Okay, so I have to be honest and admit that it wouldn't really be my blog if I didn't reserve one area for my "opinions" and "rants". Essentially this is the wine crate I stand on to pronounce my views on current food-related issues, news items and other aspects I find worthy of discussion.
May 7, 2009 In France, to be sick to your stomach and the act of relief from this condition can be referred to as 'gerber'. In a more pleasant example, a champagne bottle that overflows when opened is 'une gerbeuse'. Nonetheless, why anyone decided to name their nutritional food product 'gerblé' is a mystery to me...
Oct 23, 2008 There are some mornings, you know, those when it seems like every cell of you does not want to get up but duty calls and you make it to where ever you need to be in the most jejune of ways. On those days, you may think you want a beverage like the one available from the instant coffee machine at the Reims Management School, but you will be rather disappointed...
The first day I saw this option, I think I gave myself whiplash. In fact, Cacao + fort is for the French what we would refer to as a mochaccino - an espresso base with some hot milk and some chocolate. But in Quebec, one may be inclined, especially in more rural areas, to think that this beverage was a hot chocolate with a dose of something livelier, with 30% proof and up. That morning, I sort of wished I was back home...
Oct 9, 2008 Things you would never see in Montreal, much less in North America. In France, we are familiar with the butcher, the cold cut counter, the gut guy, and the caterer. Wait, what? The intestine vendor? Yes folks, the organ man. One of the big dishes in the region of Ardennes as well as other places in France is the Andouillette – a tripe sausage. Seeing as how it is a specialty, it’s expected that there be providers of the good, and those who do, advertise.
Sep 3, 2008 This one is fresh from the Union Square Market in NYC.
Now I know that cheese is supposed to be a living entity, but that it's eating grass? That's a little too "Seymour, feed me", even for this gastronomic adventurer.
Aug 15, 2008 The French just always seem to have it right. While perusing the aisles of a grocery store in the South of France, I came upon this "brand" of wines. As we all know, there are high brow and low brow wines but there are also circumstantial wines and those that are context specific. Hence, the pool wine. This is the type that one drinks when slightly sunstroked, a little greasy from suntan lotion, and in the midst of a heavy gossip session. There is zero pretension to this situation and thus should be none with regards to the wine. And the French have made the task of selecting such a product easy, by naming it so - Piscine. It comes in red, white, and rosé. So to all those who bemoan "wine snobbery", I say, if the French can be so practical and obvious, then perhaps that paradigm is slowly going extinct, and we should all raise a plastic cup to that.
But whatever, ok, and then she said what?
Jul 8, 2008 Now here is a fine example of bilingualism at its best. Don't have enough room to write peach in both languages? Make a hybrid! Add an 'e' to Peach and suddenly, you've got something much closer to Pêche... And it doesn't matter that everything else on the board is in English, as long as there is some attempt at French, it should be okay, non?
Jun 7, 2008 This is Vancouver stylin'... Not sure that I would want to taste hair or want to know why my hairdresser thinks that hair is tasty...
May 1, 2008 This one, totally self explanatory... It doesn't taste "yummi", because it tastes ___
Apr 16, 2008 Ok, I know this is our heritage product, but let's be real... it doesn't have to go on EVERYTHING. And apparently (thankfully) I'm not the only one who thinks this to be true.
Apr 8, 2008 If someone offered me this as a snack, I don't really know what I would answer... This looks like an identity crisis to me - either you're a candy or you're a savoury snack. You just can't be both... and certainly not with that combination...
