Yves Saint Laurent på Victoria Kino (Oslo)

Yves Saint Laurent er en av mine favoritter mote designerer. Naturligvis fordi han er fransk. Men jeg tror han var veldig flink også. Han designet plagg som har blitt "must have" i garderoben, tidløs klær som le smoking eller la saharienne. Stilen hans var klassisk og elegant, og veldig veldig veldig kvinnelig. Yves Saint Laurent likte å lage klær for kvinner, å kle dem for de blir enda penere.
Nå er namnet hans kjent i hele verden. YSL: disse tre bokstaver er synonymt av eleganse, luksus og haute couture. Jeg tror det er interessant å vite hvordan Yves Saint Laurent ble en stor motedesigner og det er en film om livet til YSL.
Hvis du er også interessert i Yves Saint Laurent, jeg anbefaler at du gå på kino for å se filmen. Det er bare en (!!!) dag når filmen kan ble sett på Oslo kino: 8. mai (kl 18:00). Det er på Victoria kino. Det er organisert med rendez-vous med en fransk film (en fransk film festival) som somarbeider med Oslo kino.
Få billetter igen! Hvis du virkelig vil se på filmen, jeg tror at du bør kjøpe billeter nå..

Hvis du vet mer om filmen "Yves Saint Laurent" på Oslo (Victoria) kino:
- http://www.oslokino.no/incoming/article1147610.ece
- http://www.france.no/no/test/details/657-rdv2014-ysl

Hvor mye fransk er du?

Hvis du vil hvor mye fransk du er, du kan svare denne quizen: http://www.buzzfeed.com/marietelling/how-french-are-you. 

Denne quizen er veldig morsom ... og ganske sant! Mine favoritter: 

- "You’ve yelled at someone for cutting in line after cutting the same line yourself." ( I confess...)

- "You say you’ve read Proust but you actually stopped after the first page of Swann’s Way." (I also confess this one!)

- "You know who Serge Gainsbourg is and you think he is a genius." (can't help singing Des petits trous, des petits trous, toujours des petits trous)

- "You don’t believe in dieting." (YOLO)

- "You find berets fucking ridiculous." (berets is the worst fashion faux pas)

Jeg tror jeg er ikke lenger 100% fransk. Jeg har blitt  litt "norwegianized" :) 

Secret de Famille

I am usually quite skeptical - maybe even condescending - when it comes to homemade cosmetics. I think things like:
- "If homemade recipes were efficient, there would not be any need for laboratories to develop cosmetics."
- "What is in my kitchen is made to be eaten. Not to be spread on my skin!"
- "If I pay so much for a cream sold at Kicks, it necessarily means it's better than any cheap ointment I could make myself!"
So I've never used cucumber to moisturise my eyes, nor yolk to make my hair shine. I preferred to buy cosmetics ... until last Saturday.
My sister had prepared an homemade exfoliating cream: she had mixed honey and sugar to exfoliate her face. There was some left, so my sister suggested that I could use it. Well, it would have been a shame to throw it away.
I started to massage my face with this homemade exfoliating cream. And I loved it! First, it smelled extremely good - the honey smelled actually better than most perfumes in cosmetics. The texture was quite nice to spread. I added a little bit of  water to the mix to make it easier to massage on my skin and it worked pretty well. After rinsing, my skin was super soft and not irritated by the exfoliation.
To be honest, I haven't noticed any medium or long term effect. But this was definitely an enjoyable experience.
All in all, it will not replace the cosmetics I usually use, but I will do it from time to time when I want to pamper myself. And I might even try other homemade cosmetics...

God Påske! En små anekdote

I dag vil jeg dele en små anekdote om Påske i Frankrike.
I've just realised that the Easter story is slightly different in France. So I thought it could be interesting to share it with you.
No Easter bunny in France. Bells instead!
French people tell their children that Easter bells fly in the sky and pour chocolate in the gardens. So French kids believe it's raining chocolate. What a nice dream! And it is so much fun to go "chocolate hunting" in the garden. 
I think this story is more unbelievable than the Easter bunny one. As a 5-year old child, I questioned it (how could bells fly?!?) and found out this was a lie. Quite sad. Still, I continued chocolate hunting every Easter :)

Ratatouille: Min oppskrift

A tradition in my family is to eat eggs on Good Friday ("langfredag" på norsk?). So we cooked an omelette yesterday for lunch. But an omelette alone can be a rather boring meal. So to make it more exciting, we served it with an homemade ratatouille. Her er oppskriften:

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Fransk ratatouille - Min oppskrift

Ingredienser:

- Courgettes (zucchini)

- Tomater

- Aubergines (eggplants)

- Timian 

- Laurbæer

- Olive olje

- Salt

- Pepper

Wash the vegetables and cut them in small pieces. Put all the vegetables in the pan, and add timian, laurbæer, salt and pepper. Then pour some olive oil in the pan. Cook it slowly, at very low temperature. Move regularly the vegetables (preferably with a wooden spoon) and add olive oil as often as necessary (i.e. when the vegetables start to get burned and stick to the pan). When the vegetables are soft, the ratatouille is ready!

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The ratatouille fits with any meat or fish, and is delicious with omelette! I love ratatouille as this tastes like summer. The mediterranean vegetables and herbs used in this recipe brings some sun in the plate (if I can say so). Perfect combined with the yellow color of the omelette!

