FRENCH WORD-A-DAY

A typical country lunch in southern France... read on, in today's story.

rassasier (rah-sah-zee-ay)

    : to satisfy, to satiate; (reflexive) to have enough, to be filled

Audio file: listen to Jean-Marc teach us three ways to say I'm full (and not "je suis plein"!):  Download MP3 file or  hear the Wave file

1. Non, merci. Je n'ai plus faim.
2. Non, merci. Je suis rassasié(e).
3. Non, merci. J'en ai eu assez. 

A DAY IN A FRENCH LIFE... by Kristin Espinasse

  "An outward focus and an outstanding lunch" 

On Sunday we were expected at Yves and Roseline's house for le déjeuner. I thought to send Jean-Marc ahead without me, not wanting to distract the other diners with my bandaged nose. 

"J'ai l'air ridicule!" I assured Jean-Marc. It's just comical. How will the other guests keep a straight face?

"Why don't you just cut it off altogether?" he joked. I did not share Jean-Marc's sense of humor, which only fueled my frustration. That's it! No use hiding out at home, alone, with my husband's words ringing in my head!

Lunch at Roseline and Yves's was a welcome distraction. For the repas de chasse, we were greeted by six of Yves's black-and-white spotted hunting dogs, les epagneuls. Our gentle host offered a warm three-kiss welcome, before ushering us into the house, to sit beside the fire with the other guests.

Yves's wife, Roseline, appeared with the first of several apéritifs... Inside the little clear glasses, or verrines, puréed avocado held a layer of crushed, sun-dried tomatoes. Another tray included individual servings of pumpkin potage with a slice of foie gras on top of each mini soup. We used spoons to dip into the small serving glasses; meantime Yves poured champagne.... 

Also on the coffee table were three kinds of savory petits-fours: one of the buttery pastries was made into little feuilletés à la tapenade, another ( a kind of puff pastry cup) held fruits de mer in a creamy sauce. There were also little pancakes with crème fraîche and smoked salmon on top....

If we were going to finish lunch by 4:30 pm, we'd better get crackin'. It was almost 2pm when we switched tables, leaving the living room for the dining room. Roseline disappeared into the kitchen in time to fry up two omelets, carefully mixing in the truffles that were unearthed near the vineyard just outside her kitchen!

After the omelette aux truffes, Yves brought out his offering:

 Lièvre aux truffes. Yves caught the hare himself, and he and Roseline prepared it with truffles, foie gras, and cognac.

The other guests at the table teased the host, after a pellet was found on one of the diners' plates (I think it was Jean-Marc who pulled it out of his own mouth!).

"Be careful not to break a tooth when eating at Yves!" one of the table mates winked.

The four-hour meal continued... A plate of soft cheese, including Saint-marcellin and reblochon, followed, before two "kings cakes"—les galettes des rois— were delivered to the table, following the recent Epiphany celebration.

What with all the outstanding food, this bandaged nose hardly stood out.  What a shame it would have been to have missed out on a traditional country French lunch, surrounded by down-to-earth hosts and their delightful convives. 

***

Update: I return to the doctor's this afternoon, to have the stitches taken out, and to learn the results from this third biopsy. Many thanks for the positive thoughts you sent me! 

FRENCH VOCABULARY

le déjeuner = lunch
j'ai l'air ridicule = I look ridiculous
le repas de chasse = hunter's meal
un epagneul = English springer
un apéritif = usually refers to a drink, but can also refer to a snack, such as an amuse-bouche that preceeds a meal 
la verrine = a little see-through glass or cup in which one layers mousse or other savory or sweet "pureed things", topped or mixed, with non-pureed items, too 

le potage = a thick soup
le foie gras = a kind of pâté made of duck or goose liver
les petits fours = little snacks or hors d'oeuvres, made of puff pastry
les fruits de mer = seafood
la crème fraîche = sour cream
le lièvre = hare
un convive = guest (see the convive post, here, and hear the word spoken)  

Some of the Rhône wines that were served: Domaine la Soumade, in the village of Rasteau.

Domaine Rouge-Bleu, in Sainte Cécile-les-Vignes.

Blossoming in Provence is the perfect gift for a traveler, Francophile, or language lover, and the stories, with their in-context French vocabulary, make learning effective and easy! Click here to buy a book, and thank you! 

I wish I'd gotten a photo of the lovely Roseline (always too shy to ask to take a photo of the hostess. Will work on this!). Here is a beautiful landscape picture, taken not far from their home. Notice the galets that surround the vine trunks. In the distance, the Baronnies is a favorite area for hiking, horse-riding, hang gliding, and cycling.

A snapshot from the archives. Smokey's sisters "les soeurettes". Would you like to add a caption to this photo?

