The week in photos

Pastry tasting

Being lazy on the terrace with the cat

Winning at French scrabble with only 154 points

A drawing of Tyler and me courtesy of P.

The other day P. wanted to have a mini art contest with me so we each drew two pictures and the family had to vote for their favorite. Of course P. was the winner. What sort of monster would vote against the 7-year-old? This is the winning illustration -- her depiction of me and Tyler dreaming of our wedding day (Nous rêvons de mariage.). And Tyler, don't worry about her misspelling of your name -- I promise I'm not marrying some new guy named Taylor. Also, contrary to the drawing, I'm not suddenly so ample-bosomed. 


I have just three more weeks to go and I feel like there is still so much that I haven't seen even just in France! Travel buddies?

Sunshine, lollipops, and rainbows (minus the lollipops and rainbows)

Ever since I returned from vacation, the weather has become more and more bearable. This is of course unfortunate news for the coat and boots I bought just two months ago, but oh well. I'm thrilled to get outside without it being a necessity. For the first time since October, I took my time walking home from work on Tuesday. 

To give you an idea of just how nice the weather is right now, here are a few pictures from my first weekend back in town at the park in Pierrelatte with Kayley and Evan. 

Please note the absence of my coat, hat, and gloves.

Kayley soaking up the rays... I loaned her my sunglasses afterward.

Evan -- short sleeves!

Gastronomy - Czech and Hungarian Food and Drink

Prague. The best beef goulash I've ever had. I think it was the bread bowl.

Budapest. Turkey covered in cheese. Surprisingly good.

Prague. Beer. Apparently lots of foam is a good thing because it proves that the beer is "fresh."

Prague. Super colorful food. This is Hungarian sausage... not sure why I got Hungarian sausage in the Czech Republic. Oops.

Prague. Bagels! It was delicious.

Budapest. Apple cinnamon strudel at the market.

Budapest. Hungarian food at the indoor market. I ate potato for 2 out of 3 meals this day. 

Enchilada Wednesday

Whenever someone asks me what I miss about home, Mexican food always comes up somewhere between family, friends, and bagels. I bought a bottle of Tabasco sauce months ago, but I always feel a little silly busting it out at the dinner table -- it doesn't exactly go with quiche and salad. However, my presence has piqued my host family's interest in spicy food. 

On a shopping trip while I was out of town, S. (the 11 year-old son) convinced Mme. T. to purchase this handy enchilada kit. I was a little skeptical (especially since I was the one in charge of making them), but they ended up tasting pretty good. The kit included tortillas, enchilada sauce, and spices. Add chicken, shredded cheese, and voila!

Not my enchiladas, but they looked fairly similar.

I only added half of the spice packet (a drop of Tabasco makes S. chug several glasses of water) and that was plenty for the French family. Next time I'm thinking of going the veggie route and maybe whipping up some guacamole. Or Serrano's bean dip? Yum.

La cuisine française

I've started and deleted several blogposts lately, a little unsure of how to organize the past week's events. I guess I'll stay true to form and start with food.

As Christmas has been approaching, we've started eating more and more "traditional" winter dishes. Unfortunately I feel too silly busting out my camera at the dinner table, so I'll just have to rely on google images this time around.


1. Les œufs à la coque

Basically an egg that's been partially hard-boiled. 

You add salt and eat it with a spoon and/or dip mouillettes (strips of bread) and/or cheese.

Super delicious, unless of course you don't like eggs. 

We had this for dinner the other night.

Eggs are not a breakfast food around here. 

2. Le boudin

Okay, so I had serious reservations before eating le boudin, because it shares an unsettling likeness with the many piles of dog poo I have to avoid day to day. The family asked me if I wanted to know what it was made of before or after I ate it. I figured after might be best, and felt slightly more comfortable after they assured me that it was in no way excrement. Waiting ended up being a wise choice because the taste was actually delicious. If I'd known what it was, I probably would have been too disturbed to even take a second bite.

I don't typically like sausage, so I was surprised to find that it was far more delicious than any sausage I'd had before. Who would have thought that the "secret ingredient" my tastebuds had been wanting was... pig's blood. That's right, people. I'm one of those crazies that likes blood sausage.

3. Papillotes

Papillotes are chocolates wrapped in shiny paper and on the inside, there is always a small piece of paper with a fact, joke, or famous quote. I've done my best to be like Mimi and savor the chocolate instead of scarfing it down, but it hasn't been easy. These chocolates are amazing.

In lieu of French Music Friday, here is one Christmas song I haven't been able to get out of my head.

I'm so excited to be home for Christmas in just a few more days!

Cookies, John Denver, & the Muppets

Yes, I did just make a success kid meme.

Really though -- it's intimidating to try and bake when you're in Carrefour and can't even remember the French word for flour (it's farine by the way). 

