So, now, then

La Fille en Rose, I'm sorry. I haven't been a very attentive blogger. There was a time when you were updated almost daily, but ever since the creation of your sister blog (everyday) you haven't been given as much attention. I promise to try and give my best to you both. So, on that note, a quick little run down of my day: Today I skipped my last class and finished knitting an x-mas present. Then I went to the thrift store with C-town & Barbs. I got 2 dress (both of which I plan to alter/salvage) and one babetastic dandelion yellow wool skirt. I really love yellow right now, well, yellow and pink I guess. Tonight C, Barbs, and I are going to use up the rest of my curry sauce and have a lentil & vegetable curry with quinoa and cinnamoned apples with vanilla pecan ice cream for dessert. I'm about to go fold my laundry and then pack for my weekend excursion to Paris because... it's Paris time again!

Sleep the clock around

I'm up far too late. I can't bring myself to shut this computer down; something keeps grabbing my attention and pulling me further into this sleepless night of web surfing. I should really try to sleep. I need to sleep. I can feel the slightest tinge of something creeping up my throat and I hope to the heavens it's not another form of a cold/flu. Boo. This weekend I went to Rennes to have a proper Thanksgiving day feast with the other assistants. As is tradition with Thanksgiving we all ate too much and then proceeded to eat too much of the leftovers the following day. I still don't feel entirely up to par...must have something to do with lounging around for most of the weekend while slowly doing one task (cutting potatoes, stirring some random dish on the stove top, dishing out advice on the best way to season yams) or slowly boozing all day long. Nevertheless this act of (what feels like) doing nothing leaves me restless. In other news La Fille en Rose is officially one year old! Who would have thought I could carry on with these endless me-centric ramblings for a year? Far more intriguing are the people who have become my Fille en Rose groupies, the regulars, the peeps who leave comments. Merci a vous, dear friends. I hope it's as good for you as it is for me.

Action de grâce

It just so happens that today René had planned to have a small dinner party at our house...and it just so happens that today is Thanksgiving and I have an amazing cousin who sent me all the ingredients for a pumpkin pie. So 2+2=4 which means I made a pumpkin pie for the dessert tonight and it totally won the French over; they even asked for seconds! I'm sure you're all curious about what our French Thanksgiving consisted of so here's a quick rundown of our lavish meal:

Champagne (2 bottles)
Hors d'oeuvres (cheese & grapes, miniature puff pastries)
Main course (homemade pepper sauce & rice...everyone else had chicken, I sautéed up some tofu)
Red wine
Salad (dressing made by yours truly)
Cheese (comté, goat, and some other kind I didn't recognize)
Pumpkin pie
White wine
Pumpkin pie seconds
Coffee/tea
Artisanal chocolates

I must admit that I was grinning from ear to ear as everyone asked for seconds. The French ladies wanted to know what was in the pie, 'C'est très fine!' they said. I didn't have the heart to tell them it was canned pumpkin and condensed milk...or rather I kept it a secret. A good chef never reveals her secrets. (Not even the ones listed on the can.)

First class

My cousin is the best, the best of the best...I love you Cousin! Today I received the world's most complete and wonderful Thanksgiving day care package (pumpkin pie filling, pie crust mix, green bean casserole topping, vegetarian stuffing, m&m cookie mix, canned cranberries, dried cranberries, scalloped potato mix, candied yams, and a glittery turkey card) !! This is the best gift on the face of the planet. Also, I received the world's greatest card from Linds-Lou and Eric Rollerblades...


(Cut outs of our faces pasted onto the card) ...you guys rule & so do all of my other friends and family in the states. In other news it appears that I qualify for the 'Economic Hardship' loan deferment plan on my loans which means that I have a 12 months before I'm officially in the poor house. This thanksgiving I'm thankful for my Economic Hardship! Happy Turkey Day my dear ones.

Every so often (perhaps once every 15 days)

Every now and again I run across some extremely beautiful someone in the street and I think to myself, Where do you come from, where are you going? And then I go about my ordinary humdrum day wondering about these mysterious beautiful people in my small town. (Are they curious about me too?)

Adventures in French cuisine

One of the most brilliant aspects about living in France is that the French love food; they're interested in where their foods come from and the ways in which they are produced. The quality of products available is unbeatable and I find that there's always something special and different about all of the small delicacies that are, to the French, common place. The aisles at my grocery store are filled with tiny little jars containing complicated and delicious sounding jams and spreads for bread and hors d'oeuvres...don't even get me started on the yogurt and cheese (an entire aisle of cheese followed by an entire aisle of yogurt, cream, and milk). However, being a vegetarian in France means that sometimes I'm a bit frustrated with my food options when it comes to dining out, and for all of the wonderful new foods I can eat I have to say there are equally as many which I won't. Nevertheless I must admit that I've never felt left out when someone brought out pâté (a spread made from the fattened liver of a force fed goose)...luckily for me this is a country that truly enjoys the decadence of delicious dessert and being vegetarian here means that I have some extra time on my hands and room in my stomach to discover the sweet delights that this culture has to offer.

Today, for example, I came across a silly little jar of rose petal jam that I fell in love with. The jam was such a pretty pinkish/tea stained color with transparent little ghosts of actual rose petals suspended in the jam...I knew it was coming home with me. (I love the way the French use flowers in foods and desserts. One of my favorite flavors is Violet, it makes a delicious drink when you add violet syrup to sparkling water.) As long as I had my jam I certainly needed something tasty to put it on so on the walk home I popped into my local boulangerie for a bit of brioche, which lead me to a delicious little tea and coffee shop I'd always wanted to stop in and see (another thing the French do spectacularly well is different tea infusions)...which lead to the buying of a wonderful tea flavored with dried fruits and flowers. And as long as I'm talking about wonderful and delicious French food did I mention the beurre salé (salted butter)? Beurre salé is a religion for me, it's changed my life and the way I view the world. I want to slather everything I see in beurre salé, I want to brush my teeth with beurre salé, and well, unless you've been to France and tried it you'll never know this fever burning inside me.

Written in the stars

Sarah
Origin: Hebrew, meaning princess
Your day is October 9th
Your planet is Venus
Your color is red
Your lucky number is 2

Sarah is very soft and feminine. Fragile, she is sensible to the risks of love, often seeking the certain security of herself. Secretive, willful and passionate, you are someone social. Venus is the planet of love, you are very sensible to the quality of your relationships with others. People happily recognize your joy, your kindness, and your sense of diplomacy. You are very appreciated by your friends because you are very engaging.



(Translated from French by yours truly, this was written on a ruler given to me by a friend of mine...is this me?)

If on a winter's night a traveler

"It's all very well for me to come and go, shift and turn: I am caught in a trap, in that nontemporal trap which all stations unfailingly set. A cloud of coal dust still hovers in the air of stations all these years after the lines have been totally electrified, and a novel that talks about trains and stations cannot help connveying this odor of smoke."

-Italo Calvino

Packing my suitcase again...
this time for Nantes and Rennes.
Back sometime next week.
Ciao to you dear lovers and friends!

En Attendant Godot

Waiting for class to start, waiting for the weekend to come, waiting for my next vacation, waiting for the train/bus/plane, waiting for a phone call from my mother, waiting for paper work from the government, waiting for my laundry to dry, waiting for a sunny day, waiting for friends to visit, waiting waiting day in day out. If I'm not waiting then I'm thinking about waiting...lately I've been thinking a lot about returning to the states after this little stint is over and the thought has me over the moon with excitement. I think I want to move to Portland. I'm feeling more bold, now that I've started over once what's one more time? So, I suppose it's all a big waiting game at this point. I suppose looking forward to what comes next is what keeps me sane and keeps me moving. I suppose I'm not really doing what all those obnoxious people recommend which is live in the moment, always be present. Well, I am present, in the future.

Home again home again jiggity jig

Let me just cut to the heart of it and save all the blah blah details of my itinerary and what monuments I saw and didn't see and wish I'd seen but couldn't, etc. and say that Stockholm is a phenomenally beautiful city. In the time I was there I managed to make a few friends and feel quite at home and happy...so much so that I'm thinking of making Stockholm a sort of temporary home away from home whilst I do this little ditty abroad. (Summer in Stockholm anyone?) In the mean time I'm glad to be back in France and happy to receive all of your letters and news from across the Atlantic...tell me dear friends, how is your life?


Ps. What do you think of my pretty new 2 bird ring?