05 January 2008

Bad French and Good Soup

Bad French
I was watching an episode of "Lois and Clark: the New Adventures of Superman" (which I enjoy for its "impressive" special effects and repetitive story-lines, which can be easily followed even if you're writing a dissertation in French at the same time.)
Anyway, during an episode I came across this gem of bad French, and took a screenshot. And then I fully appreciated just how bad it was... nothing is right about this image. With all the money they put into making the show, you'd think they'd have someone to fix this. The image is from one of those classic "look at the headlines from far-spread newspapers" montages.

So we have:
- C'EST MANIFIQUE as the headline, though the word is spelled "magnifique."
- The paper's called "The Paris Bulletin." Sure sounds French, huh?
- The corner says "Dernieré Edition." The words are spelled "dernière" and "édition" if we're going to be picky, but since it's in all-caps the accents should be omitted anyway.
- The headline we can read on the side bar is very clever: "L'art d'accommoder les bas morceaux." Roughly translated? "The art of preparing [as in preparing food to be cooked or grilled] the low/unworthy pieces." Kudos for getting the grammar right on that though...
My name is Kel Miller, and I'm highly qualified to write little bits of French (and Russian, for that matter) to go on newspaper-montages. If someone wants to pay me large amounts of money (or anything, really) to do so, please contact me. :)

Good Soup
I have a little cookbook called Le petit livre des soupes and this recipe was inspired by it, so you can claim the soup is French. My version has soy sauce, ginger, and lime juice, so it's not very French-tasting. But boy is this soup entertaining to make! Plus, it takes about five minutes to prepare. Multiply what I provide here for as many bowls as you need:

For one person:
Heat up about 1.5-2 cups of broth (enough to fill your bowl).
Add whatever spices you like: fresh garlic, parsley, and cognac if you follow the book's recipe; ginger, cayenne, soy sauce, and lime juice if you follow mine; or whatever you're in the mood for.
Let the broth come to a boil. While you're waiting, crack an egg into your bowl.
When the broth reaches a boil, pour it (right away) into the bowl with the egg. Stir a bit, and it's ready to serve!

Here's the fun bit: if your stirring breaks the yolk, it'll cook and is ready to eat pretty much right away. If you don't break the yolk, it's like the best part of a poached egg floating around in egg drop soup. Just wait a couple minutes before you eat the yolk, so it will be cooked.

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