deux mois

Well we've survived two months since we stepped foot in France!
There are still a lot of things that are overwhelming and confusing! But what have we learned?
A LOT!

Like...
- don't forget to bring a euro coin to the grocery store! In order to get a grocery cart, you have to put a euro into the cart (kind of like luggage carts at the airports) but you get your euro back when you return the cart to it's designated home. Mark loves this since one of the things he hates most is when carts are rolling all over the parking lot! The problem is if you don't have a euro... you can't buy many groceries!

- with your euro coin, don't forget your grocery bags! If you don't bring them, you'll be putting all of your groceries directly in your car. A lot of locals don't bring bags and instead, put all their groceries back into their cart after they've been scanned and then put them all in their car. What? I guess I'm clearly not "French" yet because I think I'd lose something under a seat by the time I got home and my car would smell like rotten cheese within a couple days!

- speaking of cheese, ALWAYS put cheese in zip loc bag or your fridge will smell so so terrible!

- roundabouts... we've mastered them.

this is the first photo I took on a walk the first day we were here...

- make sure to weigh and get a price sticker for your fruit and veggies in the produce section otherwise you'll get to the checkout and they can't scan it and you'll have a lot of angry people behind you while you sprint to the price machine.

- don't let your car get dirty. People get OUT of their car to put it through an automatic car wash. I'm still trying to make sense of it.

- don't order steak - it's terrible. I know exactly what I want when I go home in May... a juicy, grilled, Iowa steak.

- the right-of-way has a whole new meaning. Driving has been fairly straight forward, but we are still trying to figure out the right-of-way rule. Almost everyone stops for anyone to the right of them at any uncontrolled intersection, including T intersections, but sometimes they don't stop... I'm still stopping at every corner! Mom always taught me, never trust another driver!

- when all else fails, use hand gestures! or just watch what others do and copy them!

- laundry takes forrreeevvvverrrr and dryers don't have exhausts to outside so it acts more like a dehumidifier for clothes. Seriously, you have to empty a container that fills with water after a load or two - it took me a long while to figure that out! I'm also still not sure we are putting the soap in the washing machine correctly?!?

- make sure to use the parking break! Mark learned this the hard way at lunch today when the car rolled into the street!

and this is from our first Sunday, after the market... where we wandered overwhelmed and confused!

We've come a long way - we usually buy our Sunday meals there now and are recognized by the fruit man!



- French people are NOT mean! A lot of friends from home have been asking if the French are mean? I think they feel just as bad that they can't help us that we feel we can't tell them what we want. English speaking Americans are pretty rare around here though so I think they just appreciate that we try to speak French.

This is just a short list of things that came to mind today - there's definitely a lot more! But to be honest, I thought I'd be better (a lot better) with the language by now. I'm the only one to blame though - I really need to practice! If only I'd learned it when I was a kid... I'd be a pro after a month!

i'll take a monday sunrise

no excuses for anything but a fantastic week after a start like this

an attempt at American cooking

I hope your weekend turns out better than our chocolate chip cookies!

It's been interesting learning the French version of what I'd call simple ingredients at home...

flour? Ahhh! the flour aisle at the super market is so intimidating - so many kinds! In order to get all-purpose flour like at home, you have to either mix two or three different types or buy an expensive Bio type that is "similar" according to an online post.

brown sugar? Non-existent - but I found some last weekend in Paris at a fancy grocery store.

vanilla extract? Can't find it here - but I bought something that smelled like vanilla hoping it would work.

chocolate chips? Nope - gotta cut chocolate bars! And there are different types of chocolate too - unfortunately, it's not your standard "milk" and "semi-sweet" chocolate choices.

These are only a few of the tricky ingredients necessary for cookies. I'm blaming the flour choice this time!

paris part deux

I'm not a big traveler... but I guess I can't really say that anymore, now that I'm halfway across the globe from where I started! I planned a repeat weekend in Paris only because Mark was supposed to be in Houston for the week. He got very ill and wasn't able to take his flight, but agreed he wasn't sick enough for me to skip the cooking class I'd signed up for - THANKS Mark! It's safe to say 16 hours on a train in one week was plenty for me and I'll be content here for a while.

 

We were told to meet our chef at a specific metro stop, by the newspaper stand. She'd be rolling a green grocery bag (this is normal here - I think it's because everyone walks to get groceries and they are heavy) and do NOT be late!

 

Chef Constance took us to the...

 

fromagerie (cheese shop)

 she taught us the history of all cheeses and gave some suggestions on what to buy

that big block - BUTTER! she told us it would change our life, and it did!

the secret is it's made with raw milk - delicious!

 

boucherie (butcher)

the hanging rings are chorizo - also delicious!

I spared you photos of the meat  - they leave the heads, feet, eyes, EVERYTHING on so it's a bit frightening the first time you see it! I have yet to visit the butcher here - it's so intimidating.

