Squirrel Video

These are the people in your neighborhood

This afternoon, as I was driving into Valenciennes, I passed a school that was just letting out. Here, the police man the crosswalks next to schools where there is a lot of traffic. As I approached the crosswalk, a policewoman had me stop and motioned for a big group of elementary school students to cross the street. Almost all of the kids that crossed the street insisted on shaking the policewoman’s hand as they passed her! There must have been like 20 kids. The policewoman had started with her arms stretched out parallel to the crosswalk to indicate that the cars were to stop, but this double arm gesture was reduced to a one arm one as she shook all the kids hands. It was great.

unbelievable

The CAF (Caisse Allocations Familials) is a government organization that helps people with their rent who don’t make very much money. I was told I should apply because you never know. I did apply…in October. After 9 months of calling and visiting, and asking them what’s going on, and their acting annoyed that I am asking them what they are doing with my dossier, and after their putting the amount that they were going to give me on their website…and then taking it down again. After all of this, I got a letter last week that officially telling me that I do not qualify for any aid. Great. Fine. Its over. Good riddance.

Today I see that they deposited 200 euros in my account.

Unbelievable!

I wonder if they are going to ask for it back…

escargots toboggan

I know there are some of you that read my blog that don’t regularly check out my flickr page. I already put this picture on said page, but don’t want you to miss out on it. It goes without saying, but I’ll say it anyway: Only in France (or in Belgium as the case may be, since that is where I took the picture…).

But “America”, as they call the U.S. here, isn’t left out of the fun!

Here is another shot that shows just how American this toboggan is:

But wait, toboggan is spelled differently at the top of the slide than it is on the trailer… T-o-b-o-g-a-n…isn’t that French for Toboggan? Hey…this isn’t an American toboggan at all!

stray dog

Yesterday a stray dog crossed the street with me. He waited until I was standing at the crosswalk. Came up beside me, and then walked me across.

moving

Here are the pictures I took of the apartment to use in an online posting to try to get someone to rent it. I am supposed to pay rent until the end of July, but if I can find someone to rent it, I will be able to stop paying rent when I leave the apartment at the end of June. Two people came to look at it yesterday (one of them one of my students!). Two more are coming today. Fingers crossed that someone wants it.

a race in Valenciennes

This morning, as I walked toward Place d’Armes, the main square in Valenciennes, I realized that there was a running race of some sort going on. It seemed like some local race to raise money or something. The finish line was there, in Place d’Armes. Here are a few things I noticed;

1) No one was clapping or cheering or doing anything really at all to support or acknowledge the runners. There were metal barracades lined with people, spectators, all of them silently staring at the runners as they passed. Actually, I did see a group of people clapping once, but I think they must have seen a member of their family who was in the race.

2) I saw a guy who had just finished the race lighting a cigarette.

3) When I saw this, I was on my way to the track to have a run myself. I was wearing running clothes and running shoes. It was the first time I didn’t feel like a spectacle walking through town like that, as there were so many other people walking around wearing the same thing.

sunday morning pain perdu

This is what it takes:

to make this:

which also incidentally and accidentally looks like a butterfly!

some details from a North to South day

Today I spent four and a half hours on a bus, from Manchester to London, looking out at green green England. Tonight I spent 2 hours riding in underground trains through London (to and from the Lahori Kebab House for some amazing Pakistani food. Wow it was good.) Breakfast in Manchester, dinner in London. Pretty fun.

Tomorrow night I will go to a performance of Romeo and Juliet at Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre. I am very excited about this. Alas, the 700 standing tickets, which sell for £5, were sold out. While the website insists that these spots have the “best view of the stage” I wasn’t too sorry to miss standing (potentially in the rain) for a three hour play.

The morning is as of yet unplanned. Maybe I will dream of the perfect London morning tonight while I sleep. Sweet dreams.

