Larry,
Thank you for your gentle suggestion, I was Laughing Out Loud at myself..as I said, with all the travel paraphenalia that I carry, any "Glossary" that I would print out would weight tons. And I let my PDA die a peaceful death from non-use..so I guess I sort of skipped that part.
Maybe the Marling is useful to me (and someone else) because I do have a tiny clue as to the French courses and what is where in the book as it applies to the menu. Or maybe it is just from many trips to Paris and eating in so many restaurants, I have less difficulties with menus. You seem to have been to Paris more than once, so I guess you know what suits you.
Just trying to be helpful, Larry ~

Scarlett, you're always helpful.

And I hope that when you let other Fodorites know what's been helpful to you, and I let them know what's been helpful to me, people can draw from the various suggestions whatever will be helpful to them.

I'm sure a PDA is not for everyone.

- Larry

I think it's better to try to learn to read menus in French, not other languages, because food is so important in France and you get a better "feel" for what you're eating. Also, the food just sounds much better in French!

To answer the question on how I got the Italian home exchange. I list with Intervac and Homelink--the two major home exchange services with a large membership base. I can only assume the Italians got my name from one or the other services. I usually do not ask; I just rapidly close the deal if it looks like something I want.

Many of the free home exchange services online do not have a large enough data base to be worthwhile. I am no longer getting the books from either service as most of the deals are done through the online "catalogue" now. You do have to pay the listing fees to access the catalogues. It is about $65 for each service for a 1 year listing.

Rome will be my 11th home exchange in Europe. With the home exchanges in the US and Canada, Rome is my 28th. My 29th will be in Seattle in March. I do have more extensive postings on the subject of home exchange. You will find them if you do a search under "home exchange".

Seems to me the easiest thing to do when confused is just ask. Or if you want to make a bit of a game out of it, guess first... and then ask. Just think how often you'll ask about a dish when you are eating out in your home town, let alone ina foreign country with a culinary tradition as deep and often obscure as France's. A good waiter will be more than happy to explain things in detail and offer advice at the same time. That's their job.

Relying on a food glossery, no matter how good, or just winging it can be fun if you are into serendipity - but personally, I'd rather know in advance and especially get some good advice.

-Kevin

p.s.: larry, how did you like Le Fournil, just out of curiosity. Haven't been there in a while and have recently heard mixed things.

Luckily, the French are always very helpful when you say something wrong, like the lady in the bakery last summer, who, when I ordered un baguette, looked at me, and said loudly "UNE baguette".

By the way, the one puzzling thing about American menus, when I went there for the first time, is that an 'entree' is in fact a main course. How did that happen?

Tulips, your point about the French tendancy to correct people's mistakes is so true. I have trouble remembering gender and mispronounce words quite frequently. I have been gently corrected so often it just seems natural.

Nadeau and Barlow, the two Canadians who wrote <i>Sixty Million Frenchmen Can't Be Wrong</i>, devote a chapter to language and observe that correcting someone else's French is indeed a common practice.

Kevin, we share your approach to French menus--when there's something we don't understand, we ask the waiter. It has led to some of the most interesting conversations we've ever had in France.

Is Le Fournil getting mixed reviews now? Say it ain't so! We last ate there in September 2003 and it was wonderful. Has anyone else eaten there recently?

Anselm

For goodness sake, learn enough French, and enough about food, that you can move about a menu, no matter what class, and order intelligently. The thought of seeing someone whip out a book or guide at a restaurant, LOL, is just too much. If people truly travelled to places many, many times, as they claim, one would begin to expect them to undertsand what they are seeing and eating, but apparently that isn't the case. Perhaps they may travel more in their minds. PDA, you must be kidding. A glossary, you make the beeg joke. IMHO, not helpful at all. Learn some languages, and about food, there isn't a substitute.

FYI- the above post was from blacktie in yet another demented incarnation.

