Does everyone else remember the days in Canada, with our Hello Kitty shirt-wearing friend Jo?
If not, too bad for you.
Time for the name association game!
Expo vs. the Mets? = Jo!
Too much drinking and fun at the Casino de Montreal on Francine's birthday? = Sergio!
Fun times and bad dancing in Quebec City? = Raephael!
Thanks, BBC, for bringing back some great memories!
Monday, November 28, 2005
Tuesday, November 22, 2005
Les Beaujolais sont déjà arrivés!
Ok, this is mostly for Nick's benefit (remember our conversation while drinking happy juice), but the Beaujolais have already arrived. And it appears I was about right on the date! Banlieue Blog has a great photo on her site commemorating the event.
How I miss this day! Last year, the principal at my school brought in a box of Beaujolais to the teachers' lunch room. We all toasted the event and everyone's health with a healthy round, before returning to teach our one o'clock classes. Needless to say, I- the lightweight I am- was a bit tipsy for the first 45 minutes of my class! I adore France!
How I miss this day! Last year, the principal at my school brought in a box of Beaujolais to the teachers' lunch room. We all toasted the event and everyone's health with a healthy round, before returning to teach our one o'clock classes. Needless to say, I- the lightweight I am- was a bit tipsy for the first 45 minutes of my class! I adore France!
Monday, November 21, 2005
Thursday, November 17, 2005
Monday, November 14, 2005
A phone conversation with Kim last night has left me with a plethora of emotions. Her initial return phone call came on Saturday night- in response to a message I'd left the previous week- and coming as it did on my birthday, even without her recalling such, was a happy event. Our conversation when we finally caught up was great. We discussed the usual topics of re-adjustment, memories, the riots, discipline, emails from Erin, and The Next Step. That mainly dominated our conversation and our nostalgie. We didn't initially find ourselves in similar situations, this summer or right after our returns to the States. However, we are now in remarkedly similar positions of re-evaluating and working towards our new goals. We also find that we're experiencing many of the same emotions. So it was a productive and rewarding phone call.
The only down moment was this evening, as I was finishing up a promised French mix cd for Kim while searching for some photos I'd also promised to send, I found some photos from Toulouse. And the emotions and nostalgie just washed over me. A stupid reaction to French music and happy French memories, but it happened anyway. I do miss that group in Toulouse though; even with our crazy group dynamics, it was just so exhilirating.
But seriously, where is my next adventure!? As MC Solaar says, "La vie n'est qu'un moment."
The only down moment was this evening, as I was finishing up a promised French mix cd for Kim while searching for some photos I'd also promised to send, I found some photos from Toulouse. And the emotions and nostalgie just washed over me. A stupid reaction to French music and happy French memories, but it happened anyway. I do miss that group in Toulouse though; even with our crazy group dynamics, it was just so exhilirating.
But seriously, where is my next adventure!? As MC Solaar says, "La vie n'est qu'un moment."
Chirac in new pledge to end riots
Chirac and Le Pen both speak on what the French government should do to quell discontent.
Sunday, November 13, 2005
Tartiflette.
Today I faced a sad and inevitable event. allrecipes.com has failed me.
Following my family's grand tradition of never eating turkey on Thanksgiving Day, we have decided to substitute our traditional pot roast, spaghetti or bean soup with tartiflette- a gooey and deliciously fattening French/Swiss Alps dish I adore.
Creating this dish was first concieve as a gift to my grandparents, then as a possiblity for my birthday supper this evening, and finally to becoming our Thanksgiving dinner dish. Finding a viable recipe, to be used in Southwestern Iowa, is another matter altogether. My first instinct was, of course, to head to allrecipes.com. To my horror, they didn't even have an idea on this dish. I next, of course, googled the recipe name- which returned a few mildly helpful responses. I do have three english language recipes now, though one has all its measurements and such in metric. The biggest problem with all these recipes is that they call for, either the proper cheese of the dish- reblochon, or a similarly difficult-to-find-in-the-Midwest cheese. However, I was determined that someone would have an incredible and edible recipe; one using a adequate substitute cheese which can be found in the Midwest.
So I started with my own blog and began following a few of my links to the cooking sites I've so far enjoyed, and returned to square one at google; one by one, they all failed me. Even good ol' Martha Stewart, gourmande extraordinaire and her website failed me. *Sigh*.
So I've resigned myself to research and develop a practical Midwest version of this delicious recipe. Once I do, I'll leave it here in case you're bold enough to try it yourself. (This is actually a outright attempt at getting you to return at least once to my blog.)
