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| Sunshine, Sue Rou, Linda, Susan Rey, Peggy R, Robyn, Leslie L, Anne |
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| Who made these wonderful Autumn Leaves cookies? |
Monday 25 November 2013
Maggie: Garden Group visits Sunshine's new home
Helping to plan Sunshine's garden on November 12th. Now
we'll be waiting to see the results of our brain-storming.
Maggie: Contemporary culture in Montpellier
An afternoon of discoveries in Montpellier. We
visited La Panacée centre de culture contemporaine.
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| Maggie listening to dreams through pipes |
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| These are telephone directories on which Maggie is relaxing |
Then we went to an exhibition of wall paintings
and other works by Karen's former student Abdeldaker Benchamma at the
Galerie La Boite Noire. Those of us who were not yet cultured-out went to
see the Black is Back exhibit by Georges Autard at the Galerie
Alma.
Karen suggested a possibility of a visit to Nîmes in the
new year.
Wednesday 20 November 2013
Katharine: this is what New Yorkers are reading about Thanksgiving in France
Thanksgiving Day, à la Française
By ELAINE SCIOLINO
Published: November 19, 2013, NY Times
Thanksgiving Dinner
From: $127.92
Thanksgiving Dinner
From: $127.92
Thanksgiving Dinner
From: $127.92
Thanksgiving Dinner
From: $127.92
PARIS — Ask long-timers at the American School of Paris how to do Thanksgiving dinner, and you’re likely to be told the tale of the gourmet turkey.
It seems that some time ago, an American family celebrating its first Thanksgiving in Paris ordered a turkey from the neighborhood butcher. The butcher offered to fill it with a special poultry stuffing and roast it.
“Bien sûr!” the wife told the butcher.
When the couple picked it up on Thanksgiving Day, the turkey was perfect, with a golden, crackly skin on the outside and juice oozing from the inside. The special stuffing was indeed special. It was made not with ordinary fowl livers, but with foie gras.
The turkey cost $200.
No matter what the price, Americans can’t ignore Thanksgiving. The French don’t quite get it. One veteran Parisian butcher insists on calling it le Noël Américain — the American Christmas.
I explain that unlike almost all of their official holidays, Thanksgiving marks neither a religious event nor a military victory. It’s the closest thing we have to a holiday without an agenda.
It is also the only American day designated to bring together family and friends for a home-cooked afternoon meal.
The humorist Art Buchwald said it best in a newspaper column in November 1952. Using free-form translations, he told the French all about “Kilometres Deboutish” (Miles Standish), the Fleur de Mai (Mayflower), the Pelerins (Pilgrims) and the Peaux-Rouges (Redskins). He said that Thanksgiving was the only time of year when Americans “eat better than the French do.”
For the French, however, every Sunday is a day to bring together family and friends for a home-cooked afternoon meal. And they would never, ever pile the courses on the plate all at once.
And yet, Thanksgiving could be French. The holiday was inspired by traditional fall harvest festivals in Europe. It is all about the preparation and consumption of ritual foods. (At the first Thanksgiving in 1621, the settlers at Plymouth Colony joined with Native Americans to eat venison, waterfowl, lobster, clams, berries and other fruit, pumpkin, squash, and, of course, wild turkeys.)
The French understand turkey. France is the leading turkey producer in the European Union. The breeds are named after their colors and regional origins: the Bourbonnais Black, for example, or the Red Ardennes.
Long ago, turkey replaced goose as a staple of the traditional French Christmas table, along with champagne, raw oysters, smoked salmon and foie gras. Poultry farmers time the hatching of turkey eggs to bring their free-range birds to maturity towards the end of December. If you want one a month earlier, it’s likely to be embarrassingly small. Otherwise, you’ll be stuck with a farm-raised version, perfectly acceptable if you don’t crave the gamey taste and darker flesh of birds that have run wild.
Over the years, even the most Frenchified American expatriates in Paris have embraced the holiday.
