Elections are in the air...

NYTimes piece on how the National Front (extreme right party) is gaining support:

With Focus on Economy, National Front Makes Gains in Northern France - NYTimes.com

Les Français sont racists? Ou tout simplement Elle?

I sometimes joke around with my French friends about them being racist.  This originally stemmed from the fact that they call all Asian people Chinese.  I was first introduced to this concept during my first couple of months living in Paris when I was having a conversation with a 70-something year-old French woman.  She told me, and I think completely seriously:

"Don't be offended if someone calls you Chinese (chinois), it's not that they think you are actually Chinese, it's just because all the Asians look the same."

 Oh of course!  No need to be offended by that!  Although, I really can't complain since I failed the "All Look Same" Quiz.  But I also joke that they do not distinguish between different Asian foods.  As in:

Me:  What do you want to eat tonight?
Le French Boyfriend:  Let's go for Chinese food.
Me:  What kind of Chinese?
Le French Boyfriend: Thai. 

This one might be more of an exaggeration.  It's more that many "Chinese Restaurants" here contain Chinese and Vietnamese and Thai, etc... which is actually common in many countries.  So my boyfriend complains that it's actually the Asians fault for confusing them by intentionally mixing all the foods together onto one menu.  He also claims that "chinois" (Chinese) is easier to say than "asiatiques" (Asian), which is why they use chinois to describe Asians.

In the end, I don't really believe the French to be more racist than Americans.  I just think some of what they say may be construed as racism to an (Asian) American because we (Americans in general) are more inclined to be politically correct.  Racism implies a hatred for a race or an actual belief in the inferiority of another race.  Calling all Asians Chinese is just a bit politically insensitive.

Enter the French Elle Magazine.

They have recently gotten in a lot of trouble for being not only politically insensitive, but actually racist in their article about the trend of "black-geoisie."  As explained in this Jezebel.com article, in an online article, Elle implies that black people have become more chic in fashion instead of thug, thanks in part to being educated by white people.  (Read the article for more details).

Of course a group of concerned French citizens wrote a response in an open letter in Le Monde, calling out Valérie Toranian and other editors at Elle to venture outside of their "glass offices" and see the "real black style."  And while they're at it, they should also hire some black editors if they are going to write about it.

The editors of Elle have immediately responded to these messages with fervent apologies, and invited people like the collectif anti-négrophobie to their "glass offices."  At least this debacle has gained more publicity for both parties involved.

Due to the proximity of Africa to France, and the many past French conquests there, there are a number of black people in France.  It's hard to gauge the exact number of different ethnic groups in France officially, since it is illegal to ask for demographic details (unlike the US where they ask with the option of "choose not to answer").  Here, I find that all Parisians, no matter what ethnic group, dress equally chic, and more so than any, say, American tourists.

Mapping the metro

There will soon be new Paris Metro maps floating around thanks to the efforts of Benjamin Suchar and copyright laws.  Suchar designed an app called CheckMyMetro, which is like Twitter specifically for events on or around the metro.  You can post about incidents (slow traffic, accidents, etc), coups de coeur (likes), coups de gueule (rantings/dislikes), or even musicians playing at the metro stations.  Although, as expected from Parisians, I've seen mostly coups de gueule.  But after being banned from using the well-known metro map from RATP, the public transit authority in Paris, he decided to hold a competition for designing a new metro map.  (I hope they are okay with me posting it here!)

The official RATP Paris Metro map.  You can get the full brochure at their website www.RATP.fr

There were over 80 submissions which were narrowed down to 10 finalists for final voting on Facebook.  The winning map (see below) designed by Antoine Raby was announced in December.

The winning Metro map for CheckMyMetro.

Overall, I like the new map.  It is both tourist- and resident-friendly because it indicates locations of major monuments, have scaled distances between stops, and include the arrondissement (districts) where each stop is located.  My favorite part is that the colors stay true to their respective lines.  Each line (on maps and in the metro) have a unique color associated with them (line 1 is yellow, line 9 is yellowish-gold, line 3 is brownish-gold etc...)  My friend had a metro map where the colors were different than the "official colors" and it was very confusing because I would follow the wrong lines.  And unlike RATP, Suchar is okay with this map being distributed since he is a supporter of open data, something I can definitely get behind.

Sources:

The Local, CheckMyLabs, RATP

The Paris-Movie-Quest

I'm on a quest to watch every movie set in Paris.  My "Movies in Paris" page lists the ones I've already seen in order of preference, and will be updated accordingly.  

Now it's time to tackle the rest... Wikipedia lists ~ 630 movies set in Paris, with new movies coming out every year (11 in 2011).  Also I found the Wikipedia list to be incomplete.  So I estimate about 1.5 lifetimes for me to watch them all.  It's a good thing I have lots of vacation time!

If you have a favorite movie, or movie suggestions, please let me know!

