La Chandeleur - on mange des crêpes!

Bonjour tout le monde
Well, circumstances beyond my control have made me break my vow of 52 posts in one year. I will keep trying, though, and before the end of the year, I might indeed have 52 posts!

On  February 2, the French and many other Catholics celebrate Candlemas, or la Chandeleur.  This fête celebrates the purification of the Virgin Mary and the presentation of the baby Jesus at the Temple.
La Chandeleur happens 40 days after Christmas; the reference to candles comes because this was the day that priests blessed beeswax candles that were distributed to the faithful.  I like to think that it has something to do with the fact that night still falls rather early at this time of year, so candles are definitely needed!

The French celebrate this holiday with crepes, those thin pancakes that hold all sorts of yummy deliciousness within those delicate walls.  Besides the religious connotation, the French like to mix a little fortune telling into the holiday.  When cooking the crepes, you are to hold a coin in your hand while making the crepe flip in the air.  If you catch the crepe in your pan, your family will have good luck for the rest of the year!



Here is a French recipe for crêpes.  If you make them, be sure to take a picture to post on this page!

And here are a couple of pictures that I have taken over the years that have to do with crêpes, because they are good no matter what time of year it is!

There is a link between Chandeleur and our

Groundhog Day - see these proverbs which celebrate the day:
.
À la Chandeleur, l'hiver cesse ou reprend vigueur
On Candlemas, winter ends or strengthens

À la Chandeleur, le jour croît de deux heures
On Candlemas, the day grows by two hours

Chandeleur couverte, quarante jours de perte

Candlemas covered (in snow), forty days lost

Bon appétit and Bonne Fête des Chandeleurs!

May you successfully flip your crêpe and have prosperity all year long!

(Thanks to http://french.about.com/od/culture/a/chandeleur.htm)

It's Sale time in France!

Bonjout tout le monde,
Yes, it is that time again in France, when people wait impatiently for the doors to open to great discounts.  If you can't imagine it, just think of the Black Friday sales after Thanksgiving.  The same thing happens in July, only then you don't have to dress up like Frost the Snowman!
Two years ago, Michael and I were in Paris during the winter sale time.  It was so much fun to go through the different sections looking for stuff to buy.  I didn't have to look long, because I found the most awesome tote bag that was 70% off.  Are you kidding me? It was just begging for me to buy it.
Along with the tote, I bought a beautiful scarf, plus something else that I can't remember plus a cool shopping bag to put it in.  Not only did I get that discount, I also got 10% more because I was a tourist!  The entire purchase only cost 34 euros.  Whoa.
Here is a link to a story about France's winter sale time. If you are going this week, make sure that you take some warm clothes, because it is going to snow in Paris on Thursday, and then rain on Sunday. Il faut porter un parapluie et aussi des bottes!
What would you buy at the sales?  I'm feeling a field trip coming on!

Michael and I are in front of the Madeleine (2015)

the dome inside the Galeries Lafayette

La Fête des Rois

Bonjour tout le mode!
Tomorrow is January 6, which is Epiphany, or the day that the three Magi, or Wise Men,  arrived in Bethlehem to see the little baby Jesus.  It is always so funny to see church Christmas pageants, because once the baby is born, then the Magi come down to aisle to venerate the newborn.  It was when I was teaching French that I realized exactly why we have 12 days of Christmas, because it took them that long to reach Bethlehem.
Actually, Epiphany was started around the time of the pagans, who had holiday that celebrated the long nights of winter.  For the Fête des Rois, the French celebrate by having a party.  They have a galette des rois, which is a pretty cool cake.  Here in the States, you can order a king's cake from www.kingscake.com, or you can find them at several places here in Los Angeles.  There is the Normandie Bakery, which allows you to pre-order cakes in several sizes, and Porto's Bakery, to name just two. They are round and are more like a sweet bread than what we think of as cake.  The most important part of the king cake is the little token that is hidden inside.  It can be a bean, a small token, or a little plastic baby Jesus.  When you get the cake, the token is in a baggie, and it's up to you to hide it  the cake. The hardest part is making the cake look untouched after you have hidden the token.
At your party, the youngest person sits under the table and says who gets each slice of cake as it is cut.  Instead of diving into the gooey goodness of the cake, everyone waits until the entire group has been given a piece, then they stab it all over first to see if the lucky token is in their piece.  If you are lucky enough to get it, then you are crowned with the golden paper crown and you become king or queen of the party!

Notice the little plastic baby Jesus on the cake!

When I was in the classroom, I would often make a box cake that contained the little token and serve it at my French Club meeting.  For several years, I ordered a 'real' King's cake, which was fun and yummy. For more information, here is an article from thelocal.fr, which is also a great website for French news in English. The article even includes a recipe, so if you are so inclined, you can try to make one youurself!  Then, of course, take a photo and put it in the comment section so that we can all be impressed.

On a side note, I can't believe that this blog is almost 9 years old!  Wow...  I was not consistent in posting; something that is obvious is you look at the posting dates.  In 2017,  my resolution is to post something at least once a week.  If you have any suggestions for a blog post, let me know!