Invincible summer

Lights of winter, serendipitous city scenes, and the surprising history of chestnut spread

This week was a confrontation: the idea of winter — chestnuts roasting on a open fire, Christmas carols, the crunch of the first snow, mulled wine and cider — with the cold, sad reality of frozen fingers and noses, one grey day after another, the feeling that the sun never really came up, but then it is dark again, and the desire to be a recluse until next spring’s thaw. Yet alas, you still have to force yourself to leave the house and go to work in the darkness.

But where there is darkness, there is also light and sparkle. Holiday lights that have been ‘decking the halls’ around Paris and reminding us that indeed, 'tis the season to be jolly, at least from time to time…

Christmas lights on the Avenue Montaigne, with a little sliver of the Eiffel Tower. I sometimes wonder what the philosopher Montaigne would do if he knew his street is lined only by luxury fashion stores like Chanel and Dior.

While running errands last weekend, I encountered some humorously real life Parisian scenes, like a couple transporting their Christmas tree through the Saint Germain neighborhood on a skateboard…

or a man and man’s best friend, nonchalantly riding shot gun…

or Christmas trees to fit all sizes of Parisian apartments…

or even some snow?!

A snowy facade

The last days, the sun never made it through the thick blanket of clouds that hung over the city. So, sundown sometimes came as a relief from the greyness because then the electric lights sprung on. On my commute from work, I pass by the Panthéon, now surrounded by an arc of illuminated evergreen trees. Two of Paris (and France’s) best high schools, Louis le Grand and Henri IV, are on either side of the Panthéon, and friends tell me that it is an annual tradition for students from rival schools to try and steal one of these trees. You can see people exercising on the Panthéon plaza for scale, to show how difficult a feat stealing of one these huge trees seems…

These gorgeous poinsettias also brought a much-needed pop of color.

A delightful thing that I ate this week was crème de marrons, literally ‘chestnut cream’, but more accurately chestnut spread, as it doesn’t have any dairy. The spread is made of roasted and candied chestnuts, combined with more sugar, and some vanilla. It is, in other words, the tastebud embodiment of coziness. Any weekend morning is made 100x better by slathering some chestnut spread on toast (or, let’s be honest, sometimes eating it by the spoonful). Even if you are at home, you can imagine yourself having a piping hot crêpe at the stand by Saint-Germain des Prés, after the aroma stops you in your tracks and makes me realize that a crêpe covered in ground chestnuts is exactly what your winter’s day was missing.

Image: Etablissements Clément Faugier. An example of the spread, and the very charismatic Ardèche chestnut mascot

And, before you think this is all a hedonistic sugar rush — false! In fact, you might be doing something good for your health, and learning a bit of history too. During the German occupation in France (1940-1945), rationing was severe, and French food production highly restricted. The industrialist Clément Faugier, however, had an idea how to continue his production of chestnut spread and circumvent the rationing. He prepared a chestnut spread that he marketed in pharmacies (!) under the name "Génovitine" because it contained a few added vitamins and minerals and was therefore only available with a doctor's prescription. Such ingenious marketing was not new, as the spread was itself invented in 1885 by accident when Faugier was trying to think of what to do with all of the small pieces of chestnuts that occurred when making candied chestnuts.

More holiday cheer came from seeing that my favorite neighborhood place, Café Varenne, decorated in such a charming and festive way, and meeting a close friend there for tea and sharing their deliciously crisp fries.

My favorite neighborhood place to go whatever time of day

Because of a meeting in the area, I passed by the Champs-Elysées last week and saw that this year, they are back to warm, white lights after a few years of red lights.

Last year’s red lights on the Champs-Elysées

This year’s white lights

What do you think? Are you team red lights or white lights?

All around town, I’m thankful for the lights, especially in these times of war and economic challenges. They seem to incarnate the quote by Albert Camus, “In the middle of winter, I discovered within myself an invincible summer.” Camus then continues, “And that makes me happy. For it says that no matter how hard the world pushes against me, within me, there’s something stronger – something better, pushing right back.” (You can listen to a three minute podcast on Radio France about this quote). So, for anyone who needs it this week, I hope that you find within yourself this invincible summer and the strength to push back against whatever life is bringing you.

Until next time,

Anna Lea