Loulabelle's FrancoFiles (2025)

09/12/2024

NEW Loulabelle’s FrancoFiles podcast chat is out! Episode 173 with Annie Smithers.

Annie is a celebrated French chef in Australia who has achieved a wonderful work life balance living in the country-French-style, growing her own produce from paddock to plate!

Annie has over 30 years of knowledge of French cooking, with its intricate techniques and traditional dishes. Her restaurant du Fermier is in the small village of Trentham and she also lives locally to me on a small farm where her kitchen garden and orchard are planted, producing a bounty of produce. She holds demonstration masterclasses in the restaurant which I highly recommend & also hosts tours of her property where attendees can learn loads about vegetable growing and every question is met with enthusiasm!
Annie has written two cookbooks and the books as well as loads of her other appearances offer her practical advice and wisdom gleaned from a life dedicated to seasonal food and living lightly on the ground beneath her feet.
For me, I love Annie’s passion for working with the terroir when making up a menu. I adored chatting with her about the history of food in France as well as nattering on with our observations of the evolution French life and how we connect with it here in Australia. She has a wealth of knowledge, telling me all about particular breeds of chickens, about how the power of food creates memories, about various regional French dishes and cooking techniques including fabulous French sauce-work, about the temptation to buy a château on Instagram, just discussing the evolution of a quieter French life. For Annie’s French way of life, it is all about the French food that brings people together!

❤️🇫🇷❤️🇫🇷❤️

Keep your Frenchy vibes fluttering with the Loulabelle’s FrancoFiles podcast.
Find every episode on the LFF website.

www.LoulabellesFrancoFiles.com
Link via linktree in bio.

25/11/2024

NEW Loulabelle’s FrancoFiles podcast chat is out! Episode 172 with Kate Veach.

A few years ago I chatted to Kate on the Loulabelle’s FrancoFiles podcast and since then she has become a beautiful friend. I stayed with her and her husband Nathan recently in Burgundy which was such a wonderful time and our stay with her absolutely illustrated why we are now lovely friends. Kate and Nathan have become part of their local community in Lucenay-L’évêque with artist events, aperitif sessions in the village square and more important than anything, wonderful friendships that will be life long. 
Kate has an amazing knowledge of her local area. I have connected with her on previous trips but this time was on her actual home turf and she didn’t hold back! We experienced everything wonderful that Bourgogne has to offer. Kate asked before my friend Trudy and I arrived, what we’d like to do and lucky for us, Kate knows all there is to know about finding great brocante which is exactly what we wanted! We visited the Beaune market as well as other brocante spots nearby, we meandered through Burgundian villages and towns, we had food and wine experiences I never expected, we were accepted and wrapped up with warmth by the locals and we enjoyed amazing cooking and hospitality in the cosy country home of Kate and Nathan. 
Tune in to hear the wonderful tips if you’re planning a trip to Burgundy, but even if you just want to imagine a day in France and escape momentarily. 

❤️🇫🇷❤️🇫🇷❤️

Keep your Frenchy vibes fluttering with the Loulabelle’s FrancoFiles podcast.
Find every episode on the LFF website.

www.LoulabellesFrancoFiles.com
Link via linktree in bio.

19/11/2024

Loulabelle’s FrancoFiles episode 171 is out with an exciting giveaway for the Alliance Française Christmas Market in Melbourne!

I love Christmas, so much so that I listen to Chrissy songs all year round! So when I had the chance to chat to Lucie and Anne-Sophie about the Alliance Française Melbourne’s upcoming Marché de Noël, I jumped at the opportunity!
 For Loulabelle’s listeners who are Australian residents, there is a family pass to be won to the Xmas Market… just make sure you are a subscriber to the Loulabelle’s free newsletter (via my linktree) and the winner will be randomly drawn from the subscribers. (see below for the T&Cs for this giveaway).

❤️🇫🇷❤️🇫🇷❤️

Keep your Frenchy vibes fluttering with the Loulabelle’s FrancoFiles podcast.
Find every episode on the LFF website.

www.LoulabellesFrancoFiles.com
Link via linktree in bio.

Loulabelle’s FrancoFiles/Alliance Française Melb giveaway
Terms & Conditions
1. Win 1x Family pass (two adults and two children) for the Alliance Française Xmas Market taking place at Abbotsford Convent on Saturday 30 November & Sunday 1 December, 2024.
2. Entry is open to Australian residents only.
3. Giveaway commences 17/11/2024 and closes on 25/11/2024.
4. The winner will be randomly selected from subscribers to the Loulabelle’s FrancoFiles free newsletter.
5. Prize is not transferable or exchangeable and cannot be taken as cash.
6. The winner will be notified via email and will receive their ticket via email.

