Recette: Gaufres / Recipe: French Waffles

Ingredients
* 1 3/4 cups milk
* Salt to taste, if desired
* 1/4 cup melted butter
* 1 1/2 cups flour
* 6 eggs, lightly beaten
* 1 cup heavy cream

Preparation
1. Heat one cup of the milk in a saucepan, and add the salt and butter. Bring to the simmer. Remove from the heat.
2. Add the flour immediately, beating constantly with a wire whisk.
3. Return the mixture to the heat, stirring constantly until mixture comes away from the sides of the bowl. Pour the mixture into the bowl of an electric mixer and start beating on low speed. Add two eggs at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in the remaining milk and the cream. This will produce a thin, lumpy batter.
4. Add the mixture, an appropriate amount at a time, to the surface of an electric waffle iron. The volume will depend on the size of the iron. Cover and cook according to the manufacturer's instructions.
Four to 14 waffles, depending on the size of the waffle iron


Source:
http://events.nytimes.com/recipes/6377/1983/05/22/Gaufres-French-waffles/recipe.html

Project: Make a Mardi-Gras Mask

Mardi Gras, which means "fat Tuesday" in French, is celebrated in many francophone regions. Mardi Gras masks are a traditional part of this annual celebration, and making them is an interesting and very creative project for all ages. These basic instructions and tips can be followed by anyone going to a Mardi Gras party or just wanting to share in the fun.

Instructions
1. Choose mask base: Cardboard, plastic, construction paper, etc.
2. Cut base to cover the face or eyes
3. Cut eyeholes and holes for nose and/or mouth
4. Punch tiny holes in each side and attach string or wire (to hold mask in place)
5. Decorate mask

Mask Base
1. The mask base can be made of just about anything you don't mind wearing over your face. Paper may not last but cardboard is a good choice.

2. The shape of the mask base is limited only by your creativity. You can cut an oval to cover your face or a bar to cover your eyes, or you can make another shape, such as a house, an animal, or a tree.

3. Holes for eyes, nose, and mouth can be different shapes - stars, hearts, slits, etc.

Designing the Mask Base:
There are a million different ways to decorate a Mardi Gras mask. Here are just a few ideas for materials:
* Crayons, colored pencils, chalk, charcoal, markers, paint
* Beads
* Embroidery
* Fabric
* Fake jewels
* Feathers
* Flowers
* Glitter
* Lace
* Ribbons
* Sequins
* Stickers
* String, yarn
* Tissue paper





Source:
http://french.about.com/cs/teachingresources/a/mardigrasmask.htm

Questionnaire

Réponds aux questions sur une feuille de papier / Answer the questions on a sheet of paper

1.- Qu'est-ce que c'est Mardi Gras? / What is Mardi-Gras?
2.- Comment on célèbre le Carnaval en France? / How is Carnival celebrated in France?
3.- Pendant quel(s) mois on célèbre le Carnaval? / During which month(s) is the Carnival celebrated?
4.- Décris le déguisement des photos que tu aimes le plus? / Describe the clothes of the photo you like the most (in French)
5.- Quelle ville de France est connue pour son Carnaval? / Which French town is famous for its carnival?

Carnaval de Nantes / Carnival in Nantes, West of France

Throwing Tons of Confetti at the Carnaval Parade in Nantes, France

Packs of confetti-crazed kids run up and down the parade route, pelting everything in site. The detailed floats and the Grosses Têtes (the Big Heads) take a year to make but two seconds to get covered with Silly String. It's a traditional float parade: families, noisemakers, cotton candy. Only with a French flair…like these Super Duponts, the Homer Simpsons of France. It's not Rio, but the Carnaval of Nantes is the biggest in France. The 2009 theme is the Conquest of Air and Space.





Sources:
http://www.trazzler.com/trips/users/franceypants/caranaval-in-nantes-pays-de-la-loire-44000-fr

Carnaval de Dunkerque / Carnival in Dunkerque, North of France

The French town of Dunkerque has been celebrating its annual carnival since the 17th century. Back then, it was a send-off for the port's fishermen who were soon to depart for up to six months.
These days, it's a three month long extravaganza of music, balls, costumes, and festivities. The carnival is a costume event, so get ready to masquerade! The traditional costume requirement is for men to dress as women. Women--and shy men!--can disguise themselves however they'd like, as long as it's colorful!

The carnival runs from January to March each year. The events rotate between different places in the town each week. All the Dunkerquois (unhabitants of Dunkerque) gathered in the streets and sing carnival songs lead by a brassband. People walked hand to hand, creating "human lines" that are called "bande". The parade ends up on the city square for the "rigodon", the final uproar.




Sources:
http://www.nordmag.fr/nord_pas_de_calais/dunkerque/carnaval_dunkerque.htm

Carnaval de Nice / Carnival in Nice, French Riviera

At the time of Carnaval de Nice, the city erupts into a wide party, with parades in the daytime and evening and a large bonfire and fireworks on Mardi Gras itself. Flower processions, floats, and parties make Nice the place to be for carnival in France.

