Bordeaux

We have arrived in Bordeaux the other day where after a meal of oysters and fish soup we settled into our hotel for a early night. Then we started the next day in the light rain, but walked around quite a bit to get our bearing into the new city. We had a quick lunch at an Indian restaurant before going wine tasting with the tourism office. The wine tasting was on a bus with about 30 other people. We went to two chateaus that both had vineyards all around. One was a very large commercialized company, the other was a very small family run business. Both wines weren't fantastic, but the experience was fun none the less. Then for dinner we went into a provincial restaurant and had the formula. It was a great deal! My mom started out with mussels, and i had a goats cheese salad. Then I had duck for the main course, despite being fairly fatty it was delicious. My mom's salmon was also good if not a little creamy. The wine that we ordered with dinner was much better than the four wines we tried at the wine tasting. But that's O.K. it was still a fun experience. Then Christmas Eve, for lunch, we tried to find this small crepe restaurant that I read about. And boy was it small! The cook came out to serve us because we were the only 2 people there in a room that couple fit 10. We ordered two lunch crepes, and then the cook's mom showed up with groceries! She then finished serving us our dessert crepe (chocolate and bananas!) Then we left to wander some more in the rain. After being thoroughly soaked, we came back to the hotel for a little break. Drying out our shoes with the hair dryer, we went back out when the sun was shining to walk around some more. We are not getting ready to go out to dinner so that we can go to Christmas Eve Mass and a concert tonight.
It should be a lot of fun!
Peace, Love and Organ Music!

The Start of the Adventure - Part 1 Zurich

After an almost sleepless night, waking up at 5 am to catch the first bus to the train station, taking the first direct train to Paris (6 am), changing train stations in Paris, getting on the TGV in Paris (after it had been delayed due to a snow storm in Paris) then taking the TGV just across the Swiss border into Basil before being told to switch to a regional ICE train to get into Zurich, finally getting into Zurich two hours late. I finally found Sue! Although I have asked this question many times, I found it hilarious that one of her first questions is how we were connected. And this is the story in brief. She was a foreign exchange student for my cousin, who I call my aunt, but is technically my dad’s first cousin. So Sue stayed with my great aunt for a year back when she was younger. So my aunt only saw it fitting that I would go visit her while I was on study abroad.
So then after about 12 hours of travel in total (it seems that my life tends to be that way huh?) then a 45 minute car ride into the Swiss country side, and I got into their home just before dark. What little I was able to see of the Swiss country side it is beautiful! Now I’m in their kitchen making jokes about my blog, their tractor of a car and eating strangely delicious Christmas cookies with some sort of spice and some tea. Ah, how nice it is to be in a home! We are having potatoes and meat for dinner tonight, very traditional, and very good for the cold weather.
So it’s strange to be in a house again where I can’t understand what the people are saying. I just got over that in my French home! Now I will have to learn some German! AH there are too many languages in the world and not enough time.
Chef Put-Put then fed me cookies and tea while we were talking about family, friends, my time in France and everything else. While waiting for the kids to come home from the slopes (oh the Swiss) or school, we prepared dinner. To prepare this dinner, potatoes were boiled, then shaved and seasoned. There was a pile about 10 inches high, and this is no joke, of potatoes that were fried into a large hash brown patty. Then some meat and mushrooms were cooked into a seasoned cream sauce and finally a salad with a homemade dressing was put on the table and everyone dug in!
An interesting fact that I have just learned is that foodie in Swiss-German means “ass”, or I think the more literal translation is “big ass”. So they had a good laugh about the name of my blog because they thought it meant “Big Ass in France”. But really I explained that I like food, and foodie starts with F, just like France. Then I think they understood – but still found it amusing. After dinner we sat around and talked for some time, then finally people started to drift off (and I started to drift off to sleep! Been awake for over 17 hours now and traveling almost that entire time) then there was a fire light in the fire place, and I found my cozy nook to write in on my baby computer that everyone is so enthralled with!
Peace, Love and Swiss Cheese!

Vichy Encore

So it being finals week, and my last week before parting on my European Adventure, we all went to Vichy to take our fluency tests in French. It was boring for the most part, but there was a long break in the middle of the day to wander around the very cold city and get lunch somewhere. The majority of the group decided to eat lunch in an brasserie (kind of like a cafe), and we also decided to all order basically the same thing. The Plat Du Jour. When the waiter did not hand us menu's it was then assumed that we would all be having the chef's creations, and as I looked around the restaurant, no one was having anything different. So we were served a duck's leg on top of mashed potatoes with a salad on the side. The salad was heavily drenched in dressing, but the lettuce was fresh none the less. The bread was not the best I have ever eaten (was comparable to Meijer's baguettes). But the duck and the mashed potatoes made up for all of it! The duck was deliciously tender once the skin was removed and was extremely flavorful without being very greasy which was a plus. Then the mashed potatoes really helped on such a cold day, they were more smashed than mashed, but mixed with cheese and it seemed baked because some parts had a slight crust where the cheese was cooked instead of only melted. It was delicious and everyone cleaned their plates, but no in France this is not the end of the meal! We then were given the choice for dessert between apple pie, fromage blanc and ice cream. Everyone chose the apple pie except for me, I chose the fromage blanc because I love it! This is something that we cannot get in the States (at least to my knowledge) It's the consistency of Greek yogurt, but with a sweeter taste and without the tang. Today it was served with a caramel sauce on top. To die for! Then after a cafe, some more discussion, we all wandered back to the testing site to finish our exams for the day.
Then when I walked in the door my host mom greets me with "oh you're just in time!" She had just started to make the fois gras that my host family will have for Christmas. So I got to see how to make fois gras from scratch, and she let me help. Then tonight we're all making crepes together so that I can learn the proper French techniques for making crepes, I'm quite excited!
To make French Fois Gras:
Start with a ducks liver, separate the two lopes of the liver and remove the center vein. Put them into a dish with a cover (you want a tight fit though, so nothing too big). In a separate bowl, you will mix a little more than a glass full of sweet white wine, a tea spoon of salt, and a teaspoon of pepper. Crush the salt and the pepper into the wine so it's not big particles. Finally use this wine mixture to cover the liver and place the covered dish into a water bath in the oven at 175 degrees Celsius for 8 hours. After 8 hours, take out the liver and drain off the fat into a sauce pan. then put a piece of cardboard (covered in aluminum) that has been cut to fit exactly the side of the dish that the liver is in, put a weight on top of the cardboard and let the liver cool completely (over night). With the fat in the sauce pan, you will quickly boil it for a minute or so on the oven. Once the liver is cooled, you pour the fat over top of the liver to help preserve it, and put it in the fridge for up to 15 days.
Peace, Love, and Knowing Where Your Food Comes From!!

Let's Meet in Paris!

So, update on the American Dinner. Due to the light bulb burning out in the oven, it oven is broken and cannot be used (what this has to do with the light bulb, I am not sure) but this also means that my American dinner has been put on hold until the oven is fixed. My host sister was very sad, but we had runny scrambled eggs instead. So I guess that made up for the rest of the family. Not necessarily me though!
Oh well, then Friday afternoon I left for the weekend to go to Paris to visit a friend from Kalamazoo who was going to be in Europe for a while. It was really fun, and I felt like such a jet setter just hopping on the train for the weekend and taking off. Even though this was the weekend before finals, I still think it was worth it! After dropping my small bag off at the hotel, we went out in search of dinner in the Latin Quarter because it was close to 6 pm, and there were 6 of us. We were walking along the cobble stone streets while the "marketing teams" of the specific restaurants were yelling at us specials they would give us to come into their restaurant.
One started yelling first in English, switching to French, then tried about 4 other languages! It was rather humorous, offering us discounts, drinks, what ever they could do to get us in the door. We finally settled on a Greek-turned-fondue place for dinner. We got seated in the back of the restaurants, and the decor was needless to say, amusing, wit pots hanging off the ceiling and a badly painted wall that depicted the Greek Isles. But we got our free before dinner drink, ordered a bottle of rose to share, and ordered the Greek "formula". Although my Greek "formula" started out with onion soup! But it was followed by moussaka, with very dry beef, although the Greek sauce that they put on the rice was delicious! Finally a creme caramel finished out the meal, and we all left, contended after our first dinner in Paris. Then we made our way to the Notre Dame, took some pictures of it's beauty at night (there was an oddly shaped Christmas tree in the front of it, but the lights were gorgeous). Finally returning to the hotel and getting a couple hours sleep.
We decided to make an early start at the shops the next morning and meet for breakfast at the hotel's first floor at 7:30 am. Unfortunately, due to little sleep, a late start and someone getting stuck in an elevator (I'll refrain from mentioning who!) we actually didn't leave the hotel until 9 am. But proceeded straight to Galleries Lafayette. After some intense shopping, we ate lunch in a cafe close to the shops. Their pizza was decent and the salad fresh, even though the waitstaff was disrespectful and rude (this is France after all!). Then goin got more shops in the afternoon before going back to the hotel to get ready to go to the Champs Elysee for dinner and walking around. We walked up and down both sides of the Champs Elysee, looking at the Christmas market as well as the stores. We also were able to get the best table at this pizzeria on the Champs Elysee, We were on the second floor, right next to the window so that we could look out over the street and people watch and watch the lights as well. It was a fantastic meal with eggplant Parmesan and a waitstaff that spoke to us in French. What a difference it makes when you look like you belong.
Then Sunday morning, we wanted to take it easy before I was to get on my train to go home that afternoon. We decided on this fantastic location to go to for brunch. We got there right before everyone was starting to line up, so we were able to get a table right away. This tea room is located in a museum basically. The walls and the ceiling are beautifully painted with master pieces, and the gardens that you walk through to get to the tea room make you forget that you are in Paris. After a wonderful basket of freshly baked breads, croissants, and pain au chocolats, they served a salad with smoked salmon and a soft boiled egg. Because of the flavor of the egg, it's runnyness didn't bother me in the slightest, it was delicious with the bread too! Also we got dessert after wards. The fromage blanc (heavy yogurt) with raspberry sauce was to die for, and everyone walked away happy.
Finally, after all this, some more walking and shopping I got on the train to come back to Clermont. Unfortunately I had to study the entire train ride for my marketing exam the next morning! But I get to leave again this Friday for the big european adventure! So there is only a couple papers, exams and other obligations standing in my way!
Peace, Love, and Relaxing times in Paris.

