Elizabeth's Blog

As I mentioned in the last French Affaires posting, the country of France is so diverse and rich in things to do, see and experience. Northwest France is home to la Bretagne (Brittany), a rocky and remote region known for its extensive coastline, Celtic influences, ancient forests and legends, native costumes, music of the biniou (bagpipe) and bombarde (horn), marvelous sea salts including fleur de sel, delicious sweet and savory crêpes, and charming hand painted pottery known as “faïence de Quimper.”

The lovely town of Quimper (pronounced kam-pair) is the capital of the Finistère department, a very traditional area of Brittany. It has been a center of faience (pottery) production for over 300 years as Jean-Baptiste Bousquet, a pottery maker from Provence, moved here in 1690 and began producing utilitarian salt-glazed looking bottles and bowls.

Quimper is located at the convergence of two rivers and near ancient forests so natural materials were readily available for the production of the pottery. One could say that Quimper faience went ‘upscale’ in the late 1600’s. As King Louis XIV’s treasury was running low due to his numerous wars across Europe, he asked the French nobility to donate their gold and silver plates and goblets to fund his military efforts. Consequently, pottery became fashionable to the aristocracy, and faienceries developed across France. The everyday dishwares of the peasants were now being decorated by artists to appeal to the tastes of the upper classes.

The folk aspect of Quimper pottery intensified when regional costumes became popular across Europe in the late 1800’s. In the 1860’s, the familiar figure of the “petit breton” wearing sabots (wooden clogs), embroidered skirts or vests with hats or coifs (a woman’s hat) was first depicted on the pottery’s plates, cups, and bowls, as well as on decorative household items. The Quimper faienceries then expanded production beyond basic wares to include “souvenir” wares as travel became easier for French citizens and for foreigners. Pieces were made in Quimper and sold to shop owners in Brittany’s seaside resorts and other destination villages marked with the name of each particular place. By this time, the faience was known for its five signature colors: blue, green, red, yellow and violet.

Quimper faience became popular in the U.S. between the two World Wars when department stores such as Macy’s, Gumps, Tiffany, Lord & Taylor and Marshall Field’s began selling the colorful French “folk art.” The production was specifically marked with name and or logo of the U.S. retailer, as well as, the mark of the Quimper factory producing the pieces. Stanley Marcus introduced Quimper to Americans during one of the early “Neiman-Marcus Fortnights” of France in Dallas.

Styles of Quimper faience decoration and form have evolved with the influences of other faienceries in France and the movement of artists between these faienceries and from other regions of Europe. Despite of all the differing decors made in Quimper through the centuries, the “petit breton” remains the most recognizable symbol of Quimper ware.

Today, Quimper pottery is made much the same way as it was 300 years ago–by hand. It is possible to buy lovely new pieces of Quimper. And serious Quimper lovers are always on the lookout for beautiful and collectible old pieces. Many of them belong to the Quimper Club International which holds meetings and symposia both in the U.S. and in France on special aspects of the faience and its history.

I love this Quimper piece showing the Breton woman painting the pottery herself!

Other areas of France with important faience tradition include Rouen in Normandy, Nevers in Burgundy, and Marseille and Moustiers in Provence. If you are intrigued by pottery and its history, there are faience museums worth visiting such as the Musée de la faïence de Quimper. There is also the wonderful Musée National de Céramique-Sèvres located in Sèvres just to the west of Paris. One of my favorites, this museum contains excellent collections of earthenware, faïence, pottery and porcelain from around the world, dating from the earliest to the present.

French Take-Out ~ La France à emporter

If this whets your appetite for a bit of Quimper, France, in the U.S., there are two events coming up in Dallas in February…

1) On February 7, the patron members of ”Friends of French Affaires” are invited to:

“The Glories of Quimper:
Private Talk & Viewing of Antique Quimper French Pottery”
Join the “Friends of French Affaires” for this special event featuring the beautiful and unique handmade French pottery from Quimper in Brittany. Dallas resident and president of the Quimper Club International, Susan Cox, will host us for this private viewing of her collection of antique Quimper pieces. She will talk about the history and artisanal nature of Quimper and what makes these objects so valuable and collectible. Our other featured speaker is Anne Marie O’Neill, a leading expert, author and dealer in antique Quimper pottery. Reception following the talk and viewing. Our gathering will be a special visit to Brittany, France!

