FRENCH WORD-A-DAY

We are all crazy about our new dog Ricci, who gave us quite a scare recently....
Nous raffolons tous de notre nouvelle chienne Ricci, qui nous a récemment donné une sacrée frayeur.

TODAY'S WORD: Raffoler de

    : to adore, love
    : not be able to get enough of something

A DAY  IN A FRENCH LIFE by Kristi Espinasse

Two weeks ago we nearly lost our little shepherd, la petite Ricci, adopted recently at the age of 3. Jean-Marc and I had been enjoying a stroll along the shore, and all the amusing dog encounters, when Ricci exchanged sniffs with a Boxer. When he got too playful our girl shot off like a bullet up les escaliers, over the boardwalk, and across two lanes of traffic!

We ran after our spooked chienne, bracing for what was around the corner by which she'd disappeared.

Incredibly, our dog had cleared two lanes of traffic before a stranger moved swiftly into action. The man swooped down, trapping her on the sidewalk in front of the pizzeria. We hurried across the street, and Jean-Marc retrieved Ricci while I grabbed the man with multiple piercings, hugging him like my own son--de toute ma force! 


Sadly, no photo of Ricci’s sauveur. Standing in for this Good Samaritan are my son Max and granddogs Izzy and Loca.

With Ricci safely in Jean-Marc's arms, we walked the rest of the way home a little stunned. What were we to do now? We would like our dog to be able to play on the beach with other dogs--but at what risk? How is our dog supposed to get her zoomies out if she can't go temporarily unleashed? There are no dog parks in our seaside town, making it a challenge to exercise our energetic American Shepherd.

We have been sorting out this dilemma over the past few weeks and we are all making good progress. One blessing that's come of this is we have discovered the Parc National des Calanques here in La Ciotat--a beautiful natural reserve where we can walk along a rocky trail to the top of the city. 

Read about this stunning natural reserve on the last page of the Feb/March edition of France Today.

After the randonné, it's time for a visit from Grand-mère (Jules has been catless ever since Lili returned next door, to live peacefully in our neighbor's armoire after three dogs moved onto our property). Jules adores Ricci, whom she visits each afternoon with her pockets filled with friandises. "Here comes the Cookie Monster!" my mom giggles, taking Ricci into her lap. We've given Jules a 3-cookie limit (per visit) for Ricci and I'm amazed she abides by the rules (if only this one time).



Regarding the dog biscuits, Ricci, elle raffole! She is crazy about them. As for us, on raffole de Ricci! We cannot get enough of her! With her soft-as-silk calico fur she's exotic and she has a very foreign--come to think of it a very French way of expressing herself: elle grogne. She is not visibly complaining or unhappy, she's "voicing" without words. You might say it's a kind of guttural dog purr....

UN CHIEN CHAT
"She doesn't seem like a dog" My mom brings up something we have all been thinking about our ethereal animal de compagnie. "I know," I say, wondering if Ricci is some kind of licorne...

"What do you think she is?" I ask Jean-Marc. After a bit of reflection, he answers "a cat."

"Ricci! I say, are you a little cat in dog's clothing?" Just imagine! One thing's sure: after the scare our pup gave us recently, she has nine lives... just like our dear Smokey had. Maybe he was a cat too? Nah, he was definitely a unicorn.


COMMENTS
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FRENCH VOCABULARY

Click to hear the French and English pronunciation

raffoler de = to love, adore, be nuts about
une frayeur = fright
une chienne = female dog
un escalier = stairs
de toute ma force = with all my strength
le sauveur = savior
la randonnée = the hike 
la grand-mère = grandmother
une friandise = a treat, a sweet 
elle grogne = she grumbles
une licorne = unicorn 

REMERCIEMENTS / ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Thanks in advance to readers sending in a blog donation for the first time, and to my returning patrons listed below. Your support keeps the wheels of this digital journal turning, and I am truly grateful!

Caro F.
Karen H.
Monica G.

I love your stories! The one about the train journey was an absolute gem. Caro F. 

