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French Friday ~ “Forever Chic” (Chapter 5)

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Chapter Five
Le Régime 
The Art of Eating Well

Ask most anyone what aspect of the stereotypical “French woman” is most envied and I would wager the #1 response is the ability to stay slim despite all that delicious French food and wine. Or is that just me? Non, I’m sure it’s not. 
In Chapter Five, author Tish Jett delves into this mystery. Yes, French women do indulge in cheese, wine, chocolate, etc. However it’s not quite as mysterious as it seems. There are any number of little tricks the average French woman uses to keep her svelte figure. 
Here are some of my favorites from this chapter:
  • Minimal snacking. The French as a whole discourage indiscriminate snacking between meals. Even children are generally expected to follow a three-meal-a-day eating routine, with perhaps a small, planned afternoon snack (le goûter). 
  • Plenty of fruits and vegetables. Healthy eating is important and by filling up on fruits and veggies, which are generally low in calories, one will consume fewer calories overall. 
  • Mindful eating. Make deliberate choices, eat sitting down, and truly focus on your meals.
  • A first course of salad or soup. This is something I’ve found to be truly helpful. We don’t do it all the time, or even most of the time, but when I serve a salad or something else as a first course, I find that we eat less overall. Tonight, for instance, I’m serving artichokes as an appetizer. Experience has taught me that we will be full on smaller portions of the main course. 
  • Enjoy your food.  This is my absolute favorite tip. Food should be delicious and it should bring true pleasure. Don’t eat just to eat. Prepare delicious meals and then take the time to savor them. And if you decide to indulge in a piece of dark chocolate, don’t feel guilty. Eat it slowly, perhaps with a cup of tea, and enjoy every tiny bite. 
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You can read my reviews of previous chapters by clicking on the links below:

French Friday ~ “Forever Chic” (chapter one)

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Today is the first “meeting” of the French Chic book club. We are reading Tish Jett’s new book, “Forever Chic: Frenchwomen’s Secrets for Timeless Beauty, Style and Substance”. We are on our way to New Orleans today so this post was written last night, before any actual discussion on our group site.

Tish Jett moved to France “for two years” for her job and more than 25 years later, she’s still there. “Forever Chic” is dedicated to women of “a certain age” (over 40) and is a distillation of what she has learned from close observation of those legendary French women.

The first chapter is: The Allure of La Femme Française d’un Certain Âge


As one who falls into the category of a woman “of a certain age” I’m most definitely interested in how French women remain stylish and alluring no matter their age.

As I read through the chapter I highlighted the following words:

1. Self-confidence
2. Pragmatism
3. Simplicity
4. Quality over quantity
5. Natural
6. Informed
7. Discipline
8. Priority
9. Self-respect
10. Discretion

I now have this list of words written a small piece of paper (in pink ink) by my computer to serve as a reminder.

Tish, who teaches adult English classes, asked her French students (age 44-75) what keeps them young. No one mentioned a facial cream or beauty trick. Here is their list:

Things that keep you young
  • travel
  • classes (everything from painting to yoga)
  • annual museum memberships
  • children and grandchildren
  • entertaining
  • fresh air and long walks
  • eating lots of fruits and vegetables
  • sex
My children are grown and I don’t have grandchildren but I can certainly pull off the rest of that list. In fact, most of those things are already part of my life. 
I enjoyed this first chapter and have already gleaned some helpful advice. I look forward to what the rest of the book holds. If you have the book, I’d love to hear your thoughts. And if you don’t but are interested, consider ordering a copy and joining the discussion here in the weeks to come. 

French Friday – Book Club

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New book for online book club!
Forever Chic by Tish Jett
The French Chic group I belong to decided it would be fun to do an online book club. As we were discussing which book to read first one of our members humbly mentioned that she had a book coming out. Parfait! Several of us pre-ordered and it began shipping this week. 
I received my copy a couple of days ago and I’m really eager to begin reading it. We will probably cover a chapter a week and my plan is to share some highlights here on “French Fridays”. If you’d like to join in, you can order your own copy here. It’s available in hardback and Kindle versions. I have a Kindle but I opted for the hardback so it can take its place amongst my collection of French-themed books. I’m so glad I did because it’s absolutely gorgeous with quality binding and darling illustrations. You should also check out Tish’s blog, A Femme d’Un Certain Age.

Check back next Friday for the first chapter of “Forever Chic”. Bonsoir, mes amis!

French Friday ~ Take a Walk

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I’ve been so pleased with the increased participation on the French Chic Yahoo Group. I wish I had taken steps to jump-start things long ago. It seems many were quietly waiting in the wings, eager for a return to our more active days. I learned something from this: Don’t wait for someone else to do it.

In addition to plans for a group book discussion, we are also selecting a group challenge each week. This week many of us committed to walking each day. Some of us use a treadmill, others aim for a certain number of steps per day, and still others are enjoying walking with our dogs.

Last week I saw my doctor and we discussed my exercise challenges. I am anemic and asthmatic which means I am short of breath with exertion. He recommended starting slowly, stopping just short of breathlessness, then maintain that level for a full two weeks before adding a bit more. He said it takes about two weeks for one’s body to adjust to a certain level of activity. I’m taking his advice and am determined to increase my endurance.