Alice B. Toklas had Hélène the cook to roast the Stein-Toklas Thanksgiving turkey, but made the stuffing herself. Since Gertrude Stein could not decide whether she wanted chestnuts, mushrooms or oysters in the stuffing, Alice, a great cook, threw in all three. The stuffing became one of her signature dishes.
Julia Child’s most traumatic Thanksgiving in Paris was her first — but it had nothing to do with food. It was a party hosted by Paul and Hadley Mowrer. (He was a newspaper columnist, she the first Mrs. Ernest Hemingway.) More than half the guests were French, and Julia was so frustrated by her inability to communicate that she signed up for private French lessons at Berlitz immediately afterwards.
Just about every American in Paris seems to have a Thanksgiving story.
There was the American businessman who smuggled a turkey fryer from the United States and procured gallons of American peanut oil from the American military commissary in Brussels. He deep-fried the bird in the courtyard of his apartment complex.
Another couple once invited long-time French friends for a Thanksgiving dinner at the respectable American time of 5 p.m. The guests arrived exhausted from a marathon four-hour French lunch; they were horrified to learn that anyone would schedule dinner at such an ungodly hour.
I have my own turkey tales. Our first year in Paris I ordered a twelve-pound turkey and instead got a twelve-kilo mega-bird that didn’t fit into my dainty French oven. A British friend suggested I hack the bird into pieces. For me, such a mutilation would have symbolized the destruction of our family’s American way of life.
Another year I got no turkey at all, just a copy of a letter of apology from the turkey farmer. It seemed that a violent storm the previous January had destroyed much of his farm and halved his turkey population. “I ask you to forgive me,” he wrote.
The butcher offered me a capon. “It’s tender, fleshy and full of flavor,” he said. “You’ll like it better.”
“I want a turkey,” I replied. “Not a castrated rooster.”
Jean-Marie Boedec, a poultry butcher in the Seventh Arrondissement where a lot of Americans live, has solved the problem of the scrawny French turkey by ordering the biggest ones from Italy. The only challenge is that they are slaughtered in factories and often come with some of their skin missing. He uses skin from the legs of other birds to meticulously sew patches on the missing parts.
For those who are not cooking their own Thanksgiving dinner in Paris, there are always places to eat. Harry’s Bar, for example, which opened on Thanksgiving Day in 1911 (with wines from California) or a communal dinner at The American Church in Paris. The New York-based French Heritage Society is organizing a 200-euro-a-plate fund-raising “dîner de Thanksgiving” at the three-Michelin-star restaurant of the Bristol hotel, with offerings such as pumpkin soup with chestnut made to look like spaghetti and pecan pie flambéed with cognac.
For those who are cooking, there’s the Thanksgiving grocery boutique in the heart of the Marais. Fresh yams, cranberries and pecans; farm-raised turkeys; Libby’s pumpkin; College Inn chicken broth; Pepperidge Farm stuffing mix; Quaker cornmeal, disposable roasting pans; marinade injectors — they are all here. Judith Bluysen, the owner, takes orders of 300 pumpkin and pecan pies, which she bakes herself.
This year, she said, the French seem to be embracing the American holiday. The current issue of the French version of Saveurs features an article entitled “Frenchy Thanksgiving” complete with recipes (the turkey is lacquered with maple syrup).
Ms. Bluysen, who is American, already has been featured on half a dozen French television shows. She did one show with a French woman who claimed to be knowledgeable about all the classic dishes. She put marshmallow fluff in her mashed potatoes, made a pumpkin pie with a Keebler graham cracker crust, served canned cranberry sauce with the dinner and used the fresh cranberries to decorate the table.
“I’ve spent my life trying to help people do a real Thanksgiving, and when things like this happen, I want to retire!” said Ms. Bluysen.
When she opened her shop back in 1990, she settled on the name Thanksgiving after finding an obscure book about American religious sects. The chapter about Amish cooking began, “For us, every meal is a Thanksgiving.” It could have been French.
