+var, water+sports, riviera, shopping, luu, dogs

As amazing as it sounds (since I never watch sports), I’ve been totally getting into the World Cup and have watched not all, but many of the matches. No, No, not to the point of going to Germany, painting my face and wearing a styrofoam cheese or something equally unsubtle on my head. AND definitely nothing close to bringing a live chicken into the stadium, which is what a fanatically insane Frenchman (Clément d’Antibes) did by stuffing a live chicken named Balthazar down his pants to hide it from the stadium officials. If you watched the France vs. Korea match last night, you might’ve seen him in the crowd shots. He was the guy….with a live chicken.

Actually, it’s not true that I never watch sports. I went to the L.A. and Atlanta Olympics and I’ve been to baseball and American football games and when growing up, I used to go to all of the hockey games in town (and I played all of the sports in Little League but playing is much more fun than watching). I rarely actually watched the sports (it was more of a social thing) when going to live events except for hockey. Hockey is different; it’s kind of cool and you have to watch it.

With football (soccer to all y’all in the U.S.) I’ve found that it is really fun to watch, not like kill-me-now-with-boredom baseball. (sorry baseball fans) I keep wondering why it is so ignored in the U.S. (in Canada too? I’m not sure.) whilst the rest of the WORLD is so much into it. Propaganda years back probably by the American Football Federation or whatever it’s called. To me, football is sort of like a combination of American football, hockey, some…wrestling (wrasslin’ to wrasslin folks) all mixed with drama class (the soap opera variety: lying, cheating, crying, whining, faking and lots of gasping and touching). I only add the wrestling part because there is so much tripping, pulling, falling, diving, contorted faces, injuries and…drama class.

And all that cheating and lying and histrionics aren’t reserved for only the players; the refs do the same and I swear some games are “planned” in advance. You know what I’m talking about. Didn’t you watch the Holland versus Cote d’Ivoire? That game was weird and tricked, but very fun to watch! I imagined that some players are tipped off with the “plan” along with the coach, but not all players are in on it. Call me crazy, but just watch closely, ok? If not for that, watch the guys; a lot of them are really cute.

Will there be more American viewers watching the World Cup now that the U.S. didn’t embarrass us during their last game with Italy? I hope so. Everyone expected the Yanks to get creamed by the Italians like when they played against the Czech Republic but no! Forget that they played with an inferiority complex and that the only U.S. point was the result of an accident, grâce à our man, Italian hero of the day, Zaccardo. Yay him! It was a good draw game; did you see the evil Italian De Rossi elbow McBride???! Blood gushing and everything! And De Rossi’s little smirk as he was given the red card. Priceless entertainment. Anyway, we’ll see. The U.S. plays against Ghana on the 22nd. Stay tuned.

Last night’s draw game with France versus Korea was surprising. Everyone said that France was the favorite by far but never underestimate the power of the underdog. The French team didn’t look like a lean, mean football machine as was anticipated, but rather, like a bunch of bumbling entertainers; just slap on some bright, frilly clown outfits and that would’ve been perfect. Sorry about that to the people rooting for les bleus (even though the team wore WHITE), I couldn’t help it. Mea culpa. So. France will now have to play against Togo this friday AND must win by 2 points to qualify.

Lastly, I cannot finish this post without recommending another football related computer game. This one’s a goodie called, The Goalkeeper, made by our Italian buds Winterwolves based just outside the famous Cinque Terre terraced hills.

Here, you create your own goalkeeper and make sure he has a winning career. You can choose from 6 leagues, select his base skills, personality traits and skills set then train him to increase his abilities. All the changing stats are easily available to you and each match shows stats for each player from both teams, i.e., injuries, substitutions, goals, etc. You have a Training Screen to be able to better your skills for the next match. The Contract/Coach Talk Screen reveals the attitude of the goalkeeper toward the team. There you can also talk to the coach to stay with the team or move, or you can try to get him to let you play the next match if he planned otherwise. The commentary describes what’s going on: when the opponent striker tries to score, you have 3 options: Arcade Save in which you must intercept the ball using the mouse, Strategy Save in which you choose between three options, and Instant Save that, as the name suggests, is calculated instantly.

A slight aside: The American goalkeeper Kasey Keller looks like he’s straight from the game, The Goalkeeper. Look!

Try The Goalkeeper demo at Winterwolves by clicking on one of the links below to download the:

PC (Windows) Demo

Mac Demo

If you want to play a football game that is less cerebral and a lot of fun, try Kickin’ Soccer.

