My Clean Colon

Not to get too graphic here, but Cyr and I went on a "cleanse diet" for three weeks. No, I did not talk him into this. Yes, he wanted to do it!

A good friend of mine did this and was talking about it when we were out with her a few weeks ago. We decided that maybe we should do a little detoxing ourselves. Now I know these things don't work. I have read many studies and seen the BBC "Truth About Food" episode where they take tests before and after a "cleanse" and the after results are just like the before. Only the people loose weight. To be honest I am not concerned about having a toxin free body. I'm concerned about being a little too heavy right now. So I say "Yeah baby, let's do this thing."

This, I can say, might also be another reason I have not blogged in a while. I have been in a bad mood for about three weeks. This cleanse thing involves taking all kinds of fiber pills and green seaweed pills and vitamins. It's 21 days long and you can't eat meat for the first 10 days. You can only eat fruits, vegetables and these protein shakes that you can add frozen fruit to. No bread, pasta, sugar or salt. You can eat 1 serving of lentils a day and you can have sea salt, just not regular salt.

You are also supposed to try to eat only organic foods the entire time. Being as I am not Bill Gates or a Rockefeller we did not adhere to the "organic only" portion of this cleans. Which really probably means I ate more pesticides during my cleanse than I do normally now that I think about it. So I would make trips to the grocery store and buy things I have never purchased before, come home and look them up on the internet to see how to cook them. I would buy things that I thought sounded good like acorn squash, or butternut squash. We also purchased a food processor! You laugh...but I have used that thing 3 times in the last 2 weeks and Cyr has used it a few times too! I wonder how long we will continue to use it though...

My favorite was the butternut squash soup and the eggplant babaganouch which is pureed eggplant, garlic, tahini and olive oil. Apparently I don't like to chew much. So anyway, we came out the end of this me a 11.4 lbs lighter and Cyr down 15 pounds! My goal is to keep 6 of it off. I am rather certain I have gained back 4 but am refusing to get on the scale. Denial ain't such a bad place you know...kinda nice.

The diet was hard though. We both became a little snippy. We actually once got into an argument at the grocery store. It went something like this:

Me: I need to get some lentils, they are over on this aisle.
Cyr: I don't want to go into the aisles because I don't want to look at what I can't have. I get frustrated. We can only eat the food on the outside of the aisles, the fruit and vegetables.
(He, bless his heart, only listens to hears the second part of my sentence.)
Me: I need to go get the lentils.
Cyr: I told you I don't want to go into the aisles!
Me: Grow up!
(continue as if listening to two children argue.)

Poor guy was so traumatized by all the fruits and vegetables in his system he couldn't bear to be even close to carbohydrates! I was also short tempered so I didn't much help the argument. We actually ended up laughing, but we were serious for a while there!

My advice to anyone looking to "cleanse"? Take a shower.

Just kidding, I actually feel great. I hope I can keep up all the veg a fruit eating. I also learned how to cook some good healthy meals. Not too bad, but really really not fun at all. One cool thing, Cyr and I each had two beers the other night and that was all we needed. I knew that diet was good for something...

Valentine's Weekend

Ok...I'm not usually a big Valentine's Day kinda person, but this year it was really fun! Of course, maybe it was fun because I was given some really fun gifts and taken to a great restaurant. I tried to give a really good gift, but after I bought it I had buyers remorse and knew I should I have gotten something else. I hate it when that happens.

Cyr, however, really surprised me with some great gifts!! He found some website that sells fancy jams and teas and things. I got a box full of preserves, chutneys and things. Check it out, way better than a box of chocolates. I even had a baguette to cook for breakfast (thank you Picard).

Don't they look amazing?! Some of my favorite times with Cyr are sitting on the couch eating breakfast, so this is perfect. It gives us another reason to sit on the couch and eat bread. :-)

But he didn't stop there! I also love tea. I have this thing about smelly things. I love soap, candles and tea. This is a set of tea with a really pretty silver spoon-steeper-thing and spoon holder. I didn't know it, but apparently I am an Earl Grey fan. The Earl Grey in this set is so fragrant. I now understand...