I'm one of those who tries to learn enough ahead of time to navigate a menu but realistically I end up in the winging-it category. The price fixe option is a great idea. I like most foods (beets aside) but I'm not a serious foodie so I'm fine if the meal isn't a gastronomical delight.

What is demented about goodgolly's post? It's a bit judgmental perhaps. One day I'd like to be able to travel so frequently that I'm not tripped up by a menu.

forgive me obxgirl...it was my irritation at blacktie showing.

A food glossary is a must, even if you can read French. The use of food terms is quite different fom vocabulary use. And not all food glossaries are created equal. The Marling MenuMaster is useless. PW's is good becauseit is entirely alphabetical, as opposed to Marling which is split up among entree, plat, etc. Through the kindness of an online acquaintance I am taking the best one of all to Paris next week. And while it can be &quot;cumbersome&quot; to &quot;whip out a PDA, etc.&quot;, better that than order andouilette, which is now written on my brow as a &quot;no&quot;.

Today brings us many interesting additions to this thread, and one somewhat &quot;judgemental&quot; one (good word, obxgirl) from goodgollymm.

FauxSteMarie, thanks for the info on the home exchanges.

Kevin_widrow: I <i>do</i> ask the waiter about menu items. But menus are long, and while it is indeed the waiter's job to help me out, I recognize that his or her time is limited. I try to figure out what I can, and then ask for more detail. (Kevin, we're sorry we didn't find an occasion to drop by - maybe next time.)

Kevin and AnselmAdorne, in a subsequent addition to this thread, I'll go into detail about the three restaurants we ate at in Bonnieux: Le Tinel, La Cavette, and Le Fournil.

Tulips, I've wondered about the same question: Why does the word &quot;entr&eacute;e&quot; in English mean the main course, when <i>entr&eacute;e </i>in French is the first course, and the word clearly means &quot;entrance&quot;? My etymology dictionary is not much help here, saying: &quot;1724, a reborrowing of the Old French <i>entr&eacute;e </i>ENTRY with the meaning of the main course of a meal, which developed in English from the sense of a dish served between the main courses (1759).&quot;

Goodgollymm, I speak French fluently, thank you very much. My rating at the last French course I took was &quot;Professional+&quot;. This was my seventh trip to France, but I also travel elsewhere, and I also speak Spanish, Italian, and German.

But foreign languages are a hobby for me. There's really no need for the average American, even one who travels several times a year, to learn a foreign language. That would be a very considerable investment of time for very little benefit. From whence comes your arrogant suggestion that everyone should &quot;learn some languages&quot;? And do you only travel to places where you not only speak the language fluently, but also have a vocabulary sufficient to read menus without assistance?

I'm glad I amused you, but I fail to see what's so funny about taking out taking out a small book to help read a menu. And what's wrong with a PDA? Perhaps they're not for everyone, but I'm just telling Fodorites what works for me. And for me, they're terrific. As I've said in other posts, my PDA allows me to have with me at all times the equivalent of about a cubic foot and ten pounds of printed material. That includes interactive maps, and four translation dictionaries: English to and from French, Spanish, Italian, and German. I'm not going to apologize for using a tiny, unobtrusive, and fantastically valuable tool just because it seems to amuse you.

- Larry

<b>Restaurants in Bonnieux</b>

Since people have asked for more detail:

Our dinners in Bonnieux on successive nights were at Le Tinel, La Cavette, at the B&amp;B, and at Le Fournil. Le Fournil is reputed to be the best restaurant in Bonnieux, and we had phoned and made reservations there well in advance. The others we just walked in.

Summary of our impressions: The meals at all three restaurants were excellent. Le Tinel was the best value of the three. I think the meals at La Cavette and Le Fournil were a bit better, but they were both more expensive. In particular, Le Fournil cost more than reported by Fodor's: it was 36 euros for a 3-course dinner. I just pulled out my Visa slips, and specifically, for dinner with wine, we paid:

Le Tinel, 2 people, 74 euros
La Cavette, 2 people, 91 euros
Le Fournil, 3 people, 138 euros

To compare Le Fournil, with two drinking all the wine, it would have been around 94 euros.

