This week, I’ve got an animal-themed phrase for our mot de la semaine – ‘revenons à nos moutons’! 🐑 For more French expressions and Words of the Week, why not have a look at my other posts here? Word of the Week: ‘Revenons à nos moutons’ – this is one of my favourite French expressions,…
Bookworms’ Corner: Dans le Jardin de l’Ogre review
Cette nuit, elle en a rêvé et n’a pas pu se rendormir. Un rêve moite, interminable, qui s’est introduit en elle comme un souffle d’air chaud. Adèle ne peut plus penser qu’à ça. Elle se lève, boit un café très fort dans la maison endormie. Debout dans la cuisine, elle se balance d’un pied sur…
4 reasons to watch French political thriller Spin
Last night, I went to the Institut Français in London to a screening of the first episode of series 3 of Spin, a French political thriller (and a Q&A with one of the main actors, Grégory Fitoussi!!) Known as Les Hommes de l’Ombre (‘the shadow men’) in France, the show focuses on the murky world…
6 of the best French chat-up lines, from the sleazy to the sublime
As it’s the day after Valentine’s Day, it seems timely to give you a rundown of some of the finest chat-up lines in the French language. For more love-themed posts, why not check out my list of French songs that are perfect for Valentine’s Day here? Have a look at these ‘phrases de séduction’ below,…
10 French songs to celebrate Valentine’s Day
French is still very much the language of love, according to a survey on the language-learning site Babbel. So here’s a list of ten of my favourite French love songs – a soundtrack with a difference to help you celebrate Valentine’s Day, or the perfect excuse at any time of year to listen to some…
Word of the Week – ‘retrouvailles’
Word of the Week: As it’s Valentine’s Day (la Saint-Valentin) tomorrow, I thought it would be a nice idea to choose a word today that’s loosely connected to Valentine’s Day. So here we have ‘retrouvailles’, or how to have a reunion French-style, whether it’s between friends or couples, humans and their beloved pets or between…
7 perfect French expressions you need to talk about cold (and rainy!) weather
Every February, along with his, erm, ‘phamily’ made up of wife Phyllis and daughter Phelicia, Punxsutawney Phil pokes his nose out from his cosy burrow in rural Pennsylvania. If Phil ‘sees his shadow’ and makes a U-turn back into his burrow, the good people of Pennsylvania will be in for six more weeks of winter. …
5 Juliette Gréco songs that you must listen to
Happy 90th birthday to the French singer Juliette Gréco! To find out more about the woman who Sartre once described as having a ‘million poems in her voice’, click here and here. To celebrate, here are five of her best-known songs that are definitely worth a listen: 1. Sous le ciel de Paris Written by…
Word of the Week – ‘coquillage’
Word of the Week: Bienvenue to our first Word of the Week for February! 😊 You can read some of my previous Word of the Week posts here and here. Let’s take a trip to the seaside (bound to be chilly at this time of year 😱), for a beach-themed Word of the Week: ‘coquillage’,…
4 simple and super-tasty recipes (also suitable for vegans) that you’ll love this Pancake Day!
France may have just celebrated Pancake Day on February 2nd, but for everyone else, Shrove Tuesday is just around the corner. Yep, it’s almost time to refresh your pancake-flipping skills and start thinking about your favourite fillings before February 28th comes around… along with Lent, and the official end to joy and chocolate consumption for…
How to spend 48 hours in Paris in winter
As I recently found out, after only being there before in the summer months, Paris can get absolutely freezing in winter!! But, as Cole Porter said, you can still love Paris even ‘in the winter when it drizzles‘. So if you ever find yourself in Paris in chilly weather, why not try out some of…
How to make the perfect French hot chocolate!
How do you like your hot chocolate? Silky and rich? Bittersweet? Or maybe with a touch of chilli (or even a cheeky bit of Bailey’s)? I recently visited Paris (which you can read more about here), and made it my mission to try as much hot chocolate as I could (more details here!!) Several tastings…
French Affliction 