There is also some fruit and flower blends but I have not opened them yet. I'm sure they will be great. For dinner we went to a Moroccan restaurant and had couscous and rose wine with a champagne aperitif that had champagne soaked raspberries in it so that it was pink and pretty. Plus you could eat the raspberries with a spoon they gave you. Yummm...

And here is a picture I took last week on the 12th when it snowed here like crazy. Check out the cars!! I stayed in all day with the cat and watched it come down. It was a great day.

Raclette!!

Well I did it! Sort of...

I took pictures of our raclette thing, but we were so wrapped up with talking and eating that I forgot to take pictures with all the food! So here is the raclette grill thing, you can see the little pan that each person gets to melt the cheese. I have to say...it is amazing.

Isn't it pretty!? It was the best Christmas gift I have gotten in years!! Cyr's Mom gave it to us...thank you Annie!

Here is a cute picture of Duncan trying to find the missing cheese that used to be in the Auchan bag. He knows he smells something good, but where is it?!

We heard a little news about our move, but not the dates. Darn it! But at least we know the visa for Cyr is in process. I have been waiting two weeks t get the info on my free French classes from the government but still no news from them either. By the time I am able to take them we will living in Houston. Grrrr...

The Countdown Has Begun...

To the last day of my teaching at the Little School that is!! I have two more classes to teach there. Next week they are 1 hour 30 minutes and the following week they are both 3 hours. That makes for a long class, but I am so excited I think I already know what I am going to do. At least I will leave them on a good note. My last few classes I think will be the best I have done so far. And no letting these suckers out early either...no way buddy.

As you might be able to tell, I feel human again! I am still coughing a little bit but I am not gasping for air and having to take steroids to clear my lungs. I'm off today to buy a few things for a dinner party we are having tonight. A few folks are coming over for Raclette!! Reflecting on my past entries I see that I have not been as good as I should have with the promise of pictures, but this time I have my camera read for the event and will do my best to document the "Easy-Bake Oven For Adults" type meal that Raclette is. Nothing like a meal consisting mostly of melted cheese to kick off a healthy start eh? Apologies to my arteries...but I'll drink red wine with it and plan to poach pears in a sweet red wine sauce for a light desert. Fruit and anti-oxidants, that evens things out? Right?

Fun with food

Well...there was a bit of a traumatic incident with the rabbit. As I was taking the little guy out of the wrapping and telling myself that it was not in fact someone's beloved pet, but a piece of meet just like a hamburger I felt sure that I was going to have no problem cooking this thing.

That was until I moved the top part and Thumper's head peeped up at me. His teeth bared, his eyes glossed over, his fur missing...it freaked me out. I ran out of the kitchen and grabbed my manly carnivore of a husband and asked him to please stop the rabbit from checking out the ceiling lights. Well, it might have been more like "flight" from the "fight or flight" instinct. I just couldn't do it! Here is the evidence.

I even forgot to take a picture of the done deal! It's was pretty good once his beady eyes were not checking me out and judging my culinary skills. I pretty much just slathered him with mustard and cooked him for about 30 minutes. I know next time to cook at a lower temp for an hour maybe. Not sure why, it just sounds right.

Though I don't have a picture of the rabbit, I do have a picture of Cyr's fantastic leek quiche!! He surprised me with a heart on top made of cheese...awe...ain't that sweet...

We also went out and got a "galette" which is a crusty pie thingy that has a plastic figure in it. The person who is given the piece with the figure in it gets to (has to) wear a crown (that is so conveniently supplied with the cake) for rest of the day. Or something like that. You must be careful when eating that you don't bite down on the little guy and loose a tooth. I'm sure dentists are frequented this time of year for just that. We were pretty cheap and got our galette at Carrefour which is the big grocery store near us. It was a Harry Potter themed galette. Turns out I was the lucky one. Without even cheating not only did I get the guy, I got him on the first bite!! The bummer was that it wasn't even Harry!! It's some random guy who probably taught math at Hogwarts.