I might have a new best friend

Tonight I went back to the home of the family I go and speak English with every friday evening. The youngest girl, the one that stands on my feet as I walk around the room, seems to be officially crazy about me. She made up the following rhyme. (btw, they call me Rebecca)

“Je ne partage pas Rebecca!”

Translation: I won’t share Rebecca!

What’s better than someone liking you so much that they refuse to share you? Not a lot.

too perfect

I had a health insurance card. It worked fine. I needed to go to the health insurance office for some reason, and when they put the card in their machine to access my dossier, they said that the card didn’t work and that they would have to issue me another one. “Strange,” I thought. “It worked fine until you used it…” So they gave me a stand-in piece of paper representing the fact that I have health insurance and I was told that in two weeks, my new card would be sent to me. About a week later I get two letters, in the same day, from their office. They have been sent by two different people. Both of them are asking for the same document. Apparently, before I can be reissued the card that I already had and that was working fine, I must supply them with a copy of this document. Weird. You guys gave me a card before, but now you can’t give it back to me without something you apparently didn’t need before.

Today, as I walked past the windows of the health insurance office on my way to deliver the necessary document, I saw something that explained so much. Through the window I could see a desk, and on the corner of the desk, right next to some plastic file organizers, was a trash can. On the desk. At least now I understand.

Cinema as travel

Saw “The Wrestler” tonight. For once I was able to totally ignore the subtitles so you can imagine my surprise to find myself back in Valenciennes when it ended. Really enjoyed the film, and the re-entry was surreal.

teaching english=having fun

Every Friday I go to the home of a family of a colleague to speak english with them, the parents and their two young girls. They live in the countryside and tonight I ran around the backyard with the youngest one. She showed me the chicks and chickens and the donkey named C.C. I taught her how to say the donkey was dirty. As the sun went down, I had coffee with the mom in the backyard and discussed the things they use the yard for in the summer. I told the youngest to count all the trees in the yard and tell me the final count in english. I swung on the swingset with the older one and taught her to say “I’m swinging!” When her dad came into the backyard, she shouted “I’m swinging!” I then taught “It’s raining!” when it started raining. They invited me to stay for dinner, when I start speaking french. After dinner, the youngest one stood on my feet as I walked around the living room with her. She asked me why I couldn’t just sleep there? It was a great night.

pizza, redux

This is my third attempt at making a pizza lately. The first two, I am ashamed to admit were made with a sort of premised dough that was not that good. This one was made from a pizza dough recipe from my friend Craig. (Thanks for the pizza dough recipe Craig!) It was a-MAZ-ing!

Ingredients include: sauce, red and yellow peppers, mushrooms, sliced garlic (this was key), chorizo, buffalo mozzarella and other mozzarella from a bag.

Here is the recipe for the dough – I made the by hand version. (Craig, I hope its ok that I reproduce the recipe here!)

Some Approximation of Simon Jacques Cousineau’s Pizza Dough
(Makes 3 medium or 2 large crusts)
I Package of dry Yeast
I ¼ Cup of tepid Water (110°)
4½ Cups All Purpose Flour
¼ Cup Semolina Flour (or Cornmeal)
1 TB of Olive Oil
½ tsp Salt
BY HAND
In a large mixing bowl, add dry yeast to the water and whisk together.  Let stand for 5 minutes and allow yeast to bloom.  Add flours, oil and salt.  Mix together in bowl until dough comes together and forms a ball.  Remove dough to a lightly floured surface and knead dough by hand for 3-5 minutes.  Place dough into a lightly greased bowl and cover in warm place for 45 minutes-1 hour until doubled in size. * (*If making dough for use later, do not place in bowl, Place in a greased Zip-lock bag and refrigerate for up to 2 days or freeze for up to 2 months.)
ELECTRIC MIXER
In bowl of mixer, add dry yeast to the water and whisk together.  Let stand for 5 minutes and allow yeast to bloom.  Add flours, oil and salt.  Mix on speed one (with dough hook) until a ball forms.  Switch to speed two and mix for about 3 minutes.  Place dough into a lightly greased bowl and cover.  Set in a warm place for 45 minutes-1 hour until doubled in size. * (*If making dough for use later, do not place in bowl, Place in a greased Zip-lock bag and refrigerate for up to 2 days or freeze for up to 2 months.)

