That brings to mind a quotation I ran across while researching my senior thesis: "Since every child is considered to be a potential monster, it is the responsibility of French parents to form the child to be a socially-acceptable adult" (Lawrence Wiley).

I loved my high school French teacher. We could always get her to hold class in a nearby bakery instead of on campus. It was great.

I don't know much about the french, but my mother was born in Italy and we had the whole blended baby food thing for me and my sister. I guess by the time my little brother came around 7 years later, she was lazy and did Gerber...and I must say Diana and I have much broader palettes than my brother.

Have fun in Paris!

Ditto to Christine's comment. My older sister and I had mushed versions of what the parents were having for dinner. We both have broader palates than my younger Gerber-raised sister, who is the pickiest eater in the world.

But ah, the French. Who needs porn when you have Melissa Theuriau hosting the morning news?

http://www.melissa-theuriau.fr/

I feel as if I have missed out, being originally fed Gerber's. Then again, about as soon as I was big enough to handle solids, my parents would often take me out to eat with them. They say it's an important step in socialization of a child -- how to behave in public places.

Good luck with the French refresher.

Just saw your comment over at Miss Doxie and had to come visit - I had one of those too - 16 years old! (Hence the drinking of wine in thermoses during class. Thermoses? Thermi?)

Don't want to be picky or anything but if you're going to France, you might as well want to use the correct expression "mystère et boule de gomme" (which btw I haven't used (or heard) in the last 10 years)
And about the food, I don't know what my parents fed me when I was a baby, but I know I didn't like any food but pasta and potatoes when I was a kid. It's not until I was a teenager that I started to really appreciate food. And man, do I appreciate it now!! Actually, can't wait to be back home for Christmas and get real cheese and paté and all those other wonderful stuff we have and that can't be found here. Oh yes!
Have fun in Paris, I'm sure you'll love it, (how could you not, just stay away from the parisians)!

I loooooved French in Action!! Mireille was so glamorous to me! I'd love to buy it but it's like $500 bucks for the series. I could buy something from Hermes for that.

Oops! Thanks, french girl in nyc. This is the problem with relying on the internets for french spelling. And on your high school french class 13 years previous as your source of charming idiomatic expressions.

I did French in Action in college. Much snickering over Mirelle's constant THO (and we heard the porn star rumor too) and how obvious it was that Robert was French, and not American (despite the constant wearing of the Yale T-shirt).

I *still* use mystere et boules de gomme quite often -- it was so bizarre when Marie-Laure said that that it stuck with me. Even Mr. CTK sometimes uses it and he's never taken F in A.

Oh, Mireille et Robert! When I was in Paris, I was so excited to see the Jardin du Luxembourg. I even dragged my parents to Rue de Vaugirard because that's where Mireille allegedly lived. I think. It's been a while since my F in A days. At least I didn't drag my parents to the Quartier Latin.

Thanks for the laugh...that brought back some hilarious memories of red skirts from Prisunic and men with weird mustaches and black trench coats.

i never knew about these tapes until mariko mentioned them last week - they have some free stuff on their web site so i've been trying to sneak some looks at those...

you know i love my french class, it is my #1 favorite real life thing right now... altho you'd THINK that would mean i'd study a lot more than i do!