So far 2009 has been a pretty good year. I did discover that I gained 4 lbs. over Christmas. But each gram was sooooo worth it! The food and drink...ahhh....beside, I'll burn that off just trying to fend off hypothermia while walking to work.

Happy B-Day Annie! (and More work)

I meant to post this yesterday but forgot...oops! Yesterday was my new mother-in-law's birthday. We are going over to her house this weekend to celebrate. I'm looking forward to it actually. I had a great time the last visit and am feeling a lot more comfortable speaking in French. She actually speaks good English, but I think I should speak French because we are in France.

As for work; well when it rains it pours. (Uh...how cliche...but very appropriate being I live in the north.)

So I was offered the 2nd class and have my schedule all set up. Looks like Tuesday is college day with The Class in the morning and Zee Class in the afternoon. I am excited because I already have both lessons done for next week. Woohoo!

I also was offered an adult education class at a large mail order company here in Lille. There are three classes with only 3-7 people in each class. The pay is not as good as the college one, but it's half the work. We even have a book!! How crazy...the company has a book and a syllabus, but the college does not. Hmmm....maybe if folks learned more English in college they wouldn't need the adult courses after they graduate eh?

I also discovered a super cool store which most of you living in France may already know about. My friend Marie told me about it. A big thank you to Marie in Lille!! It's called Picard. It is a store that sells nothing but frozen foods. You might think "ewe...frozen food?" but it's all (what I would call) slightly fancy (some full on fancy) and super pretty. They have tons of little snacks for aperitifs and little desserts along with fantastic full meals. Including pizzas and pancakes! It's like the freezer section of Sam's Warehouse if they were owned by Neiman Marcus and sold small portions instead of the bulk sizes. Best yet, the prices are not bad at all! We were going to have guests tonight so I bought some little snackies and desserts. Turns out they are not going to make it, but I think I might implement "snack night" and munch down on them anyway. I am going to charge my camera to take pictures so I can post them tomorrow!

Great Sunday Food

Although I still have a completely clogged up nose, the weekend was pretty good. Sunday we went to Cyr's Mom's house and had lunch with her and his brother C. Lunch is always good at the belle-mere's, she's a great cook.

I think I mentioned once before how time here seems to move faster than in the US, it's really strange. Somehow we left our place with 15 minutes to spare, stopped by the bakery to pick up a desert and then were almost an hour late for lunch. How does that happen?! Very strange...

Our tardiness was not a big deal though, we arrived just before the rain started. I really like meals at the beau-famille (in-laws) because we always have a bunch of little appetizers. We started with a glass of Champagne with little toasts that had chevre and bacon on it that were grilled in the oven. Along with that there were some banana peppers stuffed with some sort of cream cheese like filling and of course saucisson. Not just any saucisson either, my favorite; St. Agaune. It's soooooo good. It seems to have a lower fat content and the meat is tender and a bit salty and somhow even juicy. Can dried sausage be juicy? Probably only if it's really fattening.

She also had what looks like a layer cake but is in fact (I found out after I was eating) cow tongue with layers of foie gras. It's a specialty of the city where they live. Don't cringe, I know it sounds awful, but it's actually wonderful. She also made some gelatin to go with it and cut up a few figs. All two million calories were fantastic. Lunch was a lamb stew with carrots, potatoes, beets and peas with a great bottle of red wine. I think I could talk with his Mom more this visit. My French is getting a little bit better each time I think. Her English is really good though, so she can always save me when I don't know what's going on. I'm also a bit limited on topics I can talk about because I don't have a wide variety of words to choose from. I wanted to ask her about work and a few things but didn't know the words. Maybe next time.

We hung out most of the day and then came home and tried to get things done for the wedding. Everyone clap your hands in appreciation of Cyr's first dance lesson!! I think I fell in love all over again...he's a natural waltzer people.

I love the waltz. It's a dance that always makes me think that maybe I was a princess given away at birth to protect me from the evil doers of my land. To be raised by a nice family to maybe one day be brought back to rule in my castle and have the stable of horses I so deserve. I also don't really look like my parents which has always aided this fantasy. But I do act like them. Guess you can't get away from the DNA too much. Plus I wouldn't give them up for anything, not even a castle. But if they threw in a stable of horses...well it would be tempting...naw. Not really.