Tuesday, February 7, 2012
6 to 7:30 pm
Private Collector’s Home
Dallas, Texas
RSVP required

Please note that this complimentary event is by reservation only for registered “Friends of French Affaires.” Attendance is limited at this particular event so please RSVP quickly at info.french@frenchaffaires.com . Directions to the event provided upon RSVP. To join the “Friends of French Affaires,” please click here.

2) If you are interested in collecting some antique Quimper faience of your own, dealer and expert Anne Marie O’Neill will be holding a Quimper pottery sale on Thursday, February 9, in Dallas, Texas:

Quimper Pottery Show
Hosted by Anne Marie O’Neill & Beverly Sherman
Thursday, February 9, 2012
10am to 1pm
6924 Oak Manor Drive, Dallas, Texas 75230
(located in the Lake Forest community; the gate house is just north of Forest on Hillcrest)
RSVP required to Anne Marie O’Neill at info@annmarieoneill.com

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The first French words I remember learning were la fleur. “The flower.” Our Montessori school teacher held up flashcards with colorful images and instructed us to repeat the French names after her. I was five years old and with those few phrases in our kindergarten curriculum, something French in me must have clicked.

After a sprinkling of Spanish in elementary school, I started taking French in earnest in sixth grade and never stopped. Monsieur Ross taught us the building blocks of the French language in seventh and eighth grades. In high school, Mademoiselle Steensen reinforced grammar with the command, “Scamper to the blackboard, Mademoiselle Nouvelle, and conjugate your French verbs!” (My maiden name was “New” so I earned the name Mademoiselle Nouvelle or Nouveau depending on my teacher’s mood.) She had an eagle eye for mistakes so you definitely had to keep up on les verbes.

We graduated from French verbs to French literature by the end of my high school years. And then I continued my French language adventure in college, really taking the plunge by spending my sophomore spring in Aix-en-Provence. I still remember our vivacious and energetic Provence culture professor who kept us spellbound for hours with tales and legends of southern France–all in French, of course.

By this time, I was hooked on the language and the culture of la belle France, and it was only a matter of time before I ended up in graduate school getting a doctorate in the subject, going to the Sorbonne in Paris and finally becoming a professor of French myself. Even though I now do a variety of ‘French things’ in addition to teaching the language, I still love to work with people to help them learn their “first French words” and more.

A propos, I am often asked what advice I would have for making learning French easier and not so intimidating. Here are a few astuces (tips) for saving time, learning more quickly and sounding more French fast:

• Have a positive attitude. Learning French IS possible.
• Decide why you want to learn the language. Do you want to get around better on an upcoming trip to France? Or do you think French is poetic and you’ve “always wanted to learn it”? Or??? Once you identify your motivation, you can choose a French course or program that really meets your needs.
• Learn the language “in chunks.” In other words, don’t try to overanalyze and figure out what every little word or syllable is doing in the French sentence. That can come later if you spend more time in the language. At the beginning, it’s fatiguing and prevents one from communicating–which is the point of language in the first place.
• Find a part of the language that really motivates you and start from there. If you adore French food and cooking, then build your communication skills and vocabulary around this topic. Maybe your love is gardens, or art, or history, or Paris. Whatever it is, make that your French language learning focus. You’ll be more motivated and much more successful.
• Recognize that the French value good pronunciation more than good grammar or good vocabulary. It pays to make an effort to shed that American accent and “sound more French.” So be sure to take a French course that includes pronunciation as part of its curriculum. Or take a very focused French pronunciation or phonetics class at some point in your language journey.

Speaking of journeys, a final thought is that learning another language and another culture is always a process. It doesn’t happen overnight (too bad!), and I am not sure it’s ever possible to say one has “arrived” as a language is wonderfully rich and the kaleidoscope of a culture is always changing. But with a little focus and effort, anyone can learn some French…and have a wonderful cultural experience along the way.

Paris fleurs…

French Take-Out ~ La France à emporter

The next round of French Affaires’ language classes will begin in January of 2012. If you have been thinking about learning your first French words or want to exercise your French conversation skills, then check out our upcoming offerings. We’ll also have our special “Travel French” class to make your next visit to France easy and rewarding. For more details, click here or click on the course titles below:

- Beginning French

- French Conversation

- Travel French

Courses coming later in Spring 2012 include: “Intro to French Conversation” and “French Pronunciation Clinic.” And there are always our ongoing cultural events designed to bring a bit of France to the U.S.!