17/11/2024

NEW Loulabelle’s FrancoFiles podcast chat is out! Episode 171 with Lucie Brocard & Anne Sophie Pink from Alliance Française Melbourne.

It’s getting to that time of year when Christmas is on our minds, although I’m a little obsessed about all things Chrissy all year round! So when I had the chance to chat to Lucie and Anne Sophie about the Alliance Française Melbourne’s upcoming Marché de Noël, I jumped at the opportunity!

Anne Sophie is the Director of Studies so is coordinating all the Education programs & Lucie is the Cultural Events Manager, organising events such as the Christmas Market being held at the Abbottsford Convent on the weekend of Saturday 30 November & Sunday 1 December.
 For Loulabelle’s listeners who are Australian residents, there is a family pass to be won to the Xmas Market… just make sure you are a subscriber to the LFF free newsletter (via my linktree) and the winner will be randomly drawn from the subscribers. (see below for the T&Cs).

As well as hearing about upcoming up events and what’s going on for learning French at AF Melb, I loved chatting to both Lucie and Anne Sophie about their stories of growing up in France, how they came to be in Australia and then also sharing our experiences of travel, food, culture and life in France.

❤️🇫🇷❤️🇫🇷❤️

www.LoulabellesFrancoFiles.com
Link via linktree in bio.

Loulabelle’s FrancoFiles/Alliance Française Melb giveaway
Terms & Conditions
1. Win 1x Family pass (two adults and two children) for the Alliance Française Xmas Market taking place at Abbotsford Convent on Saturday 30 November & Sunday 1 December, 2024.
2. Entry is open to Australian residents only.
3. Giveaway commences 17/11/2024 and closes on 25/11/2024.
4. The winner will be randomly selected from subscribers to the Loulabelle’s FrancoFiles free newsletter.
5. Prize is not transferable or exchangeable and cannot be taken as cash.
6. The winner will be notified via email and will receive their ticket via email.

12/11/2024

NEW Loulabelle’s FrancoFiles podcast chat is out! Episode 170 with Nadège Alex.

Nadège knows Paris inside and out! After growing up in the Champagne region, she moved to the French capital in her early twenties and fell in love with the city. She is now a travel planner and assists travellers from around the world to put together their itineraries for their Paris visit. 
Chatting to Nadège was like having a conversation with an old friend. She gave me tips of places to photograph the Eiffel Tower and lots of little tips for visits to Paris. We spoke about her fave spots in the city and also her thoughts on lots of the regions of France as well, as she has travelled to almost all of them! It was wonderful to chat to a kindred spirit with a similar obsession as me with history and all the fabulousness that France has to offer. 

❤️🇫🇷❤️🇫🇷❤️

Keep your Frenchy vibes fluttering with the Loulabelle’s FrancoFiles podcast.
Find every episode on the LFF website.

www.LoulabellesFrancoFiles.com
Link via linktree in bio.

02/11/2024

NEW Loulabelle’s FrancoFiles podcast chat is out! Episode 169 with Kyong Millar 🌟

Kyong Millar has been having a love affair with France for ages, which prompted a purchase of a wonderful village home, 500 year old Maison de Frédéric in the south of France near Avignon and Uzès, in the beautiful Provence region.

What followed was an amazing experience which was more than Kyong and her husband expected at the outset, but the end result is better than anything they could have imagined.

Kyong takes us through her story including how they found their home, what criteria was on the list of must-haves, how the renovations progressed, how she found items to furnish with her eye for gorgeous French styling and now what kind of life they experience when they’re in their idyllic corner of France.

I think I now need to take the next step to visit her beautiful Maison de Frédéric, which Kyong describes as a “vessel for memories” to make some lifetime memories there of my own.

❤️🇫🇷❤️🇫🇷❤️

Keep your Frenchy vibes fluttering with the Loulabelle’s FrancoFiles podcast.
Find every episode on the LFF website.

www.LoulabellesFrancoFiles.com
Link via linktree in bio.

23/10/2024

NEW Loulabelle’s FrancoFiles podcast chat is out! Episode 168 with Daniel Alexander 🌟

Daniel is an Australian Fashion Designer now living in Paris. Chatting to him after his second Paris Fashion Week show, I was fascinated to hear about his passion for fashion, the things that inspire him and how he hopes to inspire the next generation of designers.

