An Alsatian Feast of Epic Proportions

Alsatian cuisine is in a league of its own!  Our valentine dining experience was a fine example of the plentiful and creative preparation of pork, the Alsatian way.  Alsatians are known for their pork sausages, smoked meats, pates, and general usage of just about every cut and piece of the animal.  Cochonnailles is the name of the six course meal that we reserved at the mountaintop monastery Mont Saint Odile.   

A six course meal just about anywhere in the world will fill you up, but a six course Cochonnailles meal will humble you.  We celebrated the occasion with my wife’s parents and brother making it a fun family outing.  The meal started off with a rich soup…a blood sausage soup called Kuttelsupp.  I’ll have to admit that I had never tasted blood sausage or soup until coming to France.  It’s a brown soup that has a smooth, medium consistency.  It’s not something that the America palate is accustomed to eating but it is a rich and tasty dish.  I’m a veteran now and love it.

Course two was called Plat campagnard which consists of both fresh vegetable salads and charcuterie.  The charcuterie is pork prepared in a number of different ways and served cold.  This course included black sausage (saucisse noir), liver sausage (saucisse de foie), head cheese (fromage de tête), black forest ham (jambon de la forêt noir), and country pate (pate de compagne).  The accompanying vegetable salad was a shaved carrot salad with a light vinaigrette dressing, slightly acidic and tangy to balance the fatty, cold pork.  Next up was a lemon sorbet with Marc Gewurztraminer poured overtop.  The Marc Gewurztraminer is the Alsatian version of grappa, a grape based liquor.  The sorbet and little hit of liquor gave us a second wind. 

At this point in the meal, I’ve had two bowls of soup, a full plate of heavy pates and cold cuts, and a sorbet with a little Alsatian love on top.  All of this came before the principal meal, the real star of this meal, choucroute royal.  Choucroute is a royally delicious assortment of pork goodness including:   lewerknepfle, tranches de lard fumé, tranches de lard frais, saucisses de Morteau, petits jambonneaux salés crus, saucisses de Strasbourg, boudin noir, and knack d’Alsace.  I’ll rely on the picture to translate the ingredients.  I tasted every type of pork and some of the mild sauerkraut that comes with it. 

We’re all stuffed to the gills but there are still two more dishes to come.  Fortunately we had several hours of time over which we could enjoy the meal.  A meal of this sort would not be French if there was not a cheese plate.  Our servers brought a three foot wide wicker tray with numerous wheels and blocks of cheese.  The final dish was desert.  I had a slice of apple pie and my wife had a sorbet with cherries and real whipped cream on top.  A nice finish to a thoroughly enjoyable meal.  

"What's in a (French) sign?"

To stay with the theme of driving, I thought I would highlight some of the different road signs here in France.  Growing up in the U.S., I have been programmed to associate certain sign shapes and colors with specific meanings.  For example, warning signs for crosswalks, sharp turns, and farm equipment are typically yellow and diamond shaped.  Mandatory signs usually have red in them like stop, yield, and do not enter signs.  Those assumptions do not always apply here in France.

How ‘bout a little multiple guess quiz?  To test your intuition and memory if you’ve ever been to France, I thought I would post a few pictures of French road signs to see if you can figure out what they communicate. 

Question 1:
a)      Speed bumps warning

b)      Special L’Ehn bacon store ahead

c)       L’Ehn River

d)      Grated bridge ahead

Question 2:

a)      Divided highway ends ahead

b)      Do not enter

c)      Not a thru street

d)      No passing zone

Question 3:

a)      Pedestrians not permitted

b)      School children crossing road

c)      Caution pedestrian Bermuda triangle ahead

d)      Raised pedestrian crosswalk ahead

e)      Moving walkway warning sign

Question 4:

a)      No turns at intersection

b)      Wrong way

c)      No parking

d)      Hospital

Question 5:

a)      Caution trucks entering highway in 3.5 meters

b)      Tunnel ahead and 3.5 meter vehicle height limit

c)       Bridge ahead and 3.5 metric ton vehicle weight

d)      Intersection ahead and 3.5 meter narrow road ahead

Question 6:

a)      Railroad crossing with gate

b)      Security gate ahead

c)      D-fense against high beams

d)      Automatic drawbridge ahead

Question 7:

a)      Caution tornado alley

b)      Caution roundabout ahead

c)      Speed enforced by helicopter

d)      Road slippery when wet

 So how did you do?  If you got all seven correct, you’re ready to hit the French streets.  I am guessing that there is at least one that may have not been so obvious.  Even if the conventions for color and shape are different, most signs are self-explanatory.  That is really the idea of road signs is to communicate an idea quickly and without words if possible.  