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Shopping in France has its obvious pleasures. Creative window displays are a perpetual source of eye candy. Beautiful goods tempt in small boutiques and in les grands magasins (department stores). And when a French shopkeeper learns you truly appreciate his wares, he will bend over backwards to be helpful and informative whether or not you purchase a thing.

But there is an additional aspect to shopping in la belle France that is often overlooked–the gift wrap. The French can work a special magic with wonderful papers, ribbons, boxes and bags. I am so enamored of this part of life in France that I often request un paquet cadeau (a gift wrap) for my own purchases just for the pure bliss of opening the packaged “works of art” later.

Les pâtisseries et les chocolateries (pastry and chocolate shops) in particular devote considerable artistic talent to their gift wrap offerings and even to their regular packaging. One of my favorites is Ladurée, the legendary pastry shop that has been in business since 1862. Their ribbons and boxes are a sort of ‘pastel heaven’ of sherbet-esque pinks and greens. After polishing off a small coffret of their famous macarons (almond macaroons) or a ballotin of chocolats, I use the delightful boxes to sort things on my desk or in drawers, making the packaging pleasure last that much longer.

How does the French gift wrap process work? In my experience, gift wrapping in France is always free for both expensive and inexpensive items. And even if there is a line of ten customers in a shop, the salesperson will not consider your sale complete until all your gifts are wrapped. But here’s the catch: You do have to ask for it–the salesperson cannot read your mind.

There are two common ways to ask for a gift wrap. You can say: “C’est pour offrir” (say poohr oh-freer) meaning ‘It’s to give as a gift.’

Or you can say in the super-polite French way: “Pourriez-vous me faire un paquet cadeau, s’il vous plaît?” (pooh-ree-ay voo meh fair uhn pah-kay kah-doh, see voo play?) which translates as ‘Would you gift wrap this for me please?’

If remembering this much French poses a challenge, you could communicate your desire for a French gift package simply by saying “paquet cadeau” (pah-kay kah-doh).

They say you can’t judge a book by its cover, but in France, I would say you can do pretty well with exteriors of the gift package kind. So keep the gift vocab handy, and try it next time you’re there. Bon shopping et bon gifting! 

French Take-Out ~ La France à emporter™

Ladurée has a great web site where you can check out virtually their shops, pastries, chocolates, books, home and beauty accessories, and more. There is even a page dedicated for ordering gifts and gift cards, which are known as “les bons cadeaux.”

You can also send a Ladurée-inspired postcard to your Francophile friends. Click here for an array of choices.

So far, Ladurée has shops in France, Switzerland, Monaco, London, Japan and several other countries. And the bonnes nouvelles for the U.S. is that a Ladurée boutique is opening THIS MONTH in New York City. Mark your calendar for August 27 at 1pm when the French macaron headquarters opens its first American doors at 864 Madison Avenue.

Main article originally published September 2, 2009 on www.frenchaffaires.com.

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Do you love books about France and the French? So do we!

Join us for our unique French book club as we meet quarterly to read and discuss books on French culture, art, cuisine, wine, language, and travel. Our meeting locations and hosts tie to each month’s book theme which makes our gatherings and events especially rich.

At each meeting, we’ll enjoy French themed food and beverages and hear from our hosts / speakers about their ‘French connection’ to our book. Then Dr. Elizabeth New Seitz will facilitate a lively discussion about our book selection. And we’ll close with French Affaires’ signature “If you liked this book, then you’ll also like…”

Whether or not one has finished the book, our book club gathering is interesting, informative and delicious. Perfect for any Francophile wanting to enjoy casual conversation in English about great books on France and the French.

JUNE

Parisian Chic: A Style Guide by Inès de la Fressange with Sophie Gachet

“You don’t need to be born in Paris to have Parisian style. Parisian style is an attitude, a state of mind…” So begins our French book pick for June. Author, former face of Chanel, ex-runway model, designer, illustrator and business woman, Inès de la Fressange describes the secrets of the chic Parisian woman. She shares her best advice and tips on how to dress and develop one’s own beauty—French-style. She also includes her favorite resources in Paris for shopping, hotels, restaurants, excursions and more.

