French Word-A-Day

noce

Along a festive pedestrian street in Collioures, France

la noce (nohs) noun, feminine

  1. wedding; wedding party

En automne, je récoltai toutes mes peines et les enterrai dans mon jardin. Lorsque avril refleurit et que la terre et le printemps célébrèrent leurs noces, mon jardin fut jonché de fleurs splendides et exceptionnelles.

In the autumn I gathered all my sorrows and buried them in my garden. And when April returned and spring came to wed the earth, there grew in my garden beautiful flowers unlike all other flowers. --Khalil Gibran

                                                                        
Note: today's post is a re-run from one year ago (and a clue-in to the "good news" mentioned in Friday's poursuivre post...).

A stone's throw from the Spanish border, in a department of southwest France exotically known as "les Pyrénées Orientales," Jean-Marc and I celebrated our eleventh wedding anniversary, or "noces de corail".*

For this onzième* anniversary, Jean-Marc selected the old fishing port of Collioures for our week-end getaway. "Because it is a typical French village," he explained. To me, this "typical French village" felt oh-so-Spanish, making it the perfect choice for a dépaysement.*

The colorful town of Collioure is surrounded by hills of vines which protect it from le vent* and is known to gourmands* for its grenache-based wines and anchovy trade. To artists, Collioures is treasured for its exceptional Mediterranean light. Matisse found the charming port back in 1905, after which the town became a meeting point for les fauvists.* Since then, artists like Picasso, Dali and Braque, and not a few tourists, have flocked to this bijou* of a village by the glittering sea, along the Côte Vermeille or "Gilded Coast" in the South of France.

While Jean-Marc sampled spicy reds in a wine boutique, I discovered the pastel-toned village via its maze of medieval paths. Flowering vines tumbled from the tiny balcons* and the scent of fermenting grapes permeated the air as local cellars processed the recent harvest.

After a quick aller-retour* up one of the streets, I checked in on Jean-Marc back at the wine boutique to find him swirling red in a gigantic glass, an air-tight pack of sardines-in-oil on the counter in front of him. "For the apéro*..." he explained.

Given another pocket of time to play with, I ventured farther into the cramped town center, noting art galleries à gogo, shops bursting with temptations such as striped espadrilles in red, yellow, bordeaux, orange, and green and stylish wicker baskets hanging from beneath the canvas store awnings. Dozens of restaurants poured out of the ancient buildings and onto the cobblestone paths
via clusters of tables and chairs. Small chalkboards with curly French writing announced the plat du jour* and the spicy aromas coming from the kitchens wooed weary travelers to sit down and literally savor a bite of Catalonia.

I reunited with my husband in front of the immobilier's,* just around the corner from the wine boutique, where he was looking at photographs of properties for sale. "Five hectares of vines!" he said, as I walked up. I smiled in recognition of one Frenchman's passionate rêve.* For as long as I have known Jean-Marc, he has dreamed of having his very own, family run vineyard. It may take eleven more years for him to realize his dream. It will surely require the same perseverance and personal investment of a happy marriage to reach his goal. But if you ask me, he'll have his vines one day.

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*References: le mariage de corail (m) = coral wedding anniversary; onzième = eleventh; le dépaysement (m) = change of scenery; le vent (m) = wind; un gourmand, une gourmande = one who is fond of food; le fauvist (m) (from "les fauves" = wild beasts) = painter who follows fauvism; le bijou (m) = gem; le balcon (m) = balcony;  l'aller-retour (m) = round-trip; l'apéro (m) = appetizer; le plat du jour (m) = today's special; l'immobilier  (m) = realtor's office;  le rêve (m) = dream

The French-Inspired Home, by Kaari Meng, includes 40 charming projects that capture the sights, scents, and textures of the French countryside.

Listen to French:
Hear Jean-Marc recite today's quote: En automne, je récoltai toutes mes peines et les enterrai dans mon jardin. Lorsque avril refleurit et que la terre et le printemps célébrèrent leurs noces, mon jardin fut jonché de fleurs splendides et exceptionnelles.

Expressions:
faire la noce = to live it up
le voyage de noces = honeymoon
les noces d'argent/d'or = silver/golden wedding anniversary
ne pas être à la noce: to not be happy to be somewhere (not be in the mood to party)

In books and gifts:
The Basque Kitchen: Tempting Food from the Pyrenees

WINEOPOLY. Pop the cork off any gathering with WINEOPOLY! Players buy favorite wines, collect bunches of grapes and trade them in for decanters.

énervé

A peaceful scene in Roquebrune-sur-Argens.

The Big Blue with Rosanna Arquette--one of Jean-Marc's favorite films (I liked it, too!)

énervé,e (ay-ner-vay) adjective
   irritated, annoyed; nervous, edgy

L'amour peut énerver l'âme, ou l'affermir.
Love can upset the soul, or strengthen it. --Etienne de Senancour

                                                                               
"Machine-gunning" is how Jean-Marc refers to the way I take photos. Such drive-by photo-shooting works, I am finding, both in and out of the car and the physiological results are the same: relief from pent-up frustration is as instant as the click of the shutter button.

