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Lesson Introduction
In the Café today, we discuss some things that happened on FrenchPod website in May, and some news about what is coming up in June. And as an appetizer, the Chef brings you an exciting surprise!
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Out of consideration for our Newbie and Elementary users, English translations should be provided with any Chinese (characters or pinyin) written in Newbie and Elementary lesson discussion posts. New lesson idea? Please let us know on our contact page.
amaurylibeer says
June 1, 2008
Hi Christophe,
Here is another one, hope you like it...
Une mère dit à son garçon :
-N'oublie pas que nous sommes sur terre pour travailler.
- Bon, alors moi, plus tard je serai marin !
billkaulitzlover says
June 1, 2008
Hahaha today's joke was funny. :D I'm gonna start telling that joke ^^.
Amaury's joke was funny too ^^.
I found this one ^^:
Deux femmes qui discutent :
- "Alors, et votre bébé, comment va-t-il ?"
- "Hé bien, il marche depuis deux mois."
- "Ho ! hé bien, il doit être loin à l'heure qu'il est."
lunetta says
June 2, 2008
Bonjour Erica et Christophe! Here I am, listening to the podcast, when all of a sudden I hear my own name. It sounded so good pronounced in French, I had to rewind and listen to it a couple of times before I could continue listening. ;-)
Merci beaucoup for answering my question, it's good to know you take feedback serious.
Regarding the comments I can also recommend using the rss feed. Just copy it and paste it into your preferred feed aggregator and it will be quick and easy to skim the new comments.
Right now there's only one small problem. It doesn't seem to work properly with the user conversations.
christof says
June 3, 2008
Hi Lunetta,
Yes we really value your feedback!
The RSS feed for the conversations works fine now (we had it fixed after the feedback of one of our favorite student ;-) ).
jpvillanueva says
June 3, 2008
christof or christophe?
Your name is spelled two different ways on this page... which is it?
So "les amuses-bouche"... I've also heard "amuses-gueule..." is that right too? In English we say "hors d'oeuvres," but I've never heard anyone say that in French!
PS. your podcast is missing a dessert!
auntie68 says
June 3, 2008
Hi jp. In traditional French gastronomy, an "amuse-bouche"/ "amuse-gueule" is a nice little something served by the restaurant, in addition to the hors d'oeuvre (or starter). It's usually "on the house", unlike the starter.
And similarly, a restaurant which would serve you an amuse-bouche, would normally also throw in some "mignardises" after the dessert, to go with the coffee.
Mignardises are the after-dinner equivalent of "amuses-bouche", it's usually something very light but elegant confected from fine ingredients such as: almonds, pistachios, chocolate, sugared fruit, and ginger-based crispy dough. Yum!
alainl002 says
June 4, 2008
Hi there JP,
Hors d'oeuvres (this is one of these odd words where the O and E are joined - Aunty68 willl know the right word to describe it I am sure) , anyway the word is in common use in daily French. So is amuse-gueule, even tought gueule is a slang word, it is commonly used in that sense (also try "engueuler": to tell someone off).
I don't think amuse bouche is really so very common, but I may stand to be corrected by current residents of "Douce France"
Hi aunty68, I am in awe your mastery of multiple languages - How do you do it ?
auntie68 says
June 4, 2008
Hello alainl002, thanks for kind words, but this Tatie's "grand défaut" (besides her volcanic temper) is... never being able to acquire anything beyond a merely "receptive ability" in any language other than English.
Nobody should learn French the way I have; I remember the pure joy of being told that a dear friend had earned a "macaron" (slang for "michelin star"; literally it means "macaroon"). But I can't write one simple sentence without making 5 or 6 mistakes!
My French friends who only speak French don't complain because even sign-language is better than nothing. But my French friends who can speak good English still scold me for being too "chicken" to speak French. However, it is their fault, because their English is too good!
