A Delicious find and a conversation starter

Last week, after my interview with Acadomia, I walked around the area, near l'Opéra Garnier. On my walk I came across La Cure Gourmande. I had already been to this store, but the one on l'Île Saint Louis, and I knew that they like to give out free samples so I stepped inside. The sample cookie was so delicious that I decided to buy a few cookies and a pretty tin as an Easter treat for Tom and myself. I got the tin and 4 cookies (2 almond and 2 chocolate) for just under 9 euros.

On the way home on line 7, I noticed a 60-something year old lady next to me studying my Cure Gourmande bag.

I was listening to my iPod, but after about 5 minutes the curiosity got the best of her and she politely interrupted my music to ask me about the bag. I showed her my tin and cookies and told her where I bought them. She had never heard of the place before. Seeing my opportunity to speak some French with a stranger, I asked "Vous habitez à Paris depuis longtemps?" (Have you lived in Paris for a long time?) "Oui, depuis des années." (Yes, for years.)

Then I saw the look, the "I hear an accent and you're surely not French look," so I told her I was American and she started talking to me in English. Normally, this would bother me, but not this time. She actually told me that my French is very good and that it's nice that some Americans are learning French. I learned that she is from Vietnam, that she lived in New York for several years, and that she has been in Paris for a decade. We talked about how difficult it is to get used to a new place. "It takes a year, no matter where you are. The first year is the hardest." I said that unfortunately I have a little less than a year, but that I've been able to enjoy myself and learn a lot all while dealing with the "first year problems."

We both got off at Tolbiac and went our separate ways- I went home and she went to a Vietnamese restaurant.

Pictures of the tin and cookies:

Oops! I guess I'll have to buy some more.

Noël à la Française

Attention non-French speakers: Don't be afraid! Scroll down to the English version :)

Tom et moi avons eu de la chance d’être invité à Nantes pour partager Noël avec nos amis Catherine et Matthieu et leurs familles. Je suis vraiment ravie d’avoir eu cette expérience extraordinaire.

Pour le réveillon (le 24) les parents de Catherine nous ont accueilli chez eux. Il y a eu d’abord l’apéritif, avec du champagne et plusieurs choses à goûter, y inclus du caviar sur des toasts. Après, les membres de la famille ont offert des cadeaux. Nous avons été surpris quand les parents de Catherine nous ont offert un beau livre sur Paris.

Pour dîner, nous avons mangés de la foie gras sur pain d’épice et ensuite des huîtres (pour la première fois) avec du vin blanc. C’est vraiment une spécialité française et c’est sûrement une tradition française à ne pas manquer, même si ces deux américains n’apprécient pas ces délices comme les français. Un cousin à Catherine a rit à Tom quand il a essayé les huîtres, sachant qu’il ne les aimait pas trop. Pourtant, ce n’était que l’entrée. Comme plat principal, nous avons mangé de la dinde, de la purée formidable, et des haricots verts avec du vin rouge. Pour le dessert, nous avons savouré pour la première fois une bûche de Noël chocolat que Matthieu a confectionné. Et n’oubliez pas le vin ! Oui, encore du vin. Cette fois-ci c’était le vin que nous avons offert, un vin blanc sucré. Catherine a dit que le vin s’est marié bien avec le dessert.

Le jour de Noël, nous sommes allés chez la mère à Matthieu pour déjeuner. Il y avait moins de monde que la veille, avec les grands-parents de Matthieu et son frère et belle-sœur.

Comme la veille, on a ouvert les cadeaux après l’apéritif. Tom et moi avons offert des décorations de Noël à Catherine et Matthieu, et à la mère à Matthieu. Tom a reçu des bandes dessinées, Tintin et Astérix, et moi, j’ai reçu un livre de recettes pour les crêpes et les galettes, des spécialités de Bretagne, de la mère à Matthieu, et un livre de recettes pour les œufs à la coque (avec quatre coquetiers) de Catherine et Matthieu. Ça vous dit quelque chose ? Souvenez-vous ma première expérience avec la coque ?! Je serai content d'apprendre plus sur ce sujet!

Pour déjeuner, nous avons mangé encore de la foie gras, mais cette fois-ci avec du saumon, et de la dinde. La bûche était aux framboises, et même si j’adore le chocolat, j’ai préféré la bûche aux framboises. Délicieux !