"Going out for a bit of photo mitraillage?"* my husband says, as I steam past him, uncomfortable under my own skin, ornery, argumentative, and all around sur les nerfs.* Humph! I don't like the sound of "photo mitraillage," but then I don't like the sound of birdsong at the moment either.

I stomp out to my car and throw myself into the driver's seat, quickly checking to see if anyone's noticed my dramatic exit; only the birds have, which makes karmic sense considering how I can't stand their song today.

Driving twenty minutes seaward, I stop in the village of Roquebrune-sur-Argens. With a digital camera and one gigabyte of memory, I've got 1000 shots at sanity. After only three warm-up clicks, the lens automatically shuts and I, with my still-frayed sack of nerves, look down at the screen and see the mocking message: "Change the battery pack."

BUT I AM OUT OF BATTERIES! Before my meltdown is complete and I fear I might combust, I look up to the French heavens for mercy. A few feathered foes fly by. This time their message is clear: on a bad day stop and listen to the music.

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References: le mitraillage (m) = machine-gunning; (être) sur les nerfs = to be on edge

In Music:
A most relaxing soundtrack (from the favorite film, mentioned earlier)

Listen to French:
Hear Jean-Marc recite today's quote: Download enerver.wav
L'amour peut énerver l'âme, ou l'affermir.

Related terms:
  énerver quelqu'un = to irritate somebody
  s'énerver = to get excited, worked up
  l'énervement (m) = irritation, annoyance

In Gifts:
 

Gigi wall hooks with French terms
              

Stone Mortar and Pestle -- a must for French pistou!
...

Do Not Disturb / Ne pas Déranger French Door Knob Hanger
 

lumière

Flowers drinking in the lumière next to an unsolicited fountain.


Lumière

(loo-mee-air)

noun, feminine

light

The memory of that midsummer night is quickly fading and my mind's eye must squint for the scene to come into view again, fragmented and incomplete.

I can just see the subject in the foreground and how the light playing upon him, along with the quiet night, made for a breathtaking still life.

Just what shade of orange was it washing over the plateaus along the landscape of his back? Tangerine comes to mind.

I should have missed the color—sunburst orange?—what with the fine-lined paperback before me, stealing my vision.

It was the rustling leaves that beckoned, that had my eyes leaving the page to refocus on the chestnut tree outside and to the blue cypress hedge below before returning to the room, riding the night's breeze, to my husband slumbering beside me.

My mind watches now as the street light throws an orangey glow over the outspoken curves of his back. There, between darkness and lumière, I glimpse the drama of here and now.

I flip a page in the paperback... only to pause before the text: do the words that I am reading have as much mystery, beauty, or meaning?

I close my book and read the moment instead.
.

 

*   *   *
.

Terms & Expressions:
  la lumière douce = soft light
  à la lumière de la lune = by moonlight
  un torrent de lumière = a flood of light
  la lumière artificielle = artificial light
  la lumière du jour = daylight
  une année lumière = a light-year

And There Was Light tells the gripping, heroic story of the early life of Jacques Lusseyran, an inspiring individual who overcame the limitations of physical blindness by attending - literally - to the light within his own mind.

 

Ce n'est pas la lumière qui manque à notre regard, c'est notre regard qui manque de lumière. It is not the light which misses our gaze, it is our gaze which misses the light. --Gustave Thibon

 

four

Entufurnu pizzeria & trattoria in Ceriana, Italy.

Larousse Gastronomique. First published in 1938 and last revised in 1988, Larousse Gastronomique one of the culinary world's most familiar reference sources. --Library Journal


le four (for) noun, masculine
  oven; kiln; furnace

Un vieux four est plus aisé à chauffer qu'un neuf.
An old oven is easier to heat than a new one.
                                                                  --proverb
A Day in a French Life...
The Italian set down his container of raisins* opposite an antique grape press before turning to lift the heavy crate that linked my hand to my husband's.
"Thank you for your help," he said. "My name is Dario," he added, offering a free hand.

Dario the vigneron handed us a few dusty, unlabeled bottles of home brew before ushering us into the oven. (If this were a horror story, the setting would be fit: two foreigners lured (with the promise of lunch) into a dark cave, handed a few liters of wine for self-marinating, and asked to step into the oven--only to become lunch!)

As it was, Dario was inviting us to his home/trattoria* (so-named "Entufurnu," or "IntoTheOven," according to the hand-painted panneau* above his village door). I parted the colorful beaded curtains and entered a narrow dining room just a poil* bigger than the long wooden table in its center. On the right, where a coat rack might have hung, was a painting of a naked woman, just like in the three other cafe/bars we'd frequented in the past 24 hours.