Tags: france, french, world+cup, coupe+du+monde, football, sports, soccer

Are you a discreet, techy traveler? Do guided group tours make you cringe? Do you like to seeing things at your own pace? Are you too shy to ask for directions when in a city like Paris where you do not speak the same language? Are you too lazy or embarrassed to learn some French when you’re traveling in Paris? Are you independent and want to figure out where everything is on your own? Have you found those double-decker city tour buses silly? Do you not want to get lost? (because you do not like asking for directions or want to be caught with a big, flopping in wind, touristy map?) Should I quit asking so many questions? Yes.

The digi-guide is probably the best alternative to using a traditional map or taking a tour while in Paris. You’re given a GPS plus a PDA packed with information (photos, spoken and written commentary). Languages available: French, English and Spanish (Italian will be available next week and German will be offered by the end of July) You have 40 “tours” to choose from in three different categories:

“Les Best of” includes 4 tours: 1) Best of Paris – follows a path that takes you to the main landmarks of Paris; 2) Best of Seine – will be a relatively smooth trip along the Seine; 3) Best of Shopping – will empty your purse at the best shopping places on the Rive Droite (right bank); 4) Best of Shopping does the same as 3 but on the Rive Gauche (left bank).

Les Parcours de jour covers 2 areas in which the first will take you through the center of Paris: the 2 islands, le Marais, Bastille, Latin Quarter, Saint-Germain, Left Bank, Paris 1900, Paris Luxe, Around the Louvre, Chatelet les Halles. Part deux takes you farther out from the center and to the les touristy venues: Auteil-Passy, Montparnasse, Alesia – Montsouris, Butte au Cailles, Saint Marcel, Paris Moderne, Promenade plantee, Pere Lachaise, Paris Multiethnic, Paris Populaire, Canal St. Martin, Grands Boulevard, Montmartre, Batignolles, Monceau-Etoile.

Les Parcours de nuit offers a list to liven up your evenings: Bastille, Belleville, Grands Boulevards, Etienne Marcel, Saint-German, Butte au Cailles. For all of the tours you’ll have a selection of restaurants, bars and clubs.

How does it work? (Click here to see the demo)

1. Reserve a digi-guide. Use the online form to begin. The digi-guide can be delivered to you in Paris. Cool!
2. Pick and/or customize your own tour.
3. Start at a designated Metro, set your GPS then forget about it by putting it in your pocket or purse.
4. Follow the pink line on the PDA and you’ll be well on your way to taking a tour of Paris, made by people who live in Paris.

Prices
1-Day Digi-Guide Pack is 30 euros ($38), while the 2-Day Digi-Guide Pack is 50 euros ($63). Additional days cost 15 euros ($19).

For more information: Visit their website: Digi-guide or Contact the Digiguide Team

A Note: I’d sent them an email to ask some questions and they responded within minutes…on a Sunday!! Needless to say, their customer service will probably be excellent. [via gizmodo]

Tags: france, travel, french, paris, gps, digiguide, independent+tours, hate+maps, technology

The French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin has launched a project that will involve removing silt from the island of Mont Saint Michel and the mainland. The project is expected to cost 150 million euros ($190 million).
Who cares if Victor Hugo said, “It must remain an island.” Couldn’t they be spending this amount of money for something that carries a bit more weight in say, SIGNIFICANCE? or IMPORTANCE??! For example, R&D/production for sustainable energy sources, taking care of the poor, cleaning up their environmental disasters properly, helping businesses, providing continuing education for the immigrants in France. Oh wait, they’re trying to get rid of them.

Tags: france, french, mont+saint+michel, waste

While making stopover at our favorite organic farm, the last thing I expected was a charging animal. Full. Speed. Ahead. Making a blur of a beeline straight toward me as fast as possible and screaming. Loudly! I just wanted to take a few photos and pick up a few items; you know, have a peaceful visit.

As a city girl growing up in my beloved concrete metropolises, I had no idea what this animal had in mind except to attack. Yup, grew up on lots o’ television too. All I could think of was the title, “WHEN FARM ANIMALS ATTACK” brought to you LIVE from National Geographic’s Special Edition in France.

I looked around for signs of human life outside. But there was none. Except me. Where WERE they? Did this mad rocket on hooves kill everyone?? I stepped way back from the fence.