Difficult French

Currently I am trying to type but I have a very strong urge to blow my nose. Which by the way, won't blow when I blow it. I just end up forcing air to the top of my throat, then my ears threaten to pop. Of course there is that odd running thing every now and then so you have to keep a tissue near so you don't drip on yourself and offend the people around you.

Cyr took me to the pharmacy and I got some kind of spray and some pills to take. These are serious pills too! Four times a day then one at night for four days. Maybe tomorrow I won't be the irritating mouth breathing person you can actually hear.

Inhallllle....exhaaale.

Ewe...that's me.

I also discovered something interesting about the French language. It's virtually impossible to speak French as a non-native speaker (ok, complete beginner) when you have a stopped up nose. It's like my mouth can't form the words because the pressure is off or something. I have suddenly forgotten how to form the words. Example: We went to lunch and I wanted a hot mint tea. You would have thought I was trying to order a 5 course meal. I could not get it out, I had to say it I think three times before the waiter got it. Cyr was so patient, he just smiled and let me talk loud and spray spittle on the waiter. I think the waiter thought it was amusing. He had that raised eyebrow (both of them) look and a smile. Like I was a three-year-old trying to do a magic trick. For a person who really doesn't like three-year-olds.

Cyr didn't try to order for me because he knew I was already irritated at the lady who sat us and offered "Shall I bring you a menu in English?" said in French very quietly to Cyr. My poorly tied scarf must have given me away as being non-French. Cyr declined, saying; "No thank you, she understands." (in French of course) Then the lady says; "I'll bring you one anyway."

What....Did.....You....Say?

Granted, maybe I'm a bit touchy because someone filled both of my nostrils with cement glue last night, but I was offended. Seriously lady, guess you people don't get the "no means no" thing here eh? When she came back with the menus I gave her the one eye brow raised look and Cyr reaches out and takes the English menu. Ha...how sweet is that?! Low and behold I was even able to find my agneau (lamb) without a problem.

Of course she was not our waiter, that was the guy mentioned above. Darn it...I would have felt much better getting a little spittle on her and forcing her to hear my stuffy nosed French. Oh well, maybe next time. Even if I feel fine. :-)

Chinese Translations and Menu Offerings

Cyr is in China this week and sent me a few photos of the signs he has in his hotel room. One of my favorites is this sign by the bathtub:

In case it's hard to read...it says;

Our honorific guests:
For your safey and preventy the wed and slippery floor. Please put the bath curtain into the bathrub when you are washing for avoiding the water spatter out of the bathrub.
At the same. We prepare the nail-clipper for you in the house-keeping.
Thanks for your cooperating.

I also like this one he took of the laundry bag.

It says;

To serve you whole heartdly makes you feel convenient and happy during travel.

Nothing like being served "heartdly". Being the agreeable eater he is he also told me he tried a dish that looked very much like snails that had forked tails. Well, turned out it was duck tongue. Seriously, how many duck tongues would it take to make one meal?! There was also donkey served I believe in the same meal. Such a lucky fella to have all these fun things thrown after him!

He sent me some pictures of menus but they are hard to read so I will just tell you what some of my favorites were;

Steamed Mouse-Shaped Fish (Maybe a children's favorite? Also known as the "Mickey Fish"?)
Crispy Freid Loach (Please don't let that be a typo with the "L")
Sauteed Chicken Feet (no thanks, I like my feet fried)
Jew's Ear with Chrysanthemum (I just can't say anything about this one...)
Flavored Crispy Elbow (after the previous entry I am not sure I want to know what kind of elbow.)
Sauteed Crispy Stomach with Pickled Peppers (Peter Piper's favorite I'm sure, but again...the stomach of what?)
Spicy Ox Spinal Cord (Whew, I just hate the dull flavored spinal cord)
Chicken Stomach with Chili Pot (if this is like Amsterdam "Pot" I might need it to eat the "Chicken Stomach")
Sauteed Duck Lips in Maggie Sauce (So that's why I have never seen a duck's lips! They are all in China being served for dinner! With Maggie apparently...)