Once upon a time, Dario explained, and in the place of the current kitchen, there was an enormous oven for baking pizza. While Dario showed us to our seats, Esmeralda, the woman in the cherry red scarf, came out of the oven to greet us, her wide-toothed smile as heavenly as the scents wafting in from the kitchen behind her. "Sit down," she said, her Spanish accent but a hint of her Honduran origins. Soon the tabletop teemed with casseroles, carafes and conversation as we shared spaghetti alla napoletana,* entrecôte,* local cheese, homebrewed wine and Dario's signature grappa.

And, just like that, we spent the afternoon warming up to complete strangers in the Ligurian town of Ceriana, only to quit that big old oven uncooked, uncorked, and uncommonly catered to in a little village along the northern coast of Italy, high up in the quiet hinterland affectionately known as the Riviera of Flowers.

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References: le raisin (m) = grape; trattoria (from the French "traiteur") = a small Italian restaurant; le panneau (m) = sign; le poil (m) = hair; spaghetti alla napoletana = spaghetti with tomato sauce; une entrecôte (f) = (literally "between the ribs") steak

Learn to speak French with Rosetta Stone French. Proven effective by NASA astronauts, Peace Corps volunteers and millions of students worldwide.

Related words & expressions:
  le four à pain = baker's oven
  le four micro-ondes = microwave oven
  cuire au four = to cook/roast/bake in the oven
  un petit four = a type of small pastry
  les petits fours salés = savory appetizers

French Pronunciation:
Listen to Jean-Marc recite today's proverb: Download four.wav
Un vieux four est plus aisé à chauffer qu'un neuf.

Books & Gifts:
Cucina Ebraica: Flavors of the Italian Jewish Kitchen
   
Falling Palace: A Romance of Naples

Dora in France Doll

Rick Steeve's Money Belt

cachot

Back at the Piazza Rubini in Ceriana, Italy. Not far from the would-be cachot...

Printed in French, Cuisine Et Vins De France features dozens of recipes in each issue along with articles on wine, cheese, appetizers, table decorations, and more.

le cachot (ka-sho) noun, masculine
  dungeon, prison cell; solitary confinement

J'aimerais mieux être un crapaud et vivre des vapeurs d'un cachot que de laisser un coin de l'être que j'aime à l'usage d'autrui.

I had rather be a toad and live upon the vapor of a dungeon than keep a corner of the thing I love for others' uses. --William Shakespeare (from Othello)

A Day in a French Life...
(The Italy narrative continues...)

Jean-Marc and I rendezvoused with the Italian vigneron* back at the quiet Piazza Rubini. The square was now empty but for a few gluttonous pigeons cleaning up after the Farmers' Market. Across the square, we spotted the vigneron unloading the bright red crates of vermentino grapes. His face was flushed and beads of sweat ran from his salt-and-pepper crown down to his soaked collar.

It took two of us, both Jean-Marc and me, to lift a single crate from the back of the truck. We balanced the plump grapes between us before catching up to the vigneron who entered what looked to be a tunnel but was actually another one of those dark alleyways that run high and low, criss-crossing the medieval village of Ceriana. At the mouth of the passage, we fell into the rock wall, allowing another triporteur* to whiz past (while amazed to see the three-wheeled truck in action navigating the narrow brick and cobbled paths). The little municipal truck had a broom and poubelle* in the back--enough equipment to compete with the plump pigeons for leftover scraps along the checkered floor of the square.

"Watch your step!" the vigneron cautioned as we followed him into a tiny cave,* which was damp and dark as an underground cachot*...

(At this point in my story Jean-Marc interrupts to argue about the use of the word "cachot" (or "dungeon") only to agree that the vigneron's cave, with its river of wine, would color the cheeks and soul of the weariest prisoner.)

                                          *   *   *
For past chapters in this story, visit:

Italy, Introduction :: Part One :: Part Two :: Part Three :: Next: Lunch with strangers

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References: le vigneron (la vigneronne) = vine-grower, vintner; le triporteur (m) = three-wheel vehicle that "ports," or carries, things/people; la poubelle (f) = trash or garbage can; la cave (f) = cellar; le cachot (m) = dungeon

French Pronunciation:
Hear Jean-Marc recite today's quote: Download cachot.wav
J'aimerais mieux être un crapaud et vivre des vapeurs d'un cachot que de laisser un coin de l'être que j'aime à l'usage d'autrui.

Related words:
la cachotterie (f) = mystery
cachottier, cachottière (adj) = secretive

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In books:
My Italian Sketchbook

Extra Virgin: A Young Woman Discovers the Italian Riviera, Where Every Month Is Enchanted
Tastes of Italia. Every issue of Tastes of Italia includes recipes from all parts of Italy along with articles on Italian culture, culinary history, wine, and travel.

France Today features different regions of France with practical travel tips & suggestions for where to eat & stay, where to shop & play, as well as features on food & wine, cinema, culture & French products available in the U.S.A.