More details:

<b>Le Tinel</b>, Place Gambetta, 04 90 75 61 28

Larry:
<i>Salade de ch&egrave;vre, miel &amp; figues
Gigot d'agneau en cro&ucirc;te de sel
Cr&egrave;me brul&eacute;e aux fruits des bois</i>
(Impression : the entr&eacute;e was fantastic ; the <i>gigot </i>was good, but a bit overcooked, and the salt crust didn't particularly stand out.)

Margie :
<i>Petite soupe glac&eacute;e d'avocat et roquette
Mille feuille de veau
Cr&egrave;me brul&eacute;e aux fruits des bois
</i>I didn't record the wine.
(Overall: an excellent meal, and a very good value.)

<b>La Cavette</b>

Larry:
<i>Foies gras sur un lit d'haricots verts
Poisson du march&eacute; : calmar farci fruit de mer</i>

Margie:
<i>Salade de tomates et mozarella et pesto
Farcie de volaille aux p&acirc;tes citronn&eacute;es, fenouil confit et champignons saut&eacute;es</i>

Wine: <i>Ch&acirc;teau de Mille: Blanc de blancs, c&ocirc;tes de Luberon AOC</i>
(The wine was from a ch&acirc;teau only a few kilometers from Bonnieux.)
(The meal was excellent, and the service was particularly warm. The woman serving us took plenty of time to help us understand the menu, and at the end of the meal served Margie a <i>tisanne </i>(herbal tea) that she had formulated herself. The restaurant is set into a cave-like setting, like Le Fournil.)

<b>Le Fournil</b>
I didn't write down the exact names of the dishes at Le Fournil, which were 36-euro fixed-price three-course dinners.

Larry:
<i>Rouget </i>(Red Mullet) over a selection of local vegetables
<i>Lotte
Galette</i> with pears and figs

Margie:
An eggplant appetizer
<i>Caneton
Cr&egrave;me brul&eacute;e</i>

Our friend, the third party, also had the <i>caneton</i>, and a very chocolaty dessert which he adored.

Wine:
A dry ros&eacute;, <i>St. Esteve</i>, very nice, at 22 euros.

(Margie said the eggplant appetizer was particularly outstanding, but the duck was only fair. My main course and dessert were both very good. The service was correct, but rather curt. When asked, the waiter couldn't describe to us in French what <i>nems</i> are (eggrolls).)

I might mention that we also had an excellent meal at our B&amp;B in Bonnieux, Le Clos du Buis.

- Larry

What a thread! I'm learning oddles. People who speak languages, really know about food, and so energetic in the expounding about menu dissection, we need more of them. This is exciting. The next time somebody THUMPS their Paris table with the Gastronomique, I'm just going to smile, I know they're busy interpreting un plat vegetarien or du vin rouge, and selecting an exciting moutarde for their yaourt.

Larry, you've made me anxious to get back to Fournil as it's a yearly stop in Bonnieux, a favorite of ours.

Larry -

Thanks. I think we'll have to try Le Fournil again (maybe take my folks there when they come in November). As I said, it was one of our favorites. But this past season, a few of our guests have come back decidedly unenthused. But the setting is so great, I'd like to give it another shot.

-Kevin

Larry, thanks for the information. I love those notes you keep on your meals!

Kevin, if your next visit to Le Fournil is a disappointment, would you post a note on it? I think there are a lot of people on the board who would be interested to hear.

Anselm

I definitely agree with Larry about the PDA. I had mine with a food glossary on our recent trips to France, and found it a great help. Often waiters don't know how to translate more unusual items on the menu. Also, I find using a PDA makes you look less like a clueless tourist (even if you are!). I mean, who has to know I'm using it to decipher the menu? I could be using it to check my schedule. (OK, maybe the French wouldn't think that was so cool at the dinner table either ... but you get my point.)

Interesting! This &quot;thread&quot; has a title on today's Fodor's home page &quot;headlines&quot;...

How fun!