French Issues with Health

"On the metro, disease hangs thickly in the warm air, and people eye one another warily, sizing up which passenger is likely to be carrying the plague before choosing their seat"

Funny article from BBC correspondent Emma Jane Kirby on French health complaints.


You can learn about a French disease of Heavy Legs "jambes lourdes". I didn't know that was typically French. On the German TV they have quiet a lot of commercials for that condition too. Emma didn't mention about another disease no other nationality can have and that's the famous "Crise de Foie" in other words a liver crises. Let me tell you, with the limited knowledge i have from TCM studies, that you won't be there telling anyone who want or don't want to hear about a Crise de Foie if you had one. You would be in intensive care waiting for a donor.
Crise de Foie is just an elegant way to say you have a hangover from too much wine and/or indigestion of too much and/or too fat food. A disease typically spreading fast at the end of the year, around Christmas.
After the heavy Christmas meal a walk around the block, park or other outdoor facilities is just what the doctor ordered!

Watch the French at work

We wrote already about where you can meet the French at their dinner table but now the website meetingthefrench.com offers also the possibility to look the French over their shoulder while they work. Now that's a good way to get to know them and to learn something about a trade at the same time! How's that for an original way to visit Paris?

Funny ads about France going smoke-free

"- Hahahha this party was awesome!
- You are too loud, we are going to get busted by the whole neighborhood!"

(This translation isn't good enough to me so if you guys have another idea, please leave a comment.)

You probably know that France went smoke-free on January 2nd 2008. Well, obviously it doesn't make everyone happy but that's the way it is. From now on, you can not smoke in bar, clubs, cafes and restaurants.

"- You too have been dumped?
- Yeah ... even though I was close to the ashtray."

So smokers have to go outside to have a cigarette, which is delicate because 20 people smoking outside makes some noise and sometimes they throw away their cigarette butts in the street, which polluate. And they are not allowed to take their drinks out.

So the city of Paris came out with several ads that are worth to have a look at.

"- So are you coming?
- Forget it, I'm not allowed to go out with you"

Popular Ad in France

Want to know what ad is popular in France?
Watch this one.

$200 French Bistro Chairs

Look at this chairs! Aren't they sooooo French and especially Parisian?!
Yes they are!
They can be bought online on Maison Midi store. They are called French Bistrot Chair and they start at almost $200.
What do you think? Would you buy one of these?

Via Cool Hunting

Disgusting French Food

We have said many times in this blog: French gastronomy is unique and delicious. And I’m going to prove it isn’t always the case.
Indeed, French tend sometimes, to eat things that are considered disgusting in other countries or things that couldn’t believe to be eaten.

Have your strong stomach ready!

Snails are a delicacy in French cuisine, where they are called Escargot. In an English language menu escargot is generally reserved for snails prepared with traditional French recipes (served in the shell with garlic and parsley butter).
This dish is in the English-speaking world traditionally associated with French cuisine, and a favourite English derogatory nickname for the French is the Frogs. They are traditionally prepared in a butter, garlic and parsley sauce and often served only with a salad or steamed rice.

Here is a recipe for the delicious calf’s head called tête de veau in French:
Take out the brains and boil the head, feet, and lights, in salted water, just enough to cover them, about two hours. When they have boiled nearly an hour and a half, tie the brains in a cloth and put them in to boil with the rest. They should be skinned, and soaked half an hour in cold water. When the two hours have expired, take up the whole, and mash the brains fine, and season them with bread crumbs, pepper, salt, and a glass of Port or Claret, and use them for sauce. Let the liquor remain for a soup the next day. It serves more handsomely to remove all the bones.

Specialised butcher shops (boucheries chevalines) sell horsemeat (I know), as ordinary butcher shops have been for a long time forbidden to deal in it. However, since the 1990s, it can be found in supermarket butcher shops and others. According to the Association for Horsemeat website, approximately 15 000 horses a year are raised for meat production, mostly draft breeds. It argues that the economic importance of horsemeat helps maintain the genetic heritage of traditional French breeds.

« Dans le cochon, tout est bon » means "All of the pig is good" and the French prove it by eating… its feet. That’s right! Even if this is an “old” dish, the demand in Europe is still there. Slow cooking is the best way to release the awesome flavors contained in pig’s feet. Yummy hu?!Here is a nice recipe for pig’s feet.
We eat their ears too.

I was about to talk to you about the calf's brain that people prepare with bacon but I think you had enough for the day.

Do you know any other "specialé French food that I've missed?

Thanks to tychenyt for the great shot.
Source: wikipedia.org

Pubs Le Parisien

Vous connaissez le journal “Le Parisien”? C’est un quotidien français sur Paris et Ile-de-France.

Ces dernières années nous autres habitants de France, avons vu plusieurs publicités pour ce journal utilisant le stéréotype du parisien. Le parisien est mis en scène dans différentes situations où il peut exprimer tout ce qui caractérise cet être si profondément bon, toujours prêt à aider son prochain, nullement opportuniste et pas pour un sous râleur.
D’où le slogan du journal qui est : « Le Parisien, il vaut mieux l’avoir en journal ». Ce n’est pas super vrai tout ça ? Nous plaisantons bien sur !

Voilà donc trois pubs qui sont téléchargeables sur le site officiel de Le Parisien.
Elles sont absolument hilarantes et je suis sure que certains d’entre vous pourraient tourner vos « propres pubs » en mettant en scène vos « rencontres parisiennes ».
N’hésitez pas à nous en faire part.