Katharine: the Duke's Singers of Uzes
Editor: this is a choir in which I sing.
L’été dernier, alors qu’il assistait au concert donné par les King’s Singers, dans le cadre des Nuits musicales d’Uzès, l’idée lui est venue, et il s’est dit : « Pourquoi pas les Duke’s Singers à Uzès » ? Une vraie gageure quand on connaît le haut niveau de qualité proposé par ce chœur devenu une véritable institution en Angleterre. Mais Philip Baxter vise haut : « les chanteurs sont choisis tout particulièrement pour leur aptitude à lire la musique : ce ne sont pas des débutants, il faut déjà un bon niveau et beaucoup de travail individuel pour se permettre de ne se réunir qu’une fois par mois ». Le répertoire de prédilection des Dukes’s singers sera la musique sacrée de la Renaissance. « Il y a un très bon répertoire, très riche…. nous chanterons surtout dans les églises, c’est donc approprié » précise-t-il. Parmi ses projets, Philip Baxter aimerait : « chanter dans la liturgie de l’église, pendant la messe ou les vêpres… chanter la messe de Guillaume de Machaut à Machaut, son village natal, près de Reims….. ou chanter Palestrina à Palestrina , le village natal de Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, près de Rome ».
En attendant, les fêtes de Noël approchant, les Duke’s Singers donneront un premier concert le dimanche 1er décembre à 16 h 30 dans l’église de Blauzac, avec au programme des musiques sacrées de l’Avent et de Noël en français, anglais, allemand et latin. Deux autres concerts sont prévus, le 16 février pour célébrer l’Epiphanie et le 13 avril pour le dimanche des Rameaux.
Contact : 04 66 37 40 47.
Une nouvelle association a vu le jour à Uzès : Les Duke’s Singers, un
chœur européen de douze chanteurs : anglais, belges, allemands,
hollandais, français.
Philip Baxter en est le président et chef de chœur. Diplômé du
Conservatoire national de musique de Londres, il est maître de
conférence à l’Université d’Oxford, où il enseigne la musique médiévale.
Il est venu s’installer en France il y a six ans, d’abord à
Saint-Gilles, où il fut, pendant cinq ans, organiste de l’abbatiale et
chef de chœur de l’ensemble vocal de Lunel La Chorale franglaise. Depuis
un an, il est installé en Uzège à Sainte-Anastasie.L’été dernier, alors qu’il assistait au concert donné par les King’s Singers, dans le cadre des Nuits musicales d’Uzès, l’idée lui est venue, et il s’est dit : « Pourquoi pas les Duke’s Singers à Uzès » ? Une vraie gageure quand on connaît le haut niveau de qualité proposé par ce chœur devenu une véritable institution en Angleterre. Mais Philip Baxter vise haut : « les chanteurs sont choisis tout particulièrement pour leur aptitude à lire la musique : ce ne sont pas des débutants, il faut déjà un bon niveau et beaucoup de travail individuel pour se permettre de ne se réunir qu’une fois par mois ». Le répertoire de prédilection des Dukes’s singers sera la musique sacrée de la Renaissance. « Il y a un très bon répertoire, très riche…. nous chanterons surtout dans les églises, c’est donc approprié » précise-t-il. Parmi ses projets, Philip Baxter aimerait : « chanter dans la liturgie de l’église, pendant la messe ou les vêpres… chanter la messe de Guillaume de Machaut à Machaut, son village natal, près de Reims….. ou chanter Palestrina à Palestrina , le village natal de Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, près de Rome ».
En attendant, les fêtes de Noël approchant, les Duke’s Singers donneront un premier concert le dimanche 1er décembre à 16 h 30 dans l’église de Blauzac, avec au programme des musiques sacrées de l’Avent et de Noël en français, anglais, allemand et latin. Deux autres concerts sont prévus, le 16 février pour célébrer l’Epiphanie et le 13 avril pour le dimanche des Rameaux.
Contact : 04 66 37 40 47.
