After breakfast, I got myself ready; then Lionel and Guilhem showed up and it was time for lunch. Today we had a very fragrant, very delicious lunch of thin slices of pork sautéed with whole sprigs of rosemary, and a hefty side of potatoes and cauliflower topped with melted Gruyère cheese. So good! When our round of fruit was done and everything was cleaned away, Christine took Guilhem back to school while Lionel and I prepared the afternoon coffee. When she got back, we unanimously agreed that it was too perfect of a day to drink our coffee inside and we took lawn chairs out to the backyard to enjoy the sunshine, warmth, and breeze. It was such a perfect and picturesque afternoon. There was the three of us sitting outside, Lionel and Christine with the coffee mugs I bought them, little chocolates melting in our fingers, bees buzzing in the dandelions, and my laundry hanging on the clothesline. I could have sat in that moment for hours. :)
It was hard to tear myself away from this lovely scene but I had to go finish getting ready to head to Business in the EU. :( I was a little excited, though, about the prospect of walking all the way there in my shirt sleeves, taking on sunshine, and listening to my iPod. So I did just that, and it put me in a great mood! Class was long and slow after that, but afterwards I walked myself across the street to the local grocery store Le Clerc to buy a couple of treats for myself (potato chips and a Lindt Chocolate Creations bar) and ingredients for my mom's Tollhouse Chocolate Chip Cookie Pie! I was so excited- I was finally going to make something for my host family and it would be just in time for Mardi Gras! Unfortunately, France doesn't believe in chocolate chips, or pre-made Oreo pie crusts, so I had to improvise on some of the materials. But it all worked out- more on that tomorrow. ;)
Once home from the store, I got back to work on the blog. It has become a little bit of a chore to upload pictures and write stories about Italy, I'm sorry to say. I think that once I hit the week-after mark on a lot of these experiences, it's hard to go back and write about them in detail. At least I am able to push myself through it all so far. After some good blogging time, it was dinner time. Dinner tonight was excellent: we started off with another vegetable and cream soup and then had an elegant main course of salmon/prawn loaf. This is the second time Christine has made a loaf out of seafood and the second time was just as good as the first. The salmon and prawns were shredded very thin, mixed with flavorful herbs, and stirred up with a whipped egg mixture. When this gets baked for a little while and is served with a creamy tomato and herb sauce, it is Heavenly. With slices of this tasty main course we had another endive (chicorée in its root form) and apple salad. To finish, we each had a small bowl of apple compote (apple sauce) with a few small cinnamon-y biscuits (except for Kathy whose stomach is still adjusting to her new diet here). It was a wonderful end to a gorgeous day. :)
Tuesday: Happy fat tuesday! For breakfast today I had two slices of Lionel's homemade treat- each one topped with butter and preserves. YUM! After breakfast, I walked myself to the bus stop and made it to school about 10 minutes before class. Class was long and slow as usual on tuesdays but it was a completely gorgeous day and I could have cared less about being bored in class. At lunch, Roshanna and I decided that we didn't care to wait a half hour for the cafeterias on campus to open so we walked across the street to a nearby bakery and bought ourselves some treats. I had a café au lait (coffee and milk), a small quiche lorraine, and a ham croissant that appeared to have been covered in egg and cheese and then fried. Lastly, I didn't realize it until we left the bakery (which was about an hour later because we pulled a table outside and ate there) that I had stolen someone's bag of cannelés- two of those Bordeaux treats that are made with rum. Oops! I had grabbed the bag off of the counter when I bought my food because I thought it was Roshanna's. When no one stopped me, I figured I was right. Plus, we sat there for at least an hour without anyone coming to take them from us so whatever... I have no guilt! We were able to finish this amazing and fat lunch with a yummy dessert. It was meant to be. :)
Told you it was a beautiful day :)
Um yea, that would be my LUNCH
After school, I went home to have a cup of coffee and try my potato chips and Lindt chocolate bar. I have no words to describe my love for Lindt chocolate.... just go buy a "Creations" bar and figure out what I mean. Please!