Roll dough out on a lightly floured surface with a rolling pin to fit size of desired pizza pan.  Lightly sprinkle the pan with corn meal and place rolled out dough onto prepared pan.  Dock dough with a fork and let rise for 20 minutes in a warm place (cover with a light towel or plastic wrap).  Then brush with olive oil and par-bake at 400° for 5-7 minutes.  Top pizza with your favorite toppings and bake for 5-10 minutes more (last 2 minutes on “Broil” to give a golden finish {if desired}).

New video from “The Website is Down”

My brother has finished his second hilarious website video: “The Website is Down: Excel Hell”

Send the link to your friends! Maybe he will get a million views of this one too!

http://www.thewebsiteisdown.com/

pizza

I made a pizza! While it tasted good, I know how I can make it better. But I don’t think I can make it look any better:

Florida trip, part 1

Since I got back to France from 10 days in Florida with my family, I have been trying to think of how to approach representing the trip on my blog. I took LOTS of photos, a very small selection of which I have put into a set on my flickr page, but I’m not sure what to do with the rest, or what to say about the trip. I had a very strong case of culture shock after almost 7 months in Europe, without having returned to the states. I mean, I got up one morning and saw this:

I sat on a plane for awhile, and just a few short hours later I was looking at this:

ordering from this:

and eating this:

(Conch chowder – which was followed by a perch sandwich, conch fritters, and key lime pie. The place is called Alabama Jack’s. When our waiter introduced himself as “Dog,” I knew I was a long way from Valenciennes.)

Just minutes down the road, we arrived at our resort on Key Largo. After we checked in, we were told how to find our cottage. I believe the directions were, “If you pass the Tyrannosaurus Rex you’ve gone too far”:

Here is a sign for our resort:

And here is the dinosaur:

Instead of doing this:

I was doing this:

and this:

while looking at this:

So this is a good representation of the first couple of hours and days of my holiday in the Keys and Miami. I’m still thinking of how to share some of the other experiences I had during my time in the states, and the unique impression they made on me considering the point of view have these days. Actually, I think the French perspective allowed me to truly appreciate the kitsch and the hokiness I found in Florida, rather than thinking it to be tacky or lame. Instead so much of it was really charming to me, and so quintessentially American. For example, get a load of the lamp that is in the cottage which is next to the T-rex:

Fantastic.

bagel

Found this photo in the New York Times. What I wouldn’t do for one of these some days. And its an everything too….

quick note from the keys

Hello from Key West where I am exloring the mane and myriad differences between the Florida Keys and northern France. Look for my resulting report to be published in the spring in respected academic journals everywhere!

So far it has been amazing. Fantastic to find myself looking at the ocean, teal and turquoise, eating a conch fritter (!) or a blackened mahi mahi samdwich, swimming in the salty water, looking at a Key deer (endangered and protected deer the size of a dog!) from about two feet away from the car window. The pictures will comw later, and they are gonna be worth the wait folks! I am also on an unofficial search for Americana, and OH BOY i have found it.

Gros bisous!

let’s not forget about cinnamon toast!

Nothing else quite cures what ails you like cinnamon toast – so comforting and indulgent. I only recently remembered cinnamon toast, and thought I’d remind you about it too. Let’s not forget about cinnamon toast!

day in paris, version feb.2009

I spent the day in Paris yesterday. I love that I can do that. I want to go to Paris more often this year, as I love love love being there, and don’t want going there to always be a big production. So going for the day is a good way to minimize the planning necessary to make it happen. It was a great day! Photos:

Cloudy day. Sacré Cœur:

I had the tartine (toasted baguette, butter, jam). Always very ecomonical.