With French, I'm afraid that my language ability depends too much on food. If it tastes good, I will learn the French... And if I can remember what "avoir la gueule de bois" ("to be painfully hung-over") means at this moment, believe me, alain, it was learned the hard way... Moral of the story: Don't do as I do, and don't do as I say!
alainl002 says
June 4, 2008
Well Aunty,
you are being unecessarily "modeste". I have a strong suspicion that your French is far superior to my Chinese.
However, thanks for reminding me about the "gueule de bois" I have first hand experience there, and I must say that drinking to excess improves my ability to speak Chinese immensely (or so it seems at the time?).
So Christophe, if you are reading this, I found an excellent rendition of "Chevaliers de la table ronde" on you tube, perhaps this could be the subject of a lesson in the future ?
Auntie and I may even join in the chorus......
auntie68 says
June 4, 2008
hic!
alainl002 says
June 4, 2008
Aunty68,
By the way I went off on a tangent before, but your comment on mignardises reminded me about "petit fours"
Surely petit fours must be as important to the end of a meal as amuse gueules are to the start ?
auntie68 says
June 4, 2008
Yeah, and I'm supposed to know the difference? Alain, s'il te plaît! Sois gentil! I think that maybe you've touched on a very delicate "class'' thing which maybe we need a real "BCBG" to help dig us out of (it's a deep hole...).
If I'm not wrong (and I'm ALWAYS wrong), petit fours only ever appear at a "gouter", or an "English tea", or maybe at a reception... I get the sense that "petit fours" may be a "daylight hours-only" food. Aarghhh!!! Don't listen to anything I type or say!
christof says
June 4, 2008
Hey ! We have nice talks going on in our Café today !
So what are the differences between "Amuse-bouche", "Amuse-gueule", "Mignardise", "Petit four" and "Hors d'oeuvre" ?
From what I know the explanations of the 3 of you are correct :
- Amuse-bouche = Amuse-gueule = Mise en bouche : Free salty snacks before the meal (during the "apéro" for instance).
- We use Hors d'Oeuvre for little dishes during the meal (Appetizer for example)
- Petit Four are small cake, sweet or salty, that are backed in a oven
- Mignardises are exactly what Auntie described : sophisticated little cakes, really sweet.
Ooohh ... I should stop thinking about these words, I'm getting really hungry now !!
Hmmm, la Cuisine Française
christof says
June 4, 2008
"Chevaliers de la table ronde" : that's a great idea for Erica and Christela 's music show. Thanks Alain !
alexthurgood says
June 5, 2008
In my own experience, and agreeing with christof, "Petits fours" are often served at receptions and post-event cocktails (inaugurations, speeches, etc). They are baked (hence the use of the word "four" for oven) pastry or cake delicacies. The nearest in the UK to them would probably be "mini-sausage rolls", which in comparison are a bit of a let down and symptomatic of the previously poor reputation that British home cooking had. I shall no doubt be hung, drawn and quartered by my French friends for daring to compare British sausage rolls to "petits fours", but hey, you only live once :-)
auntie68 says
June 5, 2008
Dear Cristof, thanks for being such a great "chef du jury" (of the Académie FPOD de la Gastronomie française... pardon the grammar!), especially for the very diplomatic and friendly decision. And thank you also for all the hard work, I love French food and am delighted that there is such a great foodie on board FPOD. La cuisine française, ça fait parti(e?) du patrimoine mondial...
alainl002 says
June 5, 2008
Ah Christof !
Merci de nous avoir expliquè certains des rafinements de la cuisine Française......
So as for you Alex - your comments would probably be cause to rekindle cross Channel hostilities for another 100 years !
Please for your sake never make such comments on the French side of border, but hey, as you said, no one lives forever - Live on the edge !
For my part I condemn you to be "stoned" to death with stale sausage rolls.....
Cheers,
robinho2006 says
June 22, 2008
hi christof
fatimazahra says
June 27, 2008
hi my name is rania