I don't think he actually tried any of the above. But in case you are offered, I hear the duck tongue is nothing to spit at. Ha...actually he said it was pretty chewy...

Braderie Review

First, before I tell you about the Braderie I would like to say "miss you" to my blog friend "Le Tigre" out there. I go to Munich for a week and you have taken your blog off line! Email me when you can, or post...we newbies have to stick together.

SO! The Braderie (which happened the first weekend of September) was great! I really do think that the estimated 2 million visitors came to the event. There was everything you could imagine...new things, old things, crazy things, fantastic local food vendors, and beer. Fantastic beer sold on the street in plastic cups so that you didn't break anything and could walk around while sipping. Here is our grand place with a few tents. It seemed that all the streets downtown were lined with vendors. There were miles of them...not exaggerating!

Here is my first picture that I thought was funny. People were crowded around this table and I just had to know why. What was such a great deal? Ah, yes. Converse...the crack cocaine of the French casual shoe world. They are friggin crazy expensive here. They thought this was a good price, I had to take a photo.

Back home Target sells them for $20-$30 a pair. As you can see, these are 70 euro, which converts to about $105 a pair. I should stock up on my next trip.

An then there are the moules, known as mussels in the US. The food item of the Braderie weekend is moules and frites. That is steamed mussels with a bowl of French fries on the side. Mmmmm...fantastic!! Many of the restaurants take the shells and pile them outside the restaurant to show how many they sell. There is a competition amongst the owners. Not sure who won, but this picture was taken on Sunday morning, they still had the rest of the day ahead of them!

Known fact: France is not exactly customer oriented.
Example: Our friend Crystal wanted just an order of fries. They would not sell them to her. She HAD to order moules with her fries. Think of this...they could have charged her more, she was willing to pay. There were three of us, after she had her conversation (she is French so she could tell them what she thought) we left and found a place that would attempt the very difficult task of separating the fries from the moules.

Here is some kind of pita with some kind of meat in it that I ate. I always have them put the samurai sauce on anything that I can. It's like a mayo based spicy reddish sauce. The first time I ordered it the man told me "It very spicy!" Cyr said; "she's from Texas, she can handle it." Oh yes, I can handle it. Really frites are just a vehicle that enables me to consume the samurai sauce.

Notice the little red fork? They love these, you get them with fries when you order from the baraque a frite (french fry sales guy on wheels, like a French mobile taco stand). So cultured, you don't get your hands dirty! Well, I do of course, but that's me...

I didn't find my bicycle, but I did find some cute gifts for folks and two great scarves that were 2 euro a piece. The weather was great Saturday but on Sunday it rained off an on. It didn't seem to bother many though, people were out in force again. One thing I love about the French is that they don't seem to get bothered much by the crowds. This picture was taken Saturday at what seemed like the busiest time. The streets were packed. Sometimes at certain areas you had to take baby steps and make it through a narrow passage until it thinned out. But not once did I hear someone yell "mooooove people!" in French. We all just packed in and ambled along. There was shoving, but not shouting or frustration. I guess everyone here is used to standing in lines and living with a million folks around them.

It was a great weekend. I hope next year we get TWO sunny days to enjoy it. Not all the streets are so crowded either. The best ones, with all the used junk, are in the back of the city and the sides. Easily walkable from the grand place and sure to have many hidden treasures. And of course great food and beer...

Interesting Facts, Part III - La Cuisine

French ovens cook in Celsius.

Our oven was not actually hooked up and working until I was away in the US and since I have been back I have been cooking on the stove top and had no need to venture into the realm actually inside the oven. Well all this changed yesterday. In the quest to become Healthy Susan (translate drop a few pounds/kilos for the wedding) I have been cooking a lot of boring things on the stove top and eating cereal since Cyr is out of town. I don't mind eating the same thing a few days in a row so I went out and bought a package of chicken breasts and thought I would bake some mustard chicken. Pas de problem right? Non...

