Today I slept late, as usual, and then got up to get ready and read (unsuccessfully, once again) for Business in the EU. Today was our last normal class; tomorrow is our final exam and then Wednesday we're going on a tour of Pau's Chamber of Commerce building for our truly "final" class. I was feeling a little sentimental today and went around the house taking pictures of different rooms, the table set for lunch, the backyard under the sunshine, etc. For lunch, we had a typical meal complete with julienned carrot salad. It was just Christine, Lionel, and I and the peace and quiet time to chat and eat was very nice.
Lunch time
The papers you see there are all of Christine's favorite recipes printed out for me. :) I already scored Lionel's own recipes (including the famous bread) by e-mail last week
After lunch I walked to the bus early to head to campus. I took a video of the walk from the house all the way to the bus stop and talked about whatever came to mind. I wanted to capture that oh so familiar scenery and hopefully find some personal inspiration when I listen down the road to the way I perceive things right now. I made sure to snap some pictures when I got to school of the cafeteria, parks, things I will miss. We had a normal lecture, and then I spent a few hours hanging out in the grass with good friends- who I will also miss. We played frisbee and laid around in the sun- a successful way to pass three hours.
I headed home in the early evening to spend some time with my suitcases before dinner. I thought it wise to just "get started" on packing in case I were to run into any difficulties. As soon as I was out of earshot of other people I turned the camera back on and recording the half-hour walk from school to home. This video captured what is by far the most familiar area of Pau to me and I made sure to tell some little stories and anecdotes that related to the different legs of my walk on the video. When I got to the house Lionel was outside working in the garden. The two of us chatted a little bit and then headed inside to get ready for dinner. For dinner tonight we had some delicious meat raviolis in olive oil, parmesan cheese, and pimento spice. Christine made a great summer salad of cucumber, tomato, black olives, corn, etc, and the whole meal was served in the backyard. We had the usual, always-good yogurt for dessert and that was it; another day done.
Dinner time
Christine's salad
Spanish-style cider! I tried this drink when I visited Spain in early February; it has a bit of alcohol in it, but otherwise tastes like very tart Apple Cider.
The sun setting on Pau once again
I hung out with the two of them in the living room for a little while after cleaning up and setting the table for breakfast. As usual, Lionel offered me "un peu de sucre dans un monde d'amertumes" (a little sugar in a world of bitterness)- a Lindt Chocolate catch phrase- in the form of a couple squares of Lindt 70% Cacao chocolate. As they headed to bed, I went up to my room to finish packing. I got a little carried away earlier this evening and ended up packing up an entire suitcase that I do not plan to open again until I am back in my room in Modesto, CA, USA. Working with the rest of my clothes, souvenirs, toiletries, and other miscellaneous things, I realized by 9:30p tonight that I might have a little trouble this coming Thursday when it's time to seriously be done packing. It's funny how "stuff" accumulates over time...
Breakfast time: Lionel's wheat bread with raspberry jam on one slice and red currant and black currant mixed together on the other
The rest of the morning passed as usual. I studied for my Business in the EU final, got ready, and took the bus to school. I actually felt really good about the final, so that set me in a great mood for the rest of the day. After the test, all I had left to do was kill a few hours before the fourth and final cuisine course. :( I talked with some friends for a little while, and then went for a walk around campus to find a shady place to sit and wrap up my postcards. I saw a group of USAC girls sitting farther out in the sun, but I decided to sit alone so I could write. After all, I only have 3 days left before I leave Pau; it is time to finish these postcards. There I sat, listening to people talking and laughing while writing to my friends and family.
Eventually, I had to face the music and head to the last cuisine class. I have really loved this class so I was truly pretty down to have to say bye to it. Françoise made sure to give us a good send off meal though: tonight we made huge bacon, tomato, asparagus salads topped with slices of bread baked with goat cheese and provençal herbs; filets of duck and pasta in a Roquefort cream sauce; with an apple tart for dessert. Yum!
The start of the salads- while they were still mildly reasonable portions
French bacon is very fatty (as you can see). Thankfully we cooked out most of the fat... yuck
Making the "croutons" for the salads: half slices of French bread topped with goat cheese and provençal herbs and then baked
Françoise threw in a touch of genius once the bacon was cooked down to non heart-stopping leanness: she poured in a little balsamic vinegar to turn it to candied bacon. SO GOOD!
The bacon was sprinkled on the salads...
And then we placed the melty, creamy croutons on top. Bon appétit!
