Travel another way

Valerie is the chef on our French Escapade tours. She has agreed to share one of her secret recipes, a dessert our guests love. Who  wouldn’t???

Ingredients: One cup of water / 1 cup of sugar / 1 big pear or 2 small ones /8 oz semi-sweet chocolate / whipped cream /a few strawberries or cherries

Steps: Peel and cut pears in halves. Scoop out the seed. 

To poach the pears, heat the water and sugar in a saucepan until the sugar has dissolved; bring it to a boil.

Add the pears and turn the heat to low. Let simmer for 30-40 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool off.

When pears are cool, melt chocolate in double boil saucepan. Dip pear halves in chocolate; use a wooden spoon to spread chocolate evenly.

Place pear in the center of a dessert plate and decorate with whipped cream,  cherries or strawberries and by dripping the remaining chocolate around the pear.  Bon appetit !

Her portray of Edith Piaf in La Vie en Rose (amusingly the “English” translation for the French title “La Môme”) was internationally acclaimed. I agreed she did an amazing job, even though I must admit she was overacting. Depecting the French singer as a drug-addict and an alcoholic was no exageration, but constantly playing her as a hysterical maniac was not reflecting the woman I saw in many different interviews.
However, the critics did not have too much time  to discuss whether she was deserving the award or not; a controversy came up right away about an interview she gave in February 2007, in which she expressed  her disbelief in the terrorist attacks of September 11. Of course, her lawyer is blaming the journalists for taking her comments out of context, but the interview was filmed and she couldn’t deny it.
Well ! We already knew  one can be an excellent actress, and yet a stupid person! The movie La Vie en Rose also received an award for Best Make Up, and the award for Best Live Action Short Movie was given to a French creation “Le Mozart des Pickpockets”.
Marion Cotillard is the third French actress to receive the Academy Award for Best Actress. The first was Claudette Colbert in 1934 for It happened one night, then it was Simone Signoret in 1959 for Room at the top. As for Juliette Binoche, she received an award for Best Supporting Actress in The English Patient in 1996; she was only nominated in 2000 for leading Actress in Chocolate.
My only regret is for Persepolis. I know Ratatouille was cute and so on… but Persepolis was such a deep, meaningful animated movie! I wish it would have got the award!!! But the real award always come from the audience. So if you have the opportunity, please watch Persepolis… in French, with the voices of Chiara Mastroiani and Catherine Deneuve!

Saturday, March 15 was the final game of the 6 Nation Tournament between France and Wales at the Millenium Stadium in Cardiff.

Wales was in the lead, for having won all of its games, while France was only in second place after its defeat against England. However, a French victory could have changed the deal. But the French needed to win by 20 points!

Not only it didn’t happen, but it gets even worse: France lost badly and will now rank in the third place!

The Welsh team played a great game and won 29 to 12. For the 10th time in its history, Wales is the big slam champion of the tournament. Bravo!

What a long race! It seems that the primaries are taking forever… Will there be any time left for the real campaign before the actual presidential election? Of course, you must be used to it, but to tell you the truth, it is the first time that American primaries have taken so much space in European media. Only Kennedy had generated such an interest as a candidate.
In Europe, polls (if they can be relied on!) seem to favor the Democrats, especially Barack Obama; it is ultimately visible in Great Britain where the “Obamamania” has developed in the whole country. We may regret that people focus on the personality of the candidates, instead of focusing on the issues and the programs.
Even though Europeans won’t have to choose between Obama, Clinton or McCain, it matters to them because American policies regarding world issues such as conflicts in the Middle East, global warming or the subprime loan crisis have affected them. Globalization is invading politics and everything in the world is now connected.
Indeed, some British elites wish they could take part in the election of the candidates. In the Daily Telegraph, Simon Heffer explains that being the States’ main ally, the British should have a vote to select this special partner they will be dealing with. How would you feel about that?

IWD has been observed for over a century. The USA was the first country to dedicate a special day to women on February 28, 1909.

So here is my top 12 selection of French women who deserve recognition.

I must start with Joan of Arc and I guess you do not need any introduction to this one. I would then jump right away to the French Revolution, and having mixed feelings about Marie Antoinette, I would rather praise Olympe de Gouges, who was the first French woman to fight for women’s rights.

A few decades later, George Sand (a female writer in spite of her name) was a real free woman. Her life was passionate and she collected lovers, from Frederic Chopin to Marie Dorval among many others. Colette was also a independent spirit whose love stories were as romantic as her books.

Even though Marie Curie was as Polish as French, I think she would not mind me mentioning her as a great French woman. During world War II, Lucie Aubrac was an impressive resisting woman ; her heroic actions turned her into a strong resistance figure. She passed away in 2007.

In the entertainment sphere, I would rather pass on Brigitte Bardot who has recently supported extreme right parties in France; my preference goes to great singers such as Edith Piaf , or to actresses like Simone Signoret, Catherine Deneuve and Juliette Binoche.

Even though she  despised “women in pants”, I can’t help  mentioning the woman who used to live in an elegant suite at the Ritz Hotel , place Vendome in Paris : the unforgettable Mademoiselle Coco Chanel!

Finally, here is a special thought for Ingrid Betancourt, the French-Colombian politician, who has been a hostage for 8 long years in the Colombian jungle. I keep my fingers crossed for her to be released soon.

Happy Woman’s Day to all of you!

On March 9 and 19, the French are to renew their mayor and local councillors in all  French municipalities (France has almost 37,000 cities, towns, villages…altogether). Voters are all French citizens and  residents issued from European Union countries over 18. Voting days are always held on Sundays. The mayor and his/her municipal councillors are elected for a six-year term by direct universal suffrage.

In small towns and villages, people do not always vote according to their political views, but see the candidate as a person, because they personally know him/her and his/her competence.  However, winning a major city is very inportant for political parties. Paris, for example,  has been run by  socialist mayor Bertrand Delanoe, for 6 years and right-wing leaders are dying to get his position.   His main opponent is Françoise de Panafieu from UMP, President Sarkozy’s conservative party.

This election will be regarded as a national political survey that will tell President Sarkozy if people are satisfied with his policy. Journalists and survey specialists are anticipating a severe defeat for his party but everybody knows that surveys can be wrong …