When wandering uphill yesterday to meet a friend, the Place de la Croix Rousse came into view as well as not just one but two churros vans. My heart sank to my feet. 'But the fair's not due for another month!!' I protested to myself.
Fortunately closer examination showed that it was not the fair but the annual Braderie. This is a mixture of fun and frustration. The second weekend in September the main streets of Croix Rousse are closed off (and the carparks) and stalls are set up selling wares and goods of all descriptions. Also certain areas are turn into giant junk sales aka the Vide-Brocante (The garage sale concept wouldn't work in Lyon as all the garages are underground, and as for a carboot sale - there isn't the space.) People come from all over Lyon as well as the locals who - let's be honest, can't really avoid it. It is quite a party atmosphere.
A walk along the Grande Rue and you pass stalls selling clothes, costume jewelry, cheese & saussison, make up, soaps and lotions, Asian tie dye, baby clothes, handbags, posters, wonder mops (as seen on TV) as well as numerous devices designed to make food preparation easier and prettier - each one with a young man chatting into a microphone while slicing and dicing cucumbers, tomatoes etc, all the while knowing that the product they are selling will be used a couple of times before ending up in the back of the cupboard.
The Braderie is great fun if you have the time to drift along slowly and poke your nose into the stalls as you go past and chatter with your mates, collect leaflets from touts etc. Even better if you can install yourself a table at the pavement cafe and watch it all drift by you while you sip at an apero. It is a nightmare if you just want to 'pop' into somewhere to get something, as the crowds are huge and slow moving. It is also a nightmare to park, as the friend I was meeting found out.
However we did manage to find a table, consume a drink or two as well as chat with various friends and neighbours who walked past. The sun was shining, there was a slight breeze - it was perfect weather and a lovely way to spend the late afternoon. That was until I remembered I had to pop into Carrefour for the missing ingredients for the evening meal!
Sunday, 12 September 2010
Sunday, 5 September 2010
Food, glorious food...
Lyon is known as the gastronomical capital of France and famed far and wide for it's restaurants etc. Though this fact seems to have bypassed the cook at work and the pasta and rice are regularly overcooked.
What I have also noticed is how much my eating habits have changed over the last couple of years. Little changes taken one step at a time, that you don't really notice happening.
I saw some photos of my friend's holiday in the USA and the food portions were enormous!! Even in the UK they are bigger than in France. I now find myself eating smaller amounts of good quality food.
Also the food is far more seasonal here. OK, my regular supermarket is the street market where local farmers sell their produce, so therefore it is easy to do. The soft fruit glut is nearing an end - as demonstrated by the arrival of the Miribel plums and the autumn vegetables are beginning to make an appearance.
You never really see anyone snacking in France and I would now never dream of eating as I walked along the street. You can buy Mars Bars and Kitkats etc in the Tabacs but it is a minute display compared to the rows of sweets that are available in a UK newsagent, so minute in fact, you really have to look for them. Last time I was back in the UK, I was blown away by the choice and variety of different chocolate bars and how much space they took up in the shop. Also, here you can buy crisps etc in the supermarkets but not in the Tabacs, they are definitely eaten as an accompaniment with an apero and not as snack as you are waiting for the bus.
My taste for chocolate has now changed and I prefer darker and more bitter types, whereas before I was a Cadburys girl and I now find that too sweet. I did have great fun introducing the girls at work to chilli chocolate, which I think is a fantastic combination and occasionally available here.
Don't get me wrong, not everything about French food is great. It can be very bland at times and though a lot of herbs are used, not many spices are. As a nation they are quite wary of 'Foreign' food and tend to stick with what they know. This is changing in the larger cities and things like Sushi are making more of an appearance. It is still difficult to get a good curry. Friends of mine like to get on first name terms with the local curry houses so that the chefs will make the food more spicy and hotter.
Unfortunately this new style of eating has not made much of an impact on my waistline because there is a nemesis to the healthy, seasonal, smaller portion society. It's called cheese and the French do cheese incredibly well.
