Celebrating the French.

Today is July 14 — Bastille Day — the French national holiday that commemorates the storming of the Bastille prison in 1789 and the official start of the French Revolution. This is also an excellent opportunity to reflect upon France’s unparalleled contributions to world culture and celebrate all things French, as illustrated by the following images. Pictured below are French dressing, French fries, French bread, Inspector Clouseau, a French manicure, French horns, the world-renowned French skunk Pepe Le Pew and a racy French postcard* from the late 19th century.

*Children under 13 years of age may not view this postcard under any circumstances.

For my personal celebration of Bastille Day I watched three outstanding Julia Child reruns from the early 1970s. Today on “The French Chef” I learned to make fish stock, mold a weird puff pastry and how to open an oyster without amputating my hand. I have never opened an oyster in my entire life, but I want to believe these are all useful techniques for a Texas kitchen because my culinary adventures typically include toasting a bagel, defrosting something for lunch and Rice-A-Roni.

Au revoir, y’all, and merci for reading this.