The Catacombs! This was very interesting. A little creepy after a while, but an amazing space under the city. Quiet, humid, low ceiling dripping water, shoes have white mud marks on them after. Not a sad place, but if anywhere is going to make you contemplate your own mortality, this is it!

Notre Dame. Looking good now that the scaffolding is off. Looks clean.

Waiting for the train. Gare du Nord. What a great space.

looking forward to spring

About a week ago I had the following epiphany: it will be spring. It will be spring! I have really been in the winter mentality, the existential equivalent to putting up the collar of your coat, tucking your chin inside your scarf, and walking into a cold winter wind. But spring will come! I decided to give myself a preview:

just what you need. more email!

Upon inspiration from a friend, I have added a subscription feature on my blog!

If you scroll to the bottom of the right-hand column on my blog, you will see the following: “Subscribe to tobeckyw’s blog by Email.”

If you click on this link and follow the instructions, you will be able to receive an email when I write a new post! And don’t worry, at the rate I write posts, an email notification will barely make a dent on your inbox.

I hope alls well where you are. And people, don’t be afraid to comment! Its really fun for me to know that you are reading my blog.

In response to a few recent comments: I think that parsley is good for eating at Passover, dipped in salt water to represents the tears of the exiled Jews, but other than that, I’m not buying that it holds any medicinal or other properties…

cooking with a cold

I have a cold, but all the same, I made a great soup yesterday. I needed it to nourish me back to health! This is the third time I have made this particular soup: Spicy Sausage and Potato. Yum. I highly recommend it. I made it with smoked sausage, and left out the green onions, the parsley, and the herbs, because the onions are out of season, who needs parsley anyway, and herbs are too expensive. The soup is great even without that stuff.

While cooking:

If you are interested, here’s the recipe for Spicy Sausage and Potato Soup.

This morning, still cold-ridden, I decided to console myself with a little French Toast, or “Pain Perdu” (lost bread). It was the first batch of french toast I have made since my sojourn in France, if you can believe that. (Oh, la honte.)

It was great, but it wasn’t nearly as good as yours, Mom.

saturday night

Hockey game – Valenciennes vs. Dunkerque! 7-7 tie.
Frites and policroc in Belgium!
Saw a fox on the side of the road!
Saw a shooting star!

What a night.

a great morning

1. listening to the Australian Open, live

2. making pancakes

3. with bacon

4. and coffee

Brussels

I have recently decided that I want to explore more of the places that are quite close to where I live. Given that I don’t teach this week because my students have exams, today I decided to go to Brussels. I drove there by myself. I think I’ve already mentioned that of all the Europeans I have driven amongst, the Belgians are the worst. And indeed, this observation was, again, borne out today.

The day, with some photos:
I parked near a metro station and took the train into the city. When I write it like that, it sounds so simple. After getting off the highway and driving into a neighborhood (as directed by the lady I spoke to when I called the tourist office), it wasn’t that easy to find the metro stop, but a few helpful Belgians pointed me in the right direction.

Ate thai food for lunch – yum!

Grand Place

As I stood in the Grand Place a man approached me and asked if I spoke English. He was Irish and was looking for historical information about the Place. He was really nice and we chatted a bit. He decided to look in the museum that was on the place itself and off he went. About 30 seconds later I looked up and saw him running back toward me. “Congratulations on your new president!”, he cried as he hugged me. He just gave me a huge hug! He said, “I don’t know how you feel about him, but we are just so happy!” I assured him I was happy too. It was awesome.

Galeries Royales Saint-Hubert – wow. I bought a salted caramel filled truffle in here, and ate it as I strolled along.

Building under scaffolding.

Musées royaux des Beaux-Arts de Belgique. This is a great museum. And, get this, I saw the Queen of Belgium there! She was visiting the special exhibit. I was upstairs looking at some stuff when I noticed that everyone up there was looking down into the large, open main floor where there was a crowd of photographers and people holding huge microphones around a well-dressed older lady and some other folks. Later, I found out that it was the Queen! I took a picture too, down in the exhibit. She is the one in a skirt, sort of standing alone in front of that piece.