Baking an American Cake in Paris

Unlike in America where I usually expect my friends to shower me with gifts (such as a Gators Snuggie) and funfetti cupcakes, it is typical custom in Paris to bake (or buy) your own cake to share with your friends.  So for my birthday yesterday, I decided to treat my labmates and friends with an American cake.  What is an American cake?  Well, I'm American and I made it.  Also, yellow cake with chocolate frosting... which I have not seen in any Parisian pâtisseries.  But I was confident that my French friends would like it... it contains lots of butter.

Well, I am usually the eater of the group, and never been the baker (that role was for Megan!)  And I quickly came upon the first hurdles which many Americans trying to bake in France encounter: flour (la farine).  Indeed I never realized how diverse the flour market was.  I was only aware of all purpose flour and cake flour.  And to make matters worse... French flour is different in gluten and protein content.

A sampling of the different types of flour in France, and Maizena (corn starch).

The farine type is written on the side of the bag.

It seems like all these flours might be the same (see image), maybe with the difference of "BIO" farine de blé being the organic flour (bio, pronounced B.O. ... hehehe, which is what the French stereotypically have!... generally means organic).  But upon closer inspection, we find some differences.  The white bag in the middle gives our biggest clue, with the label "T55" (or type 55).  It turns out that French flour is classified by the residual mineral content is left in the flour, as explained in this Cooksinfo.com page.  The BIO flour is actually type 65, which is written on small print on the side of the bag.  The Moulin d'Or flour is described as "pour gâteaux cuisine et pâtisserie fine" (for cakes and pastries), indicating that it is type 45 (also written in small print on the side).  The different types and their American equivalents was charted by this article at Chow.com.

So I grabbed my eggs (les oeufs), butter (la beurre), granulated sugar (le sucre en poudre... which literally means powdered sugar!  American powdered sugar is French sucre glace), milk (le lait),  baking powder (la levure... watch out! there are different ones for cake and bread) and my farine and got to work.  My second hurdle was that I didn't have a mixer.  But this was nothing I couldn't tackle with the help of a hand-held food processor, a whisk, and le boyfriend with a strong arm (insert joke here?).  Luckily for me, I also stumbled upon this blogpost which suggest that I mix half farine with half cornstarch (Maizena) to get that American fluffy cake.  Great tip!  I used type 45 farine and Maizena and got a great fluffy yellow cake which then I smothered with Scharffen berger chocolate icing.  I served it with coffee, tea, and French cider (5% alcohol).  It was a hit!

PS  Apparently a big difference for them between French cakes and the American cake was the icing... which they loved!

Marie Curie Week!

This week, Google had doodled Marie Curie on her birthday (Nov 7th), so I thought I would pay hommage to the great scientist, pioneering woman, and alumni to my institution, Ecole Supérieure de Physique et de Chimie Industrielles (ESPCI).

Jeff Nye in front of the historical plaque at ESPCI.  The plaque translates to: "In 1898, in a laboratory in this school, Pierre and Marie CURIE, assisted by Gustave BEMONT, discovered Radium."

Similar to my alma matar, UC Berkeley, ESPCI has contributed to the discovery of many elements and is associated with a handful of Nobel Prize-winning scientists.  Although on a much smaller scale (5 Nobel Laureates instead of 22) and there is no element "ESPCI-ium"... but to be fair, ESPCI is MUCH smaller, admitting less than 100 students per year.  But it was here that one of the most influential women in science history, Marie Curie, and her husband Pierre, discovered radium.  Above is a picture of my friend, Jeff Nye, posing in front of the plaque at my institution and below is a picture of the plaque in front of the laboratory on campus.

Plaque reads: "Location of the laboratory where Pierre and Marie CURIE discovered radium in October 1898."

I don't have to tell you that Marie Curie's work was impressive, but I will anyways.  She was an accomplished scientist first and an accomplished woman second; she broke barriers in the realms of chemistry, physics and gender roles in science.  She was the first WOMAN to be awarded the Nobel Prize and to become a professor at La Sorbonne.  But she was the first PERSON to win 2 Nobel Prizes, and one of the only two people to have 2 Nobel Prizes in different fields.  Her first prize was in Physics for her work on radiation and her second was in Chemistry for discovery and study of the elements polonium and radium.  But you know you are badass when you have an element named after yourself.  Her and her husband were immortalized as element number 96, Curium, which, incidentally, was discovered by Glenn T. Seaborg at UC Berkeley.

Congratulations Megan and Will!

This post has nothing to do with my life in Paris... but two of my favorite people just got married this weekend, and I wanted to congratulate them since I couldn't be there in person.  The drawback to living in Paris: I can't take a weekend trip to the US.

The first time I hung out with Megan, she threw mud at my face.  And after I first met Will, he started singing Gnarls Barkley's "Crazy" at the top of his lungs for no apparent reason and then claimed that I was a "nougat."  I really couldn't ask for better friends.

But in all seriousness... Megan and Will: You guys rock!  I wish you nothing but happiness :)

Will, Megan, and I as Pacman, Clyde ("stupid ghost"), and Inky ("fickle ghost").
Thanks Dana, for the picture!