It started off well. I had all four ingredients out; chicken, salt, pepper, mustard and even a nice clear Pyrex thingy to cook it in. Once I have used my top secret and highly complex method of applying the mustard, salt and pepper to the chicken I then go to preheat the oven. I do this after the coating because I decide I'll let it hang out and soak up the mustard while the oven warms up. I mean...I'm not actually going to prepare this early and let it marinate. It's just me so 5-10 minutes of marination works fine.

So I check out all the crazy knobs and opt for the one I think is just "bake". There are no words, just pictures of things (see photo) so I'm not sure, but I know I don't want a pizza, cake, bread or what looks to be a speedy snail to come out and I'm fairly sure that all the modes make heat occur in the oven. I end up going for the empty box on the right of the "0".

I try to set the oven to 350. It won't go over 250. What?! You mean to tell me that Cyr finally managed to get the oven to fit in the space, fixed the electrical outlet and the stupid thing is broken? That is just ridiculous. I keep turning the knob to the left but it won't move over 250. It will go down, just not up. So I keep it at 250 to warm up and look for the manual just in case. I don't want to hit an ejector seat button or something and blow the place up.

"Bing!" The oven is warm now, put the chicken in.

The good thing is that I actually picked the correct picture to bake on. Oh the sweet scent of victory... The interesting thing is that they have a chart with foods and suggested cooking times and temperatures. I look at the chart and most of the foods are at 200 for an hour or less. Huh? How the heck do they get anything to cook in under an hour at 200?

With my super spy-like grasp of the obvious I then notice the headings at the top of the graph. Degrees Celsius it reads. Holy seared chicken feathers Batman! That's not the smell of victory, that's the smell of mustard chicken!! I open the oven and a waft of very warm mustard scented air puffs out my hair and makes my eyes squint a little. The sides of the pan are a rich dark brown, the very same color (I'm sure) that mustard would be if you were to light it on fire. The chicken has been in for less than 10 minutes so it's ok. I turn the knob down to 190 and run to my trusty laptop to look up on the conversion calculator what the hell 350 F is in Celsius then set the oven to 175.

I should have taken a picture of the chicken, it was fabulous! The Pyrex also looked very nice with the burnt top portion. Like I had really done something!! My father would be so impressed!

I know many of you were hoping for (and expecting) a post here similar to my "Flaming Nacho" experience in my Houston house a few years ago where I was able to experience first hand what it is like to use a fire extinguisher, but alas I am (and have been for years) flame free. Watch out Rachel Ray, I'm cookin now. In Celsius.

How to Make Paella, French Style...

I decided to buy some meals that I could cook on my own. I figured all I would need to do would be to enter the directions in the Google translation tool and voila, I would have a meal!

Step 1:

"In a large skillet, heat a medium heat 2 soup spoons of olive oil. Pour the rice and let it brown for 2 minutes. About stirring occasionally."

Ok, not too bad. I have it so far. I can find a soup spoon.

Step 2:

"Pour 30 cl water on the stove (a proportion using the trait dosage inscribed on the shield) add the contents of the packet of spices. Mix and as soon distribute the content of the box garnish on rice."

Ok, just going to ignore the "trait dosage" thing and use 30 cl of water. I think that is 300 ml right?

Step 3:

"Mix again, wear a ebullition then cover the stove and cook a low heat about 20 minutes until a absorption of broth."

Really? I have to wear "a ebullition" while cooking? Well I am not sure I have one of those laying around. If I do, I don't know if I want to wear it all alone. I think I might save that for when Cyr is back in town. I had no idea how involved French cuisine was.

Marching with the French

Well, Cyr is now busy working away in Lowanda, Angola. He left Monday and I had a visitor come stay for a few days. For the first time since I moved her we had nice weather when I had a visitor! It was so nice not be constantly telling someone that "It's not this cold here all the time, really."

My friend Karen came to visit and it snowed the whole week. I have never seen snow here at any other time, just when my cold natured friend who has no body fat to keep her warm came to visit. When my Mom and my friend Bonnie were here it was overcast, cold and drizzly rain. Maybe it's that when God sees visitors are here he doesn't want them all to know what a beautiful city Lille is. This way it keeps people from flocking here.

