Posted by Chanda
In the small, charming village of Viella, France in the Midi-Pyrénées, you can spend your New Year’s Eve with the fun-filled Vendages et Réveillon du Pacherenc de la Saint-Sylvestre by participating in some early morning wine tasting around 10 AM, playing traditional games, visiting an exhibition by local artists, joining the noontime farmers’ dinner, observing demonstrations at the vineyards in the afternoon, attending an evening mass where priests bless the grapes and the locals dress up in costumes depicting the harvest, then having a gourmet meal at night with plenty of dancing afterwards. Finally, you can go on a torchlight procession to the vineyards where hot wine is enjoyed by all and Pacherenc grapes are picked at the stroke of midnight. These grapes are obviously very over-ripe and this over-ripeness produces an exotic, spicy, honey-flavored liqueur. The wine that is made with these grapes will be bottled and labeled with the designation “Harvested on January 1st”.
The grape harvest marks the culmination of the wine grower’s year of hard work. What better way to end the year and begin a new one than to celebrate what you have accomplished!
You can read the official program in French here.
Posted by Chanda
Okay, so I’m a bit late with my greeting….
The second Islamic New Year to fall in 2008 on the Gregorian calendar (it also fell on the 10th of January) was yesterday the 29th of December although it actually began at sunset on the 28th and the entire New Year month will last for 29 days. Since Muslims make up a very large percentage of la Francophonie (the French-speaking world) as there are approximately 5 million Muslims living in France, over 150,000 in Switzerland and around 400,000 in Belgium and French is either an official or administrative language along with Arabic and other languages in many countries of Africa, the Carribean and the Middle East, I thought it was fitting to wish all my best to the Islamic world from this blog.
“Al-Hijra” as it’s called in Arabic is celebrated on the first day of the month of Muharram (the first month) on the Islamic calendar. It marks the beginning of Hijra which occurred in 622CE when the Prophet Muhammad emigrated from Mecca to Medina and created the first real Islamic community with social, political and economic independence. It is more of a cultural event as it is a time of meditation rather than a huge celebration, but it is acknowledged and honored throughout the Muslim world. It is a quiet time when Muslims gather in mosques for special prayers and readings and reflect upon the passing of time and their own mortality. Muharram is one of the four months during which it is forbidden to wage war or fight. I think it is beautiful and admirable that peace is “officialized” in that way.
The next Islamic New Year will fall on the 18th of December on the Gregorian calendar as the Islamic calendar is lunar rather than solar-based.
Posted by Chanda
Today I came across this expression ‘conducteur du dimanche‘ which is the same in French as English…the ‘Sunday driver’ and I began thinking back to my time living in the outskirts of Paris and how I loved to take the car on Sunday or go with a friend on a Sunday on a drive to Versailles or Saint-Germain-en-Laye or another such history-filled place and just stroll around. One of my very favorites was Fountainebleau. I’m not sure if this is because the royal grounds are so very charming or because I was always on the lookout for Charlotte or Caroline of Monaco as supposedly that is where they reside most of the year (at least at the time) and where the children went to school. In any case, it always seemed as we had our coffee at a café in the town center or walked up to the gates of the residence that you could really feel the history there despite all the people walking about in their very modern and fashionable clothes.
For some, Fountainebleau, which is located about 34.5 miles to the southeast of Paris and is home to one of the largest royal châteaux (castles) in France, evokes the palace. Others quickly think of the dense woods and yet others, of the horse competitions. It is a remarkable place really and one where you can quickly become lost in thoughts of being invited to a great royal hunt or a glamorous royal ball.
The Castle was lived in by all French Queens, Kings, Emperors and Empresses from François I to Napoleon III. The state apartments are open daily to the public except on Tuesdays. On certain days, there are tours of the small apartments which house the Napoleon I museum. The five main courtyards, gardens and parks are open every day and I recommend taking a horse-drawn carriage ride around them. Despite the somewhat kitschy commentary, the feeling you get is quite majestic. Click here for some panoramic views of Fountainebleau.
Posted by Chanda
Why not add some French flair to your holiday dinner? Some very traditional French Christmas choices include dinde de Noël (Christmas turkey) which is prepared in a variety of interesting ways, chapon (capon) and any dish with foie gras including tatin pommes foie gras.
Here is a recipe for Tatin Pommes Foie Gras from the Marmiton website.
Preparation Time: 30 minutes
Cooking Time: 15 minutes
Ingredients:
3 or 4 apples
10 ½ ounces of raw foie gras
1 puff pastry
butter
caster sugar
2 cups of sweet white wine
cream
Preparation:
Preheat oven to 400ºF.
Peel the apples and slice them. Brown them on low heat in butter with a little bit of caster sugar.
Arrange them in a rosette in a cake pan.
Deglaze the frying pan with half of the wine and pour it into a saucepan. (Deglazing means that after you remove the foie gras, you add the wine to the hot pan. Scrape up all the brown bits. The wine helps lift them from the bottom of the pan and stir until it has all been lifted from the bottom of the frying pan. The wine will continue to reduce until you have only a small amount left.) Set aside.
Quickly fry the sliced foie gras on both sides.
Salt and pepper and place the slices on the apples.
Deglaze the frying pan again with the rest of the wine and add it to the saucepan.
Place the pastry puff on top of the foie gras and put it in the oven for about 15 minutes.
Meanwhile, heat the wine in order to reduce the sauce. Add the cream and bind.
Remove the foie gras pastry from the mold upside down.
Serve accompanied by the sauce.
Joyeux Noël!
Posted by Chanda
As promised, here are the French Christmas carols again and their English equivalents or translations…
Vive le vent Jingle Bells
Douce nuit Silent Night
Le divin enfant He is Born, the Holy Child
Noël blanc White Christmas
Rodolphe Rudolph, the Red Nosed Reindeer
Venez divin Messie O Come, Devine Messiah
Viens, peuple fidèle O Come All Ye Faithful
Mon beau sapin O Christmas Tree
Au royaume du bonhomme hiver Winter Wonderland
Aujourd’hui le roi des cieux The First Noel
L’enfant au tambour Little Drummer Boy
Les anges dans nos campagnes Angels We Have Heard on High
Falalalala Deck the Halls
Maman embrasse le Père-Noël I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus
