Long-legged Blonds




What no snails? Gary Lee Kraut filtring absinthe during a recent lunch
Photo: WritersClearinghouse News Service/Richard Carreño

In Praise of Tour Guides

By Richard Carreño

[WritersClearinghouse News Service]

Paris

On my first trip to Europe, to London as a teen-ager in the early-60s, my father had arranged for our family to be guided about the city, my first experience with a touring service. We settled comfortably in a big car, shepherded by stoic 'right-you-are,-guv'ner' type driver in the buttoned-up standard uniform of that period and our guide, long-legged blond in a micro-mini. (Also standard issue. Remember Swingin' London?)

Sitting in the back seat, trying to ignore my younger sister, Roberta, I had the best view of London possible. Her legs.

In the fifty-odd years since, I haven't had much use for guided tours (long-legged blonds are another story); rather, navigating my way around the world under my own steam. Strictly do it yourself, you see. Some notable exceptions have involved visits to Saudi Arabia, Ukraine, and Israel.

Recently, I've changed my mind. About guided tours, that is.

The Big Goût

Even French President François Hollande Eats the Whole Thing

SUPER-SIZE MOI

BY DANIELE THOMAS-EASTON

[WITERSCLEARINGHOUSE NEWS SERVICE/BIO]

NICE, FRANCE

Globalization comes in sheep's clothing: local bakeries and pastry shops propose, one at a time, American imports -- cheesecake, donuts, cupcakes, muffins, not always the most stellar concoctions when they are prepared on this side of the pond.

 

What a streak of irony in a country to which foreigners have always flocked waxing lyrical over, precisely its artisanal French food products, including its legendary crusty baguette and its tempting pastries. If analogy is the fuel and fire of thinking, as demonstrated by cognition specialists American Douglas Hospfstadter and Frenchman Emmanuel Sander in their fascinating 2013 study 'Surfaces and Essences,' bread must have been on the forefront of French thought for centuries, a true motherlode for multitudinous analogies.

Daily Bread

Counting Calories a la Francaise

By Daniele Thomas Easton

[Writers Clearinghouse News Service]
For French gourmets, some words always manage to conjure images of the good food of days gone by. Call a jam "confiture mamie," or a spread "dame tartine" and the trick is played!


Nostalgia laced with a genetic sense of attachment to quality food will lead French diners to flock
to cafes offering "dame tartine" smothered with "confiture bonne-maman"!

I had this same pleasant reaction when I learned that the Pain Quotidien would open a new bakery cum restaurant in Centre City.

My memories go back a long way both in time and in space: In Paris, I used to stop at Le Pain Quotidien for my morning coffee and croissant on Rue Montorgueil, or would join in at the communal table for a hearty lunch at another facility on Rue des Archives.


After spending three months in France, my first breakfast upon my recent return to Philadelphia had to be at the new Pain Quotidien on Walnut Street.


Going there (several times now) has been like seeing a classic movie, remembered only in black and white and ... being given the opportunity to see not only color, but to enjoy the additional pleasure of aromas wafting through the restaurant.

Some memories immediately flashed back: the visual and relaxing comfort of a restaurant here wood furnishings predominate. Wood tables, chairs, counters, armoires, floors. A light wood typical of North Europe. The communal table of unusual dimensions is made from the floorboards of old trains. Coffee served in bowls similar to those my grandmother would use. Except that she was not offering the wide selection of hot drinks, latte, espresso and the like of the Pain Quotidien.

I smelled with relish my hands after breakfast: this is some olfactory test of mine, my own Proustian madeleine, after eating a French croissant (made with butter only!). Try it, the aroma of fresh butter will impregnate your hands for a while.... I went again for lunch at the communal table, in a happy mix of young workers, students, mothers with kids, and shoppers ready for a break. Remember Tiffany's is across the street. Outside others, snacking at the tables, were soaking the first rays of sunshine.

The food, salads,tartines, quiches, were fresh, tasty and creatively presented. An added bonus, the calorie indication! So American. Never in France had I ever read any calorie count on the menu, but savouring a goat cheese arugula salad with pine nuts and parmesan with the knowledge it is only 580 calories eradicates any hesitation before ordering an extra dessert!


Add an espresso, please. Only five calories!