Today’s story motivated me to make another donation. I look forward to each new tale and do practice the French I see with each new post. Ricci is wonderful. So glad you have this beautiful new dog. Happy Holidays to you, Karen

Jean-Marc and Ricci at Port des Capucins. "I'm going to take her with me to New Zealand!" he teases. Read about my husband's 2024 périple in today's update.

Joyeuse Action de Grâce!
I can't guarantee that's how you say "Happy Thanksgiving" in French. But I hope you have so much to be thankful for and that your lives are brimming with blessings in any language. In addition to the blessings of my Franco-American family, friends, health, and our new dog, I'm grateful to have overcome my fear of making pumpkin pie...

La Tarte à la Citrouille
For a scrumptious tarte à la citrouille I roasted and puréed some farm-fresh potimarron, for 500 grams of pumpkin, mixed it in the blender with du lait concentré sucré (1 cup), 3/4 cup of sour cream, 2 eggs, 1 tsp cinnamon, 1/2 muscade, a pinch of salt and baked it for 40 minutes at 200C (392F was a bit hot!) in a ready-made pastry--une pâte brisée. It turned out delicious! A refaire! Don't miss the photos at the end of this edition but, first, enjoy Jean-Marc's nouvelles, just below.

TODAY'S WORD: le périple

    : trek, expedition, journey, long haul


NEW ZEALAND PERIPLE VIA BICYCLE by Jean-Marc Espinasse

Dear Kristi's Readers,

As my New Zealand trip is getting, day after day, more realistic, I would like to thank all of you who have already offered to help me during my 3 months stay in this fabulous country.

Three months... Actually, in 3 months, I will be right in the middle of the bike ride I have just put together. With my long-time friend from Marseille, Bernard, we will start in Greymouth on the West Coast to end in Christchurch. After much hesitation over whether to bring our own bikes from France, we decided to buy some electric hybrid bikes in Christchurch with an extra battery and plan to ride from 40 to 80 miles per day. We will follow the West Coast South bordered by the Alps and in Haast, we will get inland, pass by Wanaka Lake where one of the best NZ wines is, so I will definitely stop there to behold the spectacular vineyard slopes and enjoy the delicious biodynamic wines of Rippon.

Copyright-free image via Google

The first leg of our trip will eventually end up in Queenstown where we will stay for 3 days to rest after 350 miles in 6 days and to explore the beauty of this city on the Waikapu lake surrounded by magnificent mountains.

The second leg of our bike tour will start by riding through the beautiful vineyards of Gibbston Valley before heading North, inland, to reach, 3 days later, the beauties of Pukaki Lake and Mount Cook

Copyright-free image via Google

It will then be time to head back northeast to reach the Banks Peninsula where we hope to see dolphins and other beautiful landscapes before returning to Christchurch at the end of February to complete this 900-mile trip.

After a needed rest, I will say au revoir to Bernard and travel North and join the Blenheim area where my job at Whitehaven Cellars starts March 4th. I found a very nice cottage located 7 miles away from my work so I will continue to enjoy my bike for commuting back and forth for another 7 weeks.

When I am done with this exciting period, I plan to explore the North Island. I am not sure if I will use my bike or rent a camper (or both) for that, those plans are still up in the air. 

What is certain is that I am going to have a wonderful time in this country that has always fascinated me.

Any suggestions, help, or contacts during my different "périples" will always be welcome at [email protected]

Happy Thanksgiving.

Love and Peace,
Jean-Marc

FRENCH VOCABULARY

Click to listen to the French and English terms
le périple = trek, journey
Joyeuse Action de Grâce = Happy Thanksgiving
la tarte à la citrouille = pumpkin pie
le potimarron = red kuri squash
le lait concentré sucré = condensed milk with sugar
la noix de muscade = nutmeg
à refaire = to do again
une cuisse de dinde = turkey leg

We celebrated Thanksgiving a day early to accommodate friends leaving town. Thanks, Sandra Zirah, for this photo of Jean-Marc and me cooking green beans and une cuisse de dinde over my mother-in-law's chestnut and girolle stuffing. Present at table were Sandra and Patrick, our son Max and Ana, and (vicariously) Mom (she enjoyed her plate of turkey back in her studio. She has a little cold and did not wish to share it with our travelers.).