French Praline and American Dinners!

So my host mother realized the other day that I am only here for about 5 more weeks (at least in their house, scary right?) and she wants to instill in me as many French recipes that she can handle! Last night we made praline, the French way (this does not mean that it took 5 hours and some paperwork however). So, American praline is some almonds floating in a sea of caramel candy correct? French praline is almonds with a light caramel coating! Almost the exact opposite! So after a dinner of a delicious (I believe pumpkin) soup, who I'm the only one that really likes soup, mostly because it's the only vegetable in the meal, then some frozen pizza with salad. The pizza was strangely sweet, I don't know what to make of it. Finally, after the dishes were put away, she started to explain to me how to make praline, you take equal parts sugar, water and almonds (with the skin on!) and put it in a pot and start boiling off the water on low heat, until the mixture begins to look like sand. I know this sounds weird, and you think it would caramelize, but no - it looks like sand. Take it off the heat, and break up the sand particles until they're very fine. Put the pot back on the heat to melt the sand a bit to give the almonds a glossy glaze. They're delicious to munch on!
Another recipe that I have recently learned is for this delicious Moroccan tea that we always get at this specific restaurant for lunch "dessert". It's Chinese green tea brewed with dried mint leaves, after the brewing process add sugar to taste. It's delicious - and even without the sugar, I think the brewing mint leaves with tea is GENIUS!
Finally, I offered to make my host family an "American dinner", as per request of my host sister a while back. So I've decided to make Meatloaf and Mashed Potatoes. This is extremely different from anything that they have ever served me, so I don't know how they will like it, hopefully a lot! But we shall see, it's a very different taste than anything they make. Oh well, it will be a really American night though! I'm also thinking of making cookies some time soon. We'll see if I can find the time however.
So besides a lot of new recipes, not a lot is going on here, everyone is beginning to prepare for finals next week. They shouldn't be too bad for me, I'm excited! Also I'm excited to take off on my adventure around Europe for December break, it should be a great time.
Peace, Love, and American-ness

Truffade makes everything better!

Three months in, and I had an amazing day today in France. Although it started with getting up and going to class at 8:30 in the morning, it was the second to last class with Sylvie (sad) that we'll ever have. And while this is sad because we're always ridiculous in her class, it also means that Christmas break is almost here!!! After class, we found our way to a liquidation of United Colors of Benetton. After buying a skirt, we headed off to our new favorite hang out. Les Augustans. This is a warm and cosy cafe, very reminiscent of Dino's (when it was cool) in Kalamazoo. They offer several different varieties of coffee, several loose leaf teas, and hot chocolate made with milk! Not to mention the walled lined with books that are free for the reading, the large comfy sofa's that are everywhere and the hippy wait staff. This is very unlike the other cafes in Clermont, not to mention that there are really no tables, but the sofa's are very un-french, you cannot look cool while sitting in a sofa, thus many french people don't! But after choosing a coffee brew (Colombia with a hint of caramel!) we sat down and started to knit. We had a lovely chat with the barista's about where we were from, what we were doing here, how we liked Clermont, all those sorts of things. Then the other American's came into the cafe after getting all their visa paperwork done (finally? yeah I know, they were illegal for a day or so). Then after a while of hanging out, we left to go find lunch, and to walk around. We decided on going to the Christmas market right next to the huge cathedral in town. After browsing for a little while, we got Truffade!! Now Truffade is a specialty dish from Auvergne (where I am), that I think I have described before, but will do so briefly again.
Truffade is a large pot (I mean about 3 feet in diameter) where potatoes are cooked with cream, add cheese and bacon. That's it. It is basically beautifully tasting cheesy potatoes, and it's a very good dish for mountain weather.
After getting Truffade (and yes it must be capitalized!) we ate on the steps to the cathedral. There was not a moment that was more french that could have been had! After this, we decided to split ways and do some shopping before the afternoon ran out. This was when I came across the honey festival that was being had! After seeing all the local honey people that have come into town to sell their local honey, I just had to taste some. And let me tell you - honey tasting is one of the coolest things ever! The subtleties in the taste and texture are amazing. They were also selling spiced cakes along with the honey. I bought a muffin type spice cake and some honey. The spiced cake was ok - a little dry and over baked, but the combination of spices in it was pretty delicious.
Then we went on the great ferris wheel in town. I'm not afraid of heights if I'm strapped in, but when the thing is zooming (and I mean it's going fast for a ferris wheel!) and they suddenly stop you at the top of the ride, oh it's scary! But I got some amazing photos (added to photo-bucket) that look like post cards! Finally after seeing some snow on the mountains I was ready to do something in the afternoon, but nothing really happened. After some slight shopping, meeting up with more Americans in the street, we headed back to Les Augustans for a tea and some knitting time. Then getting home early, I asked if my host mom could use help in the kitchen, she was baking up a storm! So I helped her make a meringue, and another cake that look delicious, along with helped her make the dinner (pasta carbonara). Finally, after a quick dinner, my host sister went off to babysitting, and my host parents off to bridge club. It's nice to be relaxing for once, instead of having to do so much homework all the time!
I hope everyone's first December weekend goes well!
Peace, Love, and good times in France!

Fois Gras and Christmas Cheer

So Christmas has come to Clermont today with the start of Advent. In order to celebrate my host mom served fois gras from Bordeaux, along with a wine from Strasbourg. It was a multi-regional event with cheese from Auvergne (St. Nectaire to be precise). The fois gras was delicious, much like the fois gras my mom uses on the beef tenderloin at Christmas. Although we just ate it on a slice of bread, it still felt elegant, and delicious. For some reason (maybe subliminal) when eating a food that comes from the specific country, it tastes so much better. The fois gras came from a 4 hour train ride away. The name of the farm was imprinted on the packaging, and the name of the owner was also right next to it. The French take pride in where their food comes from, even on such a small scale. While eating lunch with my host family, we discussed various things, including the taste of the cheeses being served during the cheese course (of which there were 5 to choose from!). When my host sister commented on the taste of the St. Nectaire being strange, my host mom went into a discussion about the cheese making process and her cheese preferences! She told me that the cheese is 2 month old milk, so the cheese we eat today is from summer milk, she much prefers spring milk because the cows eat the flowers and the clovers in the spring, causing their milk to take on a different taste causing the cheese to be more perfumed. She says December is the last month she will buy cheese from the region until May (when the spring milk starts again). This internal knowledge of food is amazing, as well as the French ability to pick out the prefect baguette from a pile of 20. Unfortunately we have been out of bread for dinner for the past couple nights because my host sister has been snacking!!
On a Christmas note, Clermont has put up their huge Christmas tree, along with a ferris wheel in the center town. Lights line every single street and there is a holiday train that will ride around town taking people around to do their holiday shopping! I can't believe that it's almost December, and yet it feels like I just got here yesterday! The food is still amazing, and I already know I will miss it by the time I go home. Alas, the afternoon was a quiet time, knitting in the parlor with my host mom watching the travel channel. Although I know I have homework I should be doing, being in France has caused such a lack of motivation - there's too many other things that I could be doing instead that are much more interesting!
Peace, Love and Procrastination!

So...About That...

So that was a strange Thanksgiving. I got home and asked my host mom what she was wearing to the restaurant, because us Americans thought it would be fun to dress up. She said she didn't know, but nothing too fancy. It was at this point I half freaked out over being too fancy, and half didn't care anymore and was going to just wear what I had in mind. I picked out an orange dress with brown accessories to be festive and seasonal. Then the dinner was supposed to start at 7:30 pm. My host parents thought this was to early, so we left our house to drive (about a 5 minute drive) at 7:45, arriving around 8 by the time we found parking. Walking into the restaurant, there were two families already there and there were bisous all around, even with the professors that were there. After talking awkwardly while standing for a little while and waiting for everyone else to arrive, more bisous, we all finally sat down and were served an aperitif. This was a very sweet wine, it wasn't bad, I don't know if I could drink much more than the little bit served to us. I was seated near three Americans and some French host parents. The host parents were shocked when the Americans spoke in French to each other. We have a habit of speaking French when there are French people around - we don't want them to feel left out of our conversation, and it's a good excuse to speak French. After some "get to know you" conversation with host parents, dinner was brought out. It was:
Pieces of Turkey (everyone got something different, between breast, leg, thigh etc., the turkey wasn't that bad, other than the fact that it was difficult to get off the bone with a fork and knife and in the awkward politeness of French restaurants we could not maneuver it any other way than with a fork, knife, or bread)
Mashed Potatoes (definitely not as good as mom's, and there wasn't even gravy to put on them!)
Cranberry Sauce (which wasn't the normal gelled kind, but real cranberries that were warm and kind of mashed up to create a sauce)
Cauliflower (way too small of a portion for how much I like veggies, but none the less it was yummy)
and last but not least: pureed gizzards! (it was gizzards cooked with bread, and other spices, put into a mold, cooked then sliced, it was kind of like meatloaf)
Then after the main course, there was a cheese and salad course, and of course there was not enough salad for everyone, so everyone only took a few leaves to be polite and leave some for the other people. The cheese of course was good, but definitely not traditional American. Then the dessert was the worst ending to a Thanksgiving I'd ever had. It was a pistachio ice cream and raspberry sorbet. Beautifully presented with raspberry sauce decoratively piped onto the plate, but it was not the ending to a Thanksgiving dinner that I had in mind. After several glasses of wine, some French-ized American food, the Americans decided to go out and find a party or something else to do, to celebrate Thanksgiving in an even stranger way.
So this was definitely the weirdest Thanksgiving I'd ever had, I'm not sure if I want to repeat the experience, but it just doesn't feel like it will be December in one short week. The weather here is strangely warm (think early October in Michigan), and there is no chance of snow any time soon. Although I have been here for almost three months next week, it still feels like it's only been a short amount of time, but on the other hand, I can't find enough time to fit everything in that I want to do. I miss a real Thanksgiving, with actually decent food, and a pumpkin pie end.
Peace, Love, and Strange Times in France...

