francofiled

It was a first time visit to Le Pain Quotidien in Kildare Village - and I wondered why I hadn't heard of it before. Of course the initial attraction was the enticing sign in French but a quick look inside was all that was needed to step into the allure of freshly baked breads on artist palette boards and strong flavoursome  coffee served in hand-warming bowls. The concept is Belgian rather than French and I love the story of how originator, Alain Coumont's idea of a traditional bakery was eventually realised, how the name was chosen and how that very first table commune came about. You can read that story here. The place has plenty to offer the vegan diner : Bircher bowls of overnight oats (a favourite in our house), Organic Turmeric eggs with Seaweed and avocado.  For those with a sweet tooth : Raw Nut Cakes of passion fruit and beetroot and the ubiquitous salted caramel - Coupable !   Guilty! Taking up the central area was la table commune - made fr...

Leaving the Queens Film Theatre Belfast today I picked up a very impressive programme for the UK French Film Festival 2017.  Although QFT isn't showing all the films being screened during the festival it is showing seven listed below. The Festival is celebrating its 25th anniversary and the silver jubilee edition of the programme has been extremely well produced and worth keeping as a souvenir reference guide. As a francophile and a francophone it's great to see the number of films showing and the range of cinemas taking part.  The programme contains an at-a-glance guide to what's on and where.  The films are helpfully cross-referenced to blurbs on the content and as well as offering contemporary films, the programme contains several classics. Check out the full listings over at www.frenchfilmfestival.org.uk meanwhile here is the list of seven films showing at QFT: Louis Malle's Le Feu follet - The Fire Within on 25 November Alain Gomis's Félicité on 3...

Speaking engagement.  Talk prepared, car loaded and off to the meeting; brilliant, I'd left plenty of time to find a parking space at the venue and more than enough to offload the selection of French wine and cheeses that were intended for une dégustation that evening. Things don't always go as planned and when I arrived most of the parking spaces were occupied by a single van! There was one space that just might work so if I could just quickly unload the "stuff" for the talk I could squeeze in. Seemed a good idea up to the point when the sickening sound of scraping metal told me it wasn't! ... Thoughts of an expensive evening crossed my mind as I headed to a public carpark about 5 minutes away. There was still just enough time, if I hurried. Got a space okay and opened the back door to retrieve my laptop from the back seat. SMASH! Not the laptop, fortunately, but a bottle of wine I had chosen to accompany one of the cheeses for the tasting. Wine on ...