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menthe

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Everything posted by menthe

  1. I read that you'd have to eat something like 4 tins everyday for you to be properly poisoned? Who the hell can you believe these days?
  2. Naughty to laugh but I don't wish him ill. Maybe, he is treading water (only figuratively!) and HE is laughing at us?
  3. menthe

    nut-heaven....

    You might prefer salted or unsalted, grilled or raw, dry-roasted, caramelised, wasabi-coated but you HAVE to try these, so that you will never look back. You could get these at your local Aldi. I am talking about a mixture of peanuts and cashews, SALTED and HONEYED. Says so on the pack. Then prepare to get rapidly addicted, put on a ton of weight and maybe get covered in spots (some people do as though they have never left their teenage testosterone years behind). Oh and don't forget to crunch carefully as I take no responsiblity for damage to fillings, crowns or implants.
  4. I should NEVER have passed the baccalauréat. In fact, your link makes me wonder how I ever got O level English!
  5. Now you see how seriously the French take their language. Did you think tics (ticks) are insects that can give you Lyme disease? Here are other tics for you to consider; https://etudiant.lefigaro.fr/vos-etudes/magazine/40238-mot-puristes/?utm_source=pocket-newtab-fr-fr
  6. ssomon, thank you for your post, I must try it out on some "native" speakers who I suspect would struggle! Also, my gratitude for bringing us back on topic because everyone else was going off piste! I posted on the "lighter side", hoping people would come on and give examples of how "easy" English is thought to be compared to French as well as other languages. I simply wanted to have a bit of a laugh (larff or laff?)with people and for them to enjoy those few lines I copied. I am often a bit put out when French people, after even a very few words from me, would immediately demand anglais? Yet I have English folk trying to speak to me in French when I unknowingly address them in French. I do speak French to everyone if I don't know them, such as for example, bonjour or excuser moi at the supermarket. I do this on the basis that here in France, almost everybody is going to be French!
  7. Norman, you have mentioned Anglophone imperialism on another thread but I put it to you that the English language is so difficult that perhaps it doesn't come anywhere near being able to have imperialistic ambitions? Just take a look at this poem by a Dutch anglophile called Gerard Nolst Trenité: Dearest creature in creation, Study English pronunciation. I will teach you in my verse Sounds like corpse, corps, horse, and worse. I will keep you, Suzy, busy, Make your head with heat grow dizzy. Tear in eye, your dress will tear. So shall I! Oh hear my praver. Pray, console your loving poet, Make my dress look new, dear, sew it! Plus there are another 104 more lines.....
  8. Except, Harnser, nordic walking is a bit of a misnomer as it's not JUST about walking. It is more of an exercise, using all the major muscle groups of the body and many of the minor ones. It was "invented" by a Scandinavian skier to keep fit in the summer months when there is no skiing to be had. It isn't even important to be able to walk long distances. In Germany, where they are very keen on physical exercise, the poles could be prescribed by doctors and many people recovering from different conditions take it up to recuperate their bodies and minds. Of course, you don't need a training course as such! But, if you want to take the maximum advantage out of it, you ARE better off being shown the technique. Say you want to learn to play the piano, you could, if you are persistent, teach yourself to read music and pick out the keys on a keyboard but you'd never make as much progress or learn more of the subtleties of piano-playing if you don't have lessons from a good teacher.
  9. Oh, thanks, so nothing to do with waiting for the tea to be ready to drink?
  10. The weather topic and indeed our weather here have reminded me of the use of the words brume and brouillard. A French teacher from long ago told our class that brume was worse than brouillard, because it was thicker. But everyone else I have spoken to about this, including a good friend from my walking group yesterday, said brouillard is much thicker and more dangerous. The other words I encounter a lot, because of my walking activities, are la gadoue and la boue. Not sure which is worse but both can be slippery so that you descend slopes at your peril and shoes and trousers get mucky, whichever word you prefer!
  11. Lehaut, I would suggest that they are not "real" nordic walkers. We too have removable rubber ends and they go on on tarmac and other hard surfaces and get taken off on soft ground. The reason is that in Nordic walking, you need to push the sticks into the ground and use them to help propel yourself forward. Nordic walking is quite different from "ordinary" walking. Different poles, different techniques. Also it is comparatively rare to have big walking "parties". Groups are relatively small, no very large groups and we tend to avoid roads and hard surfaces because, well, you can't use the technique properly if you don't have fairly flat, wide, soft tracks. Lots about nordic walking on the internet. If you remember Cendrillon from our forum, she it was who introduced me to it and encouraged me to take a couple of lessons from a professional. Have been doing it ever since though I also walk with "ordinary" walkers and then I don't use my sticks.