What I have also noticed is how much my eating habits have changed over the last couple of years. Little changes taken one step at a time, that you don't really notice happening.
I saw some photos of my friend's holiday in the USA and the food portions were enormous!! Even in the UK they are bigger than in France. I now find myself eating smaller amounts of good quality food.
Also the food is far more seasonal here. OK, my regular supermarket is the street market where local farmers sell their produce, so therefore it is easy to do. The soft fruit glut is nearing an end - as demonstrated by the arrival of the Miribel plums and the autumn vegetables are beginning to make an appearance.
You never really see anyone snacking in France and I would now never dream of eating as I walked along the street. You can buy Mars Bars and Kitkats etc in the Tabacs but it is a minute display compared to the rows of sweets that are available in a UK newsagent, so minute in fact, you really have to look for them. Last time I was back in the UK, I was blown away by the choice and variety of different chocolate bars and how much space they took up in the shop. Also, here you can buy crisps etc in the supermarkets but not in the Tabacs, they are definitely eaten as an accompaniment with an apero and not as snack as you are waiting for the bus.
My taste for chocolate has now changed and I prefer darker and more bitter types, whereas before I was a Cadburys girl and I now find that too sweet. I did have great fun introducing the girls at work to chilli chocolate, which I think is a fantastic combination and occasionally available here.
Don't get me wrong, not everything about French food is great. It can be very bland at times and though a lot of herbs are used, not many spices are. As a nation they are quite wary of 'Foreign' food and tend to stick with what they know. This is changing in the larger cities and things like Sushi are making more of an appearance. It is still difficult to get a good curry. Friends of mine like to get on first name terms with the local curry houses so that the chefs will make the food more spicy and hotter.
Unfortunately this new style of eating has not made much of an impact on my waistline because there is a nemesis to the healthy, seasonal, smaller portion society. It's called cheese and the French do cheese incredibly well.
Monday, 30 August 2010
Hog Roast
On Saturday we were invited out to the lovely countryside of the Beaujolais region (the 'nouveau' wine may be bad but the area is stunningly beautiful)for a Hog Roast - Ozzie/French style.
Our hosts were celebrating their marriage with barbecue to end all barbecues, well he is Australian. It was a very bilingual occasion and great fun. They have a house in the area which they inherited from her grandparents and is actually an old saw mill and the buildings that go with it. It was last used in the 60's and the wooden sheds have disappeared but a couple of the buildings remain. The local planning permission is that you can build on the footprints of existing buildings, so they are camping out in one, while restoring the other into what will be a stunning weekend place (incidentally about 3 times the size of their town flat.)
So back to the hog roast. A spit was made using an old washing machine engine and some Heath Robinson like additions and, of course, half an oil drum. Several trees were chopped down (OK - they had to go anyway) a pig, a sheep and 3 kegs of beer were ordered, their friends were invited and fingers and toes were crossed for good weather.
Us guests arrived clutching bowls of salad, bottles of wine and two sacks of bread, and proceeded to start on the alcohol. You will be pleased to know that it was mainly the men who hovered around the spit and debated how hot the fire was, adding more logs, basting the meat etc, while mainly women sat around the table and debated how men were the same the world over - give them a fire and leave them to it. The children were running around playing football, petanque or pirates and trying to skim stones across the river - awe inspired by the finely honed skills of my friend and her childhood spent by the sea in Ireland.
It was one of those great evenings when you catch up with old friends and meet new ones. I was also formally introduced to the boulanger who bakes the bread for the Creche I work in. It was one of those 'I know you but I don't know where from' moments but then the two sacks of baguettes were a big clue. Small world!
The weather held out, the food was eaten, the drinks were drunk, no children drowned and several hours later I went home, rather unsober and smelling of woodsmoke!
By the way, even though we were missing mint sauce and apple sauce, the pig and the sheep were done to perfection. Yum yum.