Happenings around Clermont

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
We have out special Thanksgiving meal this evening - but since I have some free time right now I thought I would update about everything that's been going on in this busy life of mine. I've been having classes for the past 3 days for about 10-12 hours each day. Now this in English is enough to wipe me out, but in French I just about want to take a nap after every single one. Although I am impressed that I can still pay attention after 10 hours of work in a foreign country. Anyway, so besides classes, tests, and major projects, life has been pretty (dare I say it?) normal. My host family has gotten into a routine of me coming home right before dinner, we eat dinner together, and after dinner while helping my host mom clean up the table, we talk. Finally after that, everyone retreats to their own rooms to work, read, or watch TV. My host sister has been having some difficulties with school recently, especially math. The way that they teach trig here is very confusing, I was trying to help her the other day work through a problem in her homework. Eventually I gave up trying to show her how to do it the "French" way, and showed her the "American" way (it proved to be much faster, and efficient, go figure?) Then afterward I helped correct her English homework, and we practiced an oral presentation she has to give soon on candy! Then after wards I told her I had a huge presentation on slow food in Europe, she's like "well you will have to practice it in front of the family! we can help you out with your homework for once!" So I might take them up on that offer.
For those of you that do not know what slow food is, here's a brief synopsis. Slow food is a concept developed in Italy in reaction to the first McDonald's opening up in Rome. It is the movement towards homemade, artisan and local food. This is not necessarily an organic movement, but it is linked with it in the States. So for example, instead of buying Ragu pasta sauce, you would make the pasta sauce yourself, can it, and then use that instead. I fully support the slow food movement, and think that it's a wonderful idea - people these days just don't know how to make things from scratch, and it's a real shame!
Anyway, that's my speech for today. In other foodie news, my host mom made the most delicious soup the other day for dinner. It was a mushroom soup, with mushrooms, cream and some spices pureed together and it was so delicious! My host sister HATED it, but I think I might ask the host mom to make it with me some night again, so that I can learn the recipe.
So, after the big thanksgiving dinner tonight, I will update on how that was! and I hope everyone has a good Thanksgiving, and a food Black Friday!
Peace, Love and Turkey!

Boujoulais Nouveau!

So the Beaujolais Nouveau was released last Thursday and due to lack of internet at my house I have been unable to update my blog about it. So after the much anticipated wait, the new wine of 2009 has been released to much the partying of college students. For some the parties started at 10 am, for me it started at dinner with my host family. So first of all, an awesome different between the USA and France: In the U.S. we sell girl scout cookies door to door, in France they sell the Beaujolais Nouveau! At around 6 pm we got a knock on the door, and there were 2 guys that offered to sell us the new wine. My host mom bought 2 bottles. We had a semi-fancy dinner that started with baked apples and sausage on toast points, to go along with the wine. Then some rice and tomato mixture to put on the rice, and finally a chocolate dessert. So the wine this year, in my opinion, is not bad, better than box wine, but defiantly is worse than anything else I've ever had here in France. So after dinner I went to my first party, it was a school organized event, and we went to the caviste (wine seller) of a professor. There was a jazz band, lots of little things to eat, and of course the wine. It was a really cool atmosphere to be in the basement of a wine cellar, there were a bunch of wine bottles all around as well as all stone walls. The band wasn't too bad either. After 45 mins spent there, I went off to a dinner with my marketing class at a creperie. This was the same place I went a couple months ago with an American. It was really fun because there were so many of us! Although because I had already eaten dinner, I passed on food and just sat and talked with French people for the entire night. It was a really good way to celebrate the Beaujolais Nouveau, and this years wine will be really good, although I do not recommend the nouveau, it's just way too young! I'm looking forward to my trip to Bordeaux to try the new wine, and to try out all my new wine vocabulary that we had to learn!
In other news, We have also found a new cafe with several different types of coffee! It's a really cool experience to go there, very hippie-esque with lots of books everywhere, comfy couches, and all at the same time very french tucked into the back corner of a neighborhood. Ah this country is growing on me yet again, the discovery of this city is really cool. Unfortunately because exams are coming up soon we have so much more homework and more work than we normally would. It's really frustrating when French homework is starting to get in the way of me socializing with French people (friends or family).
Peace, Love and too many exams!

Crepes!

So my family likes crepes, like most typical french people do. But since we're all on a diet together now we have turned to "healthy crepes". First let me explain that you can buy crepes here can be bought pre-made in the grocery store, much like we buy tortilla shells in the States. And there are many different variety of crepes as well, made with different ingredients, each trying to claim that they are the healthiest, the most original, the traditional variety, or even exotic (sun dried tomatoes?!). Anyway, my host mom recently bought a packet of wheat crepes. And this is their healthy method of preparing the crepes. After soup is consumed, host mom goes back to the stove and melts 1/2 table spoon (about) of butter into a pan. The crepe is placed on the pan. At which point the person who will be eating the crepe chooses the ingredients to put in it. I chose smoked salmon and chevre (goat cheese) by request of my host sister (thus the packages would be open and she could have the same thing). The salmon is placed on the crepe with goat cheese sprinkled on top then the sides folded up and once cheese is slightly melted the crepe is done, butter is put back in the pan and the process restarted. So much for a diet haha.
In other news, us Americans have found a fresh salad bar that offers local salad ingredients that are sustainable. Envie has become a new place that we visit quite often, and because the owners are younger guys that are also immigrants, they like talking to us a lot and often offer us free things at the end of our meal. Their Moroccan tea is to DIE for! Then their salads (and pastas) are also pretty good, and to get them with a tartine st. nectaire (toasted bread with cheese melted on top), oh it's divine. Then the other day when we went there, there weren't any tables to sit at, so we got our food to go, and because of the inconvenience, the guy offered us free yogurt (usually 2 euros extra as a dessert) but this yogurt was delicious! it was much more liquid than normal, but it was still very good. The next time we went back we said we really liked it and he explained how to make it! Unfortunately because of pasteurized milk in the states, this yogurt cannot be made state side, but if you some how get a hold of non-pasteurized milk in the states here is the recipe:
1L milk
1L creme fraiche
Add together and sit over a low heat for 1 hour. At this point add spices/sugar/flavorings or none
Let sit for 4 hours off heat after it has reached a simmer for 1 hour.
Serve!
We plan on asking for the tea recipe the next time we go.
Peace, Love, and Non-Pasteurized Milk!!!

La Regime!

So, my host family is on a diet. I didn't think that those existed in France. But my host father has been diagnosed with high cholesterol and thus his doctor is prohibiting the consumption of French cheese (the cause of much debate within in the family). Unfortunately because I am still viewed as the guest, my host mom still buys me french cheese, and "puts out the cheese" for me, but unfortunately I feel bad during the cheese course when I am the only one eating. Alas! Other than eating a lot of soup and less cheese, nothing has really changed about their diet. The butter consumption is still at an all time high, and steamed veggies are not to be seen. My host family wants to have me cook for them one night. My host sister seemed really excited about garlic bread because they bought 1kg of garlic. Also I suggested making a pumpkin pie around thanksgiving time. My host mother agreed, but was very confused about the concept of a pumpkin dessert. When I tried to explain it to her she was like
"and this is a main course right?"
"oh no, we eat this after everything else, it's the dessert"
"but it has pumpkin in it?"
"yes"
"so is it healthy?"
"well, that depends on what else you put in it, but it has vegetables in it"
"Well you must make that! and cookies! invite your friends over!"
I think she wants to meet the other Americans on this trip, because she keeps wanting me to invite people over to the apartment. Not really sure though if it's just French politeness or curiosity that's driving this.
Finally, I had a lovely weekend where I watched a hockey game, almost went to a basketball game and studied Italian and did a bunch of other homework. I'm also really close to being all set for travel plans through winter break, and now looking forward to February for my last real adventure. I can't believe it's almost all over!!
Peace, Love, and Pumpkin Pie!

Cookies!

So while us Americans dream of the perfect pain au chocolat, the bread, or the croissants. The French dream of American chocolate chip cookies. They can't make them here, they don't have the right ingredients, but us Americans got some pretty tasty cookies out of experimentation today. First thing the French don't have is brown sugar. Such a strange concept right? Well our brown sugar is made with molasses, they don't have molasses here, although they do have caramelized sugar here (it looks brown) so we ended up using that. then they don't have baking powder here, they do have baking soda (but they call it bicarbonate). Finally the metric system is hard to convert into our system, so things were just kind thrown into a bowl, the batter tasted and the ingredients adjusted according to the taste. We first made a traditional crunchy chocolate chip cookies. After running out of brown sugar we substituted creamed honey for the brown sugar and made cakey sugar cookies that were delicious. After sitting around for several hours, baking, eating, listening to Christmas music, I started to really miss the holidays in Michigan, where it actually gets cold. But alas, I will be in France for Christmas and Thanksgiving. Apparently the program will give us a "Thanksgiving dinner" on Thanksgiving, at a restaurant. Although I am told not to get my hopes up and that it's no where near as good as at home. Alas, I will have to wait till next year to make another delicious Thanksgiving dinner with my boyfriend!
Peace, Love, and Missing Mashed Potatoes

First Week Back/Chateaux/Vitamin Meal!

