Category: Winter in France

  • Bonjour from snowy France! You may have heard it’s been quite a wintry weather experience here the past few weeks. And it came on rather suddenly after a very mild December and January. In fact, I thought spring was just around the corner since our flowering cherry trees were starting to bloom and the daffodils…

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  • In France, New Year’s greetings and king’s cakes go hand in hand. After all the Christmas bûches de Noël (yule log cakes), it’s immediately time for the galettes des rois (king’s or kings’ cakes). During the season of Epiphanie, also known as la Fête des rois (Three Kings Day, or Feast of the Epiphany, or…

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  • Yesterday, my husband and I joined the crowds of bustling French shoppers picking up last minute items for Christmas. Yes, people were out buying gifts but the main attraction of course was the FOOD. This is France, after all. The boulangeries (bakeries), pâtisseries (pastry shops), boucheries (butchers), charcuteries (gourmet deli, though that term doesn’t do it justice in France!), poissoneries…

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  • Greetings from the French countryside where we have enjoyed an exceptionally beautiful fall this year! It has been wonderfully sunny, and the leaves spent several weeks turning a more-lovely-than-usual spectrum of yellows, oranges and reds. On my daily bike ride around our village of Courances in all seasons, I fly past this allée looking down…

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  • Move over lavender, poppies and sunflowers, it’s mimosa season in Provence. Walk by a bucket of mimosa flowers (pronounced ‘mee-moh-zah’) at a Provençal market right now, and you would swear it was the height of summer. The sprays of bright yellow blooms and heady, honey-like scent seem to advertise sunny days and warm nights. The…

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  • Move over les bûches de Noël (yule log cakes), it’s time for les galettes des rois (king’s cakes). In France, the holiday sweets keep coming even after Christmas with Epiphanie, also known as la Fête des rois (Three Kings Day, or Feast of the Epiphany), and its signature galette des rois. You can’t miss Epiphany…

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  • In France, the holidays, or les fêtes de fin d’année and also known as la période des fêtes (note that the expression “le temps des fêtes” is used in French-speaking Canada), are about family, friends and feasting – especially the feasting. This applies to le Réveillon de la Saint-Sylvestre (New Year’s Eve) in particular. French…

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  • With the winter storm currently blanketing the U.S., I was reminded of an extraordinary cold and misty December day my husband and I spent at the gardens of Eyrignac in southwest France four years ago. For this week’s post, I pulled the following article from the French Affaires’ archives describing this magical, though chilly winter adventure. Enjoy – and…

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