Posts from — February 2010

When some people hear that I try to go to Paris for two to three months each year, rent a flat and stay put, they often express surprise. ‘But what do you do?’ they ask. I was reminded of this question the other day when I saw Karen Fawcett’s interesting article, ‘Reflections on Paris’, on her Bonjour Paris site.

Like Karen, I always take my laptop when I go away, and almost always have some work to do. I don’t run an online magazine, as she does, but as a lecturer and researcher, I never really ‘switch off’. There are usually students’ essays to mark, or a draft of a thesis to look at and comment on, or some research to write up into an article. I often continue my thesis supervisions while away, using Skype. There are very few parts of my work now, except actual lecturing—and that only happens for two twelve-week semesters each year—that cannot be done on the move. I love my work, but I also love staying in Paris, and the new (well, they’re not really so new anymore) technologies enable me to do both. I actually prefer having work to do. I hate the idea of being a tourist, and for that reason I can’t bear to be part of a tour (although, paradoxically, I have led tours!). I like to move into a neighbourhood, settle down, pick a favourite café, get to know the waiters, the local baker, pharmacist, greengrocer, fishmonger.

Once in France, I also get into my ‘student of French’ persona, and try to do something each day that will improve my French. Everyday conversations are best, and not hard to come by, now that I have a lot of good friends there. But even on a day when I don’t see any friends, there are still numerous opportunities for conversations. For example, I never seem to be able to go into a Franprix supermarket without an elderly person coming up to me and asking me to read the label on the food—how much sugar is there in it? Or some similar query. There is always a need to buy everyday things, like supplies from the chemist, or a stamp or pre-paid parcel from the post office. Before I could speak French properly, I would look up all the vocabulary I thought I’d need for each particular shopping trip beforehand. A great deal of my French vocabulary was learned—and then used—in this way.

My absolute favourite activity is going to French theatre. My French is not usually good enough to go to a play ‘cold’, so I pick a play for which I can buy the text and read it first. That way, my vocabulary is enlarged, and I can enjoy the play so much more. I also go to French films, but it’s harder to understand those if there is loud music in the background, or if the characters speak quickly, shout, or speak ‘argot’. So I pick films very carefully. Speaking of films, the French Film Festival opens in Melbourne soon, for which I’ve booked half a dozen films already. I’ll be back soon to blog about that.

During my seven-month stay in France a couple of years ago, a colleague explained to me the thrifty French tradition (well, from her region and era, at any rate) of gathering up all the leftover food (les restes) on Fridays and making it into a pie (la tarte). Of course, it’s necessary to combine ingredients judiciously. I looked around for a book of recipes at the time, so I could have some instruction on making these pies, but I couldn’t find anything. Then one day on a television cooking show, I saw a woman named Sophie Dudemaine demonstrating how to make tartes from all manner of things–fish, leftover meat, andouille (I’ll pass on that one), lentils, escargots… you name it. So I went into Amazon France and, sure enough, Sophie has a whole range of books, one of which is Les Tartes et Salades de Sophie, which I ordered toute suite.

So although today is Friday, I didn’t make a tarte a la Sophie, but I did apply the principle of using up les restes. In my case, after all this horrible hot humid weather in Melbourne, les restes were some very sad looking peaches, a wrinkled nectarine or two, and a couple of dozen cherries which had seen better days. I flung them all into a saucepan with some leftover red wine, and various spices–cloves, cinammon stick, mixed spice, and a little strawberry cordial and some water–and boiled it all up for about half an hour (adding the nectarine and cherries about half way through).

This is actually a variation on a famous Melbourne dish known as peach Melba, which requires raspberries to be added at the end (some people puree the raspberries, but I prefer them whole). As it’s not raspberry season, I flung in a handful of the frozen variety once I’d taken the saucepan off the heat. The verdict? Eaten warm with ice-cream or plain yoghurt, it can only be described as magnifique!