Couple sign songs for ya:

The folksie "Signs" by Five Man Electrical Band

A little Pop with “Warning Sign”, by Cold Play 

80th Throwback “The Sign” by Ace of Base 

Driving In France: Round-Points, White Lines, and Lead Feet

Speed Camera

I’ve driven in more than 20 different countries around the world on five different continents and have learned that there are plenty of differences in driving habits and laws, France is no exception.  There are many things to like about driving in France and some things that I’m still scratching my head wondering why.  Here are a few things that I have observed.

The feisty French drive with a real sense of urgency.   People seem to accelerate harder when entering onto highways, even older people who tend to be slower drivers are still speed racers.  Prior to the arrival of the sub-freezing temperatures, I rode my father-in-law’s Goldwing quite frequently, a six cylinder beast with plenty of go-go.  I was passed on several occasions by cars that were following behind me as I entered onto the highway as if to say get out of the way slow poke.  Granted, it was not my motorcycle and I was still adjusting to the new environment so maybe I have some justification, but even so, the other cars were accelerating peddle to the metal.  Knowing how good my French wife cooks, maybe they were rushing home for dinner.      

Once you get off of the interstate and onto the rural roads, it is a real pleasure to drive in France.  The roads are narrow and wind through a patchwork of fields and picturesque villages.  The best part is navigating the round points which I think are fun and practical as they replace traffic lights and stop signs in rural areas where there is less traffic.  That doesn’t mean that you never stop at an intersection, just a lot less with round points.  How many times have you waited at a stop light when there was no traffic coming the other way or stopped at a 4-way stop sign even when no one else was approaching at the same time?  It also saves gas, as much as 10 percent, because you just decelerate prior to entering the round point but do not actually stop.  With gas prices over $7 per gallon, that adds up to real savings.  That reminds me of something that I read recently that I thought I would interject into this dialogue.  Ford is going to be transferring Stop-Start technology from their hybrids to their conventional cars as early as 2012.  This technology automatically shuts off the engine when the vehicle is stopped and is estimated to save as much as 10 percent in fuel costs.  Nice on the wallet and the environment.           

Priority-to-the-right intersection

There are a number of other differences between the U.S. and French driving laws, some are perplexing to me.  For example, the centerline is a single, white painted line which is the same color as the white side-lines.  This is confusing in low visibility situations as it is not as obvious that you may be driving on the wrong side of the road.  It is also difficult in urban settings when trying to decipher if a street is a one-way or not as all of the lines are white so you have to scan quickly for signs indicating the flow of traffic.  The other thing that seems strange is the “priority-to-the-right” rule at certain intersections.  Let me explain.  Say you’re on the main road that is intersected by another road on your right, (i.e. a T intersection).  In the U.S., when you’re on the main road that continues straight through the intersection, you have the right-of-way.  Not so herein France.  At these intersections, which are thankfully marked with signs, you have to yield to traffic coming from the right even though you’re on the main road and are going straight. 

The French drive on the same side of the road as the U.S. and most of the laws are the same or similar.  But there are definitely different concepts used to guide traffic from one village to another.  In a later post, I hope to explore how navigating from one place to another is like navigating a labyrinth.  Google maps hasn’t figured it out either, terrible directions.  I’ll also see if I can capture a few images of road signs.  Wow, some of the names are tongue twisters.   

Why Do French Villages Look So…French

If I were to peel away the signs written in French and plug my ears, I would still know I’m in France because of a few common architectural features of the houses.  In particular, Alsatian houses have a strong Germanic influence with exposed beams and trusses on display on the exterior walls of older buildings.  But I wanted to go beyond the form and shape of the buildings and focus more on the construction materials and function of parts of their homes and buildings. 