So I successfully got on a train back to Clermont (missing Monday classes, but it was worth it!). After arriving home at 10 pm, I fell asleep, but had to get up early again the next day to continue the silly thing called "school". Anyway, because it was the first week back, everything was crazy, classes all the time again, just trying to get organized and back into the swing of things. Thankfully, things have started to slow down again this week. Nothing eventful happened, other than being served a half cooked omelet for dinner one night. And other than the crazy fits that my host sister has started to throw (oh to be a teenager again), nothing is really happening at home.
Then this weekend was a visit to the Loire Valley to see 3 different chateaux, and spend one night in a small town. So the weekend started early on Saturday morning and ended late on Sunday night. After meeting our guide (a Greek guy who was about the same age as us Americans, oh and did I mention that he spoke no french?) we then got on the bus with a driver who only spoke french. This was going to be an adventure. We get to the first chateaux (which I've already visited in high school) And we explore, wander, and after we got bored got back onto the bus to go find our hotel and eat some dinner. The dinner was at a semi fancy restaurants, they served us chicken with a honey sauce, these delicious mushrooms, and hash browns?! But anyway, this was followed by a course of cheese on a plate of lettuce (do we eat this lettuce or not?) then a banana flambe with graham cracker crumble and a sweetened whipped cream (all in all it was too sweet). The atmosphere was nice if not a little awkward because us Americans could pick a language to talk in (English and the Greek could understand or French and the bus driver could understand), so we ended up switching back and forth all night. After wards we went back to the hotel and fell asleep early. The next day we went around and visited 2 more chateaux. There was a misconception with the lunch arrangements (while we were originally to eat lunch in a market in Amboise, we ended up leaving Amboise early to arrive at another small town). We found the only restaurant open on a Sunday, and ate there. I had a French pizza with chroizo, parmesian, and black olives. It was delicious. Then after visiting the final chateau, we left for Clermont where I returned home once again tired and fell promptly asleep.
Then this week I have found out that my host dad was diagnosed with high cholesterol and can no longer eat a lot of French cheese, which has caused high tensions around the house. So my host mom in her effort to put more veggies into his daily diet created what she called "the vitamin meal!". It started with a beet and garlic puree that was chilled. This would have been delicious if it were summer and not freezing cold in the house. But anyway, onto the second course which was a creamed spinach and ham concoction that was put over rice. This was decent as well, but the color was not appetizing in the least and after a few bites my host dad declared that he wanted something different for dinner. Then a frozen pizza was brought out and we had that for dinner. After wards we had small amounts of cheese while my host dad ate a non-fat yogurt. Then finally for dessert there was an apple tart, which was delicious except for the crust which was difficult to cut and was a little tough. But the cooked apples (from the country house) were soft and delicious!
Anyway, all in all it has been a good week back, and I'm looking forward to my next break when I can travel around Europe a bit more. And with that, I am all caught up!
Peace, Love and Yay for Real Time!

Fall Break Part 3 (I swear I'll catch up to real time again one day!)

Ok, so after the fancy Italian dinner, and packing up we wandered around Helsinki at night for some time, finally deciding to go to bed, then waking up late the next morning. We had breakfast at Cafe Engel (which was delicious) and wandered around some more, seeing things that were closed the day before. Then shopping! Finally eating a late lunch/early dinner at a hip restaurant which is kind of a coffee shop/bar combo. Very fun! and dropping off my American friend at the bus station to get on her place to London, I went in search of a post office to send my post card home. Going back to cafe Engel for a tea and dessert later in the evening (Btw - it was a heavenly chocolate torte/cake with a raspberry sauce and homemade whipped cream), while sitting, eating and knitting, I decided that I would one day return to Helsinki and that the trip was well worth the travel of the previous day. The next morning I woke up bright and early to catch my plane out of Helsinki and over to Nuremberg. I made the poor decision to eat breakfast at the airport, but other than weak coffee and a bad danish, all went well with getting to the airport and getting on my plane. Also I've decided that Finnish security at airports is a little bit of a joke, the man in front of me to board the plane brought his daughter's passport by mistake, they let him on the plane no problem! Ah, to be in Finland again, but anyway I went on to Germany and a stay with my cousin.
Nuremberg:
After landing in Nuremberg, I was greeted at the airport by my cousin and her husband and whisked off to their apartment in what I believe to be is the "little Italy", after putting down my things, we then went into the center town by subway and walked around, showing me the sights briefly, before returning to the apartment for dinner and some quiet German television. The following day we went on a real tour of the city that included going inside most of the buildings, as well as Starbucks coffee and a traditional German lunch. Of which I had basically breakfast, it was scrambled eggs, sausage, onions, and potatoes. And it was delicious! Of course with this I had a delicious beer (that was made on site). Also this day I walked around the castle in town, explored the gardens, and had my first German pretzel - it was addicting! The following day was spend in Munich exploring the city as well as the German science museum. After a full day, returning to the apartment and a pizza was the prefect ending. The pizza was really delicious (I think the cheese makes all the difference). Finally the next day was All Saints Day - so the entire day was spent on the couch watching T.V., on the internet and just general chilling out. With these delicious sandwiches with goat cheese for dinner.
The following morning I left Nuremberg for Clermont again because there's this silly thing about Study Abroad, sometimes we actually have to study and go to class. So not cool! But I was excited to get back and hear everyone's stories about break and thank goodness there weren't any horror stories! More to update on my week after break coming soon - I have to do it before this weekend when I leave for the Loire Valley. I'm almost all caught up!
Peace, Love and I miss the Pretzels already!!

Search of Food in Helsinki

Second day of Helsinki:
After waking up on Sunday, not really sure where to eat breakfast we left the hostel in hopes of finding something cheap. Would a croissant be too much to ask? But we found this place called Hesburger, which is like the Finnish version of McDonalnds or Burger King. We got a doughnut (or rather a danish) and coffee (IN A TO GO CUP!!!). Then at the restaurant we discussed the meal plans and the day trips for the rest of the vacation. After leaving the breakfast place a little before noon, we went on to search for our lunch spot. This is when we found the first really good restaurant. It was a prepared sandwich/soup/salad place with a coffee theme. I had a delicious Salmon and Dill soup that I ordered without knowing what I ordered (ah, the joys of the language barrier). After the delicious soup, more coffee and another Danish, we sent off to leave the city to wander around an island close by. I can't even spell the name of the island, but it's about a 20 minute boat ride away from Helsinki city. After following the path for a couple minutes, we started following along the coast to keep walking along the water. After walking around for several hours, we decided to head back to the mainland and find dinner! We tried to go to several restaurants, but being Sunday most were closed. Finally we went to Cafe Engel, which then became the hang out for us for the rest of the time. After having a delicious salad with goat cheese, a tea, and a dessert we rolled home and slept for a long time! The next morning, we woke up, and went to Cafe Engel for breakfast! Which was delicious like the previous night. Then after that we took pictures of every site around the city, and visited many other places. Finally going to a bar for a cider before heading to dinner at a fancy Italian restaurant. The fancy night was almost over as we headed home to sleep again before packing up because my friend would leave the next day.
Peace, Love and I need to go now! more later!!

Four days, 100 Euors, and Nowhere else to go but...FINLAND!!!

So I am on break of Toussaints (All Saints Day) that lasts for a week and I can't be at my host family's house the entire time. So presented with this fact, I decided to do a trip to Helsinki with a friend, then proceed on to visit my cousin in Germany. This post will detail my trip around Finland, then afterwards I will post about my trip in Germany.
So Finland was a crackpot idea between me and another american on study abroad in Clermont. We just said to eachother one afternoon, "hey want to go to Helsinki for break?" Then we just started planning, or some lack there of. We bought plane tickets out of Charles De Gaulle (Paris) and a guide book, and you'd think this would be an easy feat getting out of the country now that I have my Visa. But no, this is France.
1) I had to wake up at 5 am, to catch a bus to get to the trainstation in Clermont
2) Take the 6:30 am train into Paris
3) Take the RER (subway) blue for 1 stop
4) Take the RER Red all the way out to the airport
5) Take the CDG shuttle over to terminal 1
6) Determine which hall I was flying out of
7) Print tickets
8) Run through security
9) And finally make it ontime to the plane!
But barely. If the plane hadn't been delayed or the RER was late, the entire plan would have been foiled and I wouldn't have been able to see the motherland!
Anyway, after getting into Helsinki at 4 PM local time the next step of the journy was to:
1) Take the 615 bus into downtown Helsinki (which the busdriver was the perfect example of how people in Finland are different than France, I tried just giving him my money (ashamed not to know any Finnish) and he starts jokeing with me! and manages to get me quite embarressed in the mean time by his perfect English.)
2) Take the 4 Tram towards "Mannerheimintie" (try and say that 5 times fast)
3) Get off at "Katajanokka"
And this is where the plan FINALLY was foiled for the entire day. The stop of "Katajokka" doesn't exist, it was replaced by another stop name, so after I rode the Tram up and down 4 times and getting frustrated at just wanting to find the Hostel, we got off the tram in the general direction and started walking using the tiny map in the guide book. When a burly older gentleman started speaking to us in Finnish. We stared at him like deer in headlights and said "English?" He chuckled and in an accent that reminded me of the UP "What do you search for?" He was able to point us in the direction of the Hostel (Which was across the street from where we were) and we got checked in and we were able to sit down for a bit after the very long day.
Then came the next fun part, trying to find dinner without a plan or a guide book. We started wandering around attempting to find a semicheap restaurant that was non-american and not fast food. You have no idea how hard this is in a new city! We ended up settling for a Napalese restaurant near the train station. There I had delicious curry califlower and potatoes with naan. Afterwards we trudged home and fell asleep promptly and slept in the next day.
More to come...
Peace, Love, and Curry in Helsinki?