We’ll meet for our June book discussion at the very stylish Paper & Chocolate boutique in Dallas. Owner and creative spirit Vicki Petersen will host our gathering and tell us how she collects the wonderfully French objects, gifts and chocolates in her shop. We’ll enjoy a wine and cheese reception as part of our book club night and of course, there will be the opportunity to shop for French treasures!

Date: Monday, June 27
Time: 6 to 7:30pm
Refreshments: Wine & cheese reception
Location: Paper & Chocolate, 5460 West Lovers Lane, Suite 236, Dallas Texas 75209
(Directly behind the Inwood Theatre), www.paperandchocolate.com

AUGUST
The Red & the Black by Stendhal

Our August book is some of the best of classic French literature. The Red and the Black by Stendhal is a towering example of 19th century French novel writing. Decades ahead of its time, The Red and the Black recounts the saga of a provincial young man determined to change his destiny in prominent social and religious circles. With its psychological portrait of the protagonist and biting social commentary, The Red and the Black remains a compelling work of literature even today.

We will gather for our book discussion at The Dallas Institute of Humanities & Culture where we will be joined by its Executive Director, Dr. Larry Allums. A literary specialist and humanities guru, Dr. Allums will lead our discussion of The Red and the Black and will give us his thoughts on the book as a work of literature. If you have never been to the Dallas Institute, you are in for a real cultural treat!

Date: Monday, August 29, 2011
Time: 7 to 8:30pm
Refreshments: French desserts & liqueurs
Location: The Dallas Institute of Humanities & Culture, 2719 Routh Street, Dallas, Texas 75201 www.dallasinstitute.org

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A few hardy souls ventured out the Dallas snow and ice last weekend for the French Cuisine & Culture workshop on French vinaigrettes. Here are some photos of our hands-on culinary adventure using dijon mustards, vinegars and oils to create outstanding French salad dressings. And then we enjoyed our various salad creations with homemade quiche lorraine  followed by scrumptious gâteau aux pommes caramelisées (caramelized apple cake). By the end of our class and sit-down lunch, I think everyone agreed that there was no need to purchase bottled salad dressing ever again!!

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Since my last online posting, I was in Paris for the French Affaires “Gourmet Paris” trip. Our lovely group savored the culinary delights of la Capitale, and I’ll be sharing some of our French foodie experiences in upcoming articles. I have also been deep into planning exciting new programs and events for 2011 that will bring the spirit of France to the U.S. in wonderful ways.  

As Christmas 2010 is almost upon us, this week’s post features holiday experiences some of my French friends and colleagues who live in Texas and have brought their French heritage with them. I asked them to share one thing that made Christmas special when growing up in France and also one thing they now do in the U.S. to add France to their holiday season. I hope you enjoy their stories–and I wish you and yours a “Joyeux Noël” (Merry Christmas), “Joyeuses fêtes” (Happy Holidays) and “Bonne Année” (Happy New Year)!! 

Isabelle de Wulf, Executive Director of the French-American Chamber of Dallas / Ft. Worth (www.faccdallas.com) :
“One thing that made Christmas special growing up in France was living in the countryside as a child, we would have a pine tree cut from the forest and hook candle holders on the branches. Then my dad would light the candles just before the Christmas celebration. Of course we had a bucket of water not too far!” 

“One thing I do now in Dallas to make my family’s Christmas season French is to eat turkey with ‘purée de marrons’ (chestnut purée) and order a ‘bûche de Noël’ (Christmas yule log) for dessert from Main Street Bakery!”

Betty Reiter, owner of the Betty Reiter boutique in Dallas:
“I have memories of wakening up on Christmas morning and checking the front of the fireplace for gifts. I also remember going with my dad to the Mouffetard food market in Paris near our apartment. I especially treasured the smells and visual displays at the market-and of course, the time with my dad. We would come back home and then enjoy the usual turkey stuffed with chestnuts and oysters. We would finish off our Christmas dinner with the bûche de Noël.

“As for now, if I am ambitious I try to make traditional Provence 13 desserts and always a big “réveillon de Noël” (Christmas eve dinner). We eat a lot late in the evening and if we don’t have oysters, we at least have some foie gras!”