Our hosts were celebrating their marriage with barbecue to end all barbecues, well he is Australian. It was a very bilingual occasion and great fun. They have a house in the area which they inherited from her grandparents and is actually an old saw mill and the buildings that go with it. It was last used in the 60's and the wooden sheds have disappeared but a couple of the buildings remain. The local planning permission is that you can build on the footprints of existing buildings, so they are camping out in one, while restoring the other into what will be a stunning weekend place (incidentally about 3 times the size of their town flat.)
So back to the hog roast. A spit was made using an old washing machine engine and some Heath Robinson like additions and, of course, half an oil drum. Several trees were chopped down (OK - they had to go anyway) a pig, a sheep and 3 kegs of beer were ordered, their friends were invited and fingers and toes were crossed for good weather.
Us guests arrived clutching bowls of salad, bottles of wine and two sacks of bread, and proceeded to start on the alcohol. You will be pleased to know that it was mainly the men who hovered around the spit and debated how hot the fire was, adding more logs, basting the meat etc, while mainly women sat around the table and debated how men were the same the world over - give them a fire and leave them to it. The children were running around playing football, petanque or pirates and trying to skim stones across the river - awe inspired by the finely honed skills of my friend and her childhood spent by the sea in Ireland.
It was one of those great evenings when you catch up with old friends and meet new ones. I was also formally introduced to the boulanger who bakes the bread for the Creche I work in. It was one of those 'I know you but I don't know where from' moments but then the two sacks of baguettes were a big clue. Small world!
The weather held out, the food was eaten, the drinks were drunk, no children drowned and several hours later I went home, rather unsober and smelling of woodsmoke!
By the way, even though we were missing mint sauce and apple sauce, the pig and the sheep were done to perfection. Yum yum.
Tuesday, 24 August 2010
Swimming
I quite enjoy swimming, but don't seem to do as much of it as I would like. One of the joys of living in a (slightly) warmer climate is that it is more tempting to go swimming and Lyon is blessed with a plethora of pools (quite a few are olympic size ones as well) but they all seem to have different and weird opening times - especially in term times when there is school swimming and hour long staff lunch breaks to take into account.
Several of the pools close in the summer, I suppose it must be too hot to go swimming and several close in the winter - 'Ah, it's -5c outside, time for a refreshing dip.' Having been so dismissive, there is a method in the madness in that the ones that close in the summer are the indoor pools and instead the city opens up the outdoor pools. There is something lovely about swimming in the open air as it automatically makes you think that you are on holiday, even if you are only putting in a few laps on the way home from work. Unfortunately for someone as unmotivated as me, the open air pools are quite a trek from my house, where as my local indoor pool is within walking distance.
Also in France and most other countries in Europe, there is a lot more freshwater swimming than in the UK. This makes sense, the UK is an island and a hot summer's day means a queue in a traffic jam down to the coast. Imagine trying to do that in a country as large as France. Consequently we don't really do lake and river swimming the way the Europeans do it. There is a large lake outside of Lyon, that is packed every summer weekend with families having picnics and barbeques. We also have several rivers in the area and there are plenty of places within an hour or so's drive that are safe and clean for swimming. (But they don't have fish & chip shops, rock and kiss me quick hats either) The other weekend I was swimming in the Rhone - anyone fancy going for a swim in the Thames? Doesn't quite bring up the same image, does it.
Then there is something even better than outdoor municipal pools or lake/river swimming. It is the friends who have their own pool in the back garden. I was fortunate enough to be invited to afternoon at one of these on Saturday. It was heaven, a quiet pool, lounging around in the sun, drinks available, catching up on the gossip. What more could a girl want?
Oh, a pool of my own!!
Several of the pools close in the summer, I suppose it must be too hot to go swimming and several close in the winter - 'Ah, it's -5c outside, time for a refreshing dip.' Having been so dismissive, there is a method in the madness in that the ones that close in the summer are the indoor pools and instead the city opens up the outdoor pools. There is something lovely about swimming in the open air as it automatically makes you think that you are on holiday, even if you are only putting in a few laps on the way home from work. Unfortunately for someone as unmotivated as me, the open air pools are quite a trek from my house, where as my local indoor pool is within walking distance.
