Bonjour les filles!!!
Please forgive me, I’m still in a French mood….
Ok! Here we are!
This week my guest is a new blogfriend .
Please give a big welcome to Sharon from My French Country Home. I’m sure you know her but I’ve started chatting with her just lately! I adore her blog, full of beautiful images and she totally had me when she told me where she lives: Normandie.
She has also an Etsy Store and the Blog Our French country Guest Cottage
I don’t know her very well so I asked her to tell me more about her life….
“I ‘m British born, I ‘ve lived in France for a very long time, in Nice, St Tropez, Paris and Normandy. I’m married to a wonderful Frenchman and our four children are great, bilingual, confident with a lot of character. Their ages are 13,15, 17, and 19. I believe that we are lucky to live where we are, that we have a good quality of life and that we try hard to improve it daily. We try to teach our children the same values.
We live in the country, we appreciate beautiful things and beauty around us but our tastes are fairly simple. No bling bling!
I write a little, paint a little, teach a little – jack of all trades really. I made the deliberate choice to raise our family rather than build a career. I don’t regret that choice but I’m now reaching the point where the children need me less and I have to create more stuff for myself. I like to keep busy, and generally have several projects happening at the same time. Not always easy for those around me but certainly enjoyable.”
Milles Merci Sharon!!
Enjoy!
I am so thrilled to be invited by Gaia as her guest blogger. This is a first for me. I have to admit to having a very soft spot for Italian blogs. Italian girls always seem to create a fraicheur and spontaneity in their blog that you don’t find elsewhere. Gaia’s blog is no exception. I love her happy choice of photos, the generous way she highlights other blogs and her overall italian-ness!!
Gaia cara – grazie mille!
So, since she left me carte blanche, or should I say carta bianca, to write on any subject, I thought to tell you about the humble baguette and how it fits into daily French life.
Say ” France” to someone, the chances are they’ll think of the Eiffel Tower, good wine or a tasty baguette. A good baguette is a vital part of the French day, the French diet, the French psychology even!
We can buy our daily bread from supermarkets, but the French prefer to take their custom to the local bakers or boulangerie. At the supermarket the bread will be in a loose cellophane wrapping, at the bakers the boulanger will pass it across the counter to you bare handed, or possible wrap a token square of thin white paper around the middle for you to hold.
Some people prefer their bread crusty, others slightly softer, as you stand in line to buy you often hear “une baguette, pas trop cuite, ” or “bien cuite, s’il vous plait”
Our closest boulangerie, where all these photos are taken, is just across the valley (for the sake of my blog I am gaining a peculiar reputation taking photos around here!). We either go there directly or buy the bread they deliver to our village shop. We’re lucky that our nearest bakers is such a good one. As well as a wide selection of different breads, they also make their own croissants, pain au chocolat and other more fancy cakes.
From the outside, the bakers looks pretty modest, but inside it smells delicious, everything is fresh and the service comes with a smile.
I took this photo through the shop window, this morning they were showing off examples of their finest cakes for the wedding season!
The baker produces hot bread and viennoiserie twice a day, morning and afternoon. No excuse for not having fresh bread to eat. Traditionally children stop by for their gouter after school.
Voila! A little calorie-loaded stick shaped taste of daily life in France, I hope you enjoyed it.
Thank you Sharon! A very Yummy french post…