Tuesday 19 November 2013
Katharine: November Cook&Eat
A delicious meal with a Moroccan theme this month -
Yet another happy occasion, on a bright day - thanks to Caroline
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| Lots of chopping and prep work .... |
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| Peggy R, Robyn, Caroline and Patricia |
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| Debra and Sharon |
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| Sue, Anne and Viv ..... chopping, chopping ...... |
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| ..... to make 3 delicious salads: Moroccan chickpea and mint salad and Moroccan cooked carrot salad .... |
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| .... and Zaalouk (eggplant & tomato salad) |
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| Many hands DID make light work |
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| Lamb and Prune Tajine with Almonds |
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| Dessert: Orange and Date Salad, served with Moroccan pastries and mint tea |
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| Sorry to bid farewell to Patricia and Viv for a few months - we won't see them until the spring. We'll miss you! And Anne will be out of commission for a bit after the New Year. |
Monday 18 November 2013
Katharine: President John F Kennedy
Editor: there is, and will be, no shortage of media space devoted to the death
of President Kennedy 50 years ago, on November 22nd 1963. The following
article from the Huffington Post documents a new project launched by
the JFK Library and Museum in Boston.
JFK Memories: Website Asks People To Share Stories Of John F. Kennedy's Legacy
By CARA RUBINSKY
11/18/13 06:17 AM ET EST 
The website is part of the JFK Library and Museum's commemoration of the 50th anniversary of JFK's death, which is Friday. The museum also plans a new exhibit of never-before-displayed items from his three-day state funeral, including the flag that draped his casket and notes written by first lady Jacqueline Kennedy.
Visitors to the "An Idea Lives On" site can explore an interactive video that includes NASA Commander Chris Cassidy, former Massachusetts Gov. Michael Dukakis, comedian Conan O'Brien, Freedom Rider Charles Person and others talking about Kennedy's lasting impact.
The Kennedy Library Foundation, a nonprofit that raises money to support the library, is spearheading the project. The foundation hopes visitors will upload their own photos, videos, written messages and tweets to answer the question "How do the ideals of John F. Kennedy live on in your life today?"
"It's ambitious," said Tom McNaught, the foundation's executive director. "He was an ambitious president. In a way that's how we see this. You can't stop trying to instill in young people the ideas he instilled in my generation."
All submissions will become part of the archives at the JFK Library in Boston. The best stories will be featured on the site.
"The stories are meant to be really personal," said Brian Williams, vice president and creative director of The Martin Agency, which produced the site.
The site's name comes from a quote in a speech Kennedy gave in February 1963: "A man may die, nations may rise and fall, but an idea lives on." It's also inscribed on the wall visitors to the library see when they exit the small area of the museum that focuses on his assassination and walk into a brighter area where they can learn about his lasting impact on civil rights, public service, civic discourse, the arts, space exploration and more.
"President Kennedy stood for vitality and optimism and hope, so we've made a conscious decision to try to have the experience be uplifting," said Tom Putnam, the library's executive director.
In addition to the website, a new exhibit starts Friday that will include the flag from his casket and the saddle, boots and sword worn by the riderless horse that walked in the funeral procession. Visitors will also see notes written by Jackie Kennedy as she made plans for her husband's funeral and a 15-minute video with footage from the events.
Curator Stacey Bredhoff hopes it will help visitors who were not alive or too young to remember comprehend the enormity of the shock and the mourning that followed.
Also Friday, the library will host a musical tribute featuring Paul Winter, who performed at the White House with his jazz sextet during Kennedy's presidency, along with a U.S. Navy choir and James Taylor. Between songs, notable guests including Gov. Deval Patrick will read quotes from Kennedy's speeches. The event is not open to the public, but it will be streamed live on the library's website. It will include a moment of silence at the time Kennedy was killed.
Members of the Kennedy family will not attend and instead will observe the anniversary privately at home.
"We want our tone to be respectful and we want it to have a certain reverence, but we also want it to be hopeful and end on this notion of what JFK stood for," Putnam said.
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