Of course, I WAS scared and started yelling, “What are you doing!!? Slow down you nutty beast!!” No response. Always remember: name-calling will get you nowhere. He kept charging….until he got to the fence.

Why didn’t anyone tell me beforehand????! This is Luc. He’s a baby, a very big baby, almost two month’s old. Luc’s mummy decided she wanted nothing to do with him after his extremely traumatic and difficult birth. So since birth, Luc gets a few bottles a day and I guess he thought I was there to feed him. He was so baaaaadly disappointed.

[More animals at Friday Ark]

The decision to head over to the Salon Saveurs last month was a spur of the moment thing for a quick trip and back, so I caught an ungodly early morning train to take a two hour ride to Paris. I got to the expo center a little before the opening, which was great serendipity because during this waiting time, I met a sweet Parisian lady, who gave me a free invitation to the Salon, saving me 8 euros. Yay. She mentioned that, in fact, hardly anyone pays for the event because vendors all over town have stacks of free invites. So for those of you living in Paris and contemplating going in December or next year, just ask some of your local produce or meat vendors if they have any to give away. I noticed other people looking to give away their invites as well. Who said Parisians were unfriendly?

I love culinary oils and am constantly in search of different oils from France and luckily the Salon presented more booths of olive oil producers than even vintners, which amazed me. My favorite olive oils are Greek but I was hoping to find some French oils that could rival those from Greece. I tasted a lot of different olive oils, which were pretty good, but then one vendor gave me a little (shot) cup to taste and it totally burned the back of my throat and I started to cough and my eyes watered. He was like, “WHAT is the problem?!” I told him it was acidic (whether that was good to say or not, it certainly was true); something was strange about the oil. It was mild and sweet at first but had a killer burn effect just seconds later. He totally denied that his oil was acidic, tasting it himself by closing his eyes and taking a swig. He was so still I thought he’d died standing up. He then did that loud slurping, gargling thing that coffee and wine tasters do. Me rolled eyes and moved on to buy a bottle from another small vendor from the south, near Toulouse. My favorite olive oils remain to be from Greece, however.

My later acquisition was a jar of pesto from a small farm in Germany made with pumpkin seeds and pumpkin seed oil (L’huile de pépins de courges) along with other ingredients. I wanted to get a bottle of the oil but thought about the weight that was starting to accumulate that I’d have to lug around. I hate carrying things!! Next stop was…more oil! Honestly, something is wrong with me. Why couldn’t I have gotten yummy sundried tomatoes or dried mushrooms or herbs or tea?? They are soooo light. So this time, it was a Moroccan vendor selling Argan oil, which I’d never had at home. Argan oil is from the nut of Argan trees that grow primarily in Morocco. The nuts need to be digested by goats before they are harvested from the …goat poop. I know. Grossssss! Actually, I read about that process AFTER I bought two little bottles, so I’m not sure I would’ve bought them if I’d known. I’ve eaten a lot of food in Morocco (especially during a month long traveling trip alone in Morocco) and I love the food so I’m sure I’ve unknowingly eaten it in some form or another. I just have to get over the nasty thought of poop oil. I’ve been wanting to cook Moroccan tajine dishes for ages but didn’t have all the ingredients. I can now also make preserved lemons so I have no excuse. When I think about it, I do remember seeing lots of goats in some beautiful trees in Morocco and thought they looked like trees growing goats. I think they were probably Argan trees. It is REALLY hard to expel the goat poo idea from my head.

After many samplings of everything: sausages, cheeses, oils, candies, chocolate, spreads, etc. I got some yummy spicy apricot chutney (I’d coincidentally just seen this southern French company featured in a French magazine). Later I grabbed some excellent parmigianno reggiano (love that stuff). The real thing from Italy. Another tip for this Salon Saveur if you go is: you can actually haggle for items, at least with the Italian vendors. I’d overhead the cheese guy tell someone he’d give him a great price on something, so it was a good practice to do that when I went over to his stand. Definitely optional but you don’t want to get ripped off. Some things at the Salon were obscenely (and unreasonably) overpriced. I don’t like to try to barter with the really small businesses since I want them to survive. (There are just too many big companies eating the little guys – it makes me sad.)

