FRENCH WORD-A-DAY

I am so excited about Ann's book coming out! I can't wait! I have an inkling that it is going to be a smashing success. But sshhh, don't tell her. Wouldn't want to jinx anything now, would we?

And I have stopped saying "Bon ap'" since my Honey implied that it is no longer actually polite. Party pooper. I think that he is just indulging his bourge aspirations... ;)

PS. I could look at that puppy attack photo all day.

Your food tips brought a smile - thank you. And thank you for pointing us to Ann Mah's posting. It will be fun to read her reflections as well.

I love the use of "à table" to assemble everyone for a meal. We watched a French movie with subtitles the other night. While the English translation showed, "Lunch is ready," I could hear Maman calling out "à table!"

Salut Kristin,

Wow! Going on 11 years! Great! Looks like your blog is going to survive. Ha!

I had my table manners “redefined” in France! To this day I eat with a knife in one hand and a fork in the other. None of this “chasing” food around the plate with the fork used as a shovel and no fair using bread or, heaven forbid, your fingers as a backstop. However, I do like to sop-up any leftover gravy or juices with some bread as a finale.

À bientôt

Haha, my first fleeting thought when you typed "Bon Ap", was a cell phone app (like have fun with that ap, lo) Don't know why I thought that. I will have to use this new phrase here at home. Don't think I could adjust to that milk, still prefer it ice cold. ;-)

As Herm stated...eating with a knife in one hand and fork in the other, does stop people from using their fingers to push the food onto the fork...that is so uncouth. Many Americans have such bad eating habits,probably from eating at fast food restaurants all of the time,where one does not need a fork or a knife....McD's.
As for eating a American..we tend to eat later than most of our friends.I like to eat by candlelight and in the summer it doesn't get dark until 8:00-8:30 here in Connecticut.
While visiting friends in Spain,I could not believe that we ate dinner at 10:00 or later every night.
I just copied the tomato tart recipe and will make it this weekend for a get together.
Thank you again for the puppy pic...it is so cute.

Kathleen

Thanks Kristin for the wonderful puppies photo. I love the post and will get the book --- but the photo made my day.

Stay well!

Love the photo of the little table outside the door ... that could easily be a favorite place to eat. The photo of the puppies brought me joy! Thanks for sharing the link to Ann, too. Always look forward to your writing and photos :)

Thanks for another great post ... I look forward to reading each and every one of these and always smile in anticipation of a good read when it hits my inbox! So, where's my favorite place to eat you ask ... well, in the summer it is definitely seated early morning at the dinette in my RV savoring fresh tea biscuits, jam, yogurt and a long leisurely cup of coffee while watching the birds, just outside the floor to ceiling windows, enjoying their breakfast at the bird feeder ... and you know what? I enjoy this scene rain OR shine! And the earlier in the morning the better ... just as the sun is rising is amazing! Bon appetit!

Re: tucking in your napkin at a meal or not, my father (a Frenchman) used to have a cloth napkin with a buttonhole at one corner. He would then just attach it to one of the top buttons of his shirt, and voila! it stayed in place during the entire meal! Result: spotless shirt every time!

Our dear Kristi,
What a wonderful post (and love the pictures!)
This filled me with memory;like Herm, I had a 'transition' getting used to fork in one hand,knife in other (and bread used to collect sauce/gravy).Maybe this is common in Europe(?) as our relatives, friends, as well as belle mere and belle pere,always ate this way as a matter of fact.(I was used to cuttting and then eating with my right hand.)In the Summer we loved having meals outside in the garden. (Hubby and I still do that,too)
Thanks,dear Krisit!!
Love, Natalia XO

During my recent stay in Paris, on three of the four nights I walked into my hotel near midnight 1) drinking a can of Coke, 2) eating a crepe, and 3) drinking another can of soda. The night clerk grinned each time he handed my key and wished me good eating/drinking.

I'd assumed it was because French people don't wander around eating and drinking the way Americans do. They eat at the table, and their cars don't have cup holders.

I notice that two of your examples, Kristin, are also outside of the standard eating situation. Picnics in parks are common enough, but I don't think a lot of French people eat in their cars, or munch pizza on the sidewalk (they can't — how would they use a knife and fork?). Maybe that's why you garnered the attention.

Thanks for this one Kristi...we are going to be in France one last time (Avignon..Arles and Paris )so will feel more at ease with the table manners this time...and...I think I have picked up a bit more of the vacabulary since our last trip ..Thanks to your blog .
Merci beaucoup !!

I so love your posts and French food is a particular passion. I have noticed that in France there is a more relaxed way of using cutlery at the table and it's not frowned on to put the knife down and use the fork in the right hand. I notice too that food is more often served in bite sized pieces so there is not so much sawing! Scottish table manners more closely follow the French and it is sometimes said that the English fiddle about with the food - trying to eat garden peas with a knife and fork pointed down - it looks so prissy! Of course table etiquette in England (and here in S Africa) has relaxed since The War. Eating while walking along the street is now all too common - in both senses of this word - one of the horrors of the fast food generation! Thank you Kristin.

About milk in France... true, most people buy the long conservation milk, much cheaper( and the French rarely drink milk as Americans do).
Mais, fresh milk is available in most stores, including organic.
Thanks for the easy et delicieuses recettes!

Loved this post Kristi. We currently have guests from Aix-en-Provence staying with us and we are on what we call "French time", which means we don't eat until 'l'heure de grillon', as you say. Thank goodness I dropped a few pounds after our return from Belgium/France in April, as our guests are doing the cooking and the pounds are nowe adding up! Oh, and your tomato tart is one of my 'go to' recipes in summer! We all LOVE it with fresh tomatoes from the Farmer's Market!