Ensuite, nous sommes allés chez le grand-père de Catherine, qui est en fait le mari d’une amie de Madame N (mon professeur de français), pour prendre une partie d’une bûche et encore du champagne.

Des gens chaleureux la découverte des traditions françaises. C’était vraiment un Noël de nos rêves.

English Version!

A French Christmas

Tom and I were fortunate to have been invited to share Christmas in Nantes with our friends Catherine and Matthieu and their families. I am so excited to have had this extraordinary experience.

For Christmas Eve, Catherine’s parents invited us over. The night started with the aperitif, with champagne and several appetizers, including caviar on toast. Afterwards, the family opened gifts. We were surprised when Catherine’s parents gave us a beautiful book about Paris.

For dinner, we ate foie gras on gingerbread and then we had oysters (for the first time) with white wine. It’s a real French specialty for Christmas and definitely a French tradition not to miss, even if these two Americans did not enjoy these treats as the French do. One of Catherine’s cousins laughed at Tom when he tried the oysters, knowing he didn’t like them too much. Yet, that was only the starter course. For the main dish, we ate turkey, absolutely wonderful mashed potatoes, and green beans with red wine. For dessert, we savored for the first time a bûche de Noël au chocolat, a chocolate Christmas cake, which was made by Matthieu himself. And let’s not forget the wine! Yes, more wine. This time it was the wine that we had brought, a sweet white wine. Catherine said that it went very well with the dessert.

On Christmas day, we went to Matthieu’s mother’s for lunch. There were less people than the day before, with Matthieu’s grandparents, brother, and sister-in-law.

Like on Christmas Eve, we opened gifts after the aperitif. Tom and I gave Christmas ornaments and decorations to Catherine and Matthieu and to Matthieu’s mom. Tom got two comic books, Tintin and Astérix, and I got a crêpe and galette (specilites of the region) recipe book from Matthieu’s mom, and a oeufs à la coque recipe book from Catherine and Matthieu. Does that ring a bell? Do you remember my last experience with la coque?! I'll be happy to learn more about this!

For lunch, we had foie gras again, but this time with salmon, and turkey. The bûche de Noël was raspberry this time, and even though I love chocolate, I think I liked the raspberry better. Yummy!

Next, we went to Catherine’s grandfather’s (and actually her step-grandmother is an old friend of Madame N, my French professor) to share more cake and champagne.

Meeting nice, warm people and discovering French Christmas traditions. It was really a perfect Christmas experience.

Marchés de Noël. Christmas Markets.

Hot wine, baked goods, and Christmas lights. I have really caught the Christmas spirit this year. Perhaps it's because we're experiencing it in a very different way. The Marchés de Noël (Christmas Markets) have been a delightful and exciting part of December. Admittedly, I was a little disappointed to find that most of the booths weren't selling originally, hand-made, or traditional items. Actually, we found pretty much the same things at each market, including magic scarves, magic wallets, and magic wooden boxes. Yet, it's been fun strolling around, drinking vin chaud and eating beignets. We even found a few Christmas gifts.


Marché de Noël Number 1: Champs-Elysées. Beautiful lights but we went on a rainy, muddy day. This is a picture of the little roller coaster and fake snow.


Marché de Noël Number 2: La Défence. This was my favorite one because the set up is like a little village. We went with our new friend Katie F, who took this picture of us with our vin chaud.


Marché de Noël Number 3: Notre-Dame. Very small but kind of cute.


Marché de Noël Number 4: Trocadéro/Eiffel Tower. Nice set-up and, obviously, great location. We also went ice-skating here, but Tom's supposed to tell you about that....

Christmas Markets take place all over France, but it's really a German tradition, I hear. The best ones in France are supposed to be in Strasbourg, a city on the German border. We're a little disappointed we won't be able to see Strasbourg at Christmastime, but we're really excited to be spending Christmas with a French family in Nantes! We leave on Wednesday.

Now, of course, a little vocabulary I learned or encountered at the Christmas Markets:

Le Chalet - Stand/Booth

Le Vin Chaud - Hot Wine

Le Chocolat Chaud - Hot Chocolate

La Barbe à Papa - Cotton Candy (literally Papa's beard! hahaha- by far my favorite new vocabulary)

Le Bonnet de Noël - Santa Hat

These Teachers Know How to Party

There was a Christmas party at JF on Tuesday, and Tom and I were lucky enough to be guests. It started at 8pm and probably lasted long past 11:30pm, which is when we left to catch the last train headed back to Paris.