Next time, I’d probably do things differently but I’d recommend a few things if you plan on going to the Paris Salon Saveurs: 1) be rested so as not to be in a daze and wander aimlessly which I did; 2) bring a thermal isolated cooler to be able to buy fresh sausages, cheeses, produce or chocolate and keep them fresh with ice or icepacks (if you can get them to a frig within a reasonable amount of time; 3) bring a carry bag with wheels so you don’t have to shlep around heavy items; 4) check out the plants. They had live herb plants for those of you interested in spicing up your balconies or adding to your gardens; 5) try to get your hands on a free invitation. Ask around at your local food merchants; 6) If you’re looking to buy gifts, have a list ready so you can check it off as you go; 7) Some wines’ prices were crazily marked up so you might want to sample some then make a note of the ones you like; you’re bound to find them (especially the French wines) in the markets at a lower price.

Lastly, I don’t know for sure but I have a feeling the December Salon Saveur is a little bigger (with more vendors) than the Spring expo since it is close to the holidays, perfect time for finding gifts.

Tags: france, french, salon+saveurs, food+expo, paris

I know, I know. Junk food is BAD for you but look at this bag. How could one pass up the opportunity to taste these chips saveur poulet braisé?? (roasted chicken potato chips)

As weird and gross as it sounds, these chips were not bad! I have to say too, that there is no chicken whatsoever in the ingredients. The French pretty much rule in the “arômes” (artificial flavors) domain and honestly, the potato chips tasted just like roasted chicken and it was very subtle but right on target flavor-wise. It has something to do with their expertise in perfumes – and uncoincidentally, it’s in their perfume factories that arômes are also made.

Many expats in France call Skype their bestfriend, or at least call their bestfriends with Skype. Yay for free long-distance calls! (Don’t know about Skype? It’s a program for making free calls over the internet to anyone else who also has Skype. Read more about Skype.)

Anyway, here’s something that works with Skype if ever necessary. Call Recorder is a very easy way to record your Skype calls and even your favorite podcasts (Call Recorder converts your QuickTime movies into mp3 files). Call Recorder is an add-on for Skype which automatically transforms your calls into QuickTime movies. This is a Mac application – and you can download the free demo to test it out: Call Recorder.

Though calls made from Skype to a regular phone line aren’t free, it’s fairly comparable to local calls but this is where the Call Recorder can come in handy: Remember calling the Gaz de France office or France Telecom or your sacré internet provider because you’ve had problems and need some sort of resolution? Record them on the phone! Ok, not that that is going to help but you at least have their lies on “tape.” That said, usually the most effective way to get administrative help is to send a registered letter to them.

On a related note here’s something for the francophone community using Skype… Si vous êtes un utilisateur francophone du logiciel Skype, voici une astuce pour ajouter francais comme langue par défaut: Cliquez ici: iApple

Tags: france, french, skype, long+distance, call+recorder, macs, macintosh

If only I could feel this kind of happiness when running…

*Lulu Lundi features our adorable Boston Terrier, Lulu, somewhere in France every Monday.

Tags: france, lulu+lundi, dogs, smiles, boston+terriers, happiness

The 6th Annual Apple Expo will take place in Paris from September 12 to 16, 2006. (Porte de Versailles, Hall 5) They’re currently recruiting candidates for possible employment during the expo, to demonstrate a wide range of Apple products including hardware and software. A strong emphasis this year is to convince PC users to switch to Mac.

Ideal Profile of Candidate: 1) Background knowledge of Apple’s history and their line of products (and their evolution); 2) Dynamic and positive attitude.

Send your CV, photo and letter of intent to:

MGS Promotion
apple@mgs-promotion.fr

Upon receipt of your email, you will be sent an application to be completed specifying your field of expertise and technology background. Note: Incomplete applications will be rejected. [via Macbidouille]

Tags: france, french, apple+computers, paris, apple+expo, employment, macintosh, macs

June is typically when gay/lesbian pride festivals take place worldwide, so I thought I’d list some of the upcoming events in France:

June 17: Biarritz, Toulouse, Lille, Rennes, Strasbourg, Lyon
June 24: Paris Marche des Fiertés
July 2: Marseille

The following cities had past events (sorry I missed them but I’ll post them anyway for future reference):

May 13: Angers
May 20: Tours
May 27: Nantes
June 3: Lille’s Parade, Metz, Montpellier, Rouen
June 10: Bordeaux

[Gaypride France]

Tags: france, french, gay, lesbian, pride, events, cities, gblt

Along with croissants, pain au chocolat, pain aux raisins, and the brioche, the totally YUM chausson aux pommes is a bit like an apple compote pocket pie and is considered part of the viennoiserie / baked goods family rather than being part of patisserie / pastry category. This “pie” (for the lack of a better word) is always a stretched, half-moon shape with a rounded tooth-like cut pattern on the curved side. It usually has a design on it like this one with its branch and leaves. I love these.