Nothing like an after-school snack like this one
After relaxing for a little bit, I got to work on my mom's Tollhouse Chocolate Chip Cookie Pie! I had to make the crust from scratch but that turned out to be easier than expected. Unfortunately, though, while in the process of making the crust (as in, one box of Oreos already in the blender) I realized I had the perfect amount of Oreos for half of a pie. Ugh. Basically, I had to speed walk back to the round about by my house (which is where the bus drops me off and picks me up), go around to the opposite side, and walk straight up that street for about 10 minutes. Well, 5 minutes at the pace I was walking. I finally made it into the big supermarket Auchan and it took forever to find the freaking cookie aisle! When I found it, I couldn't find Oreos. They are- not surprisingly- not hugely popular over here. But, alas, I found them, got in line, paid, and sprinted home. *For whatever reason, I felt compelled to buy a second box at Auchan. I found out later that it must have been my body (or maybe my soul) knowing in advance how much I would enjoying snacking on Oreos in my bed after school.* So when I got back to the house, I was sweaty and my legs were about to fall off but at least I made it home before Christine showed up with Guilhem. I really didn't want to have to explain what had just happened... I was embarrassed. haha
Then, I recommenced with my pie making and it was eventually ready for the oven....
Being "fat" tuesday, we had a fat dinner tonight: crêpes of course! If that doesn't sound fat enough for you, I'll tell you right now that I had three of them and two slices of pie. So the crêpes came with options: you could have just cheese, salmon with crème fraîche and lettuce, or provençale chicken and shredded Gruyère. I went with chicken for my first two and was given just cheese for the last. This is a really simple and very delicious dinner idea- I hope you will all try this sometime. Better yet, I hope I learn the proper technic for making the actual pancakes and then I can just whip up a thousand of them and have you all over when I get home! ;)
My chicken and cheese crêpe :)
And then, when we were fat and happy, the moment of truth was upon us. It was time to see if my first attempt at my mom's Tollhouse Pie- which was also simultaneously my first attempt at baking with french ingredients AND with ever making anything food-wise for this family- was any good. I brought the pie in from outside where it had been sitting to cool. It looked great and smelled great, and Guilhem had liked the mixing bowl and utensils clean earlier like he had never tasted sugar in all his 13 years. So perhaps it was going to be amazing. To be honest....... it was. :)
My host family ate this pie like they were going to forget their table manners. I was showered with compliments and given permanent, unending permission to make this again whenever I want! I thought they might have been acting kind but when everyone took second, full slices I knew it was true: I had succeeded! Even Kathy, who has been struggling with her appetite this first week here, had a big piece and ate the whole thing. And I must say, I think I actually prefer the homemade Oreo crust and might actually prefer crunched up dark chocolate bar to chocolate chips. There is even something fantastic about the creaminess of french butter. But I think I need one of my mom's pies again to be sure. ;)
After dessert, I was in a food coma. I think we all were. And you'll never believe that I actually got myself freshened up and went OUT to downtown Pau to celebrate the end of Carnaval after all this. I missed all of the Carnaval up until this point- something I am disappointed about but am also kind of thinking wasn't really my thing. Either way, I wasn't going to miss the last night. I put on the beautiful mardi gras masque that I bought in Venice and headed out. Lionel was kind enough to drop me off half way on his way to church (for the beginning of Lent). I eventually found Roshanna and some other USAC people downtown and then we together found the "tent." It cost nothing to go inside and listen to the live band but you did have to "trade" euros for some sort of made up currency with which you could "trade" for alcohol (because they weren't allowed to sell it). There was also some food there too but I just got a small beer and got to keep my cup. It was a pretty fun time!
Workin' the masques... and the attitude.
(Sorry it's blurry!)
Live band! *The cows on the right are the symbols of the Béarn region, where I live right now.*
Inside the tent
I was having a great time dancing with other USAC girls and whatnot, but then all our USAC boys showed up and they were pretty heavily drunk. This day also happened to be the birthday of one of the guys in the group so I believe they got started "celebrating" just have class today... about 3p in the afternoon. Considering it was now about 11p, they weren't in very good shape. Things didn't get weird or gross or anything, but I started to feel uncomfortable. Mostly, the good mood just sort of left the place and I didn't feel like I was having fun anymore. I finally decided it was time to go when a very filthy, old homeless guy took Roshanna's drink out of my hand, shoved it into someone standing next to me, and pulled me away from the group. He grabbed my wrist so hard that it hurt and he swung me around by my arm to turn me in the other direction. Thankfully, I was able to wiggle my wrist out of his hand, and with his momentum from swinging around, his hand slid off of my arm and he stumbled backward until he fell to the ground and smashed his head against the stage guard rail. I stood there for a second, dumbfounded, then I gave him a look that expressed my inner thoughts. Quite simply: "are you serious right now?" He put his hands up like, "oh no, it's okay, I'm fine, it's all good," and I just turned away and went back to my group. This is well shaken-off by now but it really put me in the mindset that it was time to go. I said bye to a few people and then walked out with a very sweet girl named Kali who told me to call her if I felt scared during my walk home.