REMERCIEMENTS 
Sincere thanks to readers sending in a blog donation for the first time and to my returning patrons listed below. Your support keeps me going, and I am truly grateful!

Debbie L.
Richard L.

Love reading each week. Look forward to our next trip to France. —Richard 


So excited to have finally made pumpkin pie. In case it didn't turn out (and it did!) I also made chocolate chip cookies.

Joyeuse Action de Grâce! photo of me and Ricci by Sandra Zirah

COMMENTS
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Punaise! When I heard about the bed bug epidemic in Paris, I almost canceled plans to see my best friend. I’m so glad I didn’t let those punaise reports destroy this joyful reunion.

TODAY'S WORD: Punaise!

  : Darn! Oh no! Oh dear!

Punaise also means bug or “bed bug”. The exclamation may have been born of the horror of seeing the crawly creatures, i.e. Punaises! Bed bugs! It is a very popular way to express surprise in French, in any let-down situation. Come to think of it, “Bed bugs!” makes for a colorful expression in English, too, don't you think?  

A DAY IN A FRENCH LIFE by Kristi Espinasse

 

The technicians were back once again to figure that out and, in the end, the high-tech wonder passed the test!

 

Well then, as long as Toto would flush we'd stay! After the mechanics and manager left, we tucked ourselves into the lavender-scented beds to laugh about the irony of having to use our own equipment (our own phone, as the hotel phone no longer functioned via the "smart" tablet, and our own flashlights on our phones) to navigate to the bathroom of our "luxury accommodations".

 

The good news was after all the talk of bed bugs in Paris, we didn't have any of those. But, punaise! We can't say the same for technological bugs, of which our suite had a few. 

 

I would like to end with giant thanks to my bestie, ma meilleure amie, Rouge-Bleu. It was wonderful to spend time with you in Paris and to see you at work in the city. We never did make it to Rodeo Drive. Sometimes our dreams take us beyond our very own imaginations!

*    *    *

COMMENTS
Thank you in advance for your comments and corrections. I appreciate every word! Click here to leave a message.

 

Rouge-Bleu and I recreating a picture we took over 15 years ago during a trip to Monaco. You may be wondering about the nickname Susan and I share, and wasn't that the same name of your former vineyard?  Yes, it was! The vineyard name was chosen back in 2006, after Jean-Marc asked me if I had any suggestions as to what to name our winery. On a whim, I blurted out "Rouge-Bleu!" He immediately liked it and went on to incorporate it for his business. We've since sold the vineyard but the name lives on with the new owners (and will always live on with the best friends pictured). 

Thanks, Rouge-Bleu, for finding this old photo.
 

Susan and her team create personalized travel experiences to Europe and beyond. If you are ready to follow your dream to Paris (or anywhere in the world) contact Susan at Critics Choice Vacations. 

FRENCH VOCABULARY

Listen to the French terms listed below click here.

Rouge-Bleu = red-blue
Ruinart = the oldest champagne house in France 
service du soir = turndown service
un grand rêve = a big dream
punaise! = oh no! darn!
la punaise = bed bug
la meilleure amie = best friend

REMERCIEMENTS
Thanks in advance to readers sending in a blog donation for the first time, and to my returning patrons listed below. Your support keeps the wheels of this weekly journal turning, and I am truly grateful!

Lucie A.
Merle J.
Pattie M.
Mollie B.
Janice H.
The Gaucher Family

Thank you, Kristi, for your blog which I've been reading and enjoying for 20+ years! Mollie B.

Photo by Rouge-Bleu, courtesy of Critics Choice Vacations

The word in the window spells "Eat" which is what my stomach cried on the train back from Paris. Don't miss today's story with some fun new words.