The oven here is another story. The knob doesn't have degree markings (even if it did, it would be in celsius) and many of the buttons don't work anymore. It's also gas so I have to literally light the oven and Mme. T told me not to feel bad if I can't make it work because even her mother-in-law can't do it. Well, I sure showed them.

The cookies did end up looking a little square, but I don't even care. They are delicious! (And by delicious I mean that they taste like the pre-made dough cookies I usually make at home.)

Now excuse me while I go pour a glass of milk and reminisce about listening to John Denver & the Muppets with my family while decorating the tree.

The Food Post

Instead of writing one lengthy post about what I did in Dijon, Paris, and Rennes last week, I'm breaking everything down into categories. First, the food. 

(Disclaimer: I currently have no way of cropping or editing photos, so I apologize if pictures are a bit dark or blurry.)

I didn't take pictures of every meal, but this will give you a general idea of French food anyway.

As soon as we got to Dijon (myself and another assistant in my area and her husband, heretofore known as K and E), we dropped our bags off at our hotel and ate a very late lunch at a restaurant called A Tout Va Bien. We decided to opt for the 12.50 euro menu and each chose une entrée (appetizer), un plat principal (entree), and un dessert (I think you can figure that one out on your own). 

Our choices were displayed via magnetic letters (someone played a joke and wrote pote de porc instead of rôti de porc). I ordered a slice of quiche, fish, and the greatest chocolate-banana pie ever. 

I still don't quite know what the food next to the rice was.

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

All of the restaurant's decor was brightly colored all the way down to the pink bottles of water, and I loved their creative can/whisk clock.

That night we took a bit longer to find a place to eat but ended up going to a busy-looking place with decent prices and food. I ordered a margheurita pizza and a Hoegaarden. The pizza was greasy, but good.

The next morning we went to a very cute place called La Chouette (the owl) for a small breakfast of spice bread, orange juice, and the largest coffee I've been served in France yet.

We had the place to ourselves and the man working there was nice. 

Later we went to another restaurant called Casa di Lola. The duck was delicious as well as the slice of potato goodness.

The ice cream wasn't bad either.

We also stopped by a mustard store, but I was too chicken to take a picture inside without buying something, so I snapped one of the window display on our way out. Fyi, the ice cubes were fake.

That night we went to another restaurant in the area for escargots and boeuf bourgignon, but they didn't seem too keen on having tourists in their restaurant so I tried to be inconspicuous and not take pictures. The food tasted good, but the presentation wasn't really picture-worthy anyway.

One thing that never ceases to make me chuckle is the French attempt at using English words in names of restaurants and businesses. The Grill & Cow is just one of the many such restaurants. Each time we passed by, I felt a stronger urge to take a picture and when I spotted the cowhide outside, I knew the moment was right.

In Paris we usually just bought sandwiches and kebabs, so food pictures just didn't happen. However, we did stop for a glass of champagne outside of the Moulin Rouge.

Our one restaurant experience in Paris was a complete disaster. We should have known better than to eat somewhere near tourist attractions. Allow me to bullet point the problems:

• Confusing English menu since we've grown accustomed to the terms and organization of French menus
• Terrible seating with an unnecessary heat lamp that nearly gave us all sunburns
• E's frog's legs appetizer -- a nasty, fried mess that tasted like nothing
• The browning lettuce in my salad
• The hour wait between the appetizer and main dish
• The lack of a bowl for K to put her mussel shells in
• My plate of cold coq au vin 
• The "typo" on the English menu that didn't mention that frog's legs were an extra 2.50 euro
• The lack of apology and dismissal of their accountability for the frog's legs menu mistake

Moral of the story: Never ever go to a restaurant where they appear to "cater" to tourists, because you'll just end up with lousy food and lousy service.

At least my crème brûlée was decent.

In Rennes, we ate crêpes for lunch, tried another restaurant for dinner (I had a mountain of moules-frites) and then returned to the crêperie for dessert. The food was so delicious that I forgot to take out my camera. Oops!

More on Dijon, Paris, and Rennes coming soon.

Allons au marché!

Today there was a farmer's market in Bourg-St.-Andeol, so I went down there hoping someone would have a few of the staples from my former diet of Mexican cuisine. 

I have never been so excited to see an avocado,

not to mention red and green bell peppers.

Despite the fact that French grapes always have seeds, I was convinced to buy some after being offered one to taste by the marchand. These grapes were sweet enough to make up for the seeds.  

I snapped two quick pictures of one part of the market, but they don't quite do it justice. 

There were many more stalls up and down the surrounding streets, but I'm too chicken to have my camera out for very long. I need to work on that.

I didn't see any pumpkins at the market, but I've been getting in the Halloween spirit via my pinterest.