Thankgiving (Part 2)

I hope y'all had a great Thanksgiving! My Thankgivng started Sunday night with a little pecan pie. I made the crust from sctrach (and it was actually little small) but it worked. Mmmmm

This is Alain and Zoé inspecting it. Warm and delicious!!

This is the sweet potatoe casserole. It called for 1 cup of sugar which I did not add (my poor french family had already been shocked by the sweetness of the pecan pie) and then a sprinkling of brown sugar on top. It was not a hit. Zoe liked it, but what kid wouldn't love dessert for dinner. Elliot was disgusted by sweet potatoes and Alain tried it but suggested that if I ever make it again (hahah, yea right) that it be a dessert food.

This is us at the dinner table. Caroline was working late thus not pictured and I am behind the camera. You can see Eliott's sweet potatoes pushed all the way to the edge of his plate so as not to mingled the flavor of sweet potatoe with green beans. A little backwards for a kid, right?

This is pain au maïs, franch corn bread. When I asked is it was possible to get some cornbread, I was told "Oh of course! Pain au mais is just at Carrefour (the French WalMart)." And I found that corn bread in France, like almost all other types of bread, come in baguette form. Hahaha. No matter, I just need the crumbs for the Dressing (picutred below-- my fav for the week).

Close up for the texture.

This was Alain's top pick too. He actually suggested making it again (which he hadn't done all week-- aka, he didn't like it so much).

Squash casserole was Wednesday but I don't have any pictures beause I went out that night. Apparently is was a hit but when I tried it Thursday morning, I have to say that I thought it was awful. First, when I asked for courge, the french word for sauqsh, Alain said that of course there was courge in France! Ok, silly me, I thought something towards butternut squash was just an American/Southern thing. So I didn't ask any more questions until the day before.

"Alain are you going to do the grocery shopping because we're missing a few things for dinner tomorrow and Thursday"

"Hmm, I'm a little busy what are you missing?"

"The squash and (something I can't remember now)"

"Oh but we have squash *points to the pumpkin from the garden*"

"That's a pumpkin"

"A pumpkin is a type of squash. I'm sure you can use it"

"Uh, yea ok"

A pumpkin is in fact nothing like a butternut squash but it worked anyway.

Thursday, for actually Thanksgiving, I made turkey and pumpkin pie. It is in fact possible to find whole turkeys in France, but there was no need for an entire turkey so I asked just for a "roti". It was super tiny and super cute. Below it's picutred in comparison to a chicken (mind you a small chicken, not like the big ones we have in the States.) I cooked it simply, just with a little salt and pepper in the oven. How did my family like it. Eh. It wasn't special. Haha. However, the pumpkin pie was well received.

All in all my Thanksgiving show was met with resounding indifference. But I can't blame my french family becuase just the week before French Cuisine was named a "patrimoine de l'humainité." This means that the UN decided that French Cuisine was something so special and important it should be preserved. If you've ever heard of UNESCO which is usually a historical designation for castles, it's basically that, but food. I agree with the UN. The food is wonderful here.

And so now it's officially the Christmas season and the country of France was aware of this. Friday morning I woke up the a snow covered yard. Beautiful!!

It had melted by the afternoon but it's predicted to snow all this week! Down side? Our heating went out. This morning I took a shower the old fashion way- water heated on the stove. Fortunately we have something like a fireplace to heat the house but really it only heats the living room. In fact it's continues to be like the olden-days: all the family hanging out together by the fire. It was picturesque and fun.

Till next time!!

Thanksgiving (Part 1)

As you may have suspected, because France did not welcome the Pilgrims and there were no Indians, the French do not celebrate Thanksgiving. Sadly, Thursday will be another working day for me and in the evening I will merely skype my family to join the festivities. No need to worry! I’m brining Thanksgiving to France! All this week I will be cooking one Thanksgiving dish per day (pictures and stories in the following post). I am very excited! For now, in the spirit of true thanks giving, I’ll share all that I am thankful for.

· My parents. Where do I start with how thankful I am for the parents I have? They are where all of the blessings I have in my life have begun. They have given me everything I have ever needed and more. They taught me how to be a good person and how to stand up after falling down. They have supported me in everything that I have ever done (including when I ran away to foreign countries. twice.) Especially now that I am pseudo-raising children, I am truly thankful for the time my parents took to raise me right. Mumsy, Daddy, I love you!

· The rest of my family (immediate, extended, and “family”). I have been blessed with an army of amazing people who love and support me. To all of you: I wish that I could be with you for the holidays this year but I know you understand! You enrich my life in so many ways! Much love!

· My friends. My friends are the most important thing in my life. They are the ones who are next to you when life happens. My friends are always there to listen all of my stories (the funny ones, the sad ones, and the not-so-well-told ones). I’m grateful to have so many people to share my life with! I am especially thankful this year for my friends in France, both the ones I knew before (all 3!) and the ones I’ve met so far. They keep me in good-spirits and go with me to experience Paris and France! To my besties, the ones who are my sisterly soul-mates, I am so thankful that you make me laugh till I pee and that you love me for who I am (even the crazy parts!).

· My French family. I am extraordinarily thankful they are not a bunch of crazies. Really. I am thankful that there aren’t 19 children (yea, I think the Dugger’s are freaks). Zoe and Eliott are big fans of a CD I made that includes Thriller, Seven Nation Army, Bad Romance, and the two songs from A Goof Movie thus I am grateful they don’t nag me to listen to crappy music. I am grateful that Alain and Caroline are cool (especially about miscommunications—see last post) and we can have good chats, too. Most of all I am grateful for the opportunity they gave me for an experience of a lifetime.

· Everything else. I’m healthy, happy and young. What more can I ask for? Life is good.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
P.S. If you were wondering, I will not be coming home for Christmas. Yes, sad but not that bad. I’m excited to share Christmas with my family here. Plus, Mumsy is coming to visit then too. And as for the Mother Daughter Christmas Tea, it’s a no go this year. But I am 100% sure if you show up at my house in your Christmas-Tea-Best, Mama Cork will be overjoyed and will welcome you in with Nutcracker tea, pirouettes, gingerbread men, and the little teacup that has feet like a tub.

Qu’est-ce qu’elle a dit? (What did she say?)

It’s been near 3 months for me here and all goes well. My French is coming along slowly but steadily and I must admit, I’m rather proud of the progress I’ve made. The trick is to try and speak as much French as possible and try to use all the words you learn. Of course, in the process of learning one will make many mistakes, its part of the game. Normally my mistakes end up making no sense at all because the grammar is way off or I simply took an English word and made it French but it doesn’t actually exist in French. However, recently I have said things that make sense but are not at all what I mean.

1) One week we had a problem with gnats in the house. Very annoying. We had a girl over who works with Alain for scouts and we were talking while Alain made dinner. There was an open bottle of wine on the counter and as I went to pour myself a glass, I realized there were a herd of gnats drowning in the wine.

I wanted to say: “Well the gnats like to be drunk!”
So I said: “Les bêtes aime être bouré”
What I actually said: “The little beasts like to be shi*-f@ced”
I learned “bouré” from some French friends and I didn’t know it wasn’t a word to use around family!

2) Just this morning I was talking to Alain

I wanted to say: “But I’m healthy so…”
So I said: “Je suis en santé” but it came out like “Je suis enseinte”
What I actually said was: “But I’m pregnant so…”

3) I needed to know whether or not I should do a survey Alain had sent the scouts and me for a dinner in a couple of weeks.

What I wanted to say: “Do you want me to do the poll?”
So I said: “Est-ce que tu veut me faire…?” I stopped because I didn’t know the word for poll
What I actually said: “Do you want to do me” or “Do you want to do to me?”
Egad that was awkward.

4) By far the best one happened when I was reading a recipe to Alain. It was good practice for me to read out loud (just like the children I care for).

The recipe read “Couvrir et baisser les legumes”
This means simply enough “Cover and lower the temperature of the vegetables”
I actually said “Couvrir et baiser les legumes.” You wouldn’t think one little s would make a huge difference, but in French it does ( the S sound for 2ss and the Z sound for 1s). Because what I actually said was “Cover and f*%# the vegetables.” Oopsidaisies.

Fortunately the kids weren’t around for any of these. Alain has gotten a kick out of all of them (especially number 4) and, fortunately for me, he and Caroline are laid back and understand that I’m not trying to be absolutely inappropriate.

