Midnight in Lyon..

It's been one year and a half that I've lived in Lyon, and I realized recently that I've never discovered or lived in Lyon alone!

Bri is in Paris starting his new job and apartment hunting, I'm stuck in Lyon for my Master's program until the beginning of February... and so yesterday I decided to go and venture around my city.

I'd never been to the Musée Gadagne since I moved to Lyon, but I mean a free entrance to a museum for a Lyon Gastronomie display?  I couldn't resist.  I packed a compote and a bottle of water, my journal and my walking boots; off I was on my very own to a Lyonnais museum!

Les Toques Blanches de Lyon (in my garden!)

It was lovely to walk through the city at my own pace, in silence, listening to the people around me.  It was in the actual exhibit that I was enamoured, posters of food, photos of the famous Cuisiniers and Cuisinières, I looked at every single detailed menu, watched every black and white video.  The exhibit is not that impressive, in regards to actual 'gastronomy', but there were a few things I picked up on and tucked away in my journal:

When visiting the musée Gadagne, I can almost imagine myself with the famous Gourmands of Lyon.  A sort of "Midnight in Lyon", instead of the 'high time' with artists and painters in Paris, it is a Golden Age of eating and gourmandises.  Lyon was for foodies what Paris was for artists... while artists and writers were indulging in social abnormalities, the foodies were just doing what they do best... eating!

Even though Julia Child mentions that Paris was an amazing culinary hot-spot, even the great Curnosky wrote, Lyon est la capitale mondiale de gastronomie.  Can't argue with the Prince of Gourmand!

La Mère Brazier

I was amazed at the culinary freedom of the 1920's and 1930's and longed to jetset back in time to sit at a table with Mère Brazier, Mère Fillioux and Curnosky...

What's more incredible is the feminism so prevalent in this era- why do I say this?  Because women truly were the creators of the Lyon Gastronomy!  I stared at the photos, imagining the times... there was respect to these women because they could cook.  These women, the lost generation of the culinary world in Lyon were the epitomy of feminism.  Enormous amounts of respect were doted upon their culinary confections, and they remain important and engrained in Lyon history!

So potentially in France... if you can cook you can earn respect?

But what is up with this whole Lyon cuisine?  What was amazing was the distinctive contrast between the Bourgeois dishes (Brasserie Georges, etc) and the typical Bouchon (la Mère Jean) also known as La Cuisine Guignolesque which was for the hard workers.  One of the videos in the museum shows a report wandering around and asking locals:

Reporter:  Pensez-vous d'être un gourmand?

Man 1: Tout à fait que oui, nous sommes des plus grandes gourmands ici à Lyon... on adore les choses bonnes à manger, les cochonnailles, la viande... du vin.. du fromage...

Report: (Same question)

Older Woman: Mais oui!  Je suis une gourmande.. j'adore à manger!

I am not a personal fan of Bocuse... who has taken the idea of being a Foodie and capitalised it until it's just a bunch of carbon-copy restaurants with little or no creativity.  I love the simple, local, bouchons... with a pot du vins and a tender quenelle.

Les Toques Blanches.. les mères de Lyon.. Oh la la!

This move is going to be tough.

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Release of the New Petit Paumé!

Hey all!

I received an email from one of the organizers from Petit Paumé... apparently the new season has just arrived and it is time.. to pick up.. your new french copy.....!

If you have no idea what Petit Paumé is, check out my post from a few months back:  The Petit Paumé.

Basically to summarize it's a special Lyon based guide and discount booklet for all those living in Lyon.  Pretty much a fabulous way to save cash and get some awesome advice (not to mention pratice le skills françaises) the new 2012 season has officially arrived.

Where to get a copy?

Well my little Petit-Paumé bird, Etienne, has informed me that next weekend on October 8th, starting at 12h30, Place Bellecour, free copies will be distributed until they have run out.

I have to work that day, but I've decided to send Bri out to get my copy in my absence.

Enjoy the savings and réductions!

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Les Nuits des Fourvière

I don't think there exists such an experience as enjoying a live show in an ancient Roman gladiator site.  Bri surprised me a month or so ago with tickets to see The Do, King Charles and Two Door Cinema Club during Les Nuits des Fourvière in July.  It had been over 3 years since my last real concert and I was absolutely excited for the experience!

What is Les Nuits des Fourvière
Le Basilisque de Fourvière is that fabulous looking church that over looks the city.  It was built in the late 1800's to celebrate the Virgin Mary and thank the Gods that they didn't die during a horrific plague in the 19th century.  Structured in the typical Catholic fashion the church is like a piece of religion over looking the entire city.  Beautifully kept by the city, the city decides to put on a concert every year in the surrounding area.  Not just a single concert but a summer long event in which several very famous bands come to Lyon to play their songs.

The Nuits usually starts beginning of the summer and continues through August, tickets go fast so it's important to buy in advance for a band that is very popular.  The largest bands play in the ancient Roman amphitheatre a few hundred feet from the Basilisque.

The Experience
Being in an Ancient Roman site where gladiators and theatre shows were put on is a true rarity.  There are few words to describe the experience, all these hundreds of people squished together, overlooking the city of Lyon with this insane sound quality reverbing around.  Here's our video of the show we went to:



Just to say: Incredible experience.

Definitely recommended if you plan to move to Lyon, but remember tickets go quickly!

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Sending Thoughts to Oslo

I went to a concert in Fourvière last night while hundreds of young teenagers tried to sleep through a day from hell.  I had no idea what had happened until I returned home from work yesterday, around 4:30, and spattered on the news was an image of an actually quite attractice Norweigan man with the words, Massacre en Oslo.

How can I even begin to express sentiment for something so shocking?  Norweigans are so kind, thoughful and gentle people... the fact that it was one of their own destroying hundreds of their own is almost as if it couldn't be true.

I leave the images and the crises coverage to the large networks, but in this small post I am simply sending out the warmest feelings to Norway and extending my thoughts to those who suffered at the hands of this extremist.

Tomorrow I'll post about the Fourvière experience, but today consider it a day of silence in order to remember the people who died.

I can only think of my young brother, if this had happened? The people crying on their phones, the parents receiving text messages from their children, and they couldn't do anything to help them. Incredible.

My heart is sad, just utterly full of emotion.

Norway, dearest survivors, we are all sending our condolences and our hope that he will be brought before justice and pay for his crime.