However, there were a few upsides to my desperate and despairing search for tartiflette recipes. I found a lovely little blog of an American woman in a Parisian suburb- she recently made tartiflette- who focuses mostly on cooking, and French cooking at that! Check out her photos on delicious tartiflette. I also found a blog whose title just makes me laugh. I also have a feeling that if I investigated this blog a bit more, I'd enjoy the text just as much. If nothing else, you should go just to check out his title graphics- rather humourous.
Besides getting a visual on tartiflette, Banlieue Blog also talks about the dish itself and how she made it. For myself, the first time I encountered this delicious dish, I was tripping about the marché du Noël in Toulouse, with Kim and Violet. We were tripping around a bit because it was one of our first interactive visits to the marché and we were determined to experience it all. This, of course, included sharing our first ever glass of vin chaud- also know as mulled wine. Now, none of the three of us was a great drinker, and I believe that we'd yet to have lunch- so we became, understandably, a bit tipsy. Thus tripping around the marché in Capitole, we encountered the best booth ever! They were giving out free samples of gruyére (also a first, and now favorite, for me) and right next to it, they were cooking up humongous batches of tartiflette; possibly even substituting gruyére and probably something else for the necessary reblochon. Did it ever smell heavenly! And if you know me and food, you won't believe it, but I didn't actually eat it that year. But truly, I didn't. As I mentioned, I think we were on our way to lunch at the time, and it was near the end of the program- I was starting to run short on funds.
It wasn't until I returned to France that I had tartiflette. It was a distinctly cold day in late November and I had a miserable cold and fever. But I was suppose to go pick up my student card/pass for the regional bus system, so I braved the outdoors. However, I forgot it was France and that lunch didn't end till 2pm. I ended up drifting around the marché in Place St. Louis, and realising that I hadn't had lunch and was actually hungry, I investigated my options. I decided on the tartiflette as possibly being easier on my raw throat. But the serving guy jokingly refused to serve up a dish until I had correctly pronounce the word. Hard to do with my retched cold that day. But it was worth it, and I've never looked back since falling in love with that dish.
So to quote a new found source of amusement, "In Tartiflette, we trust." Bon appetit!
Following my family's grand tradition of never eating turkey on Thanksgiving Day, we have decided to substitute our traditional pot roast, spaghetti or bean soup with tartiflette- a gooey and deliciously fattening French/Swiss Alps dish I adore.
Creating this dish was first concieve as a gift to my grandparents, then as a possiblity for my birthday supper this evening, and finally to becoming our Thanksgiving dinner dish. Finding a viable recipe, to be used in Southwestern Iowa, is another matter altogether. My first instinct was, of course, to head to allrecipes.com. To my horror, they didn't even have an idea on this dish. I next, of course, googled the recipe name- which returned a few mildly helpful responses. I do have three english language recipes now, though one has all its measurements and such in metric. The biggest problem with all these recipes is that they call for, either the proper cheese of the dish- reblochon, or a similarly difficult-to-find-in-the-Midwest cheese. However, I was determined that someone would have an incredible and edible recipe; one using a adequate substitute cheese which can be found in the Midwest.
So I started with my own blog and began following a few of my links to the cooking sites I've so far enjoyed, and returned to square one at google; one by one, they all failed me. Even good ol' Martha Stewart, gourmande extraordinaire and her website failed me. *Sigh*.
So I've resigned myself to research and develop a practical Midwest version of this delicious recipe. Once I do, I'll leave it here in case you're bold enough to try it yourself. (This is actually a outright attempt at getting you to return at least once to my blog.)
However, there were a few upsides to my desperate and despairing search for tartiflette recipes. I found a lovely little blog of an American woman in a Parisian suburb- she recently made tartiflette- who focuses mostly on cooking, and French cooking at that! Check out her photos on delicious tartiflette. I also found a blog whose title just makes me laugh. I also have a feeling that if I investigated this blog a bit more, I'd enjoy the text just as much. If nothing else, you should go just to check out his title graphics- rather humourous.
Besides getting a visual on tartiflette, Banlieue Blog also talks about the dish itself and how she made it. For myself, the first time I encountered this delicious dish, I was tripping about the marché du Noël in Toulouse, with Kim and Violet. We were tripping around a bit because it was one of our first interactive visits to the marché and we were determined to experience it all. This, of course, included sharing our first ever glass of vin chaud- also know as mulled wine. Now, none of the three of us was a great drinker, and I believe that we'd yet to have lunch- so we became, understandably, a bit tipsy. Thus tripping around the marché in Capitole, we encountered the best booth ever! They were giving out free samples of gruyére (also a first, and now favorite, for me) and right next to it, they were cooking up humongous batches of tartiflette; possibly even substituting gruyére and probably something else for the necessary reblochon. Did it ever smell heavenly! And if you know me and food, you won't believe it, but I didn't actually eat it that year. But truly, I didn't. As I mentioned, I think we were on our way to lunch at the time, and it was near the end of the program- I was starting to run short on funds.
