Tuesday, July 14, 2009

la Fête Nationale!

la liberté, l'égalité et la fraternité le quatorze juillet... Happy Bastile Day fellow Francofiles!!!

There is no other day that gives a better excuse to engage in French traditions than today. It is a time for those of you that have never been to France or have no French ancestry to pretend 'je suis Francaise' (a sort of French version of St Paddy's Day where EVERYONE is suddenly Irish?). And for those of us that have traveled to France and/or have French ancestry to reflect on the history, the culture and rejoice for their wonderful life-enhancing exports; art, fashion, music, films and of course...FOOD & WINE!

The French typically celebrate this day by dressing in their finest red white and blue attire, waving flags while attending a morning parade (the one that sashays down the Champs Elysees is by far the most popular), then drinking lots of champagne, eating bistro/cafe/picnic food while dancing in the streets and watching fireworks after sunset.

Yes, that IS a lot like our Independence Day celebrations, huh?

Amusez vous bien !

2 comments:

  1. I remembered Bastile Day, but neglected to plan a french meal. Hmmmm...I'm sure there is a very chic translation for the spaghetti alla carbonara that we had for dinner that night. ^-^

    Kelley I just saw your comment at the blog and stopped in to say that unfortunately, I am not aware of what would be the best ice cream/gelato machine purchase in the states. I got my Simac GC 5000 here, and I doubt that it's available in the US. I suppose the most helpful thing I could tell you is that having a built-in freezing mechanism makes the whole process easier and quicker. A little pricey (I think it was something like 240€), but well worth it if you have a lot of ice cream fans to feed!

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  2. Rowena, Thank you for the suggestion... I will try our local kitchen supply store and if no luck there - amazon.com may have it or something similar - WITH a built in freezing mechanism.

    And yes, I have 6 (or more depending on the day!) ice cream fans to feed...including myself, of course. ;-)

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