 

poissonerie (fish market) - She told us it's a good idea to form a relationship with the market people so they give you the freshest things. She asked the man at the poissonerie to go to the back to get fresher salmon!

 

boulangerie (bakery)

 

fruit et legume (market for fruits and vegetables)

After we got all the goods, we headed to the kitchen to start cook'n with class!

My friend Amy and I sat closest to the oven/stove and chef (teacher's pets) so we got to be involved in a lot! It was a very hands on class with 6 students total.

 

On the menu:

entree (starter): salmon graviax

plat (American entree): chicken basquaise served on roasted peppers and chorizo with sauce

fromage (cheese) with bread

dessert: chocolate ganache tart

...and of course wine!



 

A few final product photos...

my entree - we all prepared our own

we had to bone some of the chicken - it's surprising no one lost a finger!

 

With very full stomachs, we decided to walk to Sacre Coeur because we were in the area. The map showed a lot of grey colored roads and we figured out this is what that meant...

 so many stairs! so many!

it looks like that guy wants to find an elevator

 

But as always, it was worth the trip up...

 

 It was such a clear day - we really wanted to go to the top of the tower for the 360 views of the city, but the tower was CLOSED. I'll have to go back again sometime.

 



 

set sail

A few shots from yesterday - it was a beautiful, windy afternoon!

spoiled rotten

feast your eyes on, most likely, the only peanut butter in Brittany...

awesome surprise - THANKS MOM - you're the best!

 

Yes - that's right everyone... the French have something against peanut butter and you can't buy it. Just one of the many things unavailable - I will save that list for another day.

 

Happy Valentine's Day early! I'm spoiling myself and heading back to Paris tomorrow morning for a cooking class on Friday - you can call me Julia Child when I return!

paris in winter

On Friday afternoon, we hopped on a train to Paris. The trip was mostly due to Mark being invited to a rugby match on Saturday night, but we decided to make a weekend of it - do some site seeing, visit some familiar Houstonian faces, and speak English in full sentences to someone other than ourselves!

We made it to the Arc de Triomphe right before dark

 and decided to climb all 284 stairs to the top...

 

 

you can just barely see Sacre Coeur (at the top of the hill) in the photo on the left

and back down.

 

It was pretty cold at the top of the Arc, but we decided to walk to the Eiffel Tower despite not being able to feel our fingers and toes. It seems in France if you just glance at the sky the wrong way, it starts raining. And it did. And we forgot our umbrellas at the hotel. We spotted a bar, Sir Winston's, with a sign for apertifs (before dinner drinks) and darted inside! After a Manhattan (for her) and some whiskey (for him), we were feeling a little warmer and continued on our trek!

 

 

We stumbled upon the BEST French food restaurant since we've arrived in France and even better - they had an ENGLISH menu!!! It was small, with only 9 tables and it seemed like everyone knew each other. The menus were written on large chalk boards - one side French, the other English - and the waiter would move them strategically around the restaurant near the ordering table so you could read it. After filling ourselves with escargot, wine, and dessert, everyone was up mingling, yelling "sante" (cheers) and sipping their digestifs (after dinner drinks) - including the owner! He was very interested to know where we were from, taught us a little French, and even gave us an digestif on the house! We will definitely be returning!

 

On Saturday, we visited the Cathedrale Notre Dame...

 the detail was beautiful!

 

 The cathedral bells are being replaced and a few were displayed inside.

This one weighed over 13,000lbs!

 

We also had time to see La Sainte-Chapelle, built in the 13th century. It's a shame not many people know about this - it's difficult to find, but one of the most breathtaking things I've ever seen. After climbing through a tight spiral staircase (hello claustrophobia), you turn the corner and WOW! - that's literally what came out of my mouth!

 

Stained glass fills every wall illustrating the Bible

 

 

Some of the windows are being restored so it was impossible to get a full picture of the inside.

 

Other highlights of the visit:

- Mark witnessed his first rugby match and the crowd chanted Allez les Bleus (Go Blue!) just like Michigan

- I got to enjoy a CHEESEBURGER! I didn't realize how much I was missing some American grub!

- We walked to the Louvre on Sunday

- It SNOWED!!!

 

As we were leaving, we both agreed that Paris is very different from where we live! Because of the tourism, there is a lot of English and more American-ized things. Don't get me wrong, it is France so moving there would still be a huge transition! There was also a little jealousy when our friends were talking about the ex-pat American groups they've joined and the friends they've made. We are pretty sure we are it for Americans in our city so we know there isn't much of a chance to make friends unless we become fluent in French! But it's also exciting to know that we are experiencing the real French lifestyle! It's nice that Paris is an easy weekend trip and I'm really looking forward to visiting again and seeing more sites when it gets warmer! I think the temperature is part of the reason this is called off-season!