Jean-Marie Cadot, chef and owner of Cadot French restaurant in Dallas (www.cadotrestaurant.com) :
“For me growing up in France, there wasn’t any one particular thing that made Christmas special. It was the combination of things similar to Christmas in many countries: family reunions, gifts & candy for the children, holiday church services & le Réveillon.” 

“Now in addition to spending time with family, much of my experiences and specialties with Christmas involve cooking. I prepare traditional French dishes such as capon, Lobster Thermidor, turbot, oysters, foie gras, caviar, chestnuts, bûche de Noël, and many others. Spending time in the kitchen preparing these especially for the season helps to put everyone (including myself) in the spirit of French Christmas at home in Dallas. And of course, I make all these French delicacies at my Dallas restaurant for the holidays!”

Cécile Marche, Marketing Director and co-creator of Dallas-based Frog du jour, the online shopping place for French treasures (www.frogdujour.com) :
“One thing that made Christmas special growing up in France was the emphasis on tradition and family. Christmas is the main moment of the year when French families spend time together. It’s so reassuring in this crazy world and in good times or bad to be near to those close to you.”

“My family and I now live in the U.S. and we make sure to have foie gras with toasts and Champagne with close friends as we wish each other a Joyeux Noël!”

Dr. Maurice Elton, former professor of French at SMU and owner of his French translation business:
“My mother was French and I grew up in England so we had more British Christmas traditions growing up. Of course, France is part of my heritage and I spent summers there with family when I was young. My wife and I have included some French elements in our Christmases over the years in the U.S. We have a collection of twelve books of Christmas around the world which we shared with our children when they were growing up. The book has the story of the Santons of Provence (clay figures of the nativity with villagers included), and we have almost the complete set of 110 figures by Marcel Carbonel that we purchased over the years in France. We display them at Christmas time. And some years, we celebrate the ‘Fête des Rois’ (feast of the Epiphany) with the galette des rois (King’s cake) to add a French flavor to our extended holiday celebrations.”

Anne-Lyse Ségur Hardesty, Part time intern with French Affaires:
“When I grew up in France, my family and I used to go to the midnight mass on Christmas Eve in a small church in a village in southwest France. The mass was really special because you could enjoy the birth of Jesus Christ with a live nativity scene. It was played by kids from catechism. For few years, I was shepherdess holding a real lamb and then Mary holding this time a newborn baby. The mass last one hour and half and then we came back home and ate the “bûche de Noel” and some exotic fruits.”

“Now being in the U.S., I of course miss my family back in France. The other thing I miss the most is the Christmas eve dinner which lasts five hours and includes ten courses. It has all the French specialties: foie gras, saumon fumé (smoked salmon), oysters, capon, bûche de Noël, and of course some good wine and Champagne. This year, my family sent my husband and me many of these wonderful foods and ingredients that I can’t find in the United States. So good long food preparation and a long wonderful dinner is waiting us for on Christmas eve!”

 French Take-Out™ ~ La France à emporter 

For a very special holiday gift, French Affaires offers gift certificates for upcoming events, programs, trip design and more. If you would like to give some for delivery this Christmas, send us an email asap at info.french@frenchaffaires.com and we’ll get it to you in time for December 25th!

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Have you ever wanted French cuisine to be, well, a little more piquant (peppy)? Occasionally, I have. Don’t get me wrong, I love all aspects of French cuisine, especially those subtle tastes and flavors that the French do so well. But every so often, you need a meal with some spice. And when you do, just head down to the Basque country.

For about four centuries now, Basque cooks have been using their special spice factor—the piment d’Espelette—to flavor their cuisine. 

Introduced into the region around the village of Espelette from South America in the seventeenth century, this special chili pepper has added a smoky, fragrant and slightly hot taste to all types of Basque dishes including poulet basque (Basque chicken), jambon (ham), pâtés, piperade (slow cooked tomatoes, red and green peppers , and spices) and axoa (a ragout of veal that is to die for!). In fact, axoa is my favorite Basque dish.

As the peppers grow in Espelette and the villages nearby, they are green on the vine. Then the peppers are picked in the fall and hung to dry on balconies and buildings turning a deep red hue to form guirlandes de piments rouges (garlands of red peppers). Once dry, the peppers are often ground into a powder which you can buy in a small pot (jar) for about 6 euros. 