Also in France and most other countries in Europe, there is a lot more freshwater swimming than in the UK. This makes sense, the UK is an island and a hot summer's day means a queue in a traffic jam down to the coast. Imagine trying to do that in a country as large as France. Consequently we don't really do lake and river swimming the way the Europeans do it. There is a large lake outside of Lyon, that is packed every summer weekend with families having picnics and barbeques. We also have several rivers in the area and there are plenty of places within an hour or so's drive that are safe and clean for swimming. (But they don't have fish & chip shops, rock and kiss me quick hats either) The other weekend I was swimming in the Rhone - anyone fancy going for a swim in the Thames? Doesn't quite bring up the same image, does it.
Then there is something even better than outdoor municipal pools or lake/river swimming. It is the friends who have their own pool in the back garden. I was fortunate enough to be invited to afternoon at one of these on Saturday. It was heaven, a quiet pool, lounging around in the sun, drinks available, catching up on the gossip. What more could a girl want?
Oh, a pool of my own!!
Tuesday, 17 August 2010
How hot is too hot?
When walking down the Grand Rue this afternoon, I overheard two women greeting each other and then straight away complain about the heat. If it hadn't have been for the fact that the conversation was in French, I would have thought myself back in my local High Street in South London.
However it does lead to the interesting debate about how hot is too hot. Yes, in the UK as soon as the thermometer hits over 20, everyone starts fanning themselves and complaining about how hot it is. Here in the (nearly) south of France, where the thermometer regularly hits the high 20s and above, you would expect more resilience amongst the population.
Today was a pleasant 27c - or so the flashing green sign outside the chemist informed me. Tomorrow will be the same - according the radio station playing in the background while I was in the shoe shop (It also pointed out that there is a traffic jam on the A7, along the Rhone, so you may want to avoid that area for the next couple of hours.) This sort of temperature is fine by me, though I do have to say that when walking up the hill, the shady side of the street is preferable to the sunny side. I find it a tad hot when it starts hitting the low 30s and when it hits the high 30s and above is when you will find me lying in a shaded room, with a damp cloth on my forehead and moaning like hell.
I feel I am acclimatizing well and as I said,the other day refused to go swimming as it was only 25c - I mean it was an outside pool!!!! Do you want me to freeze???
I still have a way to go though as several years ago, when working in Hong Kong, I realized I was sitting in the park, wearing a cardigan and it was 32c....
However it does lead to the interesting debate about how hot is too hot. Yes, in the UK as soon as the thermometer hits over 20, everyone starts fanning themselves and complaining about how hot it is. Here in the (nearly) south of France, where the thermometer regularly hits the high 20s and above, you would expect more resilience amongst the population.
Today was a pleasant 27c - or so the flashing green sign outside the chemist informed me. Tomorrow will be the same - according the radio station playing in the background while I was in the shoe shop (It also pointed out that there is a traffic jam on the A7, along the Rhone, so you may want to avoid that area for the next couple of hours.) This sort of temperature is fine by me, though I do have to say that when walking up the hill, the shady side of the street is preferable to the sunny side. I find it a tad hot when it starts hitting the low 30s and when it hits the high 30s and above is when you will find me lying in a shaded room, with a damp cloth on my forehead and moaning like hell.
I feel I am acclimatizing well and as I said,the other day refused to go swimming as it was only 25c - I mean it was an outside pool!!!! Do you want me to freeze???
I still have a way to go though as several years ago, when working in Hong Kong, I realized I was sitting in the park, wearing a cardigan and it was 32c....
Wednesday, 11 August 2010
"C'est pas ouis, c'est oui."
For reasons that I haven't gone into and probably won't, I came out to France not speaking much more French than Bonjour. It seemed like a good idea at the time....
I have learnt quite a bit since then and am at that stage where I can understand a lot of what is going on around me but by the time I have formulated what I wanted to say to contribute to the conversation about giving up smoking, everyone has moved onto a different topic and is now discussing the merits of the cotes de rhone 06 over the bordeaux 08. It's wine, drink it!!!