My First Train Ride

I took the train today with other Americans to go visit the town of Vichy. Wow am I glad that I did a "trial run" of the train system before leaving for Paris. The boards were very confusing, and we missed our first train that left to Vichy, fortunately there was one about a half hour later. Unfortunately one of the American's misplaced their ticket, and just decided to go home at this point. Then there were 3 of us. We got to Vichy O.K. and started walking around in a random direction to find things. Eventually stopped at a kebab place to eat and continued walking. We found the Allier river, and a couple other historic monuments, then did some shopping. After our legs and feet were hurting we went back to the train station, bought our return tickets and got on the train RIGHT AWAY, and returned home to Clermont. Once back, I had soup for dinner. Considering how cold it is outside right now in Clermont, that's all I wanted to eat anyway! It was a pumpkin/squash soup, and delicious. Then I've just been doing homework all night to try and catch up. Unfortunately because it's the week before break, we have all our midterms - thus a lot of studying. It's not fair! I didn't go on study abroad to actually STUDY!!!!! Haha, but anyway, I feel so smart sitting at a French cafe, drinking coffee and reading a book in French. But anyway, I needed to take a break from studying and tell about my successful (kind-of) train experience!
Peace, Love and Trains

That Teaches Me a Lesson!

So I religiously bring my camera everywhere with me, just in case something eventful happens in front of me. Weellllll... The first time I don't have my camera with me is a wonderful, hysterical, life changing event taking place in the main square of town. Yes, a farmer riot complete with tractors. Folks, I am in the "Iowa" of France. This was amazingly funny thing to stumble upon walking home from the doctors this morning. So apparently the Farmers are pissed at the French president (Sarkozy?) because he is making laws that are hindering the Farmers. So there was a demonstration/riot in Clermont today. There might have been 100 tractors that were blocking the streets and filling up the square, all honking, hooting and hollering. This was the most organized thing that I have ever seen in France, no wonder it was a riot. It seems the two things the French can do best are riot and push their job onto someone else.
So besides tractors and farmers fighting for their rights to make wine, I had to go to the doctors today to get a "clean bill of health" in order to complete my visa application. I was told on Thursday, I needed it done by the following Friday. It really goes to show how little people are checking up on one another. But this was a mutual screw-up, and I was able to get an appointment at the doctors.
This is how:
1) showed up at the doctors right when they opened the door
2) came with two other close friends who needed the same thing
3) asked for an appointment
4) was refused
5) explained I couldn't reenter France after October break when I would be leaving the country if I did not have this finished
6) was told it's impossible
7) asked again, emphasizing that I would not be allowed back into France
8) someone starting looking at the times that were available today
9) kept standing there, not letting anyone else get in line ahead of me
10) still standing while they debated
11) got an appointment right away with the doctor and was whisked off in a half hour to take my height/weight and blood pressure

It really goes to show that to get something done in this country, you just have to stand there. You're presence alone will often make them double check. Also being a poor confused American doesn't hurt either.

In foodie news:
I am sorry readers, but I have tried a "French" french fry from McDonald's, and I don't think it's that bad. I did not feel like my heart was seizing from the grease on it while I was eating, nor were my sodium levels raging out of control either. I do say it was pretty good. Although not as good as the chocolate. I went into their version of a Target with more food section today to buy chocolate. I bought the cheap store brand pack of 3 bars for 1,50 euros. I swear this stuff was 100 times better than Hershey's could ever dream of being! Mmmm, but for all the pastries and bread and cheese, I am starting to miss plain sauteed or steamed veggies. All the cream sauces make me not want to eat the veggies. It's very sad. Maybe I'll suggest for me to cook dinner one night, and I'll use lots of garlic! But I can't make it too spicy. Otherwise they'll freak. Oh well!
Peace, Love and more GARLIC PLEASE

No More Runny Eggs!

I have had enough of this crazy my family is on! I don't want to eat another soft boiled, over easy, under cooked runny yolk egg again! I understand this is a preference for many people, but the mere fact that my dinner is runny and undercooked grosses me out. I have had to endure this "hardship" for about 4 dinners now, and I am sick of it! In other news, it has begun to get cold here. The stereotypical French scene is outdoors, in a cafe with a coffee right? Well in this weather it's more like: outdoors, in a cafe HUDDLED around a coffee. So for lunch the American's went to "Cafe Cosy" which had an indoor eating venue!! I had pasta with a tomato Parmesan sauce, and a hot chocolate which was to die for!
Classes recently have kept me very busy, both in a good sense and a bad sense. I hardly find that I have free time to meander around, and I'm defiantly not lounging around my host home. But in the other sense it is nice to be able to have a lot of interaction with the French students, even if we only have 2 classes with them.
The American's have also started their "english conversations" which are held once a week. These conversations are with whoever French students want to spend their lunch hour talking in english. Topics are anything and everything. Last week we talked about relationships and dating in the US versus dating in France. It was really interesting. This week we talked about Obama and the Nobel Peace Prize.
Also Mme Solberg (a French lit professor at Kalamazoo) came to visit us for a couple weeks! She is on sabbatical, writing a book, so she thought she'd come in a check on us. It's been really nice to have a familiar face around that can help get issues dealt with through the French Bureaucratic system (cough visa problems cough)
So tomorrow I have no classes, but I will be going to the doctor (for the first time in France!! ahh!!) in order to get a clean bill of health so that I can continue my visa procedure, hopefully before I'm supposed to leave for Finland in a week. Then on Saturday I will be taking my first train ride to the neighboring town of Vichey. This is where the French capital was moved to during the second World War. Hopefully it will be very interesting, but I hear they also have a lot of shops. It should be fun either way!
Finally, I have successfully explained how to knit socks in French to my host mother! I'm so excited that my level of French is actually improving, I can tell because my host family doesn't correct me as much anymore. I told a story tonight at dinner, and not once did they stop me to correct my grammar! yay!
So until next time,
Peace, Love, and gross eggs!

Italian, Students and Pools

So my first Italian class was on Monday night. It was so much fun! The professor is a little insane, but also very nice and forgiving. It was very interesting to me how close French and Italian are, I was able to understand the prof fairly well when she only spoke Italian to us, although the French she spoke was a little tougher!! Anyway, it was a lot of fun and I'm really excited to learn a new language.
French students always perplex me. We had a group project in our marketing class, and so it wasn't until 2 days before it's due that I was able to get a hold of my other group members. We set up a time to meet, and by the time that I got there, they had already finished the research. They decided to break at that point and write the summary tomorrow (meaning today, the day that the project is due). I get to the meeting point with another french student. 10 minutes goes by, no sign of the other person. Finally the other french student calls the missing student. The missing student had already finished the report without the help of anyone else! I had to put no work into this assignment, and no one felt bad about it! Back in the states, if you don't put in your fair share you will be ostracized for several years because of it!
Final though of this week before going to do massive amounts of homework, and going swing dancing tonight. I went to my first public swimming pool here in France. My first observation is that there is only one changing room. So I had to give myself the "when in France..." pep talk before quickly changing into a swimsuit behind one of the doors that don't entirely cover you. Then after changing, I needed to find a locker to put my things into, the first one didn't like it and wouldn't let me take the key, but finally the second one worked and I was on my way to the pool. I read somewhere that I would need to rinse off before going into the pool, so I jumped under the shower quickly and put my hair into a pony tail before going to the pool. I had originally came to swim laps, but seeing as there were about 5-6 people per lap, I decided to stand in the waist high pool for a little while and assess the situation. After a half hour, none of the laps were lightening up, and I was too afraid to join a lap because I am not the quickest swimmer and I thought I would slow everyone else down. So after swimming in circles for an hour I left the pool to shower again and change back into my clothes and walk home. All in all, it was a fun event, and I might go back, just with someone else or not at such a busy time so that I can swim some laps!
Peace, Love and Laps

My 4 am Morning!

So I had my first day at the pastry shop today. It was two words: Amazingly Scary. So he gave me his cellphone number to call him when I'm outside the door outside and he'll come fetch me. So I get there at 4:05 and give him a call. He then greets me at the door with a blowtorch in one hand (still light) and a huge smile on his face. In broken english he says "Lets go!" and we proceed upstairs to the pastry shop. When I get up there, he has me start on making pear tarts, strawberry and raspberry tartlettes (small tarts). Then he hands me the blow torch (5 am in the morning by the way) and I get to play with the blow torch!. I was un-molding cakes, so I had to defrost the outsides then slam them on the counter to get them out. It was very fun and loud. Then I wrapped all the cakes in plastic and put them into the freezer (which is MASSIVE). By this time all the people that work there have shown up. They all bisous each other, even the guys, so as not to transfer pastry stuff onto other people's hands. (bisous is the traditional french greeting for an informal setting, it consists of 2-10 kisses alternating on cheeks) I am the only female that was there the entire day, so the boys were playing this odd game of alternating between heckling me, defending me and interrogating me. And here I am, understanding about half of it (due to the noise, accents, and the words I have no idea what they are), but every now and then I make a really bad joke. Anyway, I left at around 9:15 in the morning (5 hours of work and the sun just came up!). I can't wait to return next week at the same time!
Peace, Love and Pastries!!!!!

Pictures are up!

Hi quick post, I have posted all my pictures that I've taken onto photobucket. There should be a slide show running on the side bar <<<. To view the full picture (because the sidebar cuts it off) just click on the picture, and it will take you through a slide show!
Peace, Love and Pictures

So much happens in such little time!

