Qui veut du gâteau?

Oui, si'il te plaît, moi j'en veux!

On the last lesson of the spring term Judith brought us a delicious cake which she had made the previous day at Betty's Café Cookery School. The cake was made with berries (les fruits de bois) and lemon curd (la tartinade au citron)

 

Le gâteau aux fruits de bois et à la tartinade au citron

Merci Judith, c'était délicieux! 

 

 

Below are some photos of Linda, Judith and Julian playing the reflexive verb game and learning about art at the same time. 

 

Qu'est-ce que c'est?

 

 

Il faut le mettre là

 

Voilà c'est ça!

 



Enough!

This post contains some of the vocabulary we encountered during the last two lessons:

J'en ai marre (coloquial)              } I'm fed up / I've had enough  
J'en ai assez                                }

J'en peux plus (je n'en peux plus) = I can't take anymore

un poisson rouge = goldfish

 un poisson rouge

By the way, have you heard the one about the Catholic goldfish who went to midnight mass? (Private joke - you had to be at last Thursday's lesson to appreciate that one).

les oeufs brouillés = scrambled eggs

les oeufs brouillés

triste = sad

triste

Ago

six years ago           =  il y a six ans 

one week ago        =  il y a une semaine

three months ago  =  il y a trois mois

s'approcher de = to approach / come nearer

le chat s'approche de l'oiseau

parce que   =  because

à cause de  = because of

e.g.         Je suis en retard parce que j'ai eu un accident de voiture.

               Je suis en retard à cause d'un accident de voiture.

And finally ......

manquer = to miss. Check out a previous post for a full explanation.  

Addendum

I meant to say, in the last post, that un canapé also means sofa.  It's usually obvious from the context which one you mean.

un canapé

 

les canapés

(usually referred to in the plural)  

Les amuse-gueules

Also known, on restaurant menus, as 'les amuse-bouches', as gueule (gob) is not very polite. These are the snacks and nibbles we have with our apéritif (l'apéro)before the meal. You can, of course, use the word les canapés, which we have borrowed from the French. Canapés are usually quite elaborate whereas les amuse-bouches / amuse-gueules can be anything from canapés to nibbles.

les amuse-gueules

If you want to tell someone to 'shut up' very rudely you can say ta gueule! (shut ya gob!).  Just be careful who you say that to!

Still on the theme of Christmas & New Year fayre and festivities:

Pour les végétariens....

un rôti de noix

végétarien (végétarienne)         =  vegetarian

végétalien (végétalienne)  }      =  vegan

végan (végane)                  }      
rôti de noix                               =  nut roast / nut loaf

une fête

une fête                    =  a party

faire la fête              =  to party

fêter (reg ER verb)    =  to celebrate

Et les conséquences...

le régime                        = diet
être au régime                = to be on a diet
tenter (reg ER verb)        = to tempt 

aller hop (or allez hop!)  = here we go / off we go (colloquial phrase which you hear a lot)

Remember, remember the 5th November....

Another subject touched upon last lesson was bonfire night and we talked about Guy Fawkes et la Conspiration des Poudres.

La Conspiration des Poudres = Gunpowder Plot

Guy Fawkes, un catholique anglais est né à York le 13 avril 1570. Il a décidé d'assassiner le roi protestant, Jacques 1er et les membres du parlement.

le roi = king

Guy et ses amis ont eu l'idée de faire exploser le Palais de Westminster. Mais on l'a découvert et il a été arrêté.

Il a éte exécuté pour haute trahison à Londres, le 31 janvier 1606

la trahison = treason / treachery / betrayal

 En Angleterre, l'échec d Guy Fawkes est célébré le 5 novembre avec des feux de joie.

un feu de joie = bonfire

(N.B. feu de joie in English is a celebratory rifle salute! If you remember, there was one of these for the Queen's diamond jubilee).

et des feux d'artifice

Nous mangeons des pommes d'amour,

 des caramels à la mélasse

et des pommes de terre  au four

une pomme d'amour = toffee apple

le caramel à la mélasse = treacle toffee

un pomme de terre au four = jacket (baked) potato

Encore!

Last lesson, Andy treated us to a delicious, home-baked Galette des Rois. I forgot to take a picture of the actual galette but it did look very much like the one in the picture - and it was divine, mmmm. Thank you Andy.

We also mentioned the use of 'la cédille' (cedilla), which looks like an upside down question mark and when placed under a 'c', turns the 'c' into an 's' sound, e.g. garçon.

I hope you all noticed that the lovely orchid you gave me is still thriving. This is no mean feat for someone who does not have green fingers (avoir la main verte). As we will be revising colours next lesson, we will look at some of these types of expression.

Whilst on the topic of my horticultural prowess - the bulbs which Joan kindly gave me at New Year have just come into flower - amazing (or should that be 'amazemont?). For any French speaker who stumbles across this blog, I do know that there is no such French word as 'amazemont' - this is a private joke!