E & me {what I'm reading}

It's been chilly, rainy & foggy here in Annecy for the past few days.

Et chez toi ?

Apparently the weather is not very nice chez Erin either.
For both of us, that weather = a lot of reading.

Who's reading what à ton avis {= in your opinion}?

Hmm? Let me know what you think in the comments... merci !

Jeux de mots = puns {sponsored by the SNCF}

The SNCF, which is the French national railway company 

{Remember how I taught some of their staff English for a quite a while way back when? 

 Nope? Well, click over here if you'd like to catch up on ancient history & 

read about why I had to wear a fluorescent safety vest to work every day...} 

is currently making me smile with a very clever ad campaign
on the local bus stops.

Ready to test your French?

{& your French sense of humour?}

Allons-y...

Example #1

Hahahahahaha!

Do you get it?  No?  Try again...

Any better?  A little?  OK, read it one more time...

{Remember that the sign on the station photo is the city name 
& an essential part of the pun...}

You got it?  Bravo!  Pretty funny, n'est-ce pas ?

OK, how about another one?  

It's a bit trickier.

Mais pas de panique... I'll give you a hand if you like.

Example #2

Allez faire un tour = go take a trip.

But remember that the sign in the ad is the city name...

Do you remember Tours {avec un "s"}?

We went there last summer on our way to Brittany & loved it.

{You can read up on that over here if you like. I promise lots of lovely photos of the city!}

So... voilà !

A clever ad campaign that not only makes me laugh 

but also reminds me of some of the great destinations 

that I've been to so far in France.

But...
almost always by car, pas en train... 

Because the SNCF is often expensive, late, or on strike!!!

Christmas Charm {2}

As I mentioned in my post the other day, le 24 décembre au soir 

is the most important moment in France for Christmas celebrations.

As you can see by the photos, la table chez mes beaux-parents 
{the table at my in-laws' house} 

was set with care & the entire French family was there!

C'est très beau, n'est-ce pas ?

But you know what the most impressive thing on the table was?

Le dessert !

{OK, OK... you can tease me about my sweet tooth if you like.

Yes, my favourite part of any meal is almost always the dessert...}

But can you blame me??!

Remember les petit fours that I posted about the other day?

What about FQ's home-made birthday cheesecake?

And the macaron I ate in Chamonix?

Or those yummy cookies that came from the little town 

we spent our vacation in Brittany in?

Not to mention those meringues I posted about way back when?

Well, all that was beyond delicious.  And pretty.

But... you really have to admire my mother-in-law's homemade 

bûche de Noël.

You see,  bûche = log.  

It's the shape of the traditional Christmas cake in France.

{Need to know more?  You can read this article.}

Need to hurry up & finish reading this blog entry 

so that you can go bake something sweet?

OK, here are the photos of what ma belle-mère baked...

Bravo !!!

{and miam miam aussi...}

Christmas Charm {1}

Hello!  Bonjour !

I have lots of seasonal wishes for you, dear Rue de France reader!!

First off, happy three-days-after-Christmas-Eve!

{Which, in France, involves a huge family dinner that is pretty much 

the most important moment of Christmas celebrations!}

Secondly, happy two-days-after-December-25th!

{Which is when I felt the most homesick,

especially in the morning.

In France it's a day that is much more low-key than in Canada, 

so I had less distractions & festivities 

& spent a good part of the day missing my family... le sigh...}

Lastly, happy one-day-after-Boxing-Day!

{Which doesn't exist in France.  

So my December 26th involved sleeping in, 

eating festive leftovers with my in-laws, 

taking a nap & having a little wander - in the very brisk air -

around FQ's lovely little village-slash-hometown, Pommiers.}

*************
Et maintenant ?

How about a photo of festive French food?

One of the family meals we had was at FQ's aunt's house.
The meal had about a zillion courses & was amazing, of course.
{But I'd need an entirely separate post to tell you all about that.}

So let's just stick with what she served for dessert, ok?

Les petit fours.

Beautiful + delicate + delicious?  Mais oui !
But pumpkin pie, one of my favourite things ever?  Mais non...

{Again, le sigh...
But at least I've passed along lots of greetings to you all,
I've told you a little about Christmas traditions in France
& I've made your mouth water with that photo!}

More tomorrow, ok?
{Including a post-Christmas version of the world-famous E & me...}

Love? This way...

Just a detail from the the middle of the big 

rond-point {= roundabout/traffic circle}

up the street from chez nous.

It is filled with lovely Christmas decorations at the moment.

Would you like to see more?

Train-train

French word of the day:

le train-train.

It refers to the daily routine.

I think you could translate it as

"same old, same old" or perhaps

"another day, another dollar".

I don't usually complain about the daily grind.

You see, I really enjoy teaching English.

However, Monday, Tuesday & Wednesday I teach pretty much all day.

As you teachers reading this know,

it's exhausting.

So I love making it to Thursday, 

when I only have a few classes.

It means I finally have some down time pour moi.

This afternoon, the weather was perfect.

I had about six zillion errands I needed to do 

& lots of stuff to take care of at home.

But you know what?

Carpe Diem was my high-school motto.

So I took advantage of not being caught up in the train-train,

unlike the first part of the week.

I gathered up my book, some stationary & my sunglasses.

I walked along the lake for a while.

I found a bench in the sun with a beautiful view of the water.

I read, people-watched, daydreamed a little.

Oh, & I took the above photo of 

Annecy's cute little tourist locomotive for you.

Take that, train-train!

Miam miam !

French word of the day: 
miam miam

 = yum yum!

Ever seen a strawberry give the thumbs-up?  Now you have!

*** 
C'est le week-end !
We are headed to the Cantal region in the centre of France 
for a few days of hiking 
around dormant (ahem, hopefully!) volcanoes
& eating cheese. 

Miam miam, non ?