From a young age in Brisbane Australia, Daniel was making clothes out of his mother’s drapes (à la Sound of Music!) and he continued to work hard to pursue a career that has taken him to live around the world and now in Paris. Even though Daniel lives in a world where it is normal to consider showing his collection at a venue like the Ritz Paris, something most of us can only dream of, he is wonderfully grounded and still full of the Aussie spirit that embodies hard work and determination.

I met up with Daniel when I was recently in Paris and reconnecting for our podcast chat was such a delight. Whether you are a Francophile, perhaps a devotee to fashion or you’re just interested in the life stories of others, tune into listen to Daniel’s chat with Loulabelle and “watch this space” for what is coming up next for Daniel Alexander!

❤️🇫🇷❤️🇫🇷❤️

Keep your Frenchy vibes fluttering with the Loulabelle’s FrancoFiles podcast.
Find every episode on the LFF website.

www.LoulabellesFrancoFiles.com
Link via linktree in bio.

16/10/2024

NEW Loulabelle’s FrancoFiles podcast chat is out! Episode 167 with Trudy Walker all about our French road trip!

Recently I spent a couple of months in France, road-tripping through gorgeous historic villages, passing majestic châteaux, immersing in village markets bursting with brocante and eating my way through the special dishes from a variety of regions! This podcast episode follows my journey with my friend Trudy as we travelled from Normandy westwards, to a couple of plus-beaux-villages-de-France in the Pays de la Loire, then turned back to the east and headed to Burgundy before going through the Champagne region on the way back to Paris. Tune in to hear Trudy and I chat about the pockets of magic we discovered, the adventures and special events we booked, like a motorbike and side-car trip through the vines of Burgundy. We discussed staying with locals as well as times when we stayed in airbnbs or chambre d’hôtes. We also share some great tips for planning and then survivng a French road- trip!

Villages mentioned in this road trip episode:
* Sainte-Suzanne (et Chammes)
* Saint-Céneri-le-Gérei
* Avallon
* Vézelay
* Noyers
* Lucenay-l’Évêque
* Meursault
* Beaune
* Dijon
* Troyes
* Essoyes Trudy and I had so many laughs on our road-trip that have left us with some marvellous lifetime memories. If you’re wanting assistance for planning your own French road-trip, book an hour with Loulabelle wherever you are in the world via the Loulabelle’s FrancoFiles website.

❤️🇫🇷❤️🇫🇷❤️

Keep your Frenchy vibes fluttering with the Loulabelle’s FrancoFiles podcast.
Find every episode on the LFF website.

www.LoulabellesFrancoFiles.com
Link via linktree in bio.

08/10/2024

Latest Loulabelle’s FrancoFiles podcast chat is here! Check out episode 166 with gorgeous friend to the Loulabelle’s, Ruby Boukabou!

Ruby has a new project working with French director Clément Reboussin, The Paris Plan 🌟

Whenever I spend time hanging out with Ruby in France we have so much fun with loads of original, sometimes classic/must see and sometimes quirky/out of the box things to do!
For anyone planning a trip to Paris, potentially for residents living in the French capital or perhaps for those elsewhere around the world who just want to stay connected to what’s going on, The Paris Plan is for you!

Tune into our chat on this podcast to hear more detail about The Paris Plan. There are some suggestions which are evergreen and can be done anytime, with other events that are a specific agenda for the upcoming week. There are touristy things to do weekly as well as local stuff, with special occasions sometimes coming up like this week’s harvest at the Montmartre vineyard!

Photo credit: Olivia Rutherford

❤️🇫🇷❤️🇫🇷❤️

Keep your Frenchy vibes fluttering with the Loulabelle’s FrancoFiles podcast.
Find every episode on the LFF website.

www.LoulabellesFrancoFiles.com
Link via linktree in bio.

19/09/2024

Best thing about the Loulabelle’s FrancoFiles podcast? Without question the gorgeous people I’ve met who have become dear friends.

Love being back in Paris to catch up with this gorgeous chicky! Chatting about people, history, culture… doesn’t get better!

Merci

❤️🇫🇷❤️🇫🇷❤️

Keep your Frenchy vibes fluttering with the Loulabelle’s FrancoFiles podcast.
Find every episode on the LFF website.

www.LoulabellesFrancoFiles.com
Link via linktree in bio.

Loulabelle's FrancoFiles

09/12/2024

25/11/2024

19/11/2024

17/11/2024

12/11/2024

02/11/2024

23/10/2024

16/10/2024

08/10/2024

19/09/2024

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