French Do

Mangez Vous? Dormez Vous? By Daniele Thomas Easton Junto Staff The French are No. 1 in Eating and Sleeping, spending more time at the table (eating) and in bed (that's as in sleeping, folks) than the habitants of any other highly developed country, according to a recent report by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). The French sleep an average of nine hours every night. That is about 30 minutes longer than the average American and over an hour longer than the Japanese and Koreans. The study, based on a survey of 18 member countries, also shows that the French spend more than two hours a day eating, twice the time spent by people in Mexico, Canada, and the United States. Statistics about the French abound. Enjoying life, spending quality time in a restaurant or at home, I am all for it. I disliked previous so-called statistics saying, for example, that the French use an average of 4.2 bars of soap per person per year compared to 8.3 in England. No study by the OECD dispelled these figures. But, if you want to get a clear sense of the soap industry in France, of the art of perfumery, go to La Fête du Savon Exhibition at Lisa M. Reisman et Cie gallery (1714 Rittenhouse Square), an exhibit that is a blend of extraordinary design, original research and good, clean fun. La Fête du Savon presents Art Nouveau and Art Déco chromolithographic labels created in Fin-de-Siècle France for the soap and perfume industries. Dating back to late 19th and early 20th centuries, this exhibition explores the coquettish allure of vintage French commercial art from this early stage of graphic design history, and the culture that created a demand for such imagery. Works displayed are accompanied by interpretive curatorial text. Examples from the exhibit are available for purchase. Fete du Savon will be on display through July 31st. (Daniele Thomas Easton is the Directeur of France - Philadelphie).

French Kisses

Sometimes One Is Too Many

How Many Are Enough? By Daniele Thomas Easton Junto Staff Writer After 30 years in this country, I still do not have a clear answer for my American friends who get ready for a trip to France and wish to avoid cultural faux pas: how many times does a French person kiss the other's cheeks? The study conducted by Gilles Debunne may help you as long as you can adapt geographically... because the norm (one, two, three, even four kisses!) fluctuates according to French regions. Here is the map: http://irishherault.wordpress.com/2009/03/15/french-kissing/ My advice to you? Come and learn with French and American revelers at the Alliance Francaise Bastille Day Celebration. For information call 2157355283 or register on line www.afphila.com/events Daniele Thomas Easton, a Junto staff writer, is Director of France - Philadelphie. 'I am from the North of France, we kiss four times,' she notes).

A la Musee d'Art de Philadelphie

Zut, Alors! C'est Cezanne! Par Danièle Thomas Easton. Directeur, France - Philadelphie "Zut, zut à Cézanne!" aurait dit Fernand Léger, tentant de se libérer de l'influence de cette figure capitale dans l'histoire de l'art. A quoi Matisse aurait répondu: "Dangereuse son influence? Tant pis pour ceux qui n'ont pas assez de force pour la subir!" La nouvelle exposition "Cézanne and Beyond" qui vient de s'ouvrir au Philadelphia Museum of Art vient prouver, s'il en était encore besoin, combien les artistes de divers mouvements depuis le cubisme jusqu'à la peinture contemporaine, bon gré, mal gré (comme Léger...) ont accepté, assimilé ou subi son influence. Joseph Rishel, douze ans après une rétrospective consacrée à Cézanne en 1996, présente une nouvelle déclinaison artistique sur ce peintre, véritable charnière entre l'art du XIXe et du XXe siècle. Travailleur solitaire, répétant sans cesse les mêmes motifs (la Montagne Sainte-Victoire, les baigneuses, pommes et compotier, arbres), Cézanne occupe une place de choix à Philadelphie, puisqu'entre le Musée des Beaux-Arts et la Fondation Barnes, la ville peut se targuer de posséder davantage de ses oeuvres que Paris. Articulée autour de plusieurs thèmes - portraits (joueurs de cartes, homme à la pipe), femmes assises, peintures mortes, baigneuses, et paysages - l'exposition présente des tableaux du maitre et, juxtaposées, les oeuvres de générations suivantes, interprétant le même thème avec une sensibilité différente, voire contradictoire, toutes cependant indéniablement inspirées par Cézanne. Ainsi aux Joueurs de Cartes répond la photo du Canadien Jeff Wall. Aux portraits de Madame Cézanne sont confrontées des femmes assises par Picasso, Matisse, et Max Beckmann. Des sculptures de Picasso, des toiles de Matisse offrent un nouveau prisme d'appréciation des Baigneuses. Des natures mortes de Piet Mondrian, de Jasper Johns, d'Ellsworth Kelly proposent un traitement alternatif aux pommes cézanniennes. C'est surtout dans la dernière salle que le génie du premier maitre de la nature explose le mieux avec ses toiles consacrées à L'Estaque, Sainte-Victoire, Les Lauves, Auvers qui, pour le commissaire de l'exposition, sont autant d'invitations à placer ces paysages dans un nouveau contexte ou peuvent ricocher les créations de Beckman, de Kelly, ou de Picasso. Loin de créer une impression de déjà vu après l'exposition Cézanne de 1996, cette nouvelle interprétation autour de l'influence du peintre permet de découvrir, ou de redécouvrir, des artistes aussi inattendus que Brice Marden, Marsden Hartley, Georges Braque, Charles Demuth, Liubov Popova, Giorgio Morandi, Alberto Giacometti, Arshile Gorky et de conclure avec Fernand Léger: "Nous sommes tous partis de Cézanne". Exposition du 26 février au 17 mai 2009, à Philadelphie uniquement .