It wasn't until I returned to France that I had tartiflette. It was a distinctly cold day in late November and I had a miserable cold and fever. But I was suppose to go pick up my student card/pass for the regional bus system, so I braved the outdoors. However, I forgot it was France and that lunch didn't end till 2pm. I ended up drifting around the marché in Place St. Louis, and realising that I hadn't had lunch and was actually hungry, I investigated my options. I decided on the tartiflette as possibly being easier on my raw throat. But the serving guy jokingly refused to serve up a dish until I had correctly pronounce the word. Hard to do with my retched cold that day. But it was worth it, and I've never looked back since falling in love with that dish.
So to quote a new found source of amusement, "In Tartiflette, we trust." Bon appetit!
Saturday, November 12, 2005
Encore.
More violence in France.
Lyon was my first choice when I applied to the assistantship program. However, I'm happy that I was in Metz. It's such a beautiful, little city, and an enjoyable community in which to live.
Riot erupts in French city centre
More photos, including some of Toulouse.
In pictures: France battens down
Lyon was my first choice when I applied to the assistantship program. However, I'm happy that I was in Metz. It's such a beautiful, little city, and an enjoyable community in which to live.
Riot erupts in French city centre
More photos, including some of Toulouse.
In pictures: France battens down
Friday, November 11, 2005
A few last minute tid-bits.
Joyeux (presque) anniversaire à Patience (et Angele aussi!)!! Tu ma manque beaucoup!! Va te bien toufer!! Gros bisous!
Congratulations to Angele and the Hotness, recently and contentedly married!
My toast: "To all the joy that grows out of the craziness when you study abroad!"
Congratulations to Angele and the Hotness, recently and contentedly married!
My toast: "To all the joy that grows out of the craziness when you study abroad!"
Thursday, November 10, 2005
Wednesday, November 09, 2005
"It is a failure of the Republic - and it needs to be judged on its ability to analyse that failure and find a response." - M. J P Balduyck
A few more articles on the BBC about the French riots of 2005.
French unrest tests town's unity
Curfew for riot-hit French towns
Mid-East press mull France riots
Violence exposes France's weaknesses
In pictures | Paris riot: suburb residents speak
Maps: Riots in France
Timeline: French riots
French unrest tests town's unity
Curfew for riot-hit French towns
Mid-East press mull France riots
Violence exposes France's weaknesses
In pictures | Paris riot: suburb residents speak
Maps: Riots in France
Timeline: French riots
For John.
I doubt my big brother actually reads my blog, but in case he does, this is my belated happy birthday message!
Happy belated Birthday, big brother!
And in honor of your birthday, I'm granting you a limited time (one week) offer to be older than me by five years instead of four! Enjoy! I'll send your card soon!
(Look- I ended every sentence with an exclamation point! All in honor of my excitement for your birthday!)
Happy belated Birthday, big brother!
And in honor of your birthday, I'm granting you a limited time (one week) offer to be older than me by five years instead of four! Enjoy! I'll send your card soon!
(Look- I ended every sentence with an exclamation point! All in honor of my excitement for your birthday!)
Wednesday, November 02, 2005
La France ma manque.
I had a myriad of other ideas for topics tonight. Instead I find that I'm annoyed with life and with myself. And as happens with such cases, I wish I was somewhere else, somewhere I remember being happy- even if I wasn't always- usually France. So to shoot the dead pheasant (it's pheasant season in case you missed the hunting conversations in every direction at work today) one more time, if only I was in France again.
On one of those other topics, why does no one ask the all important question of Alias season three, and apparently now, of season four? What's with the drinking water obsession, Sloane?
On one of those other topics, why does no one ask the all important question of Alias season three, and apparently now, of season four? What's with the drinking water obsession, Sloane?
Random side remark.
Did you know that you can search Wikipedia in Esperanto?
I think the world is complete. I can die happy now.
I think the world is complete. I can die happy now.
BBC NEWS | Europe | Headscarf defeat riles French Muslims
BBC NEWS | Europe | Headscarf defeat riles French Muslims
This debate was going strong while I was in France during 2003. Even my host parents were divided on the topic. After having worked in the education system, this is especially interesting for me. It is an interesting topic to follow, as well as, the repercussions.
This debate was going strong while I was in France during 2003. Even my host parents were divided on the topic. After having worked in the education system, this is especially interesting for me. It is an interesting topic to follow, as well as, the repercussions.
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