News: Carolyne Kauser-Abbot has written an excellent article about Jean-Marc’s wine tours. Check it out at Carolyne’s site Perfectly Provence

TODAY’S WORD: "LA FRINGALE"

    : munchies
    : craving, hunger

avoir la fringale = to have the munchies, to feel peckish

A DAY IN A FRENCH LIFE by Kristi Espinasse

On the train back from Paris I had the urge to tchatche with the stranger sitting next to me. Graced with corkscrew curls and a spray of freckles across her nose, she had smiled pleasantly when she took her seat beside the window. Now, quietly settled in for our 3.5-hour voyage to Marseilles, I wanted to exclaim, "Quel soulagement d'être monté dans le train ! What a relief to be on the train!” which is what I felt after lugging my piggybacked parcels and suitcase through the metro, up into the Gare de Lyon, only to struggle through the crowd in Hall 1. But I kept quiet when a little voice said, your own reality isn’t necessarily hers.

It’s a pity when your inner dictator keeps you from connecting with others, via its own self-righteous reasoning, and so I reconsidered striking up a conversation. But as the minutes passed my opening line became passé as the train was well on its way.

AVOIR LA FRINGALE
By now my stomach was rumbling alongside my thoughts. I kept thinking about the doggy bag in the large paper sack at my feet. Inside were gourmet leftovers from last night’s farewell dinner with a dear friend at Café de L'Alma. “Take it home, Rouge-Bleu," Susan had encouraged. You’ll enjoy it later! And so I piggybacked that doggy bag, along with several treats from our hotel, on top of my suitcase, which also held my heavy carry-on. All that juggling during the walk from the hotel to the metro to the train had created quite an appetite--especially after missing lunch.

I was suddenly craving that homemade gnocchi with pears and grapes, in cream sauce. I even had a plastic spoon in which to eat it and my seat included a handy fold-out tray. There was just one problem….Culture: the French don’t seem to eat at odd hours, and 3 pm is an odd hour to dine.

According to whom? Who says 3 pm is an odd hour to eat last night’s plat principal? I recognized the still small voice, that championing ally that always comes through if I listen to it, and not the inner critic. But soon a little battle ensued.... as my thoughts contradicted each other, tour à tour:

Why not wait until 4 pm? 4 pm is l’heure de goûter in France—a perfectly respectable time to munch in public.

But the French eat sugary snacks for goûter hour, that other voice pointed out.

Just then I heard the crinkling of a wrapper and turned to see the elegant woman across the aisle enjoying a candy bar. Next, Mademoiselle Freckles broke out a muffin, confirming my suspicions that the 4 pm snack hour is for sweets only.

Go ahead. Dig in! My inner ally cheered. Go against the status quo! Be wild! Be free! Be unique! Just when I had the courage to break all the imagined rules, I noticed the passenger seated 5 rows up, in the forward-facing seat. His T-shirt read, "BE NORMAL."

Be normal? But I was just about to let loose and BE WILD!

Harrumph! Now I had to build back le cran all over again, and it would've been all uphill except for one final thought: If I don't eat now I'm going to return home in a very cranky mood. And I didn't want to be irritable around my family. I knew Mom was waiting excitedly to see me, along with Jean-Marc and our newest family member, Ricci. And so, with the noblest of intentions, I broke out my spoon and dug in! No matter how many times my eyes darted around the train car, between furtive bites, I never saw one shocked expression. No one paid the slightest bit of attention. To my relief, there was not so much as a “bon appétit” something strangers are quick to tell anyone who is eating anything ever. (Maybe the French only say that during normal dining hours? There must be a separate set of rules for off hours?)

"Is it true the French tend to eat only sweet things at l'heure de gouter?" I asked my husband, on the ride home, after sharing my doggy bag dilemma.

"Yes, of course! Otherwise you'll be thrown in prison," my husband chuckled. "But Ricci and I would visit and even bring you oranges!"

Haha! It is helpful to laugh at our own quirks, and heartening when family and friends understand them so well. I hope, by sharing a few more of mine with you today you've learned some interesting French words. See you next week with another story from my short périple in Paris!