We tried foie gras for the first time and luckily we didn't hate it. Foie gras is a Christmas tradition for the French so I'm glad we (including picky Tom) were able to try this dish, although it's not something we would specifically request.

The rest of the party involved talking and laughing and drinking wine and champagne, maybe too much drinking thanks to Xavier who kept saying "rouge ou blanc," indicating we had no choice otherwise. There was also dancing. It was hilarious to see the teachers (and the principal!) I work with in this kind of context. Although this school is by far the most difficult that I work at, I really enjoy the company of these teachers. They are so encouraging and simply nice to be around- even when alcohol and dancing aren't involved.


Les Mecs. Funny guys.


Me with Sylvie, my partner in crime, meaning my partner for some of my English classes.


Tom braving the foie gras.


I'm not sure about this one...


It's almost Christmas break! Hooray!

Châteaux and more

Tom and I had the chance to get out Paris last weekend and go to the beautiful Loire Valley. We based our stay in Tours.

On Friday, we discovered Tours and had an amazing dinner. We both had poulet au miel citronné (Chicken cooked with honey and lemon). Tom had rillettes (a type of pâté special to the area) as his entrée and he actually liked it! He is very picky, so I was happy.

The restaurant, Grill du Roy (with the old spelling for king- Roy instead of Roi):

On Saturday we visited two châteaux near Tours. The first was Chenonceau in the village of Chenonceaux.



This castle's history is dominated by women: Diane de Poitiers, Catherine de Medici, and Louise de Lorraine. My favorite room was Louise's just because it was so interesting. She was in mourning when she lived at Chenonceau, and she went beyond black and white morning clothes. Her room was solemn, with painted crown of thorns and silver tears on the walls.



The second castle we visited was Amboise. And we just realized we didn't take a picture of the outside of the château. Oops! However, by visiting the chapel of the castle, we stumbled across the (presumed) tomb of Leonardo da Vinci, who spent his golden years in France.



We also had a great view of the town of Amboise that we visited briefly after the château. We also found a place to déguster (taste) and buy some Loire Valley wine.




Despite having a terrible headache on Saturday, it was great. Sunday, we weren't sure what to do. It was Toussaint (All Saint's Day) and everything was closed in Tours and busses weren't running to castles. At the Tourism Office we found that there was a guided tour of Tours. Tom, being the great husband that he is, accompanied me on the two hour walking tour in French. I loved learning about the architecture of the town. We saw the place where Joan of Arc got her armor before heading to Orléans, another city in the Loire Valley where Joan had her great victory. The houses where you can see the wood are from the Middle Ages- at least the style is, and they've been restored. I don't know pretty much any architectural terms, so I can't really describe it, but I enjoyed hearing about it anyway. The guide talked a lot about how dangerous this style of building was for fires, and how the more affluent Tours residents reconstructed their homes (back in the day). Luckily for us, some weren't able to and we still get to see the original style.

Cultural Awkwardness: La Coque

Before coming to Paris, I stumbled onto a blog belonging to the patron of a quaint looking salon de thé in the 13th called L'Oisivethé. Shortly after our arrival, Tom and I decided to try it out for lunch. This place is adorable, but not the cheapest place to have lunch. We both decided to order the cheapest thing on the menu: la coque. I wasn't sure what this was, but I mistakenly thought it might be some sort of grilled cheese sandwich. Now I know that I was thinking of Croque Monsieur. Not the same thing.

We were each presented with 2 eggs and mouillettes (strips of bread).

Here is an outline of my thought process as we attempted to deal with this strange new meal.

Oooook. So le coque is not a sandwich. So it's hardboiled eggs.

Let's see how to eat this. That lady over there took the top part of the shell off.

Ooooh, not hard boiled! Runny! Soft boiled. I guess this is why we have these tiny spoons.

Doesn't taste bad. But not great either.

Are those old ladies staring at us?! Are we doing it wrong?!

At least my tea- thé noir aux quatre fruits- is delicious.

We returned to L'Oisivethé on Tuesday, but not for another round of la coque. There is a French/English conversation group organized by Tempo Time on Tuesdays. We spoke in French for 45 minutes, played Taboo in both languages, then had 45 minutes of English conversation. That will definately keep us coming back! It was a great way to practice French and meet Parisians.