The festival begins on a Saturday 10 days before Mardi Gras with the arrival of the carnival king. There are parades every night or day for the entire carnival. At the height of the Carnaval de Nice is awash with flowers. Since 1876 the carnival in Nice has included a Bataille de Fleurs (battle of flowers). Twenty meticulously designed flower-covered floats parade down the Promenade des Anglais along the Nice beaches. Costumed men and women throw approximately 100,000 flowers to an enthusiastic audience. Some 90% of the flowers—carnations, daisies, gerberas, gladioli, mimosa, roses, and other varieties—are produced locally, highlighting the variety and quality of the flowers grown in the French Riviera. The flower parade takes places several times during the Nice carnival.

Events like the flower parades make the carnival in Nice the liveliest in the country and one of the best of all France events. In France carnival is a time of unrestricted celebration and Nice has the most spectacular carnival in France. The date of the festival depends of the date of Easter and varies from year to year between February 3 and March 9. Most years it falls sometime in mid-February. The festival culminates on the Tuesday of Mardi Gras with a not-to-be-missed Grande Parade and fireworks.



In 2009, Carnaval de Nice took place from 13 February to 1 March, and the theme was Roi des Mascarades (King of Masquerades). With 20 tall floats (up to 14 meters / 46 feet high); 20 flower floats; 200 "big heads"; and countless dancers, musicians, and other participants - not to mention tens of thousands of spectators, it was a fun and crazy celebration.


Sources:
http://www.destination360.com/europe/france/carnival-france.php
http://french.about.com/od/travelfrance/ig/Carnaval-de-Nice-2009/index.01.htm

Mardi-Gras & Carnaval

Another name for carnival is "Mardi Gras". The French name "Mardi Gras" means "Fat Tuesday", from the custom of using all the fats in the home before Lent.

QU'EST-CE QUE LE CARNAVAL? / WHAT IS CARNIVAL?
The day before the beginning of Lent is called Mardi Gras (Fat Tuesday) or Carnival. For Christians, Lent is the forty days that Jesus spent in the desert without anything to eat or drink. Lent ends on Easter Sunday.

Carnival is celebrated in February or March. The most famous carnivals are the ones in New Orleans in Louisiana, Nice in France and also, the most crazy of all, the one in Rio de Janeiro.

ORIGINES / HOW DID IT START?
At the origin of the Carnival there were many old habits from France. For example, the French took a fat cow around the roads of Paris to tell people not to eat meat during Lent. The word "carnival" means in Latin "to take away eating meat". Some people believe the idea for carnival started even earlier with the ancient festivals of the Romans. Many years after it started in Europe carnival spread to America and many other countries.



LES COULEURS DE MARDI-GRAS / MARDI-GRAS COLORS
Mardi gras has three official colors:
- le violet / purple (justice)
- l'or / gold (power)
- le vert / green (faith)

LES TRADITIONS DE MARDI-GRAS / MARDI-GRAS TRADITIONS
Mardi gras is traditionally celebrated with a parade led by a captain, during which trinkets, or "throws," are tossed to the crowd. The parade is followed by a costume ball presided over by a king and queen.



CARNAVAL EN FRANCE / CARNIVAL IN FRANCE
Nice on the Cote d'Azur is the largest Carnaval in France.
Dunkerque (North of France) is the wildest and widest Carnaval season.
Nantes (West) is up and coming and may be 2nd largest Carnaval in France.
Paris has the most Carnavals, but none have recaptured the stature of the Carnaval du Paris of the early 20th century.
In 2008, Ploermel Carnaval [founded 1924] became the first Carnaval in France to host the FECC International Carnival City Congress. Ploermel in the Morbihan district of culturally distinct Brittany peninsula is famous as the City at the crossroad's to the Merlin's enchanted forest where the most powerful myths and legends of France still live on.

LE VOCABULAIRE DE MARDI-GRAS / MARDI-GRAS VOCABULARY
- un bal masqué costume ball
- un bijou jewel
- le capitaine captain
- un char float
- un collier necklace
- un costume costume
- une couronne crown
- un défilé parade
- un déguisement disguise
- une effigie effigy
- un feu de joie bonfire
- un flambeau torch
- la foule crowd
- un mardi gras a person who really gets into celebrating Mardi gras
- le masque mask
- une perle bead
- la plume feather
- la reine queen
- le roi king


Sources:
http://www.internet-at-work.com/hos_mcgrane/holidays/arnaud.html
http://french.about.com/od/vocabulary/a/mardigras.htm
http://www.carnaval.com/france/

Verbs To be/Etre & To have/Avoir

Numbers from 0 to 10

Lets sing the alphabet!