COMMENTS
Thanks in advance for taking the time to respond to my stories. Any edits are greatly appreciated. Click here to leave a message.

This sea bass and vegetables was in the second take-away carton, and it made a great lunch the day after I got home. Jean-Marc finished Susan's gnocchi for dinner. Don't you love leftovers and "doggy bags"?



FRENCH VOCABULARY 

Click to hear the pronunciation for la fringale and all the vocabulary

la fringale = hunger, the munchies
tchatcher = to chat, to gab
Quel soulagement d'être monté dans le train ! = What a relief to have made it onto the train!
le plat principal = main course
le gôuter = snack
tour à tour = by turns
le cran (avoir du cran)  = gumption (to have courage)
le périple = trek, journey

REMERCIEMENTS
Thanks in advance to readers sending in a blog donation for the first time, and to my returning patrons listed below. Your support keeps the wheels of this digital journal turning, and I am truly grateful!

Jane M.
Alice F.
Lucie A.
Anne U.
Trish A.
Janine C.

J'éspère te lire longtemps. Bises, Janine

Thanks for many years of entertainment and French vocabulary, Kristi. Bon travail! Alice F.

I have enjoyed your newsletter and books for many years, you are quite an inspiration for life.
We visit La France each year, to see family, enjoy the small villages and of course Paris.
Hope to visit your delightful corner in the near future. Lucie

The busy Gare de Lyon in Paris. Notice the white covering: behind it the historical and iconic restaurant Le Train Bleu is being renovated. 


I walked past this war memorial the day I left Paris. It reads "Aux Volontaires Americains Morts Pour La France" To The American Volunteers Who Died For France. A poignant reminder. Saturday is Armistice Day or Veterans Day. 

Our story begins in Le Beausset... just over the hill from Bandol.

TODAY'S WORD: Ratiboiser

    : to chop
    : to plunder, pinch, swipe 

Ratiboiser also means "couper à ras" (to cut very short). When you return from the hairdresser's and your locks were cut too short, you could say, "Ils m'ont ratiboisé les cheveux. They completely cut my hair!"

A DAY IN A FRENCH LIFE by Kristi Espinasse

This weekend was full, plein, rempli, like the olives trees we picked samedi. "Ils sont cafis !" my friend Sophie remarked, arriving at the field with her bucket and olive rake. Cafi! now there's a cool slang word to add to our repertoire, dear reader! Follow along and we will gather a few more…along with a ton of olives.

Saturday's olive harvest would've been another chance for our new dog to adapt to a different environment, but we decided to leave Ricci at home with Grandma Jules. Une bonne décision as several cats showed up to the oliveraie to check out all the activity.

At Vava and Laurent's in Le Beausset, some 300 olive trees were waiting to be picked for this year's récolte d'olives. Jean-Marc and I were the first volunteers to arrive to la cueillette. We helped to spread out a net on the ground to catch the olives, then we each grabbed a hand rake to comb the olive branches, a technique that is easy on the trees and saves time. The wet ground was already soaking my sneakers and it was chilly out, making me wonder if things were going to get uncomfortable fast. With only 5 pickers, the picking was slow so we eased the pain by joking about when our friends—les renforts—would finally arrive (this happened around 11 a.m., suspiciously close to l'heure de l’apéro…). At that point the sun finally made its way over the hill and the group livened up thanks to some new helpers qui a la tchatche--who have the gift of gab.

Seated on an upturned bucket, raking the cut branches for more olives, I listened to the conversations going on around the olive grove. Topics ranged from age-gap marriage to Japanese toilets (the estate had a "Boku" bidet. The popular brand is a saucy play on the words "beau" and "cul" or "beautiful butt," which refers to the desired outcome after using the fesse-cleaning apparatus). As you can imagine, such talk leads to innuendo--something the French excel at. Even if I didn’t understand all the words lingering in the air above me, there were others up for grabs along with all those olives.

”What do you call this?” Vava's sister, Geraldine, asked, waving a peignes à olives.

"A rake," I answered.