Enjoying part 1 of the meal
After our salads we all went into the kitchen to make the next part: filets of duck. The duck was terribly purple on the raw meat side and horribly thick with fat on the other. This was the first time I had ever had or cooked duck filets so I tried my best to keep an open mind.
Cooking the duck, fat-side down
Françoise cooked the duck until the fat turned brown and crispy, then she removed it and cut it into individual slices to be cooked again
Meanwhile, we worked on a Roquefort cream sauce for our duck and pasta. The sauce was simple: mostly it consisted of a little cream and a packet of Roquefort cheese. And while Roquefort has a very strong taste, the combination of all of these flavors worked nicely together so that it wasn't too strong. Finally, Françoise plated the duck, the pasta, and we poured our sauce over top. Eatin' time!
The main course
Lastly, Françoise used up the end of her budget from our class fees to buy us a very nice apple tart and whipped cream for dessert. She also bought a little cookbook for each of us to take home with us.
Our last dessert together
After cleaning up supplies and dishes, we all posed for a couple of pictures together in our little kitchen. Françoise wrote down her e-mail so that we can send her the pictures and she told us to think of her every time we cook something new. =,) She also handed each of us a chocolate Easter egg as a little parting gift. This has been such the perfect class
Noah, Jamie, Françoise, and I
Au revoir!
On my way back home, I remembered that Christine and Lionel had invited a friend over for dinner. So instead of going right to the house after my bus dropped me off- I didn't want to interrupt- I decided to walk just to the park behind the house and sit there for a few minutes. As I walked through the park, I could hear them talking in the backyard as they finished up dinner. The sun was just beginning to set and I had yet to read "My Life In France" sitting on one of those little park benches; so that's what I did! I only read one chapter but it was a perfectly ideal pastime. After capturing a few shots of the truly breath-taking sunset, I went inside for the evening.
The beautiful Pau sunset
It is rare that anything substantial ever happens after dinnertime in this house, but Christine was actually scheduled for a shift of "Perpetual Watch" at their church tonight. Once their guest was gone, she went to get ready and basically took right off. She didn't get home until sometime after 10p- very late for her. So it was just Lionel and I this evening, and a couple of worth-mentioning things happened because of that. The first: while Lionel was filling the dishwasher the phone rang. In all four months that I've been here it has never once struck me to answer their phone; who in the heck could it possibly be that I would know? But tonight I had the strangest "aha" moment when that darn phone rang... I just simply knew that I was going to answer. Lionel and I were the only two people in the house and his hands were full. Not two seconds after this realization hit, Lionel called out to ask me to answer it. YIKES!! I got so nervous so quickly. I had never answered their phone before and had only rarely spoken in French with someone ON THE PHONE; which is totally different than speaking in person. It is so much harder for a non-native speaker to understand what is said through the phone and I just felt certain that I was going to make an absolute idiot of myself. With my breathing rapidly turning to gasping, I picked up the phone. "Allo?" To my utter surprise and relief, it was not a big deal at all. The man on the phone was Christine's incredibly kind and patient brother Denis, and he knew who I was with my unfamiliar voice instantly. We talked for probably 30 seconds and then Lionel was there to take the phone. I did just fine. That didn't keep me from having to slow my heart rate down but whatever. I did it!
The second interesting thing that happened this evening: after talking with Denis about his and his family's arrival tomorrow Lionel went upstairs to work with the new furniture for the master bedroom. I was downstairs on my laptop when he called to me, "can you come help me with something?" Sure sure, no problem. When I got up there I noticed that he was piecing together a new IKEA armoire for the room. He had me help hold a couple of boards straight while he put in the screws and screw caps, and then asked me to help stand it up. As we slowly hoisted the long piece upright, the weight of the armoire was too much for its hinges and all of the boards split at their screws with every single one crashing to the floor (the new hardwood, mind you). I was in shock; it all happened so quickly that I didn't know what to do. I looked at Lionel, who was staring at the mess, and he said, "well... that's enough for this evening." As funny as that is, I just couldn't laugh right then. I told him I was sorry that had happened and he just shrugged and said "la bêtise est faite" (the stupidity/the stupid mistake is made). Later, when Christine got home and he had to explain to her what happened, another first: Christine cursed! "Merde! C'est vrai?" (Sh•t! It's true?) It was the first time I had ever heard her swear and I had to use all of my strength to keep from giggling at a time like that.
What a great day in a weird way!