Me in the museum.

As I walked around, I was thinking about others who I know would love to have such a day in Brussels. Next time I go, I’ll visit the Centre Belge de la Bande Dessinée! – a museum dedicated to the comic strip!

FINALLY!

I think it was just after Bush got reelected, when I was so disappointed, that I actually took solace in the fact that it was a simple fact that one day he wouldn’t be my President. And today is that day! FINALLY!

I just spend the last 4 hours watching CNN coverage from my apartment here. An experience that I will never forget. Now I have turned to the French national news and am listening to how they are covering the big day.

It was a great afternoon. It was so nice to feel so connected to something that all of my friends and family (and the rest of the world!) were watching at the same time.

For a little comic relief, I offer you this short video from youtube. If you remember the “Wassup!” beer commercials from the late 90’s, you’ll enjoy this (thanks Jen for the link!):

Tonight, the “We Are One” concert is my lullaby

I was about to go to bed, and checked the NPR website to hear the hourly news update. I saw that NPR was broadcasting the “We Are One” concert from the Lincoln Memorial! So here I am in Valenciennes, France, sitting in bed, listening to what’s happening, live, in Washington D.C., 3,847 thousand miles away. Awesome.

To mark Barack Obama’s inauguration on Tuesday I changed my blog header to the New York Times headline from the day after the election, how I found out that he would be my president.

la vie quotidienne

I feel as if you, my devoted readers, have gotten a distorted view of what my life here is like. Probably because I usually include photos in my posts, and I’m usually only taking photos if on holiday, or some other contemplative walk, or exciting adventure. I also think I try not to complain. I don’t like to hear myself complain, and I don’t want you to have to read my complaints. But I realize that this may leave a lot out of what this experience really is. I am not necessarily writing about “ma vie quotidienne” (my daily life).

Since the end of my holiday I have been dealing with things that aren’t necessarily pleasant or easy to handle. Add the fact that these obstacles must be navigated in French and you have a few headaches, a few tears, and a few afternoons when I can’t really muster the motivation to do anything but stay inside and watch a movie. Here are a few details of my recent “vie quotidienne.”

Sewage problems at my apartment: I won’t go into more detail, and believe me, you don’t want me to. These problems have been fixed and the landlord has informed us that the cost of repairs will be passed on to the tenants. Charming.

No water in my apartment for 3 days: This was likely caused by the very unusual sub-zero temps we had here for about a week. Luckily I have access to a friends apartment where I was able to go to shower but this situation didn’t do much for making my place or myself feel clean (read: all dishes dirty).

Car problems: I found out yesterday that I need to replace the brakes on my car and that it would cost 400 euros. I have taken it to another garage who may be able to do it for less, but in any event, I have to do the repair if I want to keep using the car. I can’t imagine a situation more ripe for being taken advantage of: 1) I’m a woman, 2) who needs her car repaired in a garage, 3) and who isn’t a native speaker of the language in which the mechanic is explaining what’s wrong and how much it will cost. Hmmmm…

Health Insurance: Because I am a teacher, I can take part in a “mutuelle,” a program for which I must pay a small fee but one that dramatically reduces the cost of monthly perscription medication. Before the holidays, I called to see if I had been signed up for this program, and could I be sent a notice to that effect that I could show to the pharmacy. I was told no, I hadn’t been signed up, and to send a letter stating I want to be a “mutuelliste” and to include copies of my contract, my pay stubs, my social security number (the french one), and my new address. I called back today and was told that there was no such record of my having sent this letter. This is so incredibly typical of dealing with French institutions that I feel like I am stating the obvious when I say: nothing ever works. If it does work the way its supposed to, the first time, one feels real surprise.

Traveling Internationally: I recently got hassled at the UK border because, apparently, I couldn’t adequately prove that I have a legitimate job in France and the fact that it was my 4th visit to the UK in less than a year made the border patrol suspicious that I was secretly working there illegally. Never mind the fact that I could provide a document from the French government that is only obtainable if one has a legal job. Evidently, the documents required to enter England now include a passport, and a work contract.

