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

CYF 057 — mercredi 20 janvier 2021— La galette des rois présentée par Thomas Paris (boulangerie Montgolfière)

Dear listeners, I’m very happy to make this episode today.Last week, I had the opportunity to speak with the talented baker Thomas Paris at Boulangerie Montgolfière in the 17th arrondissement of Paris. He agreed to take time from his busy day to have a nice talk about the galette des rois, this wonderful cake that we eat in France to celebrate Epiphany. Thomas Paris explained me to me that to make a good a galette the first thing you need is a good puff pastry, une pâte feuilletée. To make one you need a good butter. Thomas Paris uses a butter from Charente Poitou its a butter with a flowery taste. The butter’s flavour is the common thread of the galette’s taste. He also uses a flour with no pesticides residues and that will allow the galette to keep its perfect circle shape. But there is another subtlety about his pâte feuilletée : it’s inverted puff pastry. Instead of putting the butter in the dough, it’s the dough that is put in the butter. Yes, very strange to imagine, but the butter used is a special one called « beurre manié », it contains flour. 
Thomas Paris told me about the impression that you get when you take the first bite of galette des rois made with this type of dough. Then, I asked him how long it takes to make a galette… do you have any idea? This is what you are going to hear in today’s episode. 

 

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 also run the podcast One Thing In A French Day since 2006
All the information about the transcripts, notes and photo is available at www.cultivateyourfrench.com

 

CYF 056 — mercredi 13 janvier 2021 — Les immeubles anciens de Bécon

The neighbourhood where we live is called « Bécon-les-Bruyères », it is situated at the intersection of three towns : Courbevoie, Asnières-sur-Seine and Bois-Colombes. 
The train station of Bécon-les-bruyères was opened to the public in 1891 and then buildings started to appear around the station, as it happened in all the Parisian suburbs at that time. Even though, they were mainly buildings with flats to let, each of them had it own style! They are often rather colourful because bricks were often used in this period. Architects used to play with the different colours or finish of enameled bricks to draw patterns on the façade. 
During the second lockdown, my friend Anne-Laure and I met every thursday for a walk in our neighbourhood.I had pulled out from my library the excellent book by Historian Pierre Mignot about Paris façades. We often started our walk at the station. Buildings from the same period can be so different. We also noticed the houses. It was important at that time to be close to the railway, close to modernity. There are a lot of very big and very nice houses near the railways. Each walk offered us some nice discoveries, this is what you are going to hear in today’s episode. 

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. I also run the podcast One Thing In A French Day since 2006
All the information about the transcripts, notes and photo is available at www.cultivateyourfrench.com

055 — mercredi 6 janvier 2020 — Le goût de kougelhopf

Dear listeners of Cultivate Your French, I wish you a belle et heureuse année 2021! I wish you health, a curious mind, a lot of happiness and of course a lot of French in your life!

I received as a Christmas present from my parents a kougelhopf baking tin. I really enjoy this enriched bread typical of the East of France (and other countries of Central Europe) because I ate some when I was a child. It had such a wonderful taste, the taste of kougelhopf. 
During the holidays, I started to bake some and it has become Micaela and Felicia’s favourite breakfast. I baked two pieces at the same time and I kept them in a large metal tin. 
Did my kougelhopf had that special taste? This is what you are going to hear in today’s episode. 

 

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 also run the podcast One Thing In A French Day since 2006
All the information about the transcripts, notes and photo is available at www.cultivateyourfrench.com

 

 

054 — Lundi 21 décembre 2020 — Un petit conte de Noël

Saturday afternoon, Micaela and Pietro came back from their Panettone search with two nice traditional panettones. They also took our artificial Christmas tree that had been expecting us since last January in the cellar. 
Felicia and Lisa were so happy to, « enfin », decorate the Christmas tree. It’s a tradition in our family to decorate the Christmas tree after Felicia’s birthday. 
Maybe, we waited a little too long this year. The week had been very busy. 
The girls took the different parts of the the tree out of the box and Micaela started to assemble them. 
But something was going wrong. The branches would not stand as they should, they kept going down. I suggested that maybe it had been assembled the wrong way, but it hadn’t been, so we asked Pietro for help. 
This is the Petit Conte de Noël that you are going to hear in today’s episode. 
Have wonderful  « fêtes de fin d’année »! Cultivate Your French will be back on January the 6th. 

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

 

053 — mercredi 16 décembre 2020 — Le Paris-Brest de Felicia

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

Last Sunday, it was Felicia’s birthday. We had planned to see my parents and I had ordered a Paris-Brest at Stéphane Glacier’s pâtisserie. Stéphane Glacier is a MOF, Meilleur Ouvrier de France.