  12. didn't know they are using AI. But I have noticed that the forecasts are increasingly inaccurate. This does make a difference to us, Nordic walkers, as I for one do not go out in the rain. It's not that I am scared of a bit of a soaking, it is that Nordic sticks, like golf clubs are difficult to grasp when wet...
  13. Thank you, lehaut. I have windows 10 and deliberately not update to 11 but sometimes it feels to me that the computer obeys Microsoft (or whoever) rather than me. The man in the video has explained my problem exactly but I am not sure I understand his suggested solution! At least, now that I know it's not me but something systemic, I will simply use the off button when I have arrêté.
  14. Since some updates, at least I think that's when the problem started, I now get four choices when I want to shut down. Formerly, there were only three choices: mettre en veille, arrêter or redémarrer; Now I get an extra choice: se déconnecter. I find that if I click arrêter, the programmes go and the screen goes blank but the lights are on to show that the computer is not turned off OTOH, if I click se déconnecter, the screen goes blank and the lights are on to show that the comuter is not turned off Please notice, there is no difference which button I choose. In order not to have to start it all off again, I have resorted to simply click off the main switch. But that means that when I put the computer on again, the next time I want to use it, I get all the kerfuffle of re-starting everything as though the computer has been knocked off and it now wants me to choose whether I want my last active screen back or to start a new one. It's all rather time consuming and frustrating. So tell me what YOU do, does this happen to you too or am I simply a chosen victim or just a simpleton?
  15. Well, Norman, that seems simple enough. Thanks.
  16. Thank you, Wools, will remember to do that. I have also thought that I could perhaps wrap it with slices of smoked salmon to stop it drying out.
  17. rowland, here is the "inn" in your post in Auvers sur Oise, complete with photos! Enjoy, rowland, and thanks again for replying. https://www.maisondevangogh.fr/index-en.php
  18. Bonjour Loiseau. I promise to tell you after I have done the deed! From your post, I think you might have cooked the fish for too long. I have read that it can get very rubbery if overcooked. I think perhaps treat it like you would squid, just cooked and then leave well alone. Or, just slightly undercooked and then leave to rest like you would meat?
  19. Wow, rowland, just wow! Thank you so much for your lovely post. Yes, in the book, VG left St Paul de M to go to Auvers sur Oise to live with his brother, wife and their new baby called Vincent after the great artist himself. Your story about the ivy gives me shivers and I understand about your big hanky....soooo sad....
  20. Here is the link to this interesting place: https://www.saintpauldemausole.fr/ And here is an explanationt of why I am posting this. I have just finished a book given me by my Australian neighbour just before he left France after his yearly stay in our village. The book describes a year in Van Gogh's life, just after he cut off his ear and was in the midst of one of his periods of "madness". Now although I have never had an opportunity of visiting the Provence, I have read a few French books based there. For example, the Pagnol autobiographies and a biography of Colette so I have always had an affinity with the place. This book (English) presents such beautiful and evocative pictures of the Provence that I felt I could feel the heat, sense the coming of the mistral, hear the cicadas and smell the scents. Although fictional, this is a roman à clé, Van Gogh is of course real as is the head attendant at this institution and his wife, both of whom had portraits painted by Van Gogh. The fictional and imaginative aspects are entirely believable. But the outstanding bits relate to St Paul de Mausole, an ancient roman mausoleum but now, as in Van Gogh's day, is a short-stay psychiatric unit. Visitors can go in and see the gardens, Van Gogh's room, the view from his room onto wheat fields, the olive trees that he painted, the wheat fields etc. So, if anyone has visited this place, could you please write a bit about it for us all to enjoy?
  21. Great suggestion, DL. Ginger and spring onion with soy sauce sound very good. BTW is this fish "oily"? Would your recipe, for example benefit with some good oil (olive or peanut) to dress it?
  22. Thanks for all the recipes. Yes, I know the internet provides recipes for just about all dishes imaginable. What I wanted was for you to tell me what you like and how you do it. I do think some of your suggestions will work for us. I am surprised that you can "mijoter" the fish and, of course, fry it. I have tended to do most fish en papillote in the micro but then I have to think of some sauce or something to vary the taste. Me, I am OK with bland food but I think for someone whose appetite needs a bit of encouragement, some quite big changes could be effective. Thanks again, bon appetit to us all!
  23. Perfectly right, NO milk, please
  24. Queues de lotte.....never having cooked this fish (maybe not even having ever eaten it), I'd welcome some tips on cooking and presentation. I am asking for a specific reason. It is to "fatten up" my husband. No, NOT for Christmas! He'd lost so much weight after a bout of recent illness that he is now on those hyper proteiné, hyper calorique drinks, desserts, biscuits, etc. I'd like to get his weight up by cooking him appealing foods to tempt his appetite. As he doesn't eat meat but does eat SOME types of fish, I am casting around (oops, unintended pun) for different types of fish to try. I think these monkfish tails look meaty and nourishing. So give me your best recipes, svp!🙂
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