To figure out just how hot this chili pepper is, I consulted the Scoville scale. Developed in 1912 by the chemist Wilbur Scoville, the scale measures the spicy heat, or piquance, of chili peppers. The piment d’Espelette rates level 4 on the scale, slightly spicier than the ancho chili pepper but definitely less hot than the jalapeno. (I love the French terms on the scale below–cayenne ranks as ’torrid’ and tabasco as ‘volcanic’ in spiciness!)

So you can use piment liberally without putting your mouth on fire. In fact, the Espelettards (people from Espelette), have the following motto:  A consommer sans modération ! (Consume without moderation—a play on the phrase ‘A consommer avec modération’, consume in moderation , as required for alcoholic beverages in France.)

In practically any gourmet boutique in the Basque country, you can find the piment d’Espelette in a variety of forms-–the regular powder, jelly, jam, spicy oil for grilling, flavored salt, and even chocolats au piment d’Espelette. I found a wonderful jar of garlic cloves marinated in olive oil flavored with piment d’Espelette. And this vendor had a tempting array of dried spices that included mélange basque—basically a herbes de Provence mixture to which piment d’Espelette had been added.

This weekend, you can find all these products and more at the Fête du piment d’Espelette. The festival is held every year the last weekend of October in the town of Espelette itself. In addition to the food fair with piments and regional products for sale, there are parades, concerts, pelota games and a competition for the best chili pepper of 2010. On Sunday, everyone sits down to a piment-inspired lunch at one o’clock following the Sunday mass and bénédiction du piments (blessing of the peppers). This year’s festival also marks the tenth anniversary of the piment’s AOC status, an official recognition of this regional product’s uniqueness.

Check out the piment d’Espelette website for more details on the festival and on the French chili pepper: http://www.pimentdespelette.com/. I particularly liked the “Recette du mois” (recipe of the month) section—this month’s winner created a “Piperade façon tarte tatin et sa glace au piment d’Espelette” (a savory version of the dessert tarte tatin). You can click here to see her recipe.

If you are inspired to cook with the piment d’Espelette in the U.S., you can find it at a variety of stores online. When in France, you can of course buy some in any Basque town or in Paris at La Grande Epicerie on the Left Bank. Happy, hot French cooking!

French Take-Out™ ~ La France à emporter

French Affaires readers in Dallas can enjoy a piment d’Espelette festival of sorts next week at Cadot restaurant. French chef Jean-Marie Cadot is offering an Espelette chili dinner from October 25 to 29 which features five courses for $39.95. The Basque chili menu includes:

Tomato & Red Bell Pepper Garnished with Espelette Crème & Popcorn

Crêpes with Shrimp, Onions, Espelette & Hatch Chilies, & Scrambled Eggs with a Mixed Green Salad

Blackened Ahi Tuna with Hatch Chilies, Prosciutto, & Chichoré Lettuce

Cornish Hen with Lemon Preserves, Espelette & Hatch Pipperade, & Roasted Fingerling Potatoes

Crème Catalane (Crème Brûlée)

Cadot restaurant’s chef Jean-Marie is a native of Paris and grew up in a family that’s been in the restaurant, hotel and bakery business since the 1700’s.

He trained in France before continuing his culinary career in New York City and Dallas. He opened his Dallas restaurant Cadot in 2009 bringing wonderful traditional and new French flavors to the Dallas dining scene. Reservations are recommended for this special Basque chili dinner. For more information and to reserve, please click here.

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It’s fall in France and the U.S. and for me, it’s a return to winter cooking. I love gratins—vegetables such as potatoes layered with cheese and cream or milk—and hearty plats (main dishes) cooked with wine, mushrooms and onions. Sweaters and fires in the fireplace complete the picture.

A quintessential French winter dish of course is boeuf bourguignon (literally, Burgundy beef) which has enjoyed quite a renaissance lately due to the book-made-into-a-movie Julie & Julia. Julia Child’s recipe for this noteworthy stew made with Burgundy red wine is my favorite (pages 315 to 317 of Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Vol 1 or click here to see it online) and brings the region of Burgundy right into the kitchen.

But Burgundy is much more than its justly celebrated cuisine and wine: art, history, politics, culture, castles, nature, and more make this area of France worth exploring over and over again. Fortunately for several cities in the U.S., Burgundy is coming to us for the next two years—through its art. The spectacular exhibition “The Mourners: Medieval Tomb Sculptures from the Court of Burgundy” kicked off its American journey at the Metropolitan Museum of Art this past spring, made a stop in St. Louis and is now at the Dallas Museum of Art.