The Paris-Brest is a cake that was created at the end of the 19th century by a pâtissier from Normandy to celebrate the cycle race between Paris and Brest in Brittany. It is made of pâte à choux which takes the shape of a bicycle wheel and stuffed with praline crème mousseline.

It was the first time we had to organize ourselves with the strange circumstances. And there was something we hadn’t planned, this is what you are going to hear in today’s episode. 

CYF 052 — mercredi 9 décembre 2020 — Soufflé au chocolat

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. I also run the podcast OTH since 2006
All the information about the transcripts, notes and photo is available at www.cultivateyourfrench.com

A few days ago, on a cold and cloudy afternoon,I went to see my friend Pauline. She lives in a house at fifteen minutes walking from our home. We had planned to bake a chocolate soufflé together. This was the second time we met about making soufflés, but the first time it was at my home and we had cooked a cheese soufflé. 
Pauline had chosen a recipe from Cyril Lignac. He is a famous chef in France, maybe the most famous, he owns a restaurant in Paris, and several pâtisseries. He’s often seen on TV, he takes part in TV shows about cooking or pâtisserie. Of course, he has written many cookbooks!
He’s a very smiling man and he has a sweet south of France accent. 
In today’s episode, you are going to hear Pauline and I in the kitchen. Unfortunately, you won’t be able to smell the warm chocolate aromas. 

CYF 051 — mercredi 2 décembre 2020 — Le confinement s’allège

 

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. I also run the podcast OTH since 2006
All the information about the transcripts, notes and photo is available at www.cultivateyourfrench.com

You know that France has been placed on lockdown for a month now. The ambiance is very different than the first lockdown : people can go working, our children go to school. From our windows, life is almost normal. I can see the trains going to Paris, there are buses and cars on the road, there are people in the streets. 
Last week, Emmanuel Macron, our president, made a live TV appearance to speak about the easing of lowdown in France. he annoucened that lockdown would be until december 15 th and he also announced changes in restrictions. 
In this episode, I tell you about our new life under lockdown and my new favourite sentence. 

CYF 050 — mercredi 25 novembre 2020 — Le chantier

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 also run the podcast OTH since 2006
All the information about the transcripts, notes and photo is available on www.cultivateyourfrench.com

There is a building site outside our windows. It’s a large one. Three different office buildings are being built at the same time. There are 5 cranes and a lot of workers. 
The earth-moving part happened this summer. It was really noisy. There were so many trucks one after another. The mechanical shovels also make a lot of noise. You don’t really understand why they are moving this pile of earth from there to there and suddenly everything is neat, straight and ready.
We are not very happy with the idea of having buildings in front of us and no more landscape, but I must admit that I was very curious to follow the construction. I quickly realized that I was missing information. I didn’t know anything about this world of construction. I found  a book written by a sociologist. To write his book, This man had worked as a worker on different building sites in Paris. I’m still reading it. It’s very instructive! This world is tough. In this episode, i’m going to tell you about an incident I was witness to. Oh, by the way, chantierman means worker of course. Lisa invented this word and I rather like it! 

CYF 049 — mercredi 17 novembre 2020 — Claire Gautrot présente la viole de gambe

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

My daughters Felicia and Lisa take music lessons with Claire Gautrot. They learn how to play Viola da gamba, an old instrument that first appeared in the 15th century and that our king Louis XIV really enjoyed. 

Claire is a musician, she loves to bring happiness to people through music. But she’s also a teacher. She says that it’s very important to share what moves you, to share the language of music and the gesture of playing music. Both my daughters really enjoy Claire’s personality and her way of teaching. Today, it’s our turn to have a moment with her. 

In today’s episode Claire is giving you a presentation of this instrument that she calls an old lady. 

CYF 048 — mercredi 11 novembre 2020 — Une journée à Paris : au restaurant Les marches!

Today, we are going to the restaurant! Before the holidays began, before the second lockdown began, on a sunny day, my friend Anne-Laure and I went to Paris for a day. We first went to the musée d’art moderne de la ville de Paris to have a look at a painting from Robert Delaunay, L’équipe de Cardiff. Anne-Laure had chosen this painting because she really enjoys Robert Delaunay’s work. He did that painting in 1912. It’s a large painting, more than 3 metres high, and 2 metres wide. It represents a rugby team playing in front of the Eiffel tower. Robert Delaunay was involved in a research about colour. The colours of this painting are vivid, they give the impression of movement. On this painting there is also an airplane, the grande roue and the Eiffel tower. These are the symbols of modern Paris. As I was standing in front of this painting I could really feel in my eye the colours. There was a physical sensation. Naturally, my eye then moved to the more peaceful part of the painting : the sky!
After watching the painting, Anne-Laure and I went to a restaurant close to the museum. We recorded ourselves inside the restaurant. This is what you are going to hear in today’s episode. 

 

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