“Rake….” Geraldine repeated, making a few associations to drill the new word into memory. “Rake…Rateau…. Ratiboiser... “

Ratiboiser—that one sounded familiar. It means “to pilfer, plunder, or “to make off with.” After we'd plundered or made off with 200 kilos of olives, it was time for lunch. Jean-Marc headed to the BBQ, to cook some merguez and chipolatas, while Vava beelined over to the kitchen. The long harvest table began to fill with food, including a plateau de charcuterie (featuring sliced salami, rillettes, and pâté. Wine was passed around and my friend Sophie surprised me with a special non-alcoholic drink in a beautiful sangria glass decorated with lots of fresh mint. What a treat! Next, we sat down to homemade eggplant lasagna, sausages, and baked chicken. One of the friends, Jean-Michel, brought along a prized magnum from his collection—a bottle of Jean-Marc’s “Zero Watt,” a wine my husband made “without electricity,” when we moved to St. Cyr-sur-Mer in 2012, to our own olive farm and future vineyard. That wine and today’s olive harvest brought back bittersweet memories, but volunteering at our friend’s harvest helps in its own way: for one, we get to use what skills we gained in the 10 years we harvested our own fields, and one of those skills is, simply, the ability to show up early and prepared.

One thing about arriving first to the olive harvest is... less guilt when leaving early and missing the grueling afternoon shift. As mentioned, we had a full agenda Saturday. It was time now to get ready for a birthday party. So after we plundered the buffet we kissed Vava and Laurent goodbye and waved au revoir et bon après-midi to our friends, the olive-picking crew.  “See you next year, bright and early!” 

COMMENTS
To leave a comment or a correction to this post, click here. I'd love to know which city you are writing in from!

Kristi and Vava. There is one of the hand rakes used to harvest the olives.

FRENCH VOCABULARY

Click here to listen to all the words below in French and in English

rempli = full
plein = full
cafi = full of
une bonne décision = a good decision
une oliveraie = olive grove
un peigne = comb
la récolte d’olives = olive harvest
la cueillette = harvest
le renfort = the backup crew, the reinforcement
l’heure de l’apéro = cocktail hour
qui à la tchatche = who has the gift of gab
les fesses = butt 
ratiboiser = to pilfer, plunder
rillettes = a kind of pâté 

REMERCIEMENTS
Thank you for the most lovely comments following this blog's 21st birthday. Your words are deeply touching and will remain in my heart forever! And sincere thanks to the following readers who sent in a blog donation this past week!

Bob M.
Beth M.
Julie C.
Elaine M.
Diane B.
Allen L. 
Susan B.
Nancy S.
Walter B.
Rajeev B.
Martha S.
Valerie P.
Georgia S.
Cricket H.
Kazuko C.
Elizabeth J.
Jo-Anne Y.
Elizabeth L.
Catherine L.
Suzanne & Don
Elaine & Michael K.
Suzanne & RoseAnn

Congratulations- your insights and humor add value to each of our lives. Jo-Anne

I look forward to reading your weekly edition.  I love that you and Jean-Marc continue to explore, create & reinvent your lives & work. Elaine

My dear friend Kathy C, living in Phoenix told me about your blog when you first began. It was a pleasure visiting you at your last two homes and hope we will do it again soon. Keep up the good writing. Elaine and Michael

Congratulations, Kristin! Your blog is a source of happiness for me! Thank you! Here's to many, many more years! Catherine L.,  San Diego, CA

Bonjour Kristi! Congratulations on your 21st! I’ve been enjoying your journal since long ago I can’t remember when. Loved your book, too. Just wanted to send my Gratitude and lots of Love and Light to you! Thank you for being beautiful YOU! Kazuko

In this vintage Land Rover, which the brothers-in-law share, the morning's olive harvest is stacked in les caisses de récolte, ready to be pressed at the olive mill.

Kristi and Ricci. Sunday marks 4 weeks since we brought 3-year-old Ricci home from Aveyron. Her appetite has grown, she now barks when strangers come to her home, and she loves the beach. It's a joy to see her personality unfold.