One of the things that I really like about France is the solid, bunker worthy construction of their houses.  Whether they are new or 400 years old, the houses are built with solid concrete or stone walls, almost castle like.  Not just the exterior walls, but the interior walls too.  It’s not very practical for doing maintenance on electrical wiring or plumbing as they are buried in the concrete walls, but let’s look on the positive side, there will be no mice making nests in the walls either.  Historically, the idea of using stone instead of wood is an obvious one, a defensive one.  Could you imagine the wide smiles of an attacking medieval army if they were to see that their enemy was holed up in a wooden castle?  ‘French toast’ may have taken on a whole different meaning.  I assume that this defensive mentality turned into the gold standard for architecture that was passed down through the generations forming the basis for the French architectural code that exists today.

Besides the solid construction, another interesting feature of French houses is the widespread use of shutters and blinds on the exterior of windows.  It’s like peanut butter and jelly, houses just come with shutters or blinds.  The shutters seem to be more functional than decorative.  They serve multiple functions from providing security, shade, to privacy.  The shutters are opened every morning to let in light and then closed in the evening for privacy and security.  The sound of the shutters clinging and clanging every morning and evening reminds me of the presence of others in the village, which is often as quiet as a monastery.  The traditional material used for shutters is wood but wood requires more maintenance so metal shutters and blinds are more à la mode on newer houses.  I find shutters to be much more stylish, check out the decorative shutter stop, than the louver type blinds although the blinds are more practical.  With shutters, it is necessary to first open the windows prior to closing them.  In the winter, this is a chilly cold, daily ritual.  With the blinds, you simply pull on a cord inside the comfort of your home and the blinds coil up or down.    

Speaking of the exterior of homes, I also like the aesthetic look of all of the orange and brown clay tiled roofs.  The vast majority of the houses in Ingwiller, where I am currently living, and the surrounding region are clay tiled roofs.  It creates a uniform look and adds a little color to the villages.  These orange tiles also last a long time so it’s a good investment if you plan to live in the house for a long time.  I often see old houses and other buildings that have different tones of orange and brown tiles where only part of the roof was replaced.   No need to replace the entire roof, just replace what is needed.  I also assume that the building codes make it mandatory to use clay tiled roofs.  I like the sense of uniformity and order that it creates.   

There are plenty of other architectural features in French homes that are different than in the U.S. but these are just a couple of the differences that give French villages their unique characteristics.     

“Let them eat cake”

Marie Antoinette, Queen to Louis XVI of France, got tagged with quoting this during one of France’s major famines.  The famine of course did not touch the King’s castle or the French upper-class, who were essentially oblivious to the suffering of the common people.  Cake, their equivalent of Wonderbread, was the staple food of the peasants so she couldn’t understand why they didn’t just go to their local bakery to buy bread.  Silly peasants! Unfortunately, there was no more flour to make bread either.  Let the French revolution begin.

So what does that have to do with my most recent experience in France?  Cake is the common thread.  I celebrated Epiphany with my wife and her friends; eating King’s Cake or Galette des Rois.  Epiphany is a Christian holiday that takes place on January 6^th celebrating the visit of the Magi to the infant Jesus.  Much of Europe and Latin America celebrate the Epiphany.  In the U.S., it is primarily celebrated in the Southeast where Mardi Gras is celebrated. 

There are a number of different types of King’s Cake that you can find here in France.  The most common is frangipane, which has an almond based filling, but there are also fruit, cream, and chocolate filled versions as well.  My wife’s friend volunteered to host everyone and bake the cakes.  They all voted for a frangipane version, which is more traditional.  The cake looks more like a pie.  It is dense, sweet, and delicious!  It also has a little ceramic or plastic baby Jesus hidden in the cake.  Everyone wants to get the piece of cake with the ceramic Jesus in it.   

My wife explained that when they were little, one of the kids would have to hide under the table and call out names randomly to determine who got what piece of cake.  As my wife did not volunteer to get under the table, she covered her eyes and called out names for who was to get the next piece of cake.  Sophie found the ceramic Jesus in her cake so she got to wear her son’s aluminum foil crown in honor of her good luck.

Thanks for sharing your photos Anne-Valérie!