The first French I learnt was market French, we have an amazing street market in Croix Rousse, it really is a gastronomical marvel. I know everyone will get defensive over their particular local markets but the sheer size and breadth of this one has to be seen to be believed. Through listening to other customers, I have learnt to ask for specific weights and measures of different items.
I then signed up for an intensive French course at a local language school and did 10 hours a week for two months. I took in a lot but as I was not using this on a daily basis it didn't become a habit to use. (At the time I was a nanny for an English family)
I then made the easy decision to stay in France and found a job in a bilingual creche. Easy peasy - I am a qualified childcarer and was being employed to speak English to the children. However it has been the place where I have learnt most French and I would like to give a big thanks to the French staff who have patiently listened while I got my tenses muddled up and done their best to understand my accent (which they are now quite complementary off)I still have a way to go, but these girls have given me the confidence to go out into the big wide world and use my beginners French. It is thanks to them that I was able to hold a long conversation in the chemists today about why a particular medicine wasn't working for me.
My other teachers have been the children, a lot of them come from bilingual households and, because we are in France their first language is French. Through them I have seen the way they learn a language more clearly and have been able to apply this to how I learn. Believe me it is so much easier than learning verb tables. I often use expressions were I don't know the literal translation but do know the context and spend hours looking up words in the dictionary and eventually realizing it is two words strung together or spelt differently than I imagined.
I am dyslexic and am now only realizing that it is possible to learn another language when I had struggled at school because teachers were more obsessed about spelling than working out whether I had understood the process or the concept being taught. I now know so much about words and their entomology and how they work together, it is truly an enriching experience, though I am still a long way off playing scrabble for 'fun'.
However, having said all that, it is still, quite hard to take a two and a half year old correcting you for saying 'Ouais' (Yeah) instead of 'Oui' (Yes).
I have learnt quite a bit since then and am at that stage where I can understand a lot of what is going on around me but by the time I have formulated what I wanted to say to contribute to the conversation about giving up smoking, everyone has moved onto a different topic and is now discussing the merits of the cotes de rhone 06 over the bordeaux 08. It's wine, drink it!!!
The first French I learnt was market French, we have an amazing street market in Croix Rousse, it really is a gastronomical marvel. I know everyone will get defensive over their particular local markets but the sheer size and breadth of this one has to be seen to be believed. Through listening to other customers, I have learnt to ask for specific weights and measures of different items.
I then signed up for an intensive French course at a local language school and did 10 hours a week for two months. I took in a lot but as I was not using this on a daily basis it didn't become a habit to use. (At the time I was a nanny for an English family)
I then made the easy decision to stay in France and found a job in a bilingual creche. Easy peasy - I am a qualified childcarer and was being employed to speak English to the children. However it has been the place where I have learnt most French and I would like to give a big thanks to the French staff who have patiently listened while I got my tenses muddled up and done their best to understand my accent (which they are now quite complementary off)I still have a way to go, but these girls have given me the confidence to go out into the big wide world and use my beginners French. It is thanks to them that I was able to hold a long conversation in the chemists today about why a particular medicine wasn't working for me.
My other teachers have been the children, a lot of them come from bilingual households and, because we are in France their first language is French. Through them I have seen the way they learn a language more clearly and have been able to apply this to how I learn. Believe me it is so much easier than learning verb tables. I often use expressions were I don't know the literal translation but do know the context and spend hours looking up words in the dictionary and eventually realizing it is two words strung together or spelt differently than I imagined.
I am dyslexic and am now only realizing that it is possible to learn another language when I had struggled at school because teachers were more obsessed about spelling than working out whether I had understood the process or the concept being taught. I now know so much about words and their entomology and how they work together, it is truly an enriching experience, though I am still a long way off playing scrabble for 'fun'.
However, having said all that, it is still, quite hard to take a two and a half year old correcting you for saying 'Ouais' (Yeah) instead of 'Oui' (Yes).
Sunday, 8 August 2010
Summer musings
Time to play 'Spot the Tourist.' However, no points are awarded if they are carrying a Michelin guide vert.
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