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August 30, 2018

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Canal du Midi, Castelnaudary, Celebrations, Culture, Food and Drink, France, French, Language, Travel

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La fête du cassoulet

Last weekend was the annual ‘fête du cassoulet’, in Castelnaudary. This year, we weren’t able to go as we were back in the UK, avoiding the heat – haha! Epic fail…

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Castelnaudary is known as the capital of cassoulet and credited with inventing this dish. However, Toulouse and Carcassonne may well dispute this fact! I’ve written previously about this French style ‘sausage and beans’

https://fancyingfrance.wordpress.com/2015/11/03/cassoulet-or-sausage-and-beans-french-style/

The cassoulet festival takes place during the last weekend of August. Not the ideal time for eating a hearty casserole containing duck, goose, sausage and beans, in my opinion! I do love a cassoulet, and cook them myself, I just prefer eating this dish when it’s cold and I need comfort food.

la-belle-epoque

We have attended the fête du cassoulet before and it was great fun! The sleepy, little town of Castelnaudary really comes alive. Of course, it’s full on holiday season and the Canal du Midi is awash with tourists.

The festival is organised by the ‘Grand Confrérie du Cassoulet de Castelnaudary’. Confrérie translates as ‘Brotherhood’ but probably equates more with a guild. The Castelnaudary Cassoulet Brotherhood was founded in 1970 to protect the quality and standard of cassoulet. I hasten to add that there are also women in this Brotherhood! They all wear special robes and a hat which is shaped like a ‘cassole’, the dish in which Cassoulet is cooked and served. They even have a hymn to praise cassoulet which is sung in the local Occitan language.

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This is a screenshot of their website. Do go and have a look if you want to find out more and even listen to the Cassoulet hymn!

Although we didn’t make it to the ‘fête’ this year, we were able to glimpse the essence of the celebrations through this video:

Have you ever eaten Cassoulet?

If you do happen to be anywhere near Castelnaudary, next summer, I recommend that you go along to celebrate the twentieth Fête du Cassoulet!

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December 20, 2017

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Celebrations, Culture, Fashion, France, French, Paris

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French Perfume Commercials – oui ou non?

Has anyone else noticed the weird and, not necessarily, wonderful perfume adverts that abound on television at this time of year?

I’ve written before of my love of fragrance:

https://fancyingfrance.wordpress.com/2017/08/01/fragrance/

but this love doesn’t always extend to some of the bizarre perfume commercials that are all over our screens at Christmas.

By the very nature of perfume, it is difficult to convey its essence without actually smelling it! I have read descriptions of perfumes which describe them beautifully but when you actually get to try them they may not live up to expectations.

French perfume adverts are particularly ‘over the top’ in my opinion. Although it’s not only the French ones. Gucci Bloom, I’m talking about you!

Many of these fragrance commercials feature celebrities. My favourite perfume, of the moment, is ‘La Vie est Belle’. Julia Roberts is the star of the advert for this fragrance which is set in Paris. Neither of these facts have any effect on my perfume choice. I actually sniffed the fragrance on someone else, liked it and decided to see if it would work for me. My ‘research’ (looking on Debenhams website) tells me that the ‘stunning glass bottle’ , which contains the perfume, represents the shape of Julia Roberts mouth. Really?? I had no idea.

Another perfume commercial, also shot in Paris, is Coco Mademoiselle which stars Keira Knightly. It involves her riding on a motorbike through the empty streets of Paris – that must be a first! I mean empty Parisian streets, of course! Without getting into too much deep analysis, I imagine that KK is representing a strong, powerful, independent and beautiful woman. Is the inference that if we buy this perfume, we are demonstrating our similar characteristics? Or am I overthinking this?!

Finally, I’m singling out the latest Jean Paul Gaultier perfume: Scandal. This is a relatively recent advert which – guess what! – is located in Paris. The story, behind this commercial, is of Madame la Ministre. She works for the government during the day and parties (or worse?!) in Pigalle at night. My research tells me that this perfume ‘embodies day and night’ and that the star of this commercial is a Hungarian model. I have yet to try this.

There are so many other perfume adverts I could have included but three are probably enough for one blog post!

What do you think? Do perfume commercials encourage you to try or buy? I’d love to know…

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August 31, 2017

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Blogging, Celebrations, Culture, Music

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Fancying France…the Fringe!

This ~~intriguing~~ odd title for a blog post, came to me on the train home from Glasgow. It has nothing to do with my actual fringe ( known as ‘bangs’ I believe, in the US! ) which is in dire need of a trim, but everything to do with the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

I don’t have a bucket list. Do you? But there are many places I haven’t visited and activities I haven’t tried…yet. Going to the EFF was one of these. As a Brit, I am ashamed to say that I have never been to Scotland until this week. Mr FF was playing hockey in a ten day tournament and it was a great opportunity to watch him play. What I really mean is that it was a great opportunity to visit Glasgow and Edinburgh, especially as the Fringe Festival was taking place!