So Stephen showed up and I was shocked when it was 21 degrees (that is almost 70 for those Fahrenheit readers out there) and sunny. It was great, he was here two days and we would leave in the morning and spend the day in the city walking around and sitting at outside cafes all day. He has been traveling throughout Europe and was pretty museumed and cultured out so we just hung out and ate some local food. He even tried the bone marrow (see picture). This stuff rocks...it tastes like olive oil paste or something. You sprinkle rock salt on it and put it on toast, oh, heaven on a biscuit!

Stephen also got to witness a favorite French pastime; a protest!! We were walking to the train station and the main street leading through the Grand Place (main square) was filled with people carrying signs and waving flags. Well, they weren't really waving as much as just holding. Really, I have never seen a more laid back group of protesters in my life. There must have been hundreds of people divided by industry, from what I could translate, all marching to protest the fact that Sarkozy wants to amend the 35 hour work week limit currently in place. The crazy French president wants to take away this limit and ask people to work a full 40. From what I understand, currently folks in a manager role or higher are exempt from this law, so it would affect most of the middle and lower level roles. They all looked as if they were walking to the bakery, there was really almost no excitement in the march. Actually not even the bakery, French people tend to walk quickly to the bakery, more like they were all walking to have lunch at thier in-laws. The pictures look much more exciting that it really was.

I wonder if the march time went toward their 35 hours or if they had to use vacation?

Now Stephen has left for the US and I'm trying to get our apartment in order. Why is it so hard to empty a suit case? Is it just me or does it seem that bags hold some kind of magnetic force that holds clothes in them when a trip is over. I can't seem to just come home and unpack over a day or two. I like to take my time, make sure the clothes don't mind being moved. Don't want to mess with the clothing equilibrium I guess.

A few days in Kerrville

I've been in Kerrville, TX for the last few days enjoying my cousins Lisa and Mark and their two girls Asher and Cate. They are so great, they own and run an ice pack business called Ice-Ease. They are super great, click the link or go to www.ice-ease.com and order a few if you live in the US. They saved my knee after my surgery and are great for all kinds of injuries. One of the things I love about the packs is that Lisa and Mark actually make them there in Kerrville. No kidding...they have all these crazy machines that mix the blue stuff, seal the bags then they ship them off. Made in the USA and a family business, you don't see that often these days.

So anyway...I had the best time!! We did all kinds of fun things all weekend long. We went to a wildflower farm and looked around. Cyr has asked me how they can be wildflowers if they are raised on a farm. The only witty comeback I can think of is that maybe the flowers are not wild as in not domesticated, they are wild as in they really like to party and if you look closely they really sway pretty seductively when the wind blows. That's all I got for a response. The picture isn't that great, but you can get an idea of how the flowers looked.

It's just so Texas; the flowers, the cows in the background. I love it. We also went to three softball games. Both of the girls play softball and Lisa coaches Asher's team while Mark coaches Cate's. Too bad they are not very involved parents eh? Haha...the girls did great, both got good hits and had a great time.

On Sunday we picked strawberries and even dug up potatoes at a farm! Well, Asher was the farmer of the bunch and used a pitchfork to pull up the potatoes and Lisa and I gathered them up to take home. It was really fun to be outside doing something with the family.

They also had blackberries but they were not quite ready to be eaten yet. Guess I will have to go back another time to get those. You can see here how the strawberries grow in rows on the ground. They are such a bright red when they are ripe that you can't help but taste test a few while you are picking. As Lisa said; it's a good thing they didn't weigh Cate and I before and after the picking session. We would have owed a lot more for our strawberries. I'm fairly certain I consumed more than I donated to the family box.

We ended the day with a trip to Coopers BBQ in Llano, TX. This place is amazing...check out the grill! You order the meat you want and they plop it on a tray that you take in to be weighed where you pay. If you want it with sauce they dunk in the huge vat at the end of the pit and then plop it on the tray.

Sunday night ended with a concert by Cate and Asher that included dancing and singing. Very entertaining I must say.