Håper at du skal prøve denne oppskriften og like det! 

A French outfit

My (Norwegian) colleague recently told me about her reaction when she had been informed a French lady would join the company. She imagined I would wear high heels, a pencil skirt and red lips on a daily basis. Just like any French woman featured in international movies.

Sorry to disappoint you, this is a mere cliché. This kind of woman only exists in an Yves Saint Laurent fashion show.
French women like to move freely. They need to run from their workplace to their date, from Rive Gauche to Rive Droite, from morning til midnight. Only flat shoes fit this lifestyle. That's why French women love ballerines, such as the ones by Repetto, Porselli, or Roger Vivier. Of course, Louboutin shoes and their breathtaking high heels are perfect to flatter your silhouette. But a woman whose feet hurt is not sexy: you can see on her face that she is in pain.
The same with the pencil skirt. You can only make very small steps when wearing such a skirt. And that looks ridiculous.

So wear what you are comfy in! A pair of jeans and Toms shoes are a perfect uniform when you are an active lady.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Min (norsk) collega fortalte meg om hvordan hun reagerte da hun ble informert om at en fransk jente skulle bli med i firmaet. Hun tenkte jeg skulle ha på meg en blyantskjørt, bruke høye hæler og rød leppestift i hverdagen. Bare som hver eneste fransk kvinne i internasjonale filmer.

Beklager, men det er bare en cliché. Denne typen kvinne lever bare i en moteshow av Yves Saint Laurent.
Franske kvinner trives best når de kan bevege seg lett. De trenger å løpe fra kontoret til en rendez-vous, fra Rive Gauche til Rive Droite, fra morgen til midnatt. Det er bare flate sko som passer et sånn liv. Derfor elsker franske kvinner ballerines, som dem som selges av Repetto, Porselli, eller Roger Vivier. Selvfølgelig er Louboutin sko og deres veldig høye hæler mer smigrende. Men... En kvinne som bruker sko som skader henne er ikke sexy: man kan se på ansiktet hennes at hun har vondt...
Det samme holder med blyantskjørt. Man kan ta bare små skritt når man har på seg en sånn skjørt. Det er ikke praktisk i det hele tatt!

Så kle deg med klar som er komfortable. Denim og Toms sko passer veldig godt til hverdagen.

Food is sacred!

Last Sunday, my chéri and I went to Mathallen to do some grocery shopping. It was about 3 - 4 p.m. and people were eating a full meal. I got so confused: was it a late lunch or an early dinner?!?
My chéri, who is Norwegian, reminded me that Nordmenn eat whenever they are hungry. Something that is not conceivable when you were born French.

Food is at the heart of Art de Vivre. But you cannot eat whatever, whenever, wherever you want. As food is sacred, there are some rules to follow. Here are they:

1. Four meals a day
To avoid impulsive snacking (what I call "gastronomical anarchy"), French people eat at predefined hours: breakfast when you wake up; lunch sometime between 12 and 14 pm; snack sometime between 16 and 18 pm; and dinner sometime between 19 and 21 pm.
Why such a dictatorship? Because eating regularly along the day prevents being suddenly super hungry and food craving.

2. Eat small portions
Well, of course, if you eat heavy, four meals a day can make you feel like a stuffed turkey. To avoid this, French people eat small portions. Eating more often, in fewer portions allows you to feel light and never be hungry.

3. Fit your activities in your meal timetable
To make sure they can eat these four meals at the right hours,  French people plan their daily activities accordingly. And not the reverse!

Bon appétit!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Forrige søndag gikk min chéri og jeg til Mathallen for å kjøpe noe mat. Klokka var circa 15 - 16 og folk spiste en full måltid. Jeg var ganske forvirret: var det en sen lunsj eller en tidlig middag?!? Min chéri. som er norsk, minnet meg om at Nordmenn spiser når de er sultne. Noe som ikke er tenkelig når man er født fransk.

Mat spiller en stor rolle i Art de Vivre. Fransk mennesker kan ikke spise hva som helst, når som helst, hvor som helst. Mat er hellig og derfor har vi noen regler. Her er de tre viktigste reglene.

1. Fire måltider om dagen
For å unngå impulsiv snacking, spiser fransk mennesker på forhåndsdefinerte tidspunkt. De spiser frokost når man våkner opp. De spiser lunsj en gang mellom kl. 12 og kl. 14. De spiser en snack en gang mellom kl. 16 og kl. 18. De spiser middag en gang mellom kl. 19 og kl. 21.      

2. Spis små porsjoner
Frank mennesker spiser fire ganger om dagen men ingen av disse fire måltider er veldig, veldig stor. De spiser ganske ofte, men en "liten" porsjon er nok hver gang. Å spise ofte unngår å være sulten, mens å spise små porsjoner bedrar til å følge seg light.

3. Pass aktivitetene dine i din måltider-rute
Det er enklere å ikke gå glipp av en måltid når man organiserer dagen rundt måltider enn man gjøre den motsatt.

Bienvenue!

I am a French mademoiselle living in Norway. I love talking about my homeland and its Art de Vivre, and sharing tips to enjoy the French lifetsyle with my Norwegian friends! Velkommen!

P.S.: Jeg snakker litt norsk, men det et vanskelig å skrive på norsk. Derfor jeg foretrekker å skrive min blogg på engelsk. Jeg skal prøve å skrive på norsk av og til ;)