So I hope you’ve had a good laugh. Enjoy your weekend! And if you’re in Georgia, enjoy the beautiful weather!

Une Semaine de Vacance (A week of vacation)

Hello again! It’s been a while! Let’s see what has happened since we chatted?

Well, Dad and Marlene’s visit was good! They arrived on Thursday and were basically on their own until I could see them on Friday (thanks strike). I visited briefly with them Friday while the kids where in school. We did Montmartre and Sacre Coeur. Saturday we did some stuff in the city and then took the train out to Chaumes to see my little city and have dinner with my French family. The frog legs were delicious! Pictured just before being cooked. In a Lemon-butter+herb sauce. Mmm... We had a lovely time. Sunday we took a tour bus to see the city. Monday we met Alain for lunch at Chartiers and had the most delicious confit de canard—duck prepared in some magical way that makes it absolutely amazing! After that Marlene and I did some shopping through La Galleries Lafayette and the boutiques near the opera. Tuesday we tried to go to a museum but it was closed so we ended up having coffee then lunch at a lovely little place just next to the museum. Marlene also found a great store for souvenirs which just happened to be next to a little crepe shop. I believe that after we bought a Nutella Banane crepe, Marlene was hooked for life! That evening we took a stroll down the Champs Elysée which became Dad and Marlene’s favorite place in Paris. Wednesday I took a break from playing tour guide because I had an appointment with the doctors at the immigration office that would take all day. Good news! I don’t have tuberculosis. I can stay in France now.

Thursday was a big day. We rented a car to drive out to Normandy (a region) to the city of Caen to see Omaha Beach and the American cemetery. 1) I never wanted to drive in Paris. Ever. 2) The strike which was on-going but had lessened in effect was starting over again Thursday i.e. expect horrible traffic. 3) My GPS was dying about 30 minutes into the trip. Anyway, I rented the car and was able to get Dad and Marlene without any trouble. Everything was going fine until we got to Port Maillot, THE largest flipping roundabout I have ever experienced. In France, the buses are comfortable with getting right next to your car. I mean like 6 inches away. Also, in the roundabouts and some of the streets in Paris, there are no lines to create lanes. These two things make a young au pair trying to get to Normany very, very unnerved when she’s driving in the city. So good luck, God speed, for when you drive in Paris. But! When you get outside of the city, all is well! The roads are well maintained and well marked. We made it to Normandy safe and sound. The cemetery and museum are really, very nice but the best part of the trip was the city of Caen. While we were having a little snack down an adorable little alley, we found my next apartment! Or at least that’s what we had fun imagining. Driving back so slightly more difficult once we reached Paris because it was dark but we made it! After we returned the car, Dad bought me a well deserved beer!
Friday, our last day, we went to Versailles and saw the magnificent chateau. There was an exposition there as well, but I have to say that it was a bad choice for this particular venue. See below. Bleh.
But in the city we found a fromagerie (cheese store) where Marlene bought lots of stinky cheese, much to Dad’s dismay.
Saturday would have been easy, breezy, beautiful but Marlene discovered her passport missing as she was trying to check in. Fortunately, there is an agent from Border Control that can help verify who you are and get you on a plane. So Dad and Marlene are both now back safe and sounds in Atlanta.

I returned to Chaumes and walked all the way back from the train station. Really it wasn’t bad. It was a lovely day and my bag had wheels. It was a good walk. I had tried to plan a trip to Italy then Amsterdam but they both fell through, so I had nothing planned for the rest of my vacation. So one day I visited Provins, a little town not far from Chaumes that is basically a medieval village. Super cute. I shopped in the city. But it’s expensive here! Also I met some girls from school and we went to the top of L’Arc de Triomphe for a lovely night view! The Thursday school started and we all went back to the daily grind. But only two days this week!
This weekend was fun because I went to a party on Friday, met another firend for dinner on Saturday, and went to scouts on Sunday. Did I mention that I volunteered to be a scout here? To help Alain out, I said I would be one of the leaders for Zoe’s group, les Jeannettes. The girls are fun and cute and the two other leaders are nice, especially since I don’t actually speak French that well… Anyway. What a long post!! More stories later!! Have a good week everyone!