francofiled

Want one of these!  A French friend brought one of these back from Nice for her young son. He had such fun with it. A mechanical cicada that makes that nostalgic sound characteristic of warm summer evenings in the south of France. She told me that it was available online and I placed an order.  Full of expectation that with some bright lights, a bunch of lavender and a glass of pastis...that winter would be that little bit shorter. Ah, not to be. Yes the cicada arrived but not at all the mechanical version I was expecting. Something of much poorer quality. The other cicada's lavender is always bluer.

So very pleased to have been part of this...

An ambling ambition This was supposed to be a leisurely trip to Amboise.  An ambling ambition. The idea was that we would get a late morning train for Amboise and visit the château. It's within easy reach of Tours where we were staying and that leisure time would include a snack at the Mie Caline outlet close to the station. Sure enough wrapped around a bacon and cheddar filled baguette everything seemed to be going swimmingly. As often before on this trip, I had used the very useful OUI.sncf app to buy two tickets, located the train and boarded with ease. The train was quiet and comfortable and tempted with the strong wifi I got involved in some catch-up messaging. Mistake! Starting to feel drowsy, I closed my eyes. Yes, I had been aware that the train had stopped but since it seemed we had only just left I paid no attention.  Rousing a little later P. remarked that she had seen a château en passant and I figured perhaps that was Chenonceau.  However looki...

The direct flight from Belfast to Bordeaux was a relaxing journey. In fact it was so relaxing that we didn't hurry ourselves off the plane which meant that we were among the last to go through passport control and into the baggage reclaim area. It seemed unusually quiet and I noticed that not only was the tapis  no longer rolling but our bags were nowhere to be seen. Language in the baggage area Now since one of the main ideas behind this trip was to brush up on my French I went with the flow and decided to ask some of the customs and security personnel for help. They directed me to a phone and I explained to a sympathetic member of ground crew staff that our bags were missing. She invited me to come over to another section of the airport to fill in the necessary paperwork. I did notice one bag still left on the rolling carpet but it wasn't ours. The Belfast sign went out. What if the bags had been placed on another rack.  Sure enough, at the back of the baggage area we...

Our Belfast cercle, now numbering around 100 members, has launched its new season programme. With more events than ever before it seems likely that it is set to attract many more recruits.  In fact there are 12 meetings, not counting a special event that features readings of Seamus Heaney poems in English and in French and some Extra ! offerings outside of but related to its main programme. The first of those events got underway on Wednesday 12 October at the Cercle's usual meeting place, The Dark Horse Coffee House in the heart of Belfast's Cathedral Quarter.  Here's a link reporting the September meeting on the Cercle's website.  The cobbled streets around the Dark Horse form a busy area that's popular with visitors to the city.  That night was no exception and it was fun  to meet up with a large group of French-speaking Canadians out-on-the-town. Back to the programme... Whether in English, French or both languages the talks are clearly labelled. In kee...

Just subscribed to French Bouquet via the WorldBox app on VirginMedia channel 834.  It provides France 2, 3, 5 and a cartoon channel for £6.99 a month. It also carries BFMTV whose news broadcast is onscreen as I write. Not sure yet how it works for recordings if at all as it is a streaming service but will check that out. You can cancel subscription after 30 days but as the upcoming shows look great I think I'll keep using. Update Feb 2019 VirginMedia recently removed the WorldBox app so French Bouquet is no longer available on its platform. That's a pity because TV5MONDE has also withdrawn its content from both Virgin and Sky. It's still available to stream free of charge and programmes are available through catchup.

Ever had a coffee that was too hot to drink? What about one that was too hot to hold? That latter sometimes proves to be the case when we serve it in some cherished French porcelain Mazagran drinking cups. The ones pictured above are part of a set purchased as a gift way back in 1974. They were bought in Vierzon at a weekly fair at which various artisans plied their wares. I haven't been able to trace where exactly they were produced but each carries the mark "Atelier de Tabalou" and I'm wondering if they come from the Limoges area, home to other fine porcelain products. Mazagran refers to both the drinking cup and a type of coffee popular in Algeria. There's a little more detail over at this wikipedia link . One way of cooling the coffee and the cup is to place a long handled spoon in the hot liquid - it dissipates the heat. I find though that if I hold the cup at its base, holding a finger under the rim for stability it's easy enough to manage.  Ni...