In the late 1300’s and 1400’s, the Dukes of Burgundy were powerful nobles and significant patrons of the arts. Two of the dukes, Philippe le hardi (Philip the Bold) and his son Jean sans peur (John the Fearless), were commemorated after their deaths by spectacular tombs housed today in Dijon’s Musée des Beaux-Arts.

While the Dijon museum is undergoing extensive renovations over the next few years, it is sharing the exquisite alabaster sculptures of mourning figures from the lower portion of John the Fearless’s tomb.

These pleurants, or Mourners—from the French verb pleurer meaning ‘to cry’ or ‘to weep’ in English—are about 16 inches tall and pack a powerful emotional punch. There are nearly 40 of the sculptures representing a funeral procession at the Duke’s death. As Sophie Jugie, the Director of the Dijon museum and exhibition curator, notes in the catalogue:

“The mourners from the tombs of the Dukes of Burgundy are deeply affecting works of art. Beyond their evident visual & narrative qualities, we cannot help but be struck by the emotion they convey as they follow the funeral procession, weeping, praying, singing, lost in thought, giving vent to their grief, or consoling their neighbor. Mourning, they remind us, is a collective experience, common to all people and all moments of history.”

But the Mourners exhibition is far from sad or depressing. The figures are breathtaking as oeuvres d’art (works of art). They are sculptures that appear both medieval and freshly modern at the same time. And they are a witness to the artistic vision of the various sculptors who worked on them six centuries ago.

I have seen the Mourners several times—both in their native habitat in Dijon and at the Dallas Museum. The benefit of their American visit is that the figures can be appreciated to their fullest extent—i.e. we can view them on every side. In Dijon, the tombs provide a luxuriously beautiful context but the Mourners can only be viewed at a partial angle as their backs or sides are adjacent to the tomb.

Besides appreciating the figures ‘in the round’, other suggestions for getting the most out of this art exhibition are: 1) When viewing the hooded mourners whose faces aren’t immediately visible, be sure to bend down and look up into their hoods–their entire faces are there in wonderful human detail, 2) Go to the museum at a quiet time for a more contemplative viewing of the sculptures. Noisy, crowded galleries detract quite a bit from these artworks. 3) Take the viewing experience one step further and walk through it with medieval religious music playing on your IPod headphones. I can’t wait to do this last one!

Here is the Mourners exhibition schedule in the U.S.:

Dallas Museum of Art:  Through January 2, 2011

Minneapolis Institute of Arts:  January 23, 2011- April 17, 2011

Los Angeles County Museum of Art:  May 8, 2011 – July 31, 2011

Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, Legion of Honor:  August 21, 2011 – January 1, 2012

Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond:  January 20, 2012 – April 15, 2012

(Before they return to the capital of Burgundy, however, the Mourners will make a final stop at the Cluny Museum, also known as the Musée national du moyen âge / National Museum of the Middle Ages, in Paris in 2012.)

The ideal would be to see them both in the U.S. and later when they go home to Dijon. Il faut rêver, n’est-ce pas? (We have to dream, don’t we?) At the very least, we are fortunate that Burgundy and a special part of its art will be in the States for about two years. Be sure and mark your calendar to see the Mourners exhibition closest to you—it is a gift of France not to be missed.

French Take-Out™ ~ La France à emporter

If you have not been to Burgundy, one of its signature images is its colorful roof tiles. The center of Dijon has several examples covering the roofs of houses and mansions built by the wealthy from the Renaissance until the French Revolution.

In nearby Beaune, you have one of the more flamboyant examples of roof tiles on the Hôtel-Dieu, the city’s former hospital. This fifteenth century building of Burgundian and Flemish architecture is a showstopper in every sense. In anticipation of seeing the real thing next time you are in France, you can pick up a charming carte maquette (paper model) version at The Whimsey Shoppe French antique store (Henderson location) in Dallas.

They also have several other paper models of beautiful French landmarks including the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris. To visit The Whimsey Shoppe online, click here.

