Bonjour Paris - Recipe: Galette des Rois or Epiphany Cake of the Kings

Bonjour Paris - Recipe: Galette des Rois or Epiphany Cake of the Kings

Une part de flan

I've always loved to eat flan. As a language assistant, walking a couple of kilometres to school each morning, I would stop to buy une part de flan. A sweet, onctious breakfast that had it not been for the walk would have added several kilos over the year in Vierzon. Old habits die hard and so a stay in France is not complete without a trip to a patisserie to remind the taste buds of a tried and tested treat.

The patissier looked on as I was served one of the few remaining portions of his creation. He seemed pleased at my appreciation as I took it to a table outside. It is said that one eats first with one's eyes, so I took a while to survey and savour. It was a generous portion, one and half centimetres deep with a lovely amber glaze on top of a golden yellow custard, dusted at the rim with icing sugar. Perfectly set, firm yet yielding to the touch of fingers that would soon break the portion into smaller parts. And in the mouth, as so many times over the past 40 years, the Proustian involuntary memory conjures up a time past and I am once again a young assistant stopping for a breakfast treat in a pastry shop in Vierzon. There is a little fountain nearby; the very spot to rinse fingers and continue my journey. A stroll now, a slower pace than all those years ago. To stroll. The French have a nice word for that: Flâner.

Tell no one. Ne le dis à personne

Although I have quite a large collection of French films on video and DVD I thought it would be interesting to check out the capabilities of my new iPad and download a film from iTunes. Ne le dis à personne is a 2006 thriller from director Guillaume Canet and it certainly lived up to the promise of its accompanying notes. It got a César award for best director and had a further two nominations. Adapted from a novel by US author Harlan Coben, it follows a series of twists and turns when Dr Alexandre Beck receives an email from his wife, Margot, who he believes was murdered 8 years earlier. I’ll not spoil the plot but it was 5 star and gripping from start to finish. You can check out the bande annonce (trailer) at AlloCiné here.

Something I noticed early on was that both the camera work and dialogue were “bright”. This made the whole film very easy to follow. Although there were subtitles these too were clear and unlike some films didn’t get in the way of enjoyment. The film was fast-paced and supported by an excellent soundtrack. It was story telling at its best, creating an expectation that despite the suspense everything would come good in the end.

So a stylish film that I felt I had to recommend and tell everyone!

Wallace Fountains: Changing colour

Wallace Fountan at Hertford House, London

Yesterday's le Parisien carried an interesting article about the decision to change the colour of the city's Wallace Fountains. My initial reaction was one of shock - How could they?!

The fountains are a symbol of Paris and an earlier time. I would really like to preserve them as they are. On the other hand, in repainting them they can be restored and maintained for future generations.

Sometimes we take our patrimoine for granted and our cultural heritage in the form of statues and monuments can be passed by - unnoticed. A bit like the painted bears of Berlin, the cows of Geneva and the bulls of Barcelona, the loud colours of the repainted Wallace Fountains call for our attention. The fountains have their own diaspora and can be found all over the world - there are two in La Rambla in Barcelona and we have two in nearby Lisburn. While the yellow or pink might not be to everyone's taste, I would be sure that local people would see them and look at them more closely.

Sir Richard Wallace was a colourful character himself and took quite a hand in the original design. I wonder if he would have approved?

Click on the link to read the article in leParisien: 

Paris : les fontaines Wallace changent de couleur ! Qu'en pensez-vous ? - 06/05/2011 - leParisien.fr

To crown it all - Galette des rois

There is a lovely custom that takes place all over France, throughout January. La fête des rois on 6 of the month commemorates Epiphany when the three kings or magi came to pay their respects to the infant Jesus.

In many homes and offices, family and friends get together to enjoy a "galette des rois", helped down with a glass or two of fizz, white wine or sometimes cider. The galette is a type of cake made up of leaves of puff pastry with a filling of almond paste. A "fève", literally a bean but more often a tiny ceramic object, is baked inside and the cake is presented with a golden paper crown.  Portions are disributed with a warning to eat carefully and the lucky person who finds the "fève" claims the crown and is honoured as king or queen of the occasion.

Earlier this month, the Cercle Français de Belfast gathered in the Dark Horse Coffee House in Belfast's Hill Street to celebrate La Fête des Rois. 50 of us munched our way through four large galettes and we crowned "3 reines et 1 roi". No "fèves" were swallowed, no teeth broken and a great night was had by all.

