New Celebrity Judges for Fruit Tart Contest
The 7th Annual Concours de Tartes aux Fruits will feature a new panel of celebrity judges, including Danielle Centoni, who is a writer, editor, recipe developer, and co-author of The Sugar Cube and Mother's Best cookbooks. She will be joined on the panel by Sam Bakall, food reporter of the Oregonian, and Barb Randall, food editor of Lake Oswego Review and West Linn Tidings, as well as Philippe Boulot of the MAC. Chefs from all over the region will compete, including chefs from Noble Rot, Whole Foods, Paley's Place, St Honor�, Bees & Beans, Cocoa N' Lola, Black Rabbit, The Town Club, Rawdacious Desserts and more. The public can attend and sample the tarts as well as imported cheese, charcuterie and French aperitif wines. Tickets are available - click here for more info and here to register online.
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Bastille Day Recap & Reason for Its Name
Despite temperatures soaring into the 90s on July 12, close to 6000 people visited the Bastille Day festival in Director Park. At the festival, French visitors pondered why the event in the U.S. is called "Bastille Day," since no equivalent term exists in France. For the answer to that question, click here for an article (in French) that explains how the "Bastille Day" name and the tradition is said to have taken root first in Louisiana and spread from there. And click here to view an online album of pictures from the Portland event. Merci to photo contributors Katharine Kimball, Sara Olinger and Michele Cherie.
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The Mental "Fountain of Youth"
The NY Times recently published an article that is being widely read and discussed. The article, "The Benefits of Failing at French," was written by William Alexander, author of the upcoming book "Flirting With French: How a Language Charmed Me, Seduced Me, and Nearly Broke My Heart." In the article he describes how, despite feeling that he "failed" (and indeed was quite frustrated) in his attempts to learn French, he was astounded when test results showed substantial, measurable benefits in the areas of working memory, inductive reasoning, task switching and sound discrimination. Click here to read the article, which includes references to some of the most recent research in the area of brain health.
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And the Winners Are . . .
A total of $2500 in prizes were awarded on Bastille Day - here are the winners! Portland's 10th Annual Waiters Race winners (from 1st to 3rd place) in the Men's Division were Ryan Phegley of Ruth's Chris Steak House, Michael Cook of The Chart House, and Perry Warring of the Heathman Restaurant & Bar. In the Women's Division, winners were Mary Dunford of Tucci, Rachelle Allen of Olympic Provisions and Kristin Samuelson of Ruth's Chris Steak House. Winners of the Alliance raffles for prizes were I. McSwane-Mock, C. Saunders, and S. McMillan. Congratulations to the winners and thanks to the sponsors and vendors who funded this festival, the largest of its kind on the West Coast.
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The Alliance is pleased to welcome new staff member, Rhonda Lynn, who will be the organization's Assistant Director (Directrice adjointe). Fluent in French, Rhonda is a newcomer to Portland; she worked in Atlanta for a French business development agency (Rh�ne-Alpes) and more recently worked in New York and California with large vocational training institutes for adults. Bienvenue, Rhonda!
The Alliance welcomed visitor Stephen Gilbert to the Kamm House in mid-July. Based in New York, Stephen is the Public Information Officer for France's Tourism Development Agency. He visited Portland to participate in our city's Bastille Festival and spent the day answering visitors' questions on touring France.
New President: The Fondation Alliance Fran�aise in Paris, which oversees the worldwide network of Alliances, recently elected a new president, J�r�me Cl�ment, formerly of ARTE (shown here at left). Click here to read that news, in French. Fall Term: The fall term of classes begins September 15. Look for the class schedule to be announced in the next two weeks via this bulletin and on the Alliance's website.
Interested in Beginning French in August? We are looking at pulling together an additional beginning French class (101), meeting twice per week, weekday afternoons, for the month of August. If you are interested email [email protected].
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Enrolling for Summer Term, Summer Camps and Immersion Programs.
Conversation
Groups
Some are hosted by Alliance staff, board members or other volunteers. Drop-ins welcome; membership is encouraged but not required.
NW or Central PDX
St Honor� on NW Thurman on
Wed., 6pm, Aug. 6 & 20
C'est Si Bon on NE 7th on Tuesdays @ 6pm
SE Portland
At St Honor� on SE Division, Monday, Aug. 4, at 6pm.
At Chez Machin, Mon., Aug. 11, at 7p.m.
At Vie de Boh�me weekly on Sundays, 4-5:30 p.m.
Vancouver
At Gustav's in Vancouver, Tues., Sept. 9 at 5:30 p.m.
In-Kind Sponsors
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