A Snowy Visit to Lichtenberg Chateau

My wife and I decided to visit nearby Lichtenberg Chateau on the second day of the new year.  The castle is just a few kilometers away so it was going to be a short ride through the snow filled forest to get there.  We were almost there when I realized that I had forgotten my camera so we turned around and headed back to the house.  It was a fortuitous memory lapse, because we just caught my wife's parents as they were getting back into their car to leave.  They had decided to stop by to say hello to us on their way home from their New Year’s weekend in Germany.  We were not home so they were getting ready to continue on their way as we pulled up to the house. 

They brought a box full of incredible pastries, a thoughtful gesture and always well received here at the Whiteman abode.  After eating some of the pastries and visiting for a while, they decided to return home and we headed to the castle, this time with my camera in hand.  The main road leading to the castle provides an excellent view of the high ground on which the castle had been built and the village that has since grown up below it.  The castle is sitting on the crest of the tallest hill around.  A superior defensive position and great place for the nobleman to sit in their castle tower and watch their serfs work their fields and shepherd their cattle.  (Here is an incredible aerial photo of Lichtenberg Chateau, although the picture was taken in the summer you can still get the sense of the positioning of the castle.)

We had snow in our town of Ingwiller but there was a lot more snow at the castle and the temperature was colder.  The limbs of the trees are still covered and the roads in the village were solid ice.  We climbed up the trail leading to the castle, crunching our way through the powdery snow.  I was thinking to myself as we climbed the winding, steep road that it would be an incredible sledding hill.   We climbed up to the level of the castle and the first thing you see is the massive exterior castle walls that are at least 45 feet tall surrounded by a 20 foot wide moat.  It looks like a secure place to reside.  The castle residents probably ran out of food and water before an attacking clan breached the tall walls.

The castle was built in the 13^th century by a wealthy family named the Lichtenbergs.  The castle, like most of these medieval castles, are often destroyed and rebuilt during the course of their history.  The Lichtenberg Castle was no exception.  It passed through a number of hands over the centuries being used by Louis 14^th as a defensive post and even survived some shelling during WWII.  One of the interesting structures of the castle ruins, so we’re told, is a gothic style chapel built inside the walls in the 16^th century.  Unfortunately, the interior of the castle is closed from November through March so we were not able to enter inside to check out the ruins.  We’ll wait until the snow thaws before going back.

Bonne Anne!! and Happy New Year!!

My wife and I invited a few people over to our house to bring in the New Year.  My wife prepared an incredible meal.  On the menu was boeuf bourguignon, a beef stew slow-cooked in a red wine sauce, accompanied with homemade Alsatian egg noodles called Speatzle.  We also had several appetizers, a nice cheese course, and of course dessert.

A few minutes prior to midnight, we all bundled-up and headed out into the street to set off fireworks, a French New Year tradition.  The air was cold and filled the sound of church bells ringing.  It seemed odd to hear the church bells going off this late at night but no one was sleeping with all of the fireworks going off in the streets.  Our Turkish neighbors were setting off Roman Candles and bottle rockets.  One of our guests was ready for this part of the evening as he gave each of us a couple packs of firecrackers so we could contribute our share of pops and booms to the celebration. 

As we walked towards the center of town, someone from inside their house started giving the countdown.  We all stopped and continued in French…sept, six, cinq, quatre, trois, duex, un…Bonne Anne!!  Kisses one each cheek for the girls, although you’re not supposed to actually kiss the cheek just make the kissy sound and touch cheeks, still an intimate gesture.  Guys also do a sort of fake kissy thing but it seems to be more of a head butt type of thing or maybe that’s my version of it as I’m not sure I will ever be comfortable with this custom. 

After the countdown, we lite up a few sparklers and wishes other revelers Bonne Anne (Happy New Year) and migrated back to the house.  I was impressed at the enthusiasm for the fireworks.  Of course, it would happen to be a male characteristic to love things that blow stuff up and make noise.  There were of course guys setting off what looked and sounded like full sticks of dynamite.  In many ways, things are much more civil here in France so this is one of the few times of the year when you can go in the streets and make as much noise as you like and it’s completely acceptable. 

We returned to the house and ate ‘surprise bread’ sandwiches (see my previous post) and played Pictionary until the wee hours of the morning.  We slept late the next day.  In closing, I hope that  the new year brings you joy, good health, and peace.