Cultivate your French : Slow French, at the right pace.

CYF 087 — mercredi 18 août 2021 — Au marché de Dieppe

You are listening to Cultivate Your French podcast One Slow French episode every week. 
My name is Laetitia, I’m French, I live just outside Paris and I share with you a small slice of my daily life here in France. 
All the information about the transcript,notes and photos is available at www.cultivateyourfrench.com

Last week-end, the weather was beautiful and I felt the urge to go to Dieppe’s market to buy some good things to eat and spend a nice day by the sea. The five of us woke up early, took a quick breakfast and took our place into the car. 

But before telling you more about this, here is the answer to the riddle. 
We were looking for a person, someone who was very serious and dark, but with an intense expression. Probably a woman. Someone who I mentioned in a previous podcast who became owner of a place by the river Cher. Ah, the place could be the Château de Chenonceau. Then, Diane de Poitiers or Catherine de Medicis? Well, Catherine de Medicis painted by François Clouet in her dark clothes. The painting is taking you by surprise on a narrow wall when you turn to enter a small corridor in one the of the Carnavalet’ rooms. No, she’s not smilling, not even looking at us, but I think there is a kind of pride in her face. Don’t you think?

CYF 086 — mercredi 11 août 2021 — Devinette au musée Carnavalet

My daughters, Micaela, Felicia and I are recording this episode in Paris. We are at the Musée Carnavalet for a visit. Have you ever heard of this Museum? It’s the museum of the History of Paris. it belongs to the city of Paris and it’s free to visit. It has a wonderful collection of paintings and objects from the very old times of Paris to nowadays. 
It’s located in the heart of the Marais in two hôtels particiuliers. One of them belonged to the famous writer of letters,  Madame de Sévigné. 
I have been to this museum several times before its renovation. It reopened in May 2021, we are very happy to visit it today. 
Today’s text is a riddle. Yes, you have to find something that can be seen in the Musée de Carnavalet. 
You can send me your answer to the riddle by Instagram, by email or by SpeakPipe.
https://www.speakpipe.com/OneThingInAFrenchDay

 

My name is Laetitia, I’m French, I live just outside Paris and I share with you a small slice of my daily life here in France. I have. 
All the information about the transcript,notes and photos is available at www.cultivateyourfrench.com

 

CYF 085 — mercredi 4 août 2021 — Randonnée aux Rousses

Last week,  on Thursday, the weather was perfect for a day trip to Les Rousses, the largest ski resort of the Jura. Have you ever heard of the Jura? This region is situated above the Alps, going North. It gave its name to the Jurassic period. It was a tropical region a long long time ago, with palm trees and warm seas. This is where we are spending our holidays. We love this region. Maybe have you heard of its famous cheeses : Comté, Morbier, bleu de Gex? Well, you might hear some cows in this episode! 
As I did last week, I record this episode in the garden of the house we’ve rented for two weeks. I hope it won’t rain. 

My name is Laetitia, I’m French, I live just outside Paris and I share with you a small slice of my daily life here in France. I have also been running the podcast One Thing In A French Day since 2006
All the information about the transcripts, notes and photos is available at www.cultivateyourfrench.com

 

CYF 084 — mercredi 28 juillet 2021 — La suite des vacances : après le concert à Pontlevoy, direction le Jura

Since last week, we are on holidays and the podcast takes you with us. I’m recording this episode in the garden of our new home for two weeks. 
Our holidays started in the Loire Valley where we had a walk in the the gardens of the castle of Chenonceau by night. This is what I told you last week. A few days later, we came back to Chenonceau to visit both the castle, where every room is outstanding, and the gardens .  Our week in the Loire Valley ended with the visit of the castle of Montpoupon. A Renaissance castle where the owners (since 300 years) are still living. We loved it because the rooms are largely decorated with many objects of everyday life from the 16th century to the early 20th century. By the end of the week, it was time to go to Felicia’s concert in Pontlevoy where she was staying for a baroque music camp. 

 

My name is Laetitia, I’m French, I live just outside Paris and I share with you a small slice of my daily life here in France. I have also been running the podcast One Thing In A French Day since 2006
All the information about the transcripts, notes and photos is available at www.cultivateyourfrench.com

CYF 083 — Promenade nocturne au château de Chenonceau

We are on holidays! And I’m happy to share a few moments with you. I’m recording this episode in the garden of the house we’ve rented. This week we are in the Loire Valley region. I was dreaming to go back to Chenonceau, one the beautiful Loire Valley castles, since 2013. Chenonceau is a small Renaissance castle mainly built in the sixteenth century that the king Henri II offered to his very good friend Diane de Poitiers. When he died, his wife Catherine de Medicis took it back for herself and managed France from there. Mary Stuart was married to one of his son, Henri III and also lived in Chenonceau. This place is full of history! Micaela was surprised because she’s reading La princesse de Clèves written in the 17th century by Madame de La Fayette. The story takes places at Henri II’s court and Diane de Poitiers, Catherine de Medicis are part of the story. I’ve seen in the Castle shop that there is an English version of this book published by Penguin Books. Have you read it?

