Make Music (Faites de la Musique)

A Midsummer's Night!  Summer Solstice!   Milestone days repeated in literature and feted in art, music, pageantry, and religion for as long summer itself.

In France, and in Belgium too, there is a calendar day to mark this step over from Spring's rocky shore onto Summer's party barge ---International Music Day, a euphonic celebration that invites music, and you, to take center stage.

 For some time now, 21 June is also known as the Fête de la Musique, a one-night only opportunity for local musicians, dancers, and singers to perform live, in the squares and restaurants, outside doorways, or on a bridge overlooking the Seine. If you've been eyeing that dusty accordion in your closet, today would be the day to blow off the coating of embarrassment that has kept it hidden and come out and play.  


This idea was first hatched in 1976 by American musician Joel Cohen, the working for the national French radio station "France Musique." Cohen proposed an all-night music festival on summer solstice, inviting amateurs and professionals to play music in the streets. The idea was noodled by the French Minister of Culture in 1981, eh voila, the first fete took place in 1982.




The perennial slogan "Faites de la Musique" (make music) sounds just like "Fête de la Musique"  (Celebration of Music).  And who doesn't love a homophone?! So, grab your homophone, or saxophone, or get on the phone, and hit the streets of France on June 21.  The days are longer, the nights warmer, and there is music in the air.

Happy Macaron Day

Cute-as-a-button cookies

One of the reasons I love France so much is for its unabashed passion for food.

All year long there are wine festivals, cheese fairs, and fruit fests. Shops close for a few hours at noon for lunch almost everywhere in France, and meals are to be savored, never to be eaten from a cardboard box or retrieved from a clown's mouth.  There are even dedicated days to certain palate pleasers–like Crepe Day (February 2). And if you’ve spent any time in Paris, you know the French are especially fou about macarons, so it comes as no surprise to me that a day would also be dedicated to these cute-as-a-button confections. Yep, you guessed it… Macaron Day!  March 20, all over France, is officially Le Jour du Macaron–and how sweet it is.

Don’t confuse the French macarons, two delicate dome-shaped meringue cookies with a flavor-infused cream or ganache in between, with the American macaroon (note the double-o), a dense glop of a cookie made with coconut or almond paste.

The window displays of Paris’ macaron masters (Pierre Hermé and Laudurée are among the best) reflect the cookie’s revered status as the queen of confections. The displays change with the season but you can always count on jewelry boxes filled with the sugary gems, or macarons stacked into pyramids and lined up like rows of obedient school children with their colorful uniforms on parade for all to admire. These displays give new meaning to the French expression lécher les vitrines, which means to window shop but literally translates ‘to lick the windows.’

Lucky for us we don’t have to jet off to Paris to find authentic French macarons (even though we want to). We can just head to Paulette Macarons in Hayes Valley where the former Parisian has brought the sweet taste of Paris to San Francisco.  Read more Click Here