Practicing French

 Yes, that's right, I've been practicing my French, reviving high school French from 56 years ago, not that I was ever able to speak it or understand "Fast Spoken French".   At least now they have a term for it and admit that the French drop a lot of vowels, consonants and whole syllables.  Sort of like what operatic Italian does to normal (well, as can be) Italian.  Geraldine has several YouTube videos to get you prepared for what you won't understand once you get off the plane at CDG.

In preparation I have gone beyond the lessons of Comme une Francaise and have plunged into the 100% French of KTO Television Catholique.  No, I am not listening to masses but watching La Cuisine des Monasteres in which François Lespés goes from monastery to monastery in France, filming monks and nuns preparing fairly simple but nourishing dishes.  The dishes remind me of the vegetarian food we had on the Road Scholar retreat at the Buddhist center in Santa Cruz, where cooks really do have to use their imagination.  

And yes, most of the dishes in the monasteries are vegetarian except for the pork they slip in there sometimes, most often in the form of andouillette (pig's colon filled with pig intestines -- and some herbs, spices and wine, of course).  Don't be fooled when they call it Andouille de Vire or Andouille de Guémené and start thinking it's a regular sausage filled with ground meat.  The nuns and monks slice it quite thinly and it is quite pretty with its concentric circles.  But Will will discourage you from eating it.

The monks and nuns like their milk, butter and eggs which is understandable in monasteries that raise their own cows and hens or in places like Normandy or Brittany where they traditionally use a lot of dairy products.  But sometimes they go overboard, as in this Tourte Normande which lines a pie plate with a circle of puff pastry, then covers it with creme fraiche, then a layer of onions sautéed in butter, followed by a layer of thinly sliced apples sautéed in butter, then a layer of the andouillette.  Top that with several thick slices of Pont l'Eveque cheese and sprinkle on a persillade (parsley and lemon), beat an egg with some cream and pour that on top.  Then cover the tourte with a second round of puff pastry, brush it with an egg yolk and cook it for 45 minutes.

The monk follows the Tourte Normande with a Teurgoule which is a rice pudding using 200 grams each of sugar and rice, 2 liters of milk and that bakes for 4 hours.  It comes out looking like the Basque Burnt Cheesecake but I bet it tastes good.

I bet this is why the French women stay so thin.

Finally I just want to mention the Macédoine Polanaise  that a Polish nun serves with her pierogies.  Pretty much a  Russian salad.  Usually I think of Macedonia as a mixture of cut-up fruit but a macédoine des legumes is one of  vegetables in France.  Yes, all bound together with mayonnaise, the French sauce par excellence and Camila's favorite.