My name is Laetitia, I’m French, I live just outside Paris and I share with you a small slice of my daily life here in France. I have also been running the podcast One Thing In A French Day since 2006
All the information about the transcripts, notes and photos is available at www.cultivateyourfrench.com

 

CYF 082 — mercredi 14 juillet 2021 — La Tour Eiffel

These few weeks in Paris before going back to school were very intense. I felt an urge to visit as many places as we could. We visited Le Louvre, we went to La Sainte-Chapelle as Claire told us that it was wonderful to see the light through the stained glass windows, we visited the Musée Bourdelle (a very nice place for a calm moment in Paris) and one morning I suggested that we could go to the Tour Eiffel. The girls were a little bit tired of this Paris craziness, but Alice, Lisa’s friend who was we us for the day, was on my side.
Be ready for an escape, today’s episode takes you to the Tour Eiffel!

My name is Laetitia, I’m French, I live just outside Paris and I share with you a small slice of my daily life here in France. I have also been running the podcast One Thing In A French Day since 2006
All the information about the transcripts, notes and photos is available at www.cultivateyourfrench.com

 

CYF 081 — mercredi 7 juillet 2021 — Dans le train du retour

Last saturday, I went to Paris with Micaela. She was invited to her best friend’s end of the year music exam, Anna. Anna was playing piano and singing. The audition took place in the cité internationale universitaire in the 14th arrondissement. The cité was built in the 1920s to accomodate foreign students. It’s a lovely place with big buildings. I left Micaela, I went to Saint-Michel for a walk and came back home. The train I took was crouded because there are works on the line and fewer trains. Near to me, two young women were talking very loud. I couldn’t do anything else than listen to them. 
What were they talking about ? This what you are going to hear in this episode. I promise I will try not to talk as loud as them. 

 

My name is Laetitia, I’m French, I live just outside Paris and I share with you a small slice of my daily life here in France. I have also been running the podcast One Thing In A French Day since 2006
All the information about the transcripts, notes and photos is available at www.cultivateyourfrench.com

 

CYF 080 — 50 gâteaux de grands pâtissiers qu’il faut avoir goûté une fois dans sa vie, rencontre avec Hélène Luzin

Maybe you need a reason to go to Dehillerin and maybe you could find this reason in Hélène Luzin’s latest book : 50 gâteaux de grands pâtissiers qu’il faut avoir goûté une fois dans sa vie.
Nathalie Iris, the bookseller at La Garenne-Colombes, invited Hélène Luzin for a signing session. When I read the news, I went to buy a copy at the bookshop. The book is very clever. Each chef pâtissiers gives the recipe of it’s best cake, but there is also an interview with the chef. This is the part that I find very interesting because it gives you the story of each pâtissier and of his recipe, it tells you about his personality and it’s easy to read. 
At the end of the book, there are two pages to collect the signature of each chef. 
Nicolas Bernardé is a Meilleur Ouvrier de France and his shop is very close to Nathalie’s bookshop. He is also in Hélène Luzin’s book for his famous « Gâteau du samedi ». So the day Hélène Luzin was invited, he came to the bookshop and offered us some chocolates. 
In this episode, you are going to hear Hélène Luzin talking about what she enjoyed when she wrote the book. 

My name is Laetitia, I’m French, I live just outside Paris and I share with you a small slice of my daily life here in France. I have also been running the podcast One Thing In A French Day since 2006.

All the information about the transcripts, notes and photos is available at www.cultivateyourfrench.com

CYF 079 — Mercredi 23 juin 2021 — Chez Dehillerin, un magasin de matériel de cuisine à Paris.

One sunny morning of June, Claire, the viola da gamba player, and I headed to Paris and went to Dehillerin. She thought that it would be nice for you, listeners, to discover this very unique shop in Paris.

The shop was founded two hundred years ago by Eugene Dehillerin and it provides cookware to professional cooks or to anyone who enjoys cooking. The shop is still in the family, Eric Dehillerin is now the manager and I had the opportunity to talk with him. The shop is in Les Halles neighbourhood because this is where, before 1970, that the restaurant owners would buy their fresh food at the central market, Les Halles, and their cookware . When the market of Les Halles moved to Rungis in the south of Paris, the Dehillerin family elected to stay in the centre of Paris.

The shop has its own website, but they intonially kept the old style wood racks so you might be a little bit confused : have you time travelled? 

In today’s episode you are going to hear a section of the recording with Eric Dehillerin. And in the notes available with the transcript, I give you some useful sentences to use in a shop. 

My name is Laetitia, I’m French, I live just outside Paris and I share with you a small slice of my daily life here in France. I have also been running the podcast One Thing In A French Day since 2006
All the information about the transcripts, notes and photos is available at www.cultivateyourfrench.com

 

CYF 078 — mercredi 16 juin 2021 — Acheter du pain ou des viennoiseries à la boulangerie Painâme

Last week, I read you some useful sentences when you arrive in France or in Paris. Today, is a special episode about buying some bread at the boulangerie. It has been recorded in a parisian bakery Painâme, in the 11th arrondissement, rue Oberkampf with Camila and Pierre, the charming owners. A big merci to them for taking the time do record this dialogue. 

In their bakery you will find very good bread of course, viennoiseries and some increadible sandwiches with home made mayonnaise, roasted mushrooms, caramelized onions and nicely baked bread. Do not hesitate to say hello if you come. Camila and Pierre will be very happy to take your order in French. 

My name is Laetitia, I’m French, I live just outside Paris and I share with you a small slice of my daily life here in France. I have also been running the podcast One Thing In A French Day since 2006

All the information about the transcripts, notes and photos is available at www.cultivateyourfrench.com