We stayed in a modern and well equipped Airbnb flat in a part of Glasgow called Glasgow Green.

This was a very convenient area, well located for the city centre and the hockey venue!

As we had limited time, we decided to take advantage of an open-top, hop-on-hop-off bus tour.

http://www.citysightseeingglasgow.co.uk/

I think this is a brilliant way to get to know a new city. We hopped off to visit Glasgow Cathedral and the Necropolis.

The Necropolis may seem a strange place to visit but this vast multi-faith cemetery, modelled on the Père-Lachaise graveyard in Paris, has amazing views over the city of Glasgow, as well as being very interesting in its own right.

The photo below is from the website of the Friends of the Necropolis. Here is the link to their website in case you would like to find out more.

http://www.glasgownecropolis.org/

And then there was Edinburgh! But where to start? It was the seventieth anniversary of the Fringe. The atmosphere was amazing. So many people; different ages, different races, different styles but all set on enjoying themselves and everything that the festival had to offer.

Our strategy (?!) was to try to experience events across the art forms. We started with political stand up, went on to a female a Capella group and then to Shakespeare, enjoying an abridged version of a Comedy of Errors. This was followed by a brilliant comedy drama set in an evening class. Our final choice was an experimental dance performance; probably my least favourite show. On top of this were all the street performers – fire eaters, musicians, dancers et al.

It was totally brilliant to have experienced the Fringe Festival, even if was for such a brief visit. I really hope we’ll go again but next time we’ll plan a bit more with what we want to see and aim to book some events in advance.

Do you have a bucket or an unbucket list? Have you been to Glasgow or the Edinburgh Fringe? I’d love to know!

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May 24, 2017

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The Merry month of May…

Especially if you’re in France! May starts with a Bank Holiday and there are several more to follow. On May 1st there is the celebration of not only Labour Day (La Fête du Travail) but also La Fête du Muguet. This translates as Lily of the Valley Day.

I have written about these celebrations before!

https://fancyingfrance.wordpress.com/2015/05/01/1st-may-la-fete-du-travail-and-la-fete-du-muguet/

The next Bank Holiday takes place on the 8th May and is to commemorate the end of World War II in France. It is known as ‘La Fête de la Victoire’ and is celebrated with parades and religious ceremonies. Traditionally, the French president lays a wreath at the tomb of the Unknown Soldier and lights the flame at the foot of the Arc de Triomphe in Paris. I was quite surprised that our local supermarket had a ‘special’ opening on that day.

the-tomb-of-the-unknown

The final Bank Holiday is on the 25th May; Ascension Day which falls on a Thursday. As a result, many people take a day of their annual leave on the Friday to be able to take a four-day weekend. This is known as a ‘pont’ or a bridge. It is quite usual to hear the phrase ‘faire le pont’.

And, then there’s Eurovision! No Bank Holiday for this, of course, but all part of the May madness. I did watch it when we were here last year as I wanted to see what it would be like without Graham Norton. This year I managed to ~~avoid~~ miss the contest somehow. I must admit that I do like the French entry which came twelfth. It’s by a singer called Alma and the title is ‘Requiem’ . This video of the song is worth watching for the background shots of Paris:

Are you a Eurovision fan? I’d love to know…

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March 31, 2017

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Happy Birthday to the Eiffel Tower !

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December 4, 2016

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Castelnaudary, Celebrations, Culture, Food and Drink, France, Music

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The Mayor, a clown and a mug…

Not necessarily three items that one might expect to see in the same phrase! All will become clear…

I have written before about the organisation AVF which welcomes new arrivals to France; all nationalities and all ages.

Last month we were invited to attend the AVF welcome meeting in Castelnaudary. We didn’t know what to expect but it turned out to be a really fun gathering. A welcome speech was given by the mayor (not too long…!) and was followed by a delightful musical interlude. This was provided by a local orchestra made up – mainly – by local school children. I couldn’t help noticing that all the pieces they played were English, including the Beatles and Adele!

After the music, all newcomers were presented with a gift bag containing a Castelnaudary mug, among other items. A very nice touch, I thought.

And the clown? Well, there were people of all ages, including children, and the clown provided entertainment while everyone was waiting for the main event to start. His speciality was making models out of balloons and he made some of the older guests some amazing hats. If only I’d taken some pictures…

The evening finished with a most welcome apéritif and general mingling! Those of us who were new to Castelnaudary had a badge to wear, so that other long term residents would make a point of welcoming us which they certainly did.

I was so pleased to see several people that we knew already, including some of my English conversation students. It really made us feel part of the community, especially now that we are on ‘kissing terms’ when we meet up with them!

In fact, I wrote a previous blog post about kissing -or not – when greeting people in France:

https://fancyingfrance.wordpress.com/2015/07/08/faire-la-bise-to-kiss-or-not-to-kiss/

What do you think?