This time it was Vietnamese with a French twist for our annual Francophone end of year celebration dinner. A sold out group of 26 members and guests gathered to enjoy each other's company, a delicious meal of a wide variety of dishes including vegan and vegetarian, and to cap it off, an informative and interesting talk on the French Connection delivered by our welcoming and helpful host Tran.
For this memorable experience, Members paid $40, non-members $80, the remainder subsidised by the AFTV ; guests purchased their own drinks at the bar.
A brief overview of the menu: entrées were served on platters with one each of the choices, mains were served separately to be shared so that everyone had the opportunity to sample 8 different mains and desserts came individually. Entrées included a barramundi rice paper roll, ginger and citrus cured ocean trout, beef fillet carpaccio and seared scallops with celeriac and coconut. Mains offered crispy duck, braised pork belly, grilled marinated beef fillet, seared lamb loin, roasted free range chicken, grilled whole fish, vegan coconut curry, twice cooked cauliflower, each served in their own delicious sauces, a unique blend and balance of flavours. All made from scratch by a very busy and professional staff. Vietnamese slaw and rice accompanied these mains.
Prior to dessert Thanh(Tran) gave a short talk on the French Connection mentioning the Chinese origin of the Vietnamese language, in script form and, with the arrival of the French, the romanisation of the language. He gave details of the heritage left by the French such as the language where once all children learned French at school and many elderly Vietnamese still able to converse in French. The heritage has also remained in architecture, the development of the railways and of course the ubiquitous baguette! Merci Tran and thanks to Marie Pépin for her words of appreciation.
The evening concluded with a choice of desserts- a sensational kaffir lime, lemongrass and coconut panna cotta with citrus or coffee infused crème caramel.
A very successful and happy event appreciated by all. My thanks to Kyla Vaz who sourced this relatively new restaurant and to those on the committee who supported this venture.
Gretchen Bennett, Convenor Cultural/PL committee
**Please help us source another Francophone restaurant for 2025. All suggestions welcome.
Croissants Plus | AFTV and Gourmet Kitchen
Right here in Melbourne you can learn to make your own essentials of French gastronomy and culture and even pass on these skills to your
students.
The AFTV takes pleasure in offering AFTV Members the opportunity to attend one of 3 classes at a date of your choice
throughout 2024.
We are pleased to announce the AFTV 2025 Junior Video Competition, centered around the theme La Gastronomie.
This competition invites students from Year 5 to Year 8 to look into the rich culinary traditions of Francophone countries.
To be be launched in 2025 at the beginning of Term 1, with video submissions due by the end of Term 2.
We have pleasure to invite AFTV members to the AFTV 2024 AGM. The AGM will include an introduction and viewing of the Notre
Dame de Paris: the Augmented Exhibition
which will be showing at the Immigration Museum.
Venue The Immigration Museum, 400 Flinders St, Melbourne
VIC 3000
Date Friday 7 February 2025
Time 6.00pm - 8.30pm
Want to join the 2025 AFTV Committee?
AFTV members are welcome to join the AFTV 2025 Committee, which will be voted in at the AGM.
We are pleased to continue to offer online French conversation classes in Term 1 2025.
The online classes are delivered by Marilyne Lopez of Almaje Language School.
Dates 12 February to 19 March
Time 6.15pm to 7.45pm
The AFTV invites new teachers of VCE (Units 1,2,3,4) and those needing a refresher, to attend this all day professional development
workshop.
Participants will be looking at the PROGRESSION expected in students’ work in the 3 VCAA-prescribed outcomes, from Unit 1 to Unit 4 and, ultimately, the examination.
Venue Catholic Leadership Centre
Date Friday 28 February 2025