It’s a bit discouraging at times when I see friends on Facebook sharing how many miles they ran. Actual, honest-to-goodness running. I tell you truly that if you see me running I hope you’ll try to head off whoever is chasing me. But the fact is I can only start where I am and it does no good to compare myself to others. That’s what I love about our French Chic ladies. We are there to encourage one another and the only competition is with ourselves, not each other.

If you could use a little exercise I encourage you to join me in a daily walk. Leave me a comment and tell me your walking goal. Mine is 10 minutes on the treadmill at a 5% incline, plus several walks with Shiloh each day. We can do this!

French Friday ~ Designing My Life

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I’ve long been a member (and moderator) of the Yahoo Group, French Chic. Participation has slowed in recent years, probably because of Facebook and other social media options. But several of us are hoping to revive the group because it has, in the past, served an important role in our lives. 
I’ve been doing some thinking about our group motto:
A French woman consciously designs her life, and makes daily choices to carry out that design. 

I need to give some thought to consciously designing my life and I definitely need to be more intentional about those daily choices. You’ll no doubt be hearing more about all this but for today I’m going to be “consciously” cleaning my house. 😉
I’m one of those who functions best and is happiest in a clean and tidy environment. Not obsessively so – I’ve learned to live with less than perfection. And I’m in no way a minimalist. I like to see evidence of life being lived in a house. But this week has involved way more than my usual amount of time away from home and it shows. This was also a poor time for me to take on the project of washing and ironing my kitchen curtains. I’ve only got one of the three windows done. 
So I’m going to put on some music – probably my French music Spotify playlist, La Musique, to start. Then I’ll go about bringing order to my home. I’ve also planned a nice dinner:
Aperitif
First course: tossed mixed green salad with homemade vinaigrette 
Main course: baked chicken breasts with herbs de provence, garlic mashed potatoes, whiskey-glazed carrots 
Dessert: something made with apples (perhaps an apple tarte?) and French press coffee
David has had a crazy week and we are both looking forward to a peaceful evening together. We are going to watch “The Great Gatsby” and then perhaps do a little stargazing before retiring for the night. We’ve had a lot of fun trips, activities, parties, etc. recently but both of us are (more than) ready for a quiet evening alone! 
*Picture at top of post used to be on the French Chic home page before Yahoo changed the page layout requiring a horizontal photo. I don’t know who to credit for the photo but I’ll try to find out. 

French Friday – My special day

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*UPDATED:  Scroll to the bottom of the post for an important addition. 

I think I’ve mentioned before that I’m a member of the Yahoo Group, “French Chic”.  In fact, the idea for “French Fridays” came from that group.  Sometimes members will share what they did to make their Fridays special.  Recently, a member of the group took it a step further and planned what she called a “French-cation”.  She had a few days off and rather than go someplace, decided to save the money toward future travels and vacation at home.  She made sure she was caught up with housework beforehand and then spent the next few days enjoying herself in a distinctly French fashion.

I thought this was an excellent idea and decided that I would follow her lead by giving myself a little mini-vacation à la Française.  I spent the previous days this week working hard around the house so I could feel okay about taking the day off.  I thought about how I’d like to spend my day and made a list so I wouldn’t forget and just get caught up in playing on the computer.  In fact, that was a key component of my plan – minimal computer time.

I started the day as usual, putting away the clean dishes from the night before, packing lunches for my son and husband, and making my usual cup of Earl Grey.  Yeah, I know…that’s not terribly French. 😉  I did allow myself time to read emails, wish Facebook friends “Happy Birthday”, and do a last-minute review of this Sunday’s church bulletin before sending it to be printed (we are currently without a church secretary so I’ve taken on this duty).

I’m not a big breakfast eater but I bought some croissants yesterday and prepared a nice “petit déjeuner”:

 

 

Then there were the morning tasks of feeding the cats, letting out the chickens and refilling their water, refilling the parakeet’s food, emptying waste baskets and making the bed.  There were two jobs I didn’t finish yesterday so I mopped the kitchen floor and did a quick clean of the guest bathroom.

With the house in order I then showered, dressed and did my hair and makeup.  Keeping with the French theme, I wore a pretty scarf with my skirt and top.  I had just read that buns worn fairly high on the head, ballerina-style, are showing up on the runway and in the fashion magazines so I put my hair up.  I even donned a pair of wedge heels rather than my usual Birkenstocks (I have both an inner French girl and an inner hippie!).

I rarely go to town just for fun.  I generally plan my shopping and errands to coincide with times I need to be in town for such things as board meetings, choir rehearsal and church.  I don’t like to waste gas and I’m also a bit of a hermit so most of the time I spend my days at home.  But today I decided to make my day a little different.

I started with a stop at the library.  I had a book to return and wanted to find some decorating books for a bit of inspiration.  I also hoped to find some French music cds but wasn’t terribly surprised that our small-town library didn’t have any.  Next on my list was the used book store but for some unknown reason, it was closed.