Remember these words? Thanks for reading the stories...

tribune

impudeur

dame

mésaventure

Jean-Marc busy with the 'mise en scène' for his next wine article. (The bottle is lying on a bed of sea urchins.)

une épine (ay-peen) noun, feminine
1. thorn, prickle, spine

Also: épine dorsale = backbone

Listen:
Hear the word "épine" pronounced: Download epine.wav

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Expressions:
être sur des épines = to be on pins and needles
tirer à quelqu'un une épine du pied = to relieve someone's mind or to get someone out of a mess

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Citation du Jour:
La vie est une rose dont chaque pétale est une illusion et chaque épine une réalité. / Life is a rose whose every petal is an illusion and each thorn a reality. --Alfred de Musset

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A Day in a French Life...

At a sandy Mediterranean crique* near the seaside town of Les Issambres, separated from St. Raphaël by a deep blue gulf, we closed our weekend on a rich, sea-salty note. If you factored out the cloudless sky, you'd see how the reddish blur of the Esterel mountains capped the busy French city en face* like an Arizona sunset.

During the half-hour drive from our village to the plage,* I quizzed Jean-Marc on his favorite appetizer.
"Do you know the other French term for oursin?"*
To my surprise, he didn't.

"Une châtaigne de mer!" I said, pleased to know something French that he didn't. When Jean-Marc found the term 'sea chestnut' endearing, I offered him the English (un)equivalent which is 'sea hedgehog.'

As my masked Frenchman headed out to sea, I wished him "Bon oursinade!"
"That will come later," he reminded me.
True, an oursinade is the "feasting on sea urchin soup" and not the hunting of sea urchins.
"Then... bonne pêche!" Happy fishing! I called out.

Apart from the mask, Jean-Marc wore thick rubber sandals and carried his formidable mop-spear (half mop, half fork, a do-it yourself tool he'd rigged together on a previous sea urchin outing). Back at home, he'd swiped my laundry basket and was dragging that out to sea as well...

Eventually, Max and Jackie swam out to the tiny rock island, and helped their father collect the 'sea chestnuts'.  Jean-Marc returned to shore first, barefoot, followed by the kids who'd tucked a half-dozen oursins into their father's size 12 plastic shoes before floating their catch back.

The four of us sat on our beach towels, the laundry basket full of sea urchins at our feet, admiring the colorful spiny creatures. Beneath the setting sun the urchins showed their brilliant colors in copper, violet and khaki.

Jean-Marc used shearing scissors (another object lifted from our bathroom, along with the panier à linge*) to open the prickly spears, revealing a star pattern inside consisting of sea urchin eggs.

"Bon appétit!" one passerby called out.

We didn't have spoons and were obliged to lick the strips of orange roe from the shell, taking care not to get stabbed by an épine* in the process.

I watched my husband savor the delicate orange 'fruits of the sea,' washing the roe down with a splash of rosé wine.

"Rien de plus simple," he said.  "Rien de plus bon."*

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*References: la crique (f) = cove, inlet; en face = facing; la plage (f) = beach; un oursin (m) = sea urchin; le panier à linge = clothes hamper; l'épine (f) = spine; Rien de plus simple. Rien de plus bon. = Nothing simpler. Nothing better.

le goût (goo) noun, masculine
1. taste
2. savor, flavor
3. liking, fondness

(from the Latin, gustus, taste)

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Expressions

sans goût = tasteless
de bon goût = in good taste
avoir du goût = to have good taste
avoir le goût fin = to have a fine palate
à chacun son goût = to each his own
un goût passager = a passing fancy
prendre goût à quelque chose = to take a liking to something
faire passer le goût du pain à quelqu'un = to do away with someone; to
make someone want to give up
le goût du terroir (the taste of the soil) = food/drink with a native tang

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Citation du Jour

Le goût, c'est la mort de l'art.
Taste, it's the death of art. --Edgar Degas

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A Day in a French Life...

(Do not miss the story that originally appeared here, along with the vocabulary below. Order the book!)

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*References: une maman = a mom, mother; le jeudi (m) = Thursday; un peu énervé(e) = a little irritated; boules (pétanque) = the game of bowls; en rang = in line; CFA = Centre de formation d'apprentis = apprentice training center; une épreuve = an ordeal; le trottoir (m) = the sidewalk; un matelots = a seaman, sailor; sur place = on the spot; un atelier = a workshop; pâtisserie = pastry; boulangerie = bakery; un(e) apprenti(e) = apprentice; un récipient = container; méfiant = suspicious, distrustful; ah bon = oh really?

Barbara is back with her column "A Look at French Culinary Expressions." Whether you read it in French or in English, ne le ratez pas (don't miss it!)

cuire (kweer) verb
1. to cook

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Expressions:

laisser quelqu'un cuire dans son jus = to let someone stew in their juices = to let them deal with their own problems

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Proverb

Jamais l'affamé ne fait trop cuire son pain.
A starving man never overcooks his bread.

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A Look at French Culinary Expressions

by Barbara Barles

Puisqu'on dit en français que l'appétit vient en mangeant, et que vous semblez avoir bien digéré les expressions de la semaine dernière, en voici encore quelques-unes en plat de résistance:

In English
Since we say in French "the appetite comes while eating," and as you seem to have digested last week's expressions, here are a few more for the main course:

- Avoir la pêche (ou la frite):
"To have the peach" (or the fry, as in potato):
= être en super forme = to be in great form (to be fit as a
fiddle)

- Ne plus avoir un radis:
"To no longer have a radish"
= ne plus avoir un sou = to be out of money

- Etre le dindon de la farce:
"To be the turkey of the stuffing"
être la victime, la dupe, de quelque chose ou de quelqu'un.
= to be the victim, the dupe, of something or someone

-Ne pas mettre tous ses oeufs dans le même panier:
"To not put all one's eggs in the same basket"
ne pas mettre tous ses espoirs dans la même affaire.
= to not put all one's hopes in the same affair.