While most people prefer eating these fresh from the bakery and warm if possible, which is great, I like to eat them differently particularly during the dog days of summer. Apologies in advance for those of you who find what I’m about to say sacrilegious.

French summers are wicked hot, which usually calls for fresh, crispy, cold salads, fruit, cold teas, and ice cream. With the chausson aux pommes, I’ve found that it’s soooooo good to do the following: eat it while the apple compote is frozen inside.

This is what you do: 1) freeze the chausson aux pommes completely. 2) preheat oven to about 350 F degrees (175 C). 3) Wrap the chausson aux pommes in foil. 4) Pop it into the oven for about 10 minutes, just long enough to thaw the outside crust but not the apple compote inside. 5) Take it out of the oven and let it sit for a minute to cool the crust. 6) Eat it.

The inside should be frozen but not frozen solid that you can’t bite through it. It should have a perfect popsicle consistency. The result is: buttery, flaky crust outside, real-fruity deliciously cool and refreshing apple inside.

Chausson aux pommes Tidbits
In 1630, a wealthy patron of the chateau in Saint-Calais (in the department of Sarthe) distributed chaussons aux pommes to help the poor and starving victims of an epidemic who were confined to one section of the city. Since then, the 1st Sunday of September in Saint-Calais is dedicated to this lady and there’s a mass and festival in her honor. On the menu: chaussons aux pommes and a soup called soupe à la jambe de bouâ made with beef, veal, turkey, pork, chicken and truffled sausages. Oh and a few veggies (turnips, carrots, leeks, celery). Do you think they could’ve put even MORE meat, please? This recipe dates back to Henry IV where they obviously ate a LOT of meat in one sitting – so I guess we now know why the average longevity for people back in the day was way, way shorter.

For more information about the Fête du Chausson aux pommes festival in Saint-Calais, call 02 43 35 82 95

[related: French Pastries 101]

Tags: france, french, pastries, frozen, chausson+aux+pommes, food, patisserie

Currently in France, you can purchase condoms at the supermarkets, condom machines on the street (yes, really), pharmacies and schools (condom machines in the restrooms).

However, you may be happy to know that very soon these préservatifs will be available for purchase in tabacs. (They’ll be wrapped and packaged of course unlike in the photo.) You never know when this kind of information can come in handy, so I thought you’d appreciate the FYI.

French Flash game developers, Anode and Cathode have created a series of fun, point-and-click adventure games. The Museum will take you on a wild adventure through several rooms where you have to collect items, use them, talk to characters, figure out what is going on and who needs help, answer questions, find keys and ultimately, to win the game, you have to find a way out of the museum. I was the 74213th person to escape the museum. heehee. (The game has been around for a couple of years.) A note: The game is mostly in English but there are some things that remained in French (you shouldn’t have a problem with this, however.) Click on the photo to play the game.

Tags: france, french, flash+games, the+museum, anode, cathode

I can sum up my review of Coca-Cola Blak in one word: EIUW!!!!!!!!!!!!

Highly unrecommended unless you love the taste of aspartame and chemicals, and drinking out of aluminium bottles.

The movie trailer (teaser) of the live action computer animated feature film, Arthur and the Minimoys, directed by Luc Besson and featuring the voices of David Bowie, Madonna, Snoop Dogg and others – has just been released. The premiere is scheduled for December 25 in France. Watch the trailer Visit the official Arthur and the Minimoys site [via twitchfilm]

Tags: france, french, animated, films, arthur+and+the+minimoys, luc+besson, cartoons

Sometimes a stop at an unknown village is well worth the detour. You never know what you’ll find. Upon arrival, our usual first place to visit is the local baker, but he left us sad, sad, sad and well, pretty grossed out by the baked goods. However, right before calling La Nocle-Maulaix quits, we decided it HAD to have some sort of redeeming quality. It did. This wonderful lake. You can walk or run around the entire lake like Lulu did. She later heard some frogs at the edge of the water and was fascinated by the strange croa croa sound. Some would say “ribbit ribbit” but these were French frogs, and French frogs say, “croa croa“!
Click on the photo to enlarge it.
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*Lulu Lundi features our adorable Boston Terrier named Lulu, somewhere in France every Monday.

Tags: travel, france, french, villages, dogs, boston+terriers, la+nocle, lakes, frogs