Quelque Choses to Think About

Last night I cooked a great dinner for friends. It was chicken with wine and vegetables, only it was called Coq Au Vin. Why? This is not France. Not only that, but the recipe was from the Whole Foods website, the American supermarket chain. Plus, the chicken was from right here in Maine and the wine was from New Zealand where I don't believe they even speak French; I think it's English. Yet when the recipe was given to me by my sister-in-law, I was told it was for coq au vin, which she pronounced Coco Van.  (I pronounce it Coke Oh Vawn.) It was tres bien, which means very good and is pronounced tray byen.

Somehow speaking French is thought to be quite cool and makes one appear very sophisticated, but often I have trouble with the pronunciation. And oddly enough, one of the most common foods in America is French fries, which you would think we would call by its French name, pommes frites (pronounced pum freetz), but we do not. It's so hard to keep up.