I then went to an antique store on Main Street.  It’s one of those places absolutely chock-a-block with everything from costume jewelry to china.  There were several items I was looking for and after a half hour or so of browsing, I did locate a few things, including a couple of lidded refrigerator containers and a pretty lacy cloth for the antique table in our entry hall.

A French-inspired day wouldn’t be complete without a loaf of French bread and I had called our favorite restaurant yesterday to have a fresh loaf saved for me.  I went in to pick it up and George, the restaurant owner, was the one who greeted me.  He’s such a sweetheart and he wouldn’t even let me pay for the bread.  Wasn’t that nice?

Now for a little treat for myself, I went to the florist and picked out two beautiful roses.  I much prefer arranging my own flowers and it’s a lot cheaper, too.  Across the street from the florist is the liquor store so I ran in to pick up a bottle of wine.  And just one more stop – the chocolate shop!  We have a wonderful little place that makes delectable treats made without preservatives.  I adore their dark chocolate, espresso “melt-aways”, little bite-size morsels of heaven.  I bought a small bag of melt-aways and happily accepted the free sample offered.  It was “hot fudge” flavored and I enjoyed it in the car on the way home because by this point, it was after 1 p.m. and I was getting rather hungry.

At home, I put away my purchases, after photographing them, of course:

 
 

 

I then prepared lunch for myself, including a glass of Perrier with a twist of lime:

 

 

I hadn’t finished my last Netflix movie in time to get a French film so I watched “Le Divorce”, a charming movie I’ve seen a few times but always enjoy for the glimpses of Paris and French life.

Here is a picture of my desk and the pretty flowers I bought after I arranged them in a vase.  You can’t tell from the picture but my calendar has a picture of the Eiffel Tower on it:

 

 

 

It wasn’t long after finishing the movie that David and Chris came home and it was time to start dinner.  I didn’t prepare a traditionally French dinner (a little difficult since we are eating a vegetarian diet) but I think the spirit of the French was evident in the use of fresh ingredients well-prepared.  Our meal consisted of a roasted potato/onion/bell pepper dish seasoned with olive oil and Herbs de Provence, cauliflower with a cheese sauce, glazed carrots, asparagus, salad and French bread with real butter, bien sur:

 

 

It’s now 9:45 p.m. and I’m writing this while watching the MSNBC Brian Williams special about New Orleans, while sipping a cup of tea and munching a couple of Pepperidge Farm Milano cookies, the only store-bought cookie I like.  I hadn’t had any in a few years but picked up a bag of them especially for my “French Friday”.  I had planned to buy another little treat I haven’t had in many years.  As a young bride, fresh from our honeymoon to New Orleans and with my interest in all-things-French heightened, I would buy those little cans of Café Au Lait (later named Café Française) made by General Foods International.  I was not a coffee drinker in those days so that was as close as I could get to the real thing.  As one of those for whom taste can bring back memories, I thought it would be fun to buy some for my French Fridays.  However, I couldn’t resist sneaking a peak at the ingredients and after doing so, I simply could not bring myself to purchase it.  Besides, the cans aren’t nearly as attractive as they used to be so I couldn’t even justify it based on that count.  I suppose that’s one memory I’ll have to leave in the past.

It’s been a lovely day and I think I just might have to do something similar next Friday.  Now I’m going to get myself another cup of tea, get in bed and read awhile.  Bonne nuit, mes amis!

*UPDATE:  It was brought to my attention by one of my readers that I left out something important.  I mentioned getting books at the library but didn’t tell you the titles.  Shame on me.  For my fellow-book-aholics:

“Rescue From Domestic Perfection” by Dan Ho
“Villa Decor – Decidedly French and Italian Style” by Betty Lou Phillips
“Laura Ashley Style” by Iain Gale and Susan Irvine
“Provençal Escapes” by Caroline Clifton-Mogg
“Our Paris – Sketches From Memory” by Edward White

French Friday…An Intentional Life

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An Intentional Life

For the past several years I’ve belonged to the Yahoo Group, French Chic.  In fact, I first joined its earlier incarnation, Je Ne Sais Quois.  Over the years I’ve vacillated between being an active participant and no mail status.  Sometimes life gets busy and I just don’t seem to find the time to participate but it usually isn’t long before I begin missing the inspiration it provides.

The motto of the group is, “A French woman consciously designs her life, and makes daily choices to carry out that design.”  And then posits the questions: When was the last time you did that? Are you doing that today?

Every time I read that I am reminded that I should be the director of my life.  I sometimes imagine myself as a character in a film so that word choice is deliberate.   But how seriously do I take the notion of actually designing and directing my life?  Do I live intentionally or merely allow life to mindlessly sweep me along a river of chores, tasks, and errands?  I’d like to say it’s the former but way too often I’m afraid it’s the latter.

And that’s why I’m back to reading French Chic and why I started writing French Friday posts.  I’m hoping to receive the inspiration I need to truly consider how I spend my days.  Perhaps I will even be able to convince myself that I can, indeed, finish my novel.

What about you?  Do you have a vision for how you want to live your life?  Are you consciously making that happen?  I’d like to hear your thoughts.