So much has happened in the past two days, that I need to do this chronologically in order for it to make any sense.
1) Wednesday morning: I woke up with the intention of talking to the pastry guy about my job. I desperately needed a pep talk before hand, but no one was around, so I gave myself a pep talk and went on my way to the shop. I walked into the shop, and there was a line, if anyone walked in behind me, I was prepared to buy something and just walk out, come back later, do something else. But alas, such is not my luck. So I started talking to the lady behind the counter. I was like "I'm the American, that should be doing an apprenticeship here this fall. Is there someone I can talk to about hours?" Then after some awkwardness, she recognized what I was asking and told me to wait a minute. She then called down the pastry guy and he started to talk to me in the shop. But then it started to get busy again, and he took me to this tiny office to talk. He asked me when I'd like to work, I told him that weekends are better, then he asked me "how about 4 am this Saturday?" So I start work at 4 am. I am so excited, and yet so nervous at the same time that I will mess up big time!! But it should be a lot of fun, and I will learn a lot.
After discussing my start time, he also insisted that I come other mornings than just Saturday, to see different processes of pasty making (each day has a different theme, Saturday is all finishing work). Then he took me on a tour of the building. We first went through the bread part, the ovens were MASSIVE, and it smelled so delicious. Then he took me upstairs into the pastry part of the shop. There were two other guys that work for the pastry man. They were both about 20, and very friendly. The pastry guy was also about 25, maybe 27 at the most, and very friendly and extremely patient. Then he showed me the secret entrance into the pastry shop, gave me his cell phone number and told me to call him at 4 am when I arrived so that he could open the door for me to come in. So I hope everyone is jealous (maybe not) of my 4 am job!!
2) Wednesday afternoon: We (Americans) started our English conversations with the French. It was amusing, we put ourselves into groups of 3 French students with one American. They were very rusty with their English, and at times it was very trying, but I kept asking them questions, and they were able to respond. I tried to be very sympathetic because I know how it feels to be lost in a conversation. It was very exciting, and I'm glad that the French were very enthusiastic to be talking to us in English.
3) Wednesday afternoon: We had our second course of marketing. It was a little better to understand the lecture, but when the group assignment came around, I was completely lost. Thank goodness for this one French student next to me, he explained everything to me, very slowly, and explained why everything happened in the equations. I felt very lost after the course, but hopefully after going over my notes it won't be too bad!
4)Wednesday Dinner: uneventful, had pasta with zucchini, eggplant, tomatoes and goat cheese.
5)Thursday: Les Vendages
This is the most important part of the past few days. Today was the Vendages (or the day to pick the grapes to make wine). All the American's today got to participate in this wonderful adventure that started at 7:30 in the morning. When we got to the vineyards, it was freezing, and a fair distance from Clermont. But we soon got equipped with a bucket, scissors, and a french partner to show up the ropes. My partner Jaques, and I did not have a very long conversation, but we did pick many grapes together. Of course I had to test many of them to make sure their quality was good. They were all delicious! After picking one field we took a little pause. They set up a folding table, cut some bread, salami, cheese and opened the first bottle of wine. This was at 9:45 in the morning. After going through 2 bottles, between 14 people, and all the bread/cheese/salami, and a couple cigarettes on the French part, we continued working.
We picked one more field, and at this point my back began to hurt a lot. I also cut my finger in this field with the scissors. I was picking grapes, didn't feel a thing, look down at my hand and I'm covered in blood. I called out to our group leader that I had cut myself, but after washing away the blood, only to find that it was a little scrape. One of the older gentlemen in the field with us then did some "french medicine" to heal my wound. He crushed grape leaves to produce a liquid, then rubbed that on the cut, picked a grape and smushed that onto the cut, then wrapped all this juice in a grape leave. After a short while, the bleeding stopped all together and the cut never reopened the entire day!
The finishing of the second field was celebrated with more wine, bread and cheese. Then at noon we began on the their field. We were starting to get slap happy and a little upset at this point. We also started making fun of the randomness of the French (I.E. starting at an arbitrary point in the field to pick uphill, and leaving the bottom of the hill alone). After finally finishing the final field (at about 1 pm?) We all got rides to the place where they make wine. We were told we were going to be served lunch there. After setting up a long table in the place where they keep the HUGE barrels of wine, we all sat down to drink more wine (an apparatif!). Then with much discussion of what a vegetarian is, a plate of cold cuts was passed around, along with so much delicious bread. The cold cuts consisted of a salami, a cured pork, and this rather odd tasting cold cut...warning do not read the following paragraph if you are easily grossed out...

The cold cut consisted of sweet meats ground up with left over pork that was cut away from the bone. This was all ground with spices and cured, then covered in gelled cartilage, and wrapped in a puff pastry and baked.

I learned all this because I was sitting next to the chef who prepared our lunch. Then after more wine, the main course was brought out. This consisted of beef bourginon (of which the secret is to stew the meat for several hours in red wine and dark chocolate, delicious!). As well as garlic mashed potatoes were served, with more bread and a switch to red wine for the table. After eating our fill, and after some conversation, the cheese course was served, with more wine of course! Then finally dessert was put on the table. This was a chocolate bread pudding, paired with a sparkling rose that was the star (in my opinions) of the wines served that day. I turned to the chef and told him the rose was magnificent, and he quoted me the rest of the afternoon! Then the owner of the vineyards stood, and gave a small speech that was so clever and well written, and an American gave a small speak in return and gratitude. Finally, 3 and a half hours after sitting down for dinner, I attempted to stand (after all the wine and hard labor, let me tell you it wasn't easy!). After lunch, a friend and I figured that between 18 people at the table, and through out the day in the field, we went through about 25 bottles of wine. And I defiantly had my share! It was all so delicious.
Then after the car ride home, I sat in a cafe talking with another friend before heading home for dinner. (by the way, only 2 hours had passed since lunch ended and dinner began) I was so full, so I warned my host mom that I might not eat a lot of food. She was shocked at how much wine we had drunk throughout the day, as well as how late the lunch ended. I guess that's not typical in the city at all! But in the countryside, everyone seemed at ease to stop work at 2:30 for the rest of the day. Oh the French!
P.S. I am trying to upload all the photos I have taken on this trip into a folder so that everyone can see them. Once I get that website I'll let everyone know!
Peace, Love, and Wine!
P.P.S. if you have any questions, comments or concerns? or want to hear more about anything in this post (or any others!) please don't hesitate to comment below! I'd love to hear your feed back!

Product Placement

I started my first real economics class today, all in French! And might I say that I understood more than half of it! But major accomplishments aside, I also have been forced to go to two regional product placements in the past two days. Yesterday was a talk with the Head (I think?) of Michelin. He explained what he does at Michelin, the history of the company, the innovation of it, and his career history. Then he was presented an honorary diploma (I think?) from ESC (my university here). After this climactic "ending", we had another 45 minute long presentation about jobs at Michelin, and how to get one. They were literally offering jobs saying we just had to go to this website, set up an interview, and we can intern at Michelin, then when we (French students only I presume) graduate, we're guaranteed jobs. Weird huh? Then today we had more product placement with a talk from the head of Auvergne Cola (it's pretty much like faygo pop) He was really personable, but I felt it was a way for him to get more consumers and stopped paying attention half way through.
Besides these talks, everything is going very well. Tomorrow I'm meeting with the pastry owner to see when I can work for him. Also tomorrow, the American's are starting their English conversation times with the French students. It will be nice to have the tables turned on them, even if it's only for an hour and a half a day.
Finally, this Thursday, I have the opportunity to go to a vineyard and help harvest grapes for wine! It will be an awesome experience and I'm really looking forward to being out in the French country side, especially farm land, some more.
Finally, I made dinner for my host sister the other night, and I have the suspicion she didn't care for it. I was just simple pasta with a tomato cream sauce and some spinach. Oh well! I enjoyed it at least! I really need to locate this family's spice cabinet if I want to do more cooking here. . .
Peace, Love and AuWWWergne!
(P.S. this is a reference to a web-reality-TV show http://auwwwergne.com/ )

"That's what you get when you come to France, Wine and Sex!"

So I had the most amazing tour guide I've ever had for a tour of this 11th century castle. He started out by taking us up to the castle like we were trying to attack it. Pointing out all the impossibilities of this castle. It was built on rocks, its extremely high up, there's many places for people to dump hot sand/boiling water/chalk that reacts with water to create an exothermic reaction (whoa got all science-y!). But apparently they do not pour boiling oil like many myths said. It's too expensive! So this guy also plays the king of the castle when they have their reenactment days, so he lead us into this throne room, and was talking all about daily life in the middle ages, bathing, teeth brushing, prostitutes, that people in the middle ages drank about 3-4 liters of wine per person per day. His delivery was amazing. Anyway, then we got to walk on top of the high walls around the castle, and it was beautiful scenery, but I've come to expect that from France. While waiting for the other people on the tour to come down I got a chance to talk to the guide. He was telling me how he also does maintenance on the castle, like cleaning it up and such. Apparently they have a problem with flying ants mating above their castle, then dying and creating a huge mess. That's when the most wonderful quote came "That's what you get when you come to France! Wine and Sex!" and with his accent it was amazing. He was also able to deliver a sketch about Monty Python and the Holy Grail (in English!) about the swallows that nest in the castle. Needless to say, this guy was so cool, and made the tour extremely fun.
Let me explain why I was on this tour. All the international students at my university were able to go on this tour of the region, the bus left at 9 am and we didn't get back until 6 pm that night. On the bus ride all day we were forced to play get to know you games! The first being we had to introduce our neighbor either in French or English, then once he got through a couple Americans and realized that's too easy for us, he made us do it in several different languages (Chinese, Spanish, etc). Fortunately I got to speak in both french and English, but I had to explain Thanksgiving. It was quite interesting. Later on, we each had to sing our country's national anthem, and I no longer feel bad for not knowing a couple of the words, because a few other countries didn't know theirs either, and their anthems are much shorter than ours! Then the torture ended with visits. Our first stop was a church in the middle of nowhere, it was pretty, but we only had 15 minutes before we had to get back on the bus and go to our next stop. Along the way I felt like the bus was going to tumble down the steep cliffs at any moment as we wound through the mountains. The scenery was beautiful, and the geological rock formations were fantastic due to the volcanic activity in the region. After our tour at the chateau, we then went to lunch in this tiny restaurant where the kids filled up the entire restaurant. Everything was served family style. We started with a salad with bacon, eggs, cheese (of course!) and a bunch of other things. Then the vegetarians were served an over easy egg, and everyone else got a slice of Prosciutto type meat. Then the main course was brought out. There were HUGE pans of this too. The waitress kept joking that we had to finish it all before we left too. The main course was made just for me: Potatoes and cheese. They were the most delicious scalloped potatoes I've ever eaten! After the 8 of us cold barely finish one pan of this, dessert was brought out. A blueberry and raspberry tart. Fairly good, but I'm not sure about the jell-o that was on top of it. After eating and drinking to our hearts content, we piled into the bus again for another adventure.
The next stop was a cheese farm! Unfortunately, it was not as cool as expected. First we were shuttled from room to room, shown multimedia projects about the farm, it's history, the volcanic area, and St. Nectaire (whom this region is named after). After the 3d presentation I started to zone out. We didn't even get to see the cheese making process! However we did get to see the fermentation area, and was taught the difference between farm cheese and factory cheese in France. Finally we got to go see the cows and pet them! It was rather funny, they were in the barn to be milked, and some of them were feistier than others. I got to have my picture taken with one of them!
Then on the bus ride back I fell asleep, it was an amazing nap! We got back to the school at 6 pm, and because my family is in the countryside this weekend I didn't need to rush back home. But on the square near my home I found a rock climbing event! It was a boulder-ing competition. While I was there I was just watching the female competitors, and wow they were buff! They were climbing upside down, and there were very few handholds. It was pretty amazing. Finally I went home and had a pizza for dinner. Then later that night I had a movie night with other Americans.
All in all, yesterday was an amazing day. And today is filled with doing homework and working on projects. But real classes start on Monday, and I'm super excited for them! Hope everyone's weekend is going well.
Peace, Love and Wine!