The girls are so fun to be around, I'm going to miss them when I leave for France. It's funny, it's not like I saw them very often when I lived here, but the option was there. If I wanted to make the drive I could do it, now it's a bit more difficult to visit.
I leave Thursday for LA to visit Jen, the first friend I ever made. We met when I was 2 and she was 3. We were neighbors in San Antonio. Can't wait to see her!! Hope everyone had a good Mother's Day.
Love you Mom!!

Culinary Revenge and Pictures

People keep asking for pictures...so here is a story with some pictures plus a few random things thrown in.

Yesterday I decided to throw caution to the wind and venture out in jeans and a t-shirt. Who cares if everyone in this country is dressed up? Not I...I am going to be comfortable I say!!

It was a great day, it felt about 70 degrees but it was probably only 65. I needed a few things to get me by this week until I leave for the US so I thought I would walk to my local 8au8 and boulangerie (bakery). The 8au8 is like a 7-11, except they are only open 8-8 as opposed to 7-11 (chuckle, chuckle, insert French joke here) and is more like a small market than a convenience store. I decide I will just throw on a jacket, jeans and some European looking walking shoes (not tennies, I don't need to make that much of a statement). Once down my block I realize it's too hot for the jacket. I take it off and proudly show my "Ride Lots" t-shirt from my old bike shop in Sedona. Then I notice I have a spot about the size of a dime right between my boobs. Awe man...I was trying to look confident casual, not sloppy American!! I hold my jacket close to try to cover it but end up looking more like I'm scared someone is trying to steel my coat.

I make it to the 8au8 and then to the bakery. I have had small issues here before but I think everything is ok now. You see, at first I would go into the shop and as for "une baguette s'il vous plait", translation "one baguette please". Then the lady would hand me a flute, which is like a baguette but about the half the size, and charge me .90 euro for a baguette! At first I didn't think it was really happening, but then Cyr kept coming home with these long baguettes! (insert man with large baguette joke here) One weekend I went in with Cyr, we ordered together and sat down to have coffee there. Ever since then I get an actual baguette. I guess they saw my bad-ass Frenchman and decided to play nice-nice!! Well yesterday I order 3 croissant, she put them in a little bag and I walked home. Typically this place is fantastic, and they are not rude at all, they just smile and give you the wrong thing sometimes. Well, I got my croissants, but they were burned on the outside! I should have taken a picture, but I ate the ugliest one first, then the second ugliest one for breakfast today so all I have is the only slightly overcooked one left. Still, they tasted fantastic, but I can't help but think my sloppy American getup contributed to me getting the 3 crappiest croissant in the place...

So I then begin to curse the bakery lady because I have never seen them once produce a croissant with anything resembling a black or even dark brown outer crust. I calmed down a bit when I ate the blackest of them and it was still better than most I have had in the US (sorry, don't know why this is, but it's true). I then turn to wash some dishes and while cleaning a cheese knife (a very French thing to have) I slice it across my thumb and can feel the flesh and nail being carved like a piece of baloney. Said knife must have heard me cursing the French baker and taken it personally. Damn culinary revenge!! I wasn't hurt badly, but you guys keep asking for pictures so here you go...

I am wearing actual athletic shoes here, but just around the apartment. She probably would have charged me double if I had my tennies on. Here is the vengeful cheese knife. Freshly washed.

...and here is a picture of how large our concierge's rain gutters are. Is that strange or is it just me? I saw this and thought "Damn! Those things are over a foot wide!" I wonder if that makes for harder or easier cleaning. I'm thinking there is a lot more surface area for leaves to fall in.

And here is a bottle of Westvleteren 12 beer. Voted the "Best Beer in the World" by Ratebeer.com and a bunch of other groups. It was 12 euro ($18 USD in a beer shop) but was worth it I think. Seriously!! It's dark, complex, seductive and smells fantastic. Just like the trappist monks that make it I'm sure. It's such a cool beer it has no label. Just a bottle cap with the beers identity on it.

So there you have it. A lot of pictures and a cool beer to boot.