She had been right- the walk home was not fun. I have walked home when it is truly night time more than a few times but this was different. There were a lot of sloppy, drunk people out tonight, I was all the way downtown, and it was the dead of night- not 9:30p or 10p. I have always been able to calm myself and remind myself that I am in a safe area when I get freaked out walking at night, but I couldn't do so tonight. I called for a cab. You might be relieved that I did so, but don't get ahead of yourself: there weren't any cabs available. I believe the operator's exact words were, "it's impossible to pick you up. We have no cars available." Really? REALLY?! The bus system just closed for the night and you have no cars ready right now?? This is probably the time you're going to get the most business! I couldn't believe it. I have no car here in France so the only way for me to get home tonight was to walk. I could have called Christine or Lionel if I was really in a bad situation, but that would have required getting them out of bed around midnight and all of that. I just couldn't do it. I had left the house this evening knowing plenty well what my options were for transportation- it was on me to get myself home.
To make a long story short, I got home safe and mostly sound. I was thanking my lucky stars that I had my iPod with me though! I don't think I would have come home sane if I didn't have a soft stream of happy music in one ear the whole way. I was dead beat after this and was still irritated about the turn the evening had taken; an irritation that had become focused against males in general while on my walk. I remembered that I also had homework that needed to be done and I also wanted to take a shower. It was about 12:45a. I think in a different mood, I would have found ways around these things. Maybe I would have gone to bed right there, put my hair up the next day, and scrambled through the homework on the bus in the morning. But that irritation I was feeling acted like motivation and I just shut my mind (sort of like shutting myself up) and went through everything I still needed to do. After my shower, I sat on the edge of my bed and did the homework with my eyes drooping. I wasn't angry or resentful. I just felt focused and was not going to bed until everything that was supposed to be done was done. And that was that.
At least I went to bed fat. :)
Wednesday: I was very tired all day today but I did start out my morning on a fairly good note by mixing some real coffee into my chicorée. That was a very helpful pick-me-up during the morning portion of classes. I was in a great groove of feeling very sure of myself today. It turned out to be really easy to keep my expression bland when each one of those boys came into class. I think what I did to move myself past last night was this: I took turns looking at each guy and saying to myself, "eh. Whatever." And then I turned my full and complete attention to the white board. That's right- I am in control! :)
I had a great pizza at lunch today that was topped with ham, mushrooms, crème fraîche, and cheese. I finished this off with a coffee and a buttery chocolatine. And it all made me feel good. :) Once home, I worked on my blog and some homework. The rest of the afternoon passed pretty uneventfully. But as you all know by now, dinner is the main event.
For dinner, we had a carrot soup that was spiced with some coriander and other seasonings. It was very flavorful and yummy. And of course, it was lapped up with the homemade bread. I'm thinking that American sandwich bread, or really just any purchased bread besides specialty breads is going to seem flat out lame after my experience here. Our main course tonight was a salad that was made of shredded crab, red beans, rice, basil, avacado, cucumber, other veggies, and a little bit of a cream sauce. Very good! We had the rest of the pie for dessert and cleansed ourselves with preserve yogurts afterwards. I completed my evening by talking to my family- mom and dad both wanting to know if they needed to come over here and kill someone after my explanation about last night. haha I am such a blessed girl. :)
Thursday: Today was a terribly normal day so I'm actually going to skip right ahead to dinner-
Tonight we had pasta bolognese! We were each given a huge pile of noodles and they were topped with a great tomato, meat, mushroom sauce. It was very hearty and tummy-warming, and our green salad helped make some room for the incredible dessert: Pêches Melba (Peaches Melba)! This dish is served in a glass cup and consists of two peach halves topped with bourbon vanilla ice cream, and it is all drizzled in a raspberry sauce. Or at least, that's how Christine made it. It was spectacular. :)
Friday: Today was also completely normal and I will yet again skip ahead to dinner (not to worry, a great weekend is coming!). Dinner tonight was the rest of the pasta bolognese (the noodles) cooked with finely shredded spinach and Gruyère cheese. Wow! is all I can say. And for dessert, it was the usual and I yet again chose the natural yogurt. I think I had black currant preserves this time... another excellent choice!
I went to bed a little earlier than usual tonight to be up and at the table for breakfast by 9a. We're spending the day in the French Basque city of Saint-Jean-de-Luz!