Galettes are almost impossible to find locally.  A French restaurant owner, in nearby Holywood , supplied the ones for our evening.  Maybe those large companies that specialise in baking and distributing French bread could add galettes to their product line next year. It would be a great custom to start here; bringing people together in friendship and sharing - now that would crown it all!

Liberté, Egalité, Sororité

2004, Entente Cordiale, Commemorative Crown

One of the beneifts of social media that I appreciate is the ease with which I can keep in touch with news and stories from France. I have a particular interest in Le Berry in the Région Centre and so will often browse to the local edition of newspapers.  Recently a story caught my attention in Le Berry Republicain.  A statue had been found in a clearing in an estate in the Sologne. It used to belong to a factory in Vierzon but had been moved when new owners took over in the 1960s. The statue was referred to as La Française and it made me think of my favourite French symbol - Marianne.  Although the French flag is the only official symbol for France, Marianne embodies the values of the nation.  She has two sides to her character - the angry warrior on the Arc de Triomphe or the sower, scattering potential, as depicted on French coinage and stamps.
The newspaper article refers to the Roman goddess, Cérès - symbol of motherhood and agricultural abundance, and the link with Marianne as sower is obvious.

In Britain, Brittania has also come to symbolise the country although I have not seen her portrayed in the duality of the warrior-sower.

In 2004, the Royal Mint struck a £5 coin - a crown - to mark the centenary of the Entente Cordiale between Britain and France. I have one of the coins and much admire the artistic device of bringing together Marianne and Brittania.

Marianne wears her bonnet phrygien, itself a symbol of freedom from slavery - Liberty. She carries her sower's pouch ready to scatter a fistful of seeds. For her part, Brittania strikes the warrior pose.

Although the two are linked, there is a clear separation between them - Liberty.
Together in the round, neither takes prominence - Equality.
A feminine circle, a sisterhood - Sorority.

Saint-Emilion - Message in a bottle

Château Franc-Pourret, 1981

News programmes these days seem to be full of claim and counter-claim about the budget deficit and the effect of cuts in public spending.  Old certainties such as buying property seem no longer to apply as house prices fall, leaving some in the position of negative equity.  Canny investors suggest putting money into art purchases and others into buying and cellaring fine wine.
Back in 2000, I invested in some wine. It was more of an emotional decision than a financial one because I only bought one bottle.  Not any old bottle mind you! It was a Saint-Emilion Grand Cru from the Château Franc-Pourret, belonging to the Ouzoulias family. Its vintage is 1981.
Now 1981 is special because it was the year in which we got married.
The wine was already 19 years old when we visited the lovely medieval town of Saint-Emilion. We had family lunch in the square and still had some hours to spend before continuing our homeward journey.  I had visited the town before in the 1970s, when access to the monolithic church was much freer than now.  I distinctly recall remaining inside at the end of a short tour and feeling very much at ease in the place. There was no visit to the church on this occasion but we did pay our respects to one of the many shops selling high-end wine from the appellation. The merchant, intent on selling the bottle, assured us that it was excellent value and would continue improving with age. He even offered to buy it back at some future date provided that we had kept it properly. I wonder how he would know. Well, we bought it.
I said it was an emotional investment and we felt confident that we could keep it until 2006 when it and our marriage would be twenty-five years old.  It would, we thought, provide an appropriate focal point for an anniversary dinner.
We didn't drink it and it is still there lying on its soft carton inlay in its stout wooden box. Somehow, it has managed to survive those stressful evenings when there was nothing else to pour into a relaxing glass.
Apparently it is still going strong. I looked it up on the internet and it scores16 out of 20.  I don't know its current value as I would have to write to the château for a price but I figure I made a good investment.
Here's the funny thing, I have never tasted the wine! But by not opening it, I risk denying it its potential. It was made for drinking so we will just have to fix another date and keep to it next time.  I have uncorked a plan!
Surfing for details of the wine has revealed an interesting association. Catherine Ouzoulias provides luxury accommodation at the Château-Franc Pourret and offers tastings.  It looks a very grand and elegant place and from the 5-star reviews she gets, sounds like a great place to stay.  I wonder would she mind us bringing the wine back to its birthplace and letting us drink it there!  We might just need a second bottle.