Author: THE HOBBLEDEHOY
Michael Stevenson, aka Dai Bando, Johnny Foreigner, Monsieur Pas De Merde, is a blogger of French and British culture. His blogs "Pas De Merde" and "The Hobbledehoy" have been called "marvelous" by some, and "meh" by others.
Pas de Merde – we love Laura Cahen
Laura’s influences include Serge Gainsbourg , Billie Holiday , Keren Ann and Feist . Brilliant!
Comme une Française: Use these French lyrics to woo an old love
Comme une Française
Love changes over the years, and nothing expresses it better than this romantic love song in French by Belgian singer Jacques Brel.
Welcome back to this special series, where I teach you how to learn French using love songs in French! Today, I have a beautiful, quite melancholic song for you to discover. Love changes. A couple is not the same after a lifetime together. Jacques Brel explains that very well when he writes the beautiful, beautiful La Chanson des Vieux Amants (= Song of the Old Lovers.) Let’s use this song to learn more about romantic French. Perhaps you can practice saying these lyrics to your significant other?
Take care and stay safe. 😘 from Grenoble, France.
Géraldine
For Holiday Pleasures, Try The Easy Pairing Of French Wine With French Cheese
Whether you’re planning on doing some socially distant entertaining or if you’re just planning an intimate celebration with members of your own household, a simple pairing of French wine and cheese adds an elegant touch.
Whether you’re planning on doing some socially distant entertaining or if you’re just planning an intimate celebration with members of your own household, a simple pairing of French wine and cheese adds an elegant touch.
“Each of these products are about pleasure and enjoying them,” says Charles Duque, managing director of the Americas for the French Dairy Board. “There’s an intimidation factor, and my job is to raise awareness of how people can enjoy French cheese – how they can pair it (with wines and other beverages), teach them where it comes from and how people can use these wonderful cheeses.”
While Duque recommends many different cheese and wine pairings, he outlined three simple pairings of French cheeses and French wines that are readily available at many grocery and liquor stores throughout the United States. “I really want to make these cheeses as accessible as possible,” he says. “I want to show people how they can incorporate them into their daily lives. One thing many people don’t realize is that imported French cheese are often more economical than many artisan American cheese just because of scale. France has been able to produce high quality cheese industrially while keeping the quality.”
For a simple wine and cheese pairing, Duque recommends the magic number of three – three wines with three cheeses.
The first pairing Duque recommends is Brie , a traditional, bloomy rind cheese with DOMAINE DES PINS LES PIERRES SAINT AMOUR, a Beaujolais Villages red wine. “This wine is fruity, light in tannins and high in acidity,” Duque says. “This combination works, as the fattiness of the Brie coats your tongue, and it goes with the acidity in the wine. The rind also matches the brightness and the fruitiness of the wine, and I actually enjoyed both with a fresh raspberry.”
Continue reading “For Holiday Pleasures, Try The Easy Pairing Of French Wine With French Cheese”
Rodolphe Burger streaming concert
Rodolphe Burger, accompanied by double bass player and singer Sarah Murcia and drummer Christophe Calpini, delivers the first concert of the “Environs” tour, under the watchful eye of director Yvan Schreck.
Source: Rodolphe Burger – Regarder le programme complet | ARTE Concert
One of the Most Iconic Bookstores in the World Is in Trouble—but You Can Help
Shakespeare and Company has weathered many storms, but the pandemic has been the most devastating of them all.
For over a century the legendary bookstore Shakespeare and Company has beamed out from the Left Bank of Paris like a lighthouse of literature.
The former 16th-century monastery on Rue de la Bûcherie, and its previous site not far away at 12 Rue de l’Odéon, has been a home away from home for the Lost Generation in the 1920s and the Beatnik generation in the 1950s, a publisher and reading resource for the likes of James Joyce and Ernest Hemingway, and shelter for the estimated 30,000 “tumbleweeds”—young writers and enthusiasts allowed to stay for free—over the years.
But the economic disaster wrought by the coronavirus pandemic has hit independent bookstores in France, including this timeless Anglophone institution, hard. Deemed “non-essential” by the government even during the country’s second lockdown, they were forced to close to in-person customers, while commerce for online behemoths like Amazon has soared. Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo herself warned city-goers: “Don’t buy on Amazon. Amazon is the death of our bookshops and our neighborhood life.”
Continue reading “One of the Most Iconic Bookstores in the World Is in Trouble—but You Can Help”
Pas De Merde 