Coucou les French learners,

Les fêtes de Pâques !

Today is silent, les cloches des églises ne sonnent pas. Church bells are not ringing because it is Samedi Saint, Holy Saturday.

But tomorrow is Pâques ! And I am so fortunate to be spending this special time in France, in the beautiful region of Bretagne surrounded by my family.

Easter marks the resurrection of Jesus. It also ends le Carême, Lent, the 40-day period of fasting which began on Ash Wednesday, le Mercredi des Cendres. It is the victory of life over death!

Image publiée par Hozana

Les oeufs en décoration

Les oeufs représentent la naissance, la vie & la fertilité. The eggs represent birth, life & fertility. That is why we offer them at Easter.

Carte postale ancienne du blog du Papivore

The most famous eggs are the ones offered by Peter Carl Fabergé to the Russian Tsars Alexander III and Nicholas II as Easter gifts for their wives and mothers. Does this golden egg remind you of the fable L’oie aux oeufs d’or ?

L’oeuf du couronnement impérial

Did you know that in the XIXth century, French was the official language of Russia’s royal court and was widely used by the country’s aristocracy? Gustav Fabergé whose family was originally French protestant or huguenot added an accent aigu to the name’s final e to give the name a more explicitly French character to appeal to the Russian nobility francophilia.

Floriane Lemarié shares lots of creative ideas with eggs in her blog. She also shares a simple idea with une boîte à oeufs, egg box. La Maison DIY has fun ideas to decorate your house with eggs.

La boîte à oeufs de Pâques

Les oeufs pour manger

Of course, the French also eat eggs for Easter! They eat real eggs as a starter, here is an easy recipe by 3 Michelin stars chef Christian Constant. They also eat chocolate eggs, bien sûr ! Chocolatier, Nicolas Berger explains how to make one.

I do not make my own chocolate eggs but I like to bake a chocolate cake for dessert on Easter Sunday. Come to my kitchen in Les choses de la vie and find out about the recipe of my gooey intense chocolate cake which works for any occasions (birthdays too!):

Here is the list of ingredients for this simple cake:
3 oeufs / eggs
100 g de sucre / sugar
100 g de chocolat noir / dark chocolate
90 g de beurre / butter
80 g de farine ou poudre d’amandes / flour or almond powder

This recipe without gluten and sugar seems yummy too!

I love hearing from you so let me know in the comments if you LOVE dark chocolate like me? What is your favourite cake or dessert?

Happy French acquisition!

P.S. Got friends, family, colleagues or clients who want to become fluent in French? Share this with them, they’ll thank you for it 🙂

P.P.S. Be sure to watch the amazing legend of Eireté, the little Indian from Paraguay.