Auditorium, Baking and Creeper

TGIF everyone! I hope that everyone has had a fabulous week, and hope to have a wonderful weekend too. After having 3 full days of working in French groups with French kids (who talk very fast with a lot of slang) I am starting to understand what they're talking about! I still cannot jump into the conversation, but I'm not a lost puppy anymore. On Thursday, we had a full day of language courses. Going over grammar that I've studied before, understand and can use is rather frustrating. But alas, such is my life. Today we had the entire morning of AUDITORIUM! Which means all 300 kids are piled into an auditorium and talked "at" by the French professors, none of which I understand unless I pay super close attention, and even then it doesn't relate to me. So I usually do homework! But today the finalists were chosen for Project ESC and they had to give a presentation. The goal of this project is to create an event that the school can put on. We had to budget everything, plan days, call people, the works! I felt bad for my french group that I couldn't contribute, but c'est la vie! On the final day my group finally warmed up to me and we spent the entire day (instead of working, hence why we didn't win) talking about American TV shows, slang in English and in French, and a guy hitting on me!
Now, French guys are very different than American guys. There is no subtly in their ways. This guy literally said to me "you know, your french will improve so much if you have a French boyfriend!". As I'm sitting there stunned at what is going on. Actually, he's a really nice guy, just wears a lot of hair gel and was a little overly friendly. But after that outburst, a girl in the group stepped in and conversation continued.
So besides being bored to death in an auditorium, I got the O.K. to start my job at the bakery, I just need to go and talk to them about my hours. I'm very nervous to go talk to someone who owns a bakery and be like "hi, can I help out?". Although my french mother says he's very nice and very welcoming, it's still intimidating! I am thinking about taking the 3 am until 8 am on Sundays shift. That way I can actually bake! But that also means that I only have to get up that early 8 times! (I only need 40 hours to complete my project, and with me going away some weekends it should work out perfectly)
Speaking of being away for the weekend, I have planned my first vacation here. I get one week off at the end of October. I was really stressed over what to do, when someone in my group said that she wanted to go to Finland. From that point on I was sold! We booked out plane tickets from Paris to Helsinki the other day. My plan is to take a train to Paris, a plane to Helsinki, stay there for a couple days then take a plane to Germany to visit a cousin finally taking the train all the way home. It will be my first big adventure, and I'm really excited and nervous for it all at the same time.
Finally the last portion of this post mentioned in the title, creeper. Apparently Clermont Ferrand is the safest town in France, but walking to school this morning I did not feel that way. When me and a friend (walking together) we about to cross a busy street, there was a bus in front of us, we waited for the half a second for it to move, and in that half a second a man (a very tall man, and for me to say this, he was most likely a foot taller than I am) came in between us and put his arms around both of us as we were starting to cross the street. Once I realized I didn't recognize the person I quickly bent back his fingers to get him off of my and my friend got away as well. We crossed the street when I suggested we take a turn to keep on a more busy road. He continued to follow us, him jogging behind us, and us walking. My friend stopped, and I did to and watched him pass us. He then kept going, but turned back to give us a quizzical look. We quickly checked for our wallets and kept a brisk pace all the way to school. It was a mildly terrifying experience, but I am glad that nothing happened because of it.
On a lighter note, my French mother has been gone for the week in Paris to help with the new baby, so my French father has tried cooking the past few nights, with his expertise being the microwave. If i felt more comfortable in their kitchen I might have taken over, but he doesn't mind to "cook" and I don't want to have to give him a grocery list (since we're getting to very little food in the house). I think that he just went to the store now for the weekend because I will be fending for my self. But I can never be too sure about what they said!
My plans for the weekend are very exciting, with an early morning bus tour of the region until 6 at night. Then Sunday I am going to relax and maybe start reading this french book I have for homework. But maybe I will find something better to do!
Peace, Love and yay for still having my wallet!

Lunettes

I am dedicating this post to lunettes, which have to be the greatest invention that any baker has ever come up with. It is a layer of french pastry dough followed by raspberry jam, another lay of dough and topped off with powdered sugar. These are the most delicious things I have ever tasted (dare I say it, better than pain au chocolat?!) Anyway, besides having one of these for dessert the other day, I have taken to eating at a local sandwich shop. They offer many different types of sandwiches including panini's and other delicious things for such a cheap price. It is always the same woman or man (I believe husband and wife team) that serve us, and I think they're starting to know us! Oh I love being a regular somewhere in France. Speaking of being a regular somewhere, I also have taken to having a "cafe" before class at a bar across the street from the school. Now you silly Americans and your "strong" coffee have nothing on this. A cafe is basically a shot of espresso, with the wonderful crema on top. Served on the side is a cube of sugar and a cookie. These cookies are delicious when dipped into the cafe. I might have restarted my caffeine addiction again since being here! Anyway, in my host home, the family has returned the other night from Paris (where to mom promptly left again this morning). I believe I was jokingly told that it's up to me to make dinner now. But you know how I am about French humor. I have no idea if they were joking or not. I hope they were, because I have no idea what I could cook for them! Anyway, last night we had an omelet for dinner. I've always enjoyed breakfast for dinner! Even though the french don't consider omelets breakfast food. So strange.
Peace, Love and Lunettes!

I less than 3 (<3) crepes!

This weekend my new host niece arrived! Being their first grand child, my host parents and host sister left promptly for Paris. But before they left we had a celebration dinner. It started with champagne (2 bottles for the 4 of us!) with these small finger sandwiches which were just wonderful (small ham and cheese things that were put in the oven to melt the cheese). Then for dinner we had pasta with scallops and a white wine sauce. Finally ending the meal with these chocolate lava cakes and ice cream. It was chocolate lovers dream! and I'm still dreaming about it now. But then the next morning my family left in the car before I was even awake.
Leaving me in the house by myself. I fended for myself most days, eating frozen food (I know, how very un-foodie of me, but I don't feel comfortable cooking myself up a whole big thing out of their food). Anyway, Saturday night was special though. Another American was out of a family that night too, so we decided to have a special date night. We went first to this Tex-Mex restaurant and when we went in there was no one in there. We started making our way to a table when the guy behind the bar said with a smile on his face that they were all booked up for the night and we had to leave. In America, the smile on their face and the blatant lack of people in the restaurant would be taken as sarcasm, so we laughed and continued looking for a place to sit. He then asked do you speak english? which I replied IN FRENCH "le deux" or both french and english. He then said in english "where are you from?" we replied in french USA. He continued in english "I just told you, we were all booked up for tonight and we have no room for you tonight, you must leave". I was utterly shell shocked by this. First of all, this could have been explained in french, as we were insisting on speaking french to him for all his questions. Secondly, I understand people trying to be friendly, but when the restaurant is obviously not full, then obviously we can't tell when there are reservations or not. Utterly pissed off at this point and very confused, we left to go find another restaurant for dinner. We found this very small creperie near the cathedral and sat down outside. I had wonderful cider and a chorizo and cheese crepe. I was craving something spicy and that helped so much! Then I had a chocolate and banana crepe. It was heaven on earth. After 2 hours of dining, we then left the restaurant, totally forgetting the horrible man and his "Tex-Mex".
Sunday was uneventful food wise, but I did visit two chateaus in the area thanks to another American's host family that brought me along. It was a lot of fun, and I was able to take a lot of really cool photos! Finally I came home and was relaxing on the computer watching a movie and my host family returns. It was a joyful return followed by lots of talk about the baby, about their weekend, about my weekend. Finally though everyone retreated to their respective places, with my host sister doing her homework, my host mother unpacking and doing laundry, and my host dad watching the news. Everything is back to normal, until next weekend when it seems I will be home alone again!
Peace, Love, and Crepes for All!