- Aller se faire cuire un oeuf:
"To go and cook oneself an egg"
= aller se faire voir, se débrouiller tout seul = "to go and be seen,"
to do something oneself

- Avoir les pieds en compote:
To have the feet in compote (stewed fruit)
(when one's feet feel like jelly)
=avoir très mal aux pieds = to have sore feet

- Se prendre une prune:
"To get oneself a plum"
= prendre une amende, une contravention = to get a ticket, a fine

- Avoir des oursins dans les poches:
To have sea urchins in one's pockets
= être près de ses sous = to be close to one's money (to be tight,
cheap)

- Faire la soupe à la grimace:
"To make grimace soup"
= être fâché = to be angry

- Etre couvert comme un oignon:
"To be covered like an onion"
= porter plusieurs épaisseurs de vêtements.
= to wear many thick layers of clothes

- Faire le poireau:
"To do the leek" (to be planted somewhere, like a leek)
= attendre = to wait

- Mettre la main à la pâte:
"To put the hand to the dough"
= participer, aider = to participate, to help out

Bon appétit !! Enjoy your meal!!

Read about this French life, and living in Provence: click on the book cover below:

Don't miss today's column "Food-Related French Expressions" for an insight into some charming and useful French sayings. Read it in French and/or English.

bouffer (boo-fay) verb
1. to eat
2. to consume
3. to absorb
4. to puff out

Example
Une bagnole qui bouffe beaucoup d'essence = a car that guzzles gas

Also:
la bouffe = food (informal)
la malbouffe = bad grub, junkfood

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Expressions:
se bouffer le nez = to dispute with someone; to argue
se faire bouffer = to get creamed (defeated, in sports)
se laisser bouffer par son travail = to be swallowed up by one's work
faire bouffer ses cheveux = to add volume/fullness to one's hair
bouffer du curé, du flic... = to be extremely anticlerical, anti-cop

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Citation du Jour:

Le basket, c'est bien; parce que, vu l'état de la bouffe actuellement, je ne vois pas ce qui nous reste d'autre qu'un ballon à mettre dans un panier.

Basketball is good; because, having seen the state of food today, I don't know what's left for us to put into a basket other than a ball. --Laurent Ruquier

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Food Related French Expressions

by Barbara Barles

Tout le monde sait qu'une des préoccupations majeures des français concerne l'alimentation... ou "la bouffe" comme on dit chez nous!

C'est peut-être pour cette raison qu'il existe en français autant d'expressions relatives à la nourriture et à ce qui se mange en général. Je vous en propose ici quelques-unes. D'autres pourront suivre si vous avez encore faim!

* * * *

Everyone knows that one of the major preoccupations with the French concerns food.... or "la bouffe" as we say here.

It is perhaps for this reason that there are so many French expressions related to food and to what is eaten in general. I propose a few for you here. Others will follow if you are still hungry!

La moutarde me monte au nez:
"The mustard is getting up my nose"
(= I'm beginning to get angry...)

Tomber dans les pommes: "To fall into the apples" = s'évanouir (to pass out)

Se mêler de ses oignons: "To mind one's own onions"
s'occuper de ses affaires, ne pas se mêler de celles des autres = (to mind one's own business, not to get mixed up in other people's business)

Mi figue-mi raisin: "Half fig-half grape"
Se dit de quelque chose, d'un sentiment mitigé, ambigu, moitié bien, moitié mal. / to speak of mixed, ambiguous feelings, half good, half bad also: wry (smile); a half-humorous, wry remark;

Mettre du beurre dans les épinards:
"To put some butter into one's spinach" = améliorer ses revenus, sa situation / to improve one's financial situation

Donner du lard (ou de la confiture) aux cochons:
"To give fat (or jam) to the pigs" = donner quelque chose à quelqu'un qui ne le mérite pas, qui n'est pas
en mesure de l'apprécier. / To give something to someone who does not deserve it, who is not capable of appreciating it.

Mettre de l'eau dans son vin:
"To put water in one's wine" = se radoucir, se modérer. To moderate oneself

Avoir du pain sur la planche:
"To have bread on the cutting board" avoir beaucoup de travail à faire / to have a lot of work to do

En avoir gros sur la patate:
être triste, avoir du chagrin / to be sad, chagrined

Etre soupe au lait:
"To be milk soup" (the image of soupe boiling over from the addition of milk) = se vexer, s'énerver facilement / to be easily irrited, angered, vexed

Chanter comme une patate:
"To sing like a spud" or "To sing like a potato" (to sing badly)

Read stories about this French life, and living in Provence: click on the book cover below: