Celebrating French Chândeleur with Crêpes Photo and Video Essay by Ruth Paget

Celebrating French Chândeleur with Crêpes Photo and Video Essay by Ruth Paget 

When I lived in France, I learned that all French people seem to observe the Catholic holiday of Chândeleur whether or not they are practicing Catholics or not. 

Chândeleur occurs 40 days after Christmas on February 2nd and celebrates the presentation in the temple of Jesus Christ by his parents Mary and Joseph. The temple referred to is not pagan, but a Jewish synagogue. Jesus was born a Jew to Jewish parents. 

Chândeleur marks the beginning of Christ’s life in society and prepares believers for the celebration of Christian Easter in spring. 

The French celebrate Chândeleur with a pile of crêpes that can last several days if wrapped in plastic and kept in the refrigerator. I love the nutrition in crêpes at an economical price. 

The crêpe recipe my family developed for California uses milk, eggs, flour, water, fleur de sel sea salt from Guérande (Brittany, France), and California olive oil. The recipe follows: 

Paget Family California Crêpes Recipe

When your crêpe batter is made, it should be liquid with no lumps. Heat your crêpe pans with olive oil on high. Pour two ladles of crêpe batter into a hot pan and swirl the batter around till it coats the pan with the batter. 

The batter will begin to set so that you can move the crêpre back and forth gently like in the videos below. Carefully flip the crêpe over. You are working with extremely hot oil so you might want to use spatulas and mitts to turn over the crêpe. 

The flipped crêpe has a golden brown color and dry texture. Let the other side cook for 1 to 2 minutes before placing it on a serving plate. 

The French drink hard cider (alcoholic cider) with crêpes. If you prefer sweet cider try Martinelli’s. It pops open like champagne, but has no alcohol. We drink Henry Hot Spurs Cider from Trader Joe’s. According to webMD.com, hard cider retains vitamins like Vitamin C and antioxidants in its production. Apple cider is also considered to be a laxative by WebMD.com . 

The typical French additions to crêpes are butter and grated gruyère cheese. Spreadable Laughing Cow is also liked but not traditional in crêpes. Dessert crêpes are usually made with jam. Both kinds of crêpes are rolled up and can be heated in a mircrowave. 

The following photos and videos illustrate the process of preparing a French Chândeleur celebration at home with crêpes, cider, and fillings for this February 2nd holiday.

Fleur de sel is a fine grain sea salt that 
reduces lumps in the batter

American, Swedish, and Crocheted French Kitchen Towel by Laurent's grandmother

The flipped crêpe has a golden cooked sid.

Henry Hot Spurs Hard Cider is similar to apple cider
from Brittany, France

Typical crêpe fillings for a home celebration of Chândeleur.

So easy to eat, but time consuming to prepare.

A little butter and cheese for filling before rolling up the crêpe.

Time to eat!

Bonne Fête de la Chândeleur!

By Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France and Novgorod War Game Developer

Dukes of Brittany (France) Touring Game Created by Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

Dukes of Brittany (France) Touring Game Created by Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

Background

Peninsular Brittany in northwestern France extends out into the Atlantic Ocean.  The Bretons are famous for their fishing fleets and solo transatlantic sailors like Florence Artaud.

On land, the Bretons are famous for the following foods:

-belon oysters

-roast salt prairie lamb with vegetables

-far Breton cake with prunes previously soaked in cognac

-sweet crêpes

-savory crêpes called galettes

-apple cider

The Dukes of Brittany are related to British nobility through Henry II of England, who invaded Brittany in the 12^th century.  After signing a peace treaty with the French Duke Conan IV, Henry II became the County of Nantes.

Henry II’s son Geoffrey became Duc Geoffrey of Brittany.

The Dukes of Brittany ruled Brittany until 1448 when the last Duke had no male descendant.

Anne of Brittany was the last descendant of the Dukes of Brittany.  She was married to an Austrian nobleman, but was forced to annul her marriage.

Anne became Queen of France twice by marrying cousins.  Brittany definitively became a part of France when Anne’s daughter Claude became Queen of France by marrying the Valois king Francis 1^st.

What Kinds of Tourists Might Like Brittany?:

People who like:

-sailing

-traveling with their families

-pristine beaches with daily water quality controls

-easy-to-buy-and-prepare produce, seafood, and lamb

-walking by the ocean

-public gardens

Traditional Souvenirs to Buy in Brittany:

Almost all towns in Brittany have souvenir stores where you can traditional products such as:

-lace doilies

-lace collars and cuffs

-bigoudin Breton headdresses

-embroidered tablecloths and napkins

-cookbooks

-gardening books

-lyric books

-Celtic instruments

-Quimper faience – heavier than porcelain with scenes of sweet couples and happy families

-CDs of French Navy music

-Alan Stivell CDs – Breton folksinger and Celtic harp player

-butter cookies in decorative tins

Home Base City: Rennes, Capital of Brittany

Travelers can take a TGV (High Speed Train) from Paris to Rennes to explore the family-friendly city of Rennes in Brittany, France.

Rennes has cathedrals, museums, chateaus, and gardens that date back centuries.  Michelin and Lonely Planet guides amply describe these places.

After families have visited all the cultural places in town, junior high school students might enjoy visiting kid-oriented sites around town or those sites that can be visited in short periods of time.

The following 5 places in Rennes look especially interesting for junior high school students:

1 – L’Espace des Sciences

Learn-by-doing site with robot presentation along with planetarium shows.

2 – Ecomusée du Pays de Rennes

This museum is located in a 500-year-old farm that shows how agriculture, business, nutrition, and technology have changed within that time span.

3 – Parc du Thabor

There is a rose garden at Parc du Thabor that has 2,000 varieties of roses in it.

There is also an aviary with many parrots, doves, and songbirds.

4 – Marché des Lices

The high-quality produce of Brittany is on sale at the Marché des Lices and makes for a colorful field trip during a trip to France.

Several items that tourists could buy for snacks include:

-Reinette apples

-baguettes (French bread loaves)

-sea salt flavored butter

-cheese from nearby Normandy

-sweet crêpes

-savory crêpes called galettes

-Breton cider

5 – Centre Alma – the big mall in Rennes

The Centre Alma sells modern souvenirs like clothing and cotton candy called “barbe à papa” or “dad’s beard.”

Day Trip Suggestions:

-Brest

-Quimper

-Lorient

-Vannes

-Saint-Malo

-Saint-Brieuc

-Nantes (I have a blog up on this city for September 8, 2018)

Lunch, souvenir shopping, and historical walks by the ocean are the main draws of these photogenic towns.

Happy Touring!!!

By Ruth Paget, author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

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Visiting Ile-aux-Moines (Brittany, France) with Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

Visiting Ile-aux-Moines (Brittany, France) with Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

One of our friends in Paris had a family home on the Ile-aux-Moines (Monks’ Island) off the coast of Vannes in Brittany, France.

On a crisp, fall day, my husband Laurent, toddler Florence, and I set out for Vannes to pretend to be banished fishermen on the Ile-aux-Moines.

No cars are allowed on the island, so we trudged all of Florence’s toddler equipment (tricycle, helmet, multiple changes of clothing, sippy cups and so on) onto the island by making several ferryboat trips back and forth in the rain.  (It rains all the time in Brittany in the winter.)

Our friend’s family had a medieval era stone house on the island that was very chilly in the rain.  (Homes in Brittany all have very pointy roofs to let rain fly off roofs quickly and far away from homes.)

I told our friend that she needed tapestries from Aubusson to hold in heat.

“It’s never warm in here. Tapestries would hold in the cold,” she said.

Florence wore layers of little T-shirts and American sweatsuits that my University of Chicago roommate wisely bought for her when I came to show off “bébé Florence” to the good-looking Greeks in Chicago.

We forgot our chills when our friend came back with spiny lobsters for each of us.

She made a bowl of homemade mayonnaise to spread on baguette toast to go with the lobster meat.  We drank a Bourgogne Aligoté white wine with this ruddy meal.

We ignored the sheets of rain thudding on the roof and listened to rock music.  I taught Florence how to dance to the rhythm of the Rolling Stones, U2 and BB King, and Rai music from France.

We visited Ile-aux-Moines several times and even went to a wedding there.  Laurent filmed the wedding that had lots of strolling musicians playing bagpipes and harps and little girls twirling pixie baskets full of flowers.

By Ruth Paget, author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

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Touring Guerande: Walking around a Medieval Granite Town in Brittany, France with Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

Touring Guérande: Walking around a Medieval Granite Town in Brittany, France with Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

The Collégiale is named after Guérande’s patron saint Saint Aubin (St. Albin in English).  He was the Bishop of Angers.  The town legend says that when Guèrande was under siege by the Normans in the 9^th century, he sent a knight in shining armor astride a winged, white horse to save the town from pillagers.

After visiting the Collégiale St. Aubin, I walked around the town.  There were many pottery, painting, and regional products shops with cute to expensive souvenirs.  I liked the cider, sea salt, and sturdy dish souvenirs the best.

Guérande is an adorable tourist trap with most tourists being French, German, or English.  I was tempted to buy some chouchen, a Breton honey liqueur for my small cocktail cabinet at home.

I spent the rest of my time trying to look over stonewalls or peek through gates to see flowers and gardens.  One house had little hedges arranged in a square around a tree with flowers around it.  That was cute.

I did not know the names of all the flowers except for pink and lavender hortensias that grow well in Brittany with its morning fogs.

Ivy covered many homes and walls.  In fact, the vegetation was very lush and green.  The winters in Brittany are rainy.  Most homes in Brittany must look desolate in winter from the outside due to the rain and cold weather.

The homes are usually made of granite and other more malleable stone.  Steep, blue-gray roofs let the abundant winter rains fall off away from the homes.

By Ruth Paget, author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

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Touring Guerande: Visiting Brittany, France's Sea Salt Town with Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

Touring Guerande: Visiting Brittany, France's Sea Salt Town with Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

Laurent and I set out for the July 14^th holiday (Bastille Day) weekend to spend time with his parents in Brittany in Western France.

I strapped Florence in her car seat, and we set out for Brittany.  I planned to spend my time writing and touring Brittany with my mother-in-law.

The first town we visited was the Breton town of Guérande.  This town has a wall around it and sits on top of a hill.  It is surrounded by salt drying beds.

Salt was and remains important to the area.  In the Middle Ages, Guérande had a monopoly on salt, which was traded for agricultural products from other regions.  Salt marshes in the South of France diminished Guérande’s control over salt prices.

Today canals bring salt water into a series of square reservoirs.  Each reservoir is shallower than the last one and allows workers to scrape off salt at the end.  Dry, hot weather creates the best production results.

I gleaned this wonderful information from my Michelin “green guide” for Brittany as I stood outside the church called the Collégiale St. Aubin (St. Albin’s in English).

St. Aubin was built in the 12^th and 13^th centuries.  The austere architecture is Romanesque and the more flamboyant decoration is Gothic.  I enjoyed visiting the church’s interior, because there was a rehearsal for an organ and trumpet concert going on.

My Michelin “green guide” said the Romanesque columns inside the church were decorated with scenes of torture, but they were so badly damaged that they failed to conjure any fright in me.

The columns are the only items that remained from the original church after it was destroyed by Louis d’Espagne in 1342.

The church decorations are definitely Gothic with three-petal flowers covering the interior and exterior alike.  The stained glass windows are recent.  Wars, ancient and modern, probably explain the absence of older glass windows.

The baptismal font seemed to be the oldest part of the church.  I guessed it must be the oldest part of any French church.

You have to keep the initiates coming in, if you are financing something over a century or two.

By Ruth Paget, author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

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