Doing the Wash

I learned today, after being in France for almost 2 weeks, how to wash my clothes! The machine is very old (probably as old as I am) and it takes the machine 2 hours per load of laundry, of which you can't put very much in. Then the dryer can only dry 3 to 4 pieces of clothing at a time, thus making it easier to line dry clothes in the bathroom. I have done one of the 2 loads of laundry, once the first load is dry I will attempt the second, wish me luck!
Also today, we were let out of class early, at 10 am. I unfortunately had to wait on my french project group to get there acts together and come up with a project idea. Which became too grandiose for the scale that can be feasibly done in 2 days of working. But after voicing my concern, I was written off and their ideas were put onto the paper. Oh well! Ce n'est pas grave!
I came home and had the house to myself for a while, it was wonderful. Then my host mother came home, we talked for a bit then she started dinner. We had a cauliflower soup that had so much cream in it you could hardly taste the vegetable. Then we had crepes for dinner. The crepes were pre-made just put onto the skillet, warmed, then an egg was fried on top of the crepe. Cheese was added as well as ham. Unfortunately I like my eggs well cooked, and some were slightly gelatinous on my crepe, oh well! I ate it anyway and it was yummy. Then raspberry yogurt for dessert.
I should explain how dinners are eaten in my family. The table is set with cloth napkins, a dinner plate with either an appetizer plate or soup plate on top, there is a knife with the blade pointing towards the plate on the right hand side and a fork tines down on the left hand side. This is normal every day table setting. Everyone is called to dinner as the main course is finishing cooking, nothing is every sauteed, so nothing needs to be tended to until we are finished with the first course. The first course usually consists of a soup or a salad, sometimes we have a palate teaser before dinner if dinner is especially late that evening. After the first course, the top plate/bowl are cleared along with any dirty utensils, which are then replaced. The main course is placed on the table, in a serve as much as you want fashion. This is not however from the same vessel that it was cooked in, it is placed in a decorative bowl or on a decorative plate. I, being the guest/newest addition to the family, am always told to serve myself first in anything, water, bread, food etc. After me is my host dad, then host mom and finally my host sister. After the main course, plates and utensils are cleared again, and a prepared dessert is brought out which respective plates/forks/knives, or dessert is chosen from the fridge. Usually these choices are yogurt in both plain and flavored varieties, chocolate mousse, coffee mousse, and chocolate pudding. After dessert is eaten, fruit is put on the table and all other dishes are cleared to the kitchen counters. Talking proceeds for another 20 minutes, or until the news begins. Then my host dad retreats to the TV, my host mom begins to put away the dishes and my and my host sister clean off the plates before handing them to my host mom to be put in a dishwasher. Wine is hardly ever opened, maybe once a week, and my host sister (who is 15) does not drink any. Water, usually still, but some times sparking is served at every meal. This night was an exception with cider being served!
This may not be the norm of French eating habits, but it's what I've experienced for the past 2 weeks, and I'm starting to get use to it!
Peace, Love, and Habits

I found my 3 am dream job!

So the past couple days have gone by quickly. With being in school from 8:30 am until about 6:30 at night. Returning home, eating dinner and trying to get homework done in there, it is almost impossible to sit and reflect. Anyway, I have obtained a volunteer position at a patisserie/boulangerie (pastry/bread) down the street from my apartment. I will be working the 3 am shift on the weekends in order to help the person who makes the cakes and the beautiful things! But that doesn't start for a while. Anyway, my culinary adventures have highlighted seafood recently! A couple dinners ago, we had clams in a cream sauce mixed with tuna, capers, onions, carrots, and a couple other things, then put back into the clam shells, covered in cheese and butter and baked. It seems this is how my french mother cooks. Cover it with enough cheese and butter and it will be good! Anyway, then we've also been eating a lot of salad recently, I'm not sure if that's due to a fresh supply in the market or my french mother's whims. Anyway, then last night for dinner we had calamari (steamed) and put in a cold salad, served over rice. It was very interesting texture wise, and I think the calamari (although fresh) were slightly over cooked. I think my host family has also realized my obsession for unpasteurized cheese. Because I'm too scared to say I'm full in french (said the wrong way it means that one is pregnant) I often say that I am waiting for the cheese course to signal that I am done eating the main course, otherwise they will keep telling me to serve myself (even before I'm done with my first helping!) They are very generous with their food, almost too much though. But they now joke that the cheese is my favorite course because I'm always waiting for it! Oh well. Then tonight for dinner we had this tart, I am not sure what was all in the tart. I know there was salmon and goat cheese, but beyond that I am unsure. Then for dessert we had chocolate mousse. It was more like chocolate jello that my host mom made this afternoon and put in the fridge. It was still very good! I also have been having many culinary adventures during lunch time. Yesterday for lunch I went to "Good Food" which seemed like a less classy Leo's. I had a chicken gyro-type panini with fries. For 6 Euros, it was a good deal, and surprisingly good food. Then today for lunch, I went to Mille Pates. It's a mom and son run pasta joint. Everything is made fresh every morning. I had penne bologanese. It was delicious!
Non culinary news, my courses are dreadfully boring (having 6 hours a day of french grammar, is often too much). Then we also have European civilization, where as an American that went to an international high school, I hardly know any of the information they want us to regurgitate. Alas, also French students are very hard to get to know. They are often nice when taken into small groups out of their group of friends, but within their group of friends it is very difficult to break in and start small talk. I guess I need to become more of an extrovert, and maybe less of an accent will help too! But I cannot wait until the day that we form our groups with the English class. Then the French will have to speak English with us for an hour a week. The tables will turn! Finally, I am going to not one, but two flea markets this weekend, in hopes of finding antique cooking or bake-ware. I hope to find a very unique thing that I can only use to make one specific dessert that during the rest of it's life will be on display somewhere in my dream kitchen.
Ah to only dream, anyway I am off to do some homework before passing out and restarting a day of French grammar all over again.
Peace, Love, and baking at 3 am!

Frozen food is good? What?

So the reheat-able lasagna last night was actually good. There was real Ricotta in it too! I ate alone because I thought I was going out with friends that night. It just turned out I had a quiet night at home. But I have become addicted to these Coffee Pudding things. They are so delicious. Anyway, I made pancakes for breakfast today! They were maple and pecan flavored pancake from a mix. They were really good, but I'm not sure what my host sister thought. She said they were good, but I can't tell if she want just being polite. Anyway, this was also her first time having real maple syrup and couldn't get over how liquid it was. But she was eating spoonfuls of cherry jam that I made over the summer. So something was a success! Then I did my homework for the entire week this morning after breakfast. We get many assignments, but they each take about 10 minutes. So unlike Kzoo. Then around 1 p.m. we had lunch. My host sister hardly knows how to cook anything. So we reheated on the stove pre-made cordon bleu. Again, I am pleasantly surprised by the pre-made food! We also ate some couscous left over from the day before and some salad. We talked and had a good time, but I was telling her all the things that the Americans from last year warned us about (I.E. fork in left hand only when eating, wear slippers in the house etc) and she's like "they're all crazy and don't know what they're talking about!" So I found that comforting. This afternoon I am going on a tour of the two cities (Clermont and Montferrand) by tram, it will be my first time using the tram, so it will be fun. But my host mother and father return tonight from their respective places in the country side and we will eat dinner together! Not sure what though, there are so many leftovers in the fridge.
Anyway, I am off to the tour!
Peace, Love, and Food.

Introduction of Spices!

After the dinner last night, I went out with a bunch of Americans and one french person for a drink at a bar. After wandering around the city in a very large group (10 people) and talking very loudly (we are American) we finally settled on a place to sit and stay because they had enough chairs. I had a lovely glass of red wine, although it was much sweeter than I had expected it to be. None the less it was good, and cheap and from France!! Anyway so I made my first lunch for Raphaelle and a friend of hers. She was cooking, and looked a little lost. I asked if she needed help, and I started taking over the meal. We started with a tomato salad. Then we had couscous that had curry, lemon juice and a bit of red wine vinegar. Then chicken cut into pieces and cooked with some lemon juice. Then i made a wonderful curry sauce my first sauteing shallots and garlic in olive oil. added curry paste, milk and creme fraiche to thicken it. It was delicious, but I fear it might have been too spicy for my host sister. Then for dinner we're having premade lasagna - we'll see how it is. My host mom left it for us, and I feel it would be rude to not eat it.
Peace, Love and Spiceyness

My First Dissapointment with France

Tonight was my fist time not enjoying every morsel of the food that I was served. The night before we had a mushroom tart (and for anyone who knows me, this was pure heaven). But tonight for dinner we had this weird sausage type thing on top of lentils, tomato and cabbage. There were no spices at all. I had to choke down every bite of it. And after the wonderful Indian buffet that I had for lunch, I was spoiled on good ways to prepare lentils. But alas, I was another day. I am thinking that tomorrow I will cook breakfast for my host sister and myself (we are the only ones in the house tomorrow morning) and I will make pancakes.
Peace, love, and here's to more spices in the future!

What do you call a zucchini in french?

So lunch yesterday was with all of the people in my study abroad program and all the professors that are in charge of us. There is one prof for each student. So I got to sit next to my favorite professor, Dave. Sarcasm should be noted. The first part of lunch was conducted like a classroom of beginning french. "What is your name? What do you study?" One word answers, two maybe at most. So no conversation was happening at my end of the table, then we started being served lunch. We had some basic table wine, rice, chicken and a ratatouille. Which then we had to name all the vegetables that go into ratatouille. Lets just say not a relaxing lunch. Then chocolate mousse for dessert! After lunch we had a tour with French students of the city. Half way through I broke off with some others, eventually meeting all the other Americans in a park in the middle of the city. All the girls went to a cafe to talk and to have a beer or coke. I bought my first beer in France! Hyper Super! Then returning to my house in time for dinner. I should explain how my family eats dinner. We eat in the kitchen around the kitchen table, but we eat in courses, usually the main course is finishing cooking when we start dinner. We started last night with a squash puree soup, which I thought needed something else, just not sure what. Then main course was Pâte brisée, which is butter, butter and more butter cooked with flour over the stove top until it begins to coagulate. Then it is dolloped into a tart pan and topped with cheese. Cooked in the over until the outside is a crust and served with creme fraiche mixed with tomato paste. Wonderful thing that they can get creme fraiche in the grocery store! For dessert we had cheese and grapes. Lunch today was amazingly cheap too. A sandwich store near the university. It was prosciutto with cheese and sun dried tomatoes, yummy for 4 euros! Otherwise I've had a lot of free time to walk around the city with the other American students. And I have been trying to follow the French news, but one day I will understand what is going on in the world! Unfortunately I have some homework to attend to.
Peace, love, and here's to hoping for more croissants!