Miam Monday

 

Today is the Feast of La Chandeleur - The Day of the Crêpe

Above: caramel heaven on a plate

***

 While enjoying crêpes at a local crêperie is tempting (and better than not having crêpes at all), the proper way to celebrate La Chandeleur is to make them yourself at home. Tradition holds that the crêpes should be flipped skillfully, ideally holding a gold coin (or any coin for luck and wealth) in your left hand while tossing the crêpe with your right. If you don’t get that first flip right - it breaks, folds, drops on the floor, sticks to the ceiling, lands in the dog's bowl - it's seen as an omen for the year ahead, while a clean flip is said to bring prosperity for the coming year. Subsequent crêpes are flipped just for fun, without the same high-stakes superstition attached. Often the pan is then passed around for everyone to try their hand at dramatic flips (and laugh when they inevitably go wrong). If, knowing all this, you're still game, grab a pan, a coin, and give it a try. Whether they land like pros or end up as "creative shapes," it's all part of the magic. - BPJ 

 - Bon Appétit and Bonne Chandeleur -

Throwback Thursday

 Stretching the limits.

Above: pink limo, pink champagne, a gourmet pique-nique basket, a celebration

Below: a special gift from a special friend

 

  à mon mari

💖

(A comment: "For Barbie I think!")

The day after

 

Yesterday all over France the ancient festival of La Chandeleur also called la fête des crêpes, le jour des crêpes, Candlemas in English, was celebrated by indulging in what else, crêpes, for a year of good luck and prosperity.

Below: traditional accompaniment apple cider

Crêpes out

 

Today France celebrates the day of the crêpe or La Chandeleur, Candlemas in English, an ancient tradition where feasting on crêpes today guarantees luck and prosperity.

 

Happy crêpe-ing - BPJ

 

Window Wednesday

 

No one likes to see a good celebration come to an end, and all over France La Fête des Rois - The Feast of The Three Kings - continues until the last day of January, up until the very last galette.

 

Above: a window display of freshly baked galettes des rois in a local bakery

 

Below: don't forget the crown

 👑

 

Cheese. Please

 

"You can't make everyone happy. You're not cheese" - Anonymous

***

Today is National Cheese Lovers' Day all over the cheese-eating world. Though National Cheese Day in France is celebrated on March 27 (with planches and plates of French cheeses and French wines), who wants to wait? - BPJ

Sweet Saturday

 Today is La Fête des Rois, Feast of the Epiphany or Three Kings, and all over France pâtissiers and boulangers have been working the night shift. Although all "kings' cakes" are similar, every baker has his/her own version.

 Above: this year's homemade galette

 

Bonne Année

 

The evening began with an intimate champagne apèro.

- Bonne Année / Happy New Year 2024 -

 

🎉

 

 

 

 

Nouveau

Last night the 2023 Beaujolais Nouveau made its fruity debut.

Much anticipated on the third Thursday of every November, dozens of vintages for every taste and budget begin to appear in wine bars, restaurants, shops, caves and on comptoirs.

Did you celebrate?

Beaujolais Villages AOC

 

 

Day of the crêpe

Today France celebrates La Chandeleur, The Day of the Crêpe.

 Above: a dark chocolate-banana dessert crêpe

 See: Day of the crêpe, February 2, 2021

Le 14 juillet

  

Yesterday planes flew overhead all day as Paris celebrated Bastille Day.

Day of the crêpe

Just when you thought the holidays were finally over today is the much-anticipated fête of La Chandeleur in France a.k.a. Candlemas in Anglo-Saxon countries.

The root of fête is "feast," and every holiday (Holy Day) is associated with good food and feasting. On this day, le jour des crêpes packages of ready-made crêpes and boxes of "crêpe mix" have been filling Paris supermarket shelves for days. 

La Chandeleur was a way to use the last of the milled flour from the year before and, some say, the very shape of a crêpe represented the sun, as winter days began to grow lighter. Just two weeks before Mardi Gras - Fat Tuesday - it heralded soon-to-begin Lent, when eating habits were curtailed for four weeks before Easter... and then the feasting cycle began all over again. - BPJ

Above: cidre accompanies savory sarrasin (buckwheat) flour crêpes that precede the more familiar white flour (froment) dessert crêpes. Their "crêpe-ness" - crispness - lies in their lacy crunch, and the Breizh Café gets it right

Country cool

Yesterday began a week of canicule, when temperatures soar and Parisians flee to cooler climes.

Above: apéro table from a celebration in the countryside

Special delivery

Y

 

It's Mother's Day in France.

- Joyeuse Fête des Mères 2019 -