Do Something French Today

Parent Cafe
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<p>On April 21, 507, 1500 years ago today, the Franks, led by Clovis, destroyed the Visigothic Kingdom of Toulouse at the Battle of Vouille. Which, as much as any one date can, marks the beginning of France. In establishing the Kingdom of the Franks, Clovis also established the Merovingian dynasty of what became the French monarchy.</p>

<p>So since it’s now been an even 15 centuries, be sure to do something French today. Buy some brie. Sip some French wine. Eat a croissant. Something.</p>

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<p>Maybe I should have had some fries at lunch.</p>

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<p>I watched a video clip of Segolene Royal, someone I hope will become the next President of la patrie…</p>

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<p>Won’t count. “French” fries were invented by the Belgians. And the Belgians are pretty bummed about the French somehow getting the credit for it too.</p>

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<p>Read Ernest Renan “Qu’est-ce qu’une nation?”<br>
<a href=“http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/bib_lisieux/nation01.htm[/url]”>http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/bib_lisieux/nation01.htm&lt;/a&gt;
<a href=“http://www.cooper.edu/humanities/core/hss3/e_renan.html[/url]”>http://www.cooper.edu/humanities/core/hss3/e_renan.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>or Asterix.
<a href=“http://gb.asterix.com/[/url]”>http://gb.asterix.com/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>Yeah, in France, French fries are called pommes frites. And the French know who invented them, hence the abundance of Belgian jokes involving fries (those I know are not printable on CC :()</p>

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<p>I’m definitely going with the wine. :wink: :)</p>

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<p>My D and her French-Canadian boyfriend are coming for dinner. :)</p>

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<p>

I know - I was just being flippant. Actually the pommes frites in Belgium are great. It must have something to do with the way they ‘double cook’ them. Sometimes it’s all we had for lunch there - not healthy but convenient and tasty.</p>

<p>Maybe I’ll see if “The French Connection” is going to be on TCM today since I rarely drink wine.</p>

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<p>Maybe I’ll surrender to someone :D</p>

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<p>Too late. I just took a shower.</p>

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<p>standrews.
Not too late-- You can drown yourself in cologne. No one will know you took a real shower, and not a french one ;)</p>

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<p>Does going to a French restaurant for dinner tonight count?</p>

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<p>^^ Only if you have escargot.</p>

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<p>

</a></p>

<p>I LOVE Asterix, but I never knew there was a site for the series! I’ve looked online to see if Amazon will ship the French version to the U.S., but they were so expensive. Thanks for the link!</p>

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<p>She has to be one of the most beautiful 53 year olds on earth. grrrrrrr.</p>

<p>(Does jealousy count as something French?)</p>

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<p>Does kissing count? </p>

<p>Thanks for the Asterix link. They are enormously popular in Germany, but I didn’t even know there was an English version.</p>

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<p>My wife thinks that pulling U-turn in the middle of the block on a busy street counts as “being French”</p>

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<p>French kissing binx??? Be sure to brush your teeth .</p>

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<p>Je mange, donc je suis.</p>