July, France & War

C’est JULY – the month when we will never stop hearing about things French – Le Tour de France , Bastille Day….and some more Tour de France…and more TV coverage of Lance “Wear Yellow, Be Yellow” Armstrong. Bonferroni, Special Sauce, M and Moi are routing for Jan and we are all silently praying that he has stopped putting on weight, eating bratwurst and drinking beer!!! Allez Jan!

“Oh, your accent is so wonderful”, squealed a young woman, in some haute coiffure (if you ask me, she badly needed a haircut) in a party…and went on about how bad her French was etc etc. “I stayed in NICE (Oh so nice) and we went around, and it was so wonderful, so romantic…”What is this fascination with all things French and why are they so damn pricey? Actually you can sum it up all in one word – HAUT(E)…haute couture (stuff you will never see anyone wear in France or anywhere else), haute cuisine (where things lack what we could consider Masala). Grudglingly I have to admit, they do get their pain, brioche, baguette, croissant, crepes, galette, gateau right….

Came across this description which is quite apt – “France has this effect on foreigners. It turns your eating habits and food principles upside down so that before long you’re rhapsodizing about the delicate silkiness of foie gras entier (I wouldn’t go that far) without a thought to the fat content, let alone the poor goose or duck who was force-fed through a tube down its throat (I can hear YenYem say – Exactly!). The damage is irreparable – there’s no turning back to muesli after flaky pastries filled with ribbons of dark chocolate” (Turnbull, 257).

Welcome MH and Y – I am awaiting l’experience gastronomique.

Dubya came out to speak and I think it was the same old story…..freedom, justice, liberty, stay the course, sacrifice, yada yada yada – You get the point! The Iranians came out to vote and I must say Dubya did a good job in explaining how elections are conducted – Did anyone hear of Florida and Ohio? Guess not! Tony “Lapdog” Blair wants a socially-oriented Europe (WHAT?) – Yup, when the people are squeezed out of their livelihoods, and the corporations thrive, that is the formula for Socialism – Did yer hear that? Workers of the World Unite, Indeed.


WarOfWor(l)ds 

This week The War of the Worlds comes out…and it is indeed ironic that our movies also have the titles War now and they make it sound so banal….ironically we are still fighting the Aliens – Still after all these years?