Celebrating Christmas and New Year in the Country of Napoleon, Champagne, and Fromage

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Celebrating Christmas and New Year in the Country of Napoleon, Champagne, and Fromage
Paris in December is cold, but absolutely fabulous. The city is filled with tourists who are looking for extreme romantic lights of Paris when the temperature is below zero and the Parisians are consumed with the thoughts on end-of-year taxes and shopping for Christmas presents,, meaning no foire gras with crispy toasts, no oysters sprinkled with lemon-vinegar juice and no Bordeaux wine for a while. Or that’s how an economy-conscious American would think, but not a French one. December comes with expenses, but a French gourmet lover would still rather spend the last Euro on a bowl of onion soup than on dry cleaning. The winter days are shorter, and France is not an exclusion to the rule of nature; the air is crisper and the Champs de Elysées (Elysian fields) lights up right after the last lunch call at 5 p.m. Nevertheless, still, only one place is open for shopping past 6 p.m. – it is the touristy Champs de Elysees, all thanks to the hungry for souvenirs tourists from Japan, Italy, Spain, Russia and America. What makes the winter in Paris even more special besides all the holiday lights and hot-air-cooking fumes over cozy brasseries is the Southern France’s delicacy – the chestnuts that come in all cooked styles – as street roasted, as deeply-boiled-in-syrup sweet delights, as sautéed and served with a leg of duck on Christmas eve and as pureed sweet chestnut feeling for a crepe (the French crepe did originate in Brittany and a 3-Euro price for an authentic sweet delight – a thin crepe filled with the marron puree (crème de marron or chestnut sweet puree) – is a true heavenly treat. Same goes for the very “winter” treat, which for French is duck. Almost all self-respected French restaurants serve duck for lunch and dinner during the winter holidays – or it is served as a smoked thinly-sliced delight on a bed of crisp greens for a cold appetizer. Duck is cooked till the meat comes easily off the bones and is most likely to be served with mashed or sautéed potatoes or famous (real) French fries.     Do let yourself loose with the holiday cuisine, substitute wine with cold alcoholic cider (very Southern-French) and beef meat for kangaroo meat, a chicken thigh for legs of frogs, cold cheese (*fromage) cuts for a Normandy cheese fondue, and a regular omelet for a Brittany’s buckwheat crepe topped with foie gras (or the liver of a duck or a goose) and with an onion syrup. If you are looking for ideal French scenery, come around the bakeries in a village or in suburbs of Paris on either a Saturday or a Sunday morning. Not a weekend goes by without freshly baked croissants and bagets. No global news discussed at a bakery but more likely you will hear talks about a 5-percent raise in metro fares, a local café switching to a later dinner time or about another student strike in Paris. Forget your country’s news; it is all about France – “when in France, think of France as the only country on Earth”. Mr. Zinedine Zidane (Zizou), the star of French football – is their God. So is Serge Gainsbourg and now his much-adored-by-French daughter from his marriage to Jane Birkin (the actress, whom the Birkin bag was named after) – the young and talented actress and musician, Charlotte Gainsbourg! A dinner without a desert is a waste of an evening. And when at a crêperie, a “sour” crepe for the main dish (as French call a crepe that is not sweet) is always ordered with a sweet crepe as a desert to follow. If you ever go to Paris, do not buy a tour with a dinner – you can always find a restaurant to your best tastes and desires without a “commercially planned not-so-authentic” dinner! It’s a trick to drive customers to the least successful restaurant in the area; if a restaurant stands well on its own, at any day and hour it will be busy with both locals and tourists. Favor and don’t be afraid to wonder in some unknown neighborhoods, you would be pleasantly surprised to stumble over a very authentic inexpensive restaurant. Even a simple looking onion soup (soupe a` l’onion) is made differently all around France, if the broth tastes the same all around, it is the toasted bread pieces and the kind of cheese melted on top of it all – that’s what makes it different. (For the soup recipe, click here.)But as long as you do understand what you order, you are safe, because even one ingredient you do not know can make a dish quite an experience. Be on a look for gizzards (cooked entrails of poultry.) Again, the time that French dread the most is Christmas shopping time and the reason is one – no parking available at almost any malls. French come to the malls before the doors are open to secure any available parking lot. Sundays are off for all businesses; the only places that are open in Paris are the touristy ones – like the Champs de Elysees. Thanks to the tourists, French can buy their milk and stamps on the Champs de Elysees. Don’t be surprised if …
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