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On Monday, French Affaires hosted celebrated food journalist and cookbook author Susan Herrmann Loomis as part of our French Affaires Book Series. She is currently based in France (more specifically in Louviers, Normandy) and runs her cooking school “On Rue Tatin” from there. Over a French-inspired lunch, she regaled our group of nearly 50 Francophiles with wonderful tales about cooking and living in France… “Every day I have at least one conversation with someone about FOOD.” In addition, she describes “France as a gracious place to live” but “the red tape is infernal” and “America has peanut butter. ”

Speaking of nuts, she made our mouths water when describing her ‘favorite three recipes’ from “Nuts in the Kitchen,” her new cookbook just out in April. She traveled from Turkey to Thailand to Sweden researching this latest labor of cooking love. Interestingly, she noted that the Swedes have made an art out of using nuts in cooking and that many good nutty culinary ideas come from that locale.

French Affaires’ next rendez-vous with chef Susan is our Paris market tour and cooking day in early November as part of the FA fall trip. Our French Affaires ‘Gourmet Paris’ travelers are in for a super-French culinary treat with her tremendous expertise and warm personality thrown in. Check out these photos of our previous ‘Gourmet Paris’ trip and cooking class with Susan:

And we look forward to hosting her in Texas next year for a multi-day cooking class where we all can roll up our sleeves and COOK.

Merci to all those who came out to enjoy a “breath of French air”…we appreciate your being part of our French Affaires community in the U.S.

And merci to you, Susan, for providing a “breath of French air”…and Happy Book Tour!

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You never know where a good deed will go.

When I was a teenager, my parents received a call from a local coordinator for student exchange programs. Would they be willing to host a teenager from France? Yes, they said, but as we have four daughters, it would need to be a girl. Of course–bien sûr!

That summer, Karine from Paris came to spend several weeks with our family. We swam in the pool, visited the local mall and made chocolate chip cookies. We had such a good time à l’américaine that she came back the following summer. And then her sister, Stephanie, did a homestay chez les New a couple of years later, and my sister Hillary stayed with their family during her junior year abroad.

Today, Karine remains a dear friend and one of my favorite people to see when I am perched in Paris. She is a charming Parisienne, a mom to two adorable French children and a very talented artist. After attending the Académie Charpentier art school in Paris, she decided to specialize in les portraits au fusain (charcoal portraiture) and has become well known in France and Europe for her artistic abilities.

So what does this have to do with the perfect Parisian souvenir?

When a close friend decided to spend the fall in Paris a couple of years ago as a much-needed sabbatical from corporate life, she called me for all sorts of tips on enjoying Paris to the fullest. We covered the Paris essentials both on and off the beaten path—museums, monuments, gardens and parks, restaurants, unique shops, quiet corners of the city, and more. And then we talked about the perfect memento of her trip—and it came to me…A portrait of her done by Karine!

Laura loved the idea. She met with Karine and learned about her method and approach. As Karine says, “Ma recherche et le combat mené auprès du model pour dévoiler l’ expression du visage la plus vraie, ainsi que le reflet de la personnalité en dehors du temps me mène vers un but primordial: l’ Elégance.” In essence, Karine strives to bring out the most real and lifelike portrait of her subjects and to reflect their personality. In so doing, her ultimate goal is the most elegant representation of her clients…what I would call it the “French touch” of portraiture.

To begin Laura’s portrait, Karine worked from a black and white photo of Laura that she and Laura had chosen together. Then Laura sat briefly for two sessions while Karine finished the portrait with the details only apparent in real life. Finally, the memorable souvenir of her time in Paris was done, and Laura had a wonderful Parisian experience in the process.

To date, Karine has practiced her art in Paris and Europe. This year, she will bring her French artistic talents to the U.S. for the first time on a “portrait tour.” So it will be possible to have that perfect Parisian-style portrait and meet Karine—without the jet lag! I myself will look forward to spending time with my French friend while she is in America—perhaps we’ll even make some chocolate chip cookies again…for old times’ sake.

French Take-Out ~ La France à emporter™

Karine is so charming that it’s worth having a portrait done just to meet her. If you are interested in having Karine do a special portrait of your son(s) or daughter(s) or grandchildren or yourself while she is in the U.S., please let us know so we can reserve your family member’s time with her: e.new@frenchaffaires.com or 214-232-5344. For friends of French Affaires, Karine will offer her portraits at a special rate. For more information on Karine and her art, please click here to visit her web site.

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