a few traditions

Allow me to explain. I studied in France during the summer of 2008. During that time, one of my professors educated us about French holidays and festivities.

One that I have been excited about since the day she introduced us to it has finally arrived. On the third Thursday of November, the year's bottles of Beaujolais Nouveau is released. Stored announce its arrival; citizens stock up; pubs feature the wine. It's a bit of a celebration, because it doesn't hang around for long–like Christmas: you wait; you blink; it's over.

Beaujolais Nouveau is a huge ball of fascinating information. For ten awesome facts, click over to this link. If you don't feel like clicking, I'll summarize what I know: Beaujoulais is its own wine region, small and completely picked by hand. The region isn't very large, and it's just north of Lyon–maybe a visit is in our future?

But this is my favorite part. The wine is made only with gamay grapes, picked two weeks earlier than most others, fermented with the whole berry to give it a really distinct flavor, and stored only until the third Thursday. It is meant to be consumed within a year–a bit controversial for those that know a lot about wine, unlike me–so we grabbed two with our favorite labels and headed home.

I was so happy to have Beaujolais Day on a day of our Thursday Night Dinners. Each Thursday, we trade dinner with our friend Lauren. Last week, she hosted us and had an all-orange dinner. Yes, when Joe and I found some red rice we decided to go for some one-color dinners. Red, orange and now.... purple, to match our wine.

Though I'm not a huge fan, beet salad is incredibly popular and an obvious starter course for purple dinners. It's very French, and I was excited to find a French dessert that didn't require an oven. I thought first of braised pears (thanks to seeing them on Lauren's gorgeous tart on Sunday). After forgetting to peel them, getting a bit frustrated and then getting them back into the juice, all went well.

They turned out lovely, were really simple and are a recipe I'm eager to share with all of you back home. Try it, before pears are completely out of season. They're perfect for fall, since the only spice is cinnamon and they have a full flavor from the red wine.

If your looking for more fall food–and you happen to like cabbage–try this purple cabbage soup that Joe made us for dinner. I suggest nixing the oregano and sticking to chili powder and cayenne, which gives the whole thing a nice kick (and is not at all cabbagey like you would expect, if you don't like it).

So grab a bottle of Beaujolais Villages (a different gamay, but the "village" means its from a smaller vineyard), eat some pears and think of us, thinking of you.

I enjoy the posts where I get to share some French traditions with you, so do the same... tell me about some of the fall traditions your enjoying back home. I miss autumn in the States!