Going to the doctor: You don’t have to make an appointment to go to the doctor. Instead, you just go when his office is open and you wait, and hope you don’t have to wait that long. You wait with a lot of miserable people. And then when you get in, your doctor might not give you the correct prescription for your medication, only allowing you to get enough for half of a month, after which you must go back, and wait, and hope you don’t have to wait that long, in order to rectify this mistake. I have to leave off here, because I have to go and wait at my doctor’s office.

I acknowledge that I have chosen to live here and therefore I have to accept the trials and tribulations that come with that choice. But it doesn’t mean life here isn’t complicated or annoying, and it doesn’t mean I won’t complain about it from time to time. I think that Americans, on the whole, have an overly romanticized idea of what living in France must be like. Well, let me tell you, living in France can be a real pain in the ass.

Lille Wheel

Get a hold of this enormous wheel in Lille! The day I took this picture it was seriously frigid out yet there was at least one person riding it. It was a lovely sunny day. I am trying to get to Lille more often this year. It is a great city.

The wheel is just amazingly big. From a couple streets over, you wonder how it can even fit in the “grande place”!

Holidays in England

Happy New Year all! I celebrated the end of 2008 in England with a some very special people who very generously welcomed me into their homes for the holidays. The trip included history seeking trips to Battle and York. Here are some of the best pictures. The rest are on my flickr page. I hope you all had a good holiday season and that 2009 is off to a good start for you! I hope to post many fun stories of my continued adventures this year. And I look forward to hear what you think about what I have to say and post!

Here’s a little of what I saw (and ate) over the holidays:

Dee-licious Ploughman’s lunch in Battle. Includes: Cheddar (yes, that slab at the back of the plate is cheese, amazing cheese), bread, butter, pickle (not what you think it is if you are American, read about what the English call pickle here), and a little salad with a pickled onion which was scary at first, but turned out to be fantastic.

The ruins of Battle Abbey. Battle, England. It was incredibly peaceful and calm here. We were the only people walking around the ruins at the time and it was silent and bewitching.

The York Minster looking spooky.

A cream scone I’ll not soon forget.

Me atop Clifford’s Tower, a fascinating place. On this site in 1190, members of the Jewish population of York sought refuge from a mob. They chose to die at each other’s hands rather than renounce their faith (more info about it here). It was very cold at the time this photo was taken. On the way down we saw two charming geese-like groundskeepers clipping the grass around the tower.

Litterbug sighting

Tuesday I was in my car, waiting to leave a crowded parking lot. In front of me, another car was waiting too. The kid in the front seat rolled down the window enough to get his arm out and let go of a plastic wrapper, dropping it on the ground. He rolled the window up. At this moment, I saw his dad turn toward him and talk to him. I thought, the cars aren’t moving at all, maybe the dad will make the kid get out and pick it up. The kid rolled down the window again and dropped more plastic out onto the ground.

I should make a seperate entry for the people who allow their dogs to shit on the sidewalk. How people think this is still acceptable, I have no idea. This morning, on my way to the mailbox, I had to avoid a big pile, which had been placed conveniently right in front of the entry to the sous-prefecture (government buliding, not unlike city hall). I’m looking for the word that adequately describes the sort of person allow their dog to do this. If I find it, I’ll add it here.

the bullseye project, continued, part 2

Yet more photos of the inverted bullseye. I have discovered that the true genius of this breakfast, for me, is that my oven/stove combo, being a sorry excuse for an oven or a stove, will only allow one or the other component to be operational at any given moment. That is to say, if I am making an egg on the stove, I can’t toast bread at the same time in the oven. Thus the additional genius of the bullseye (and its variations) for someone in a similar culinary predicament.

People who shouldn’t write but do anyway

I just read a good column in the New York Times about people that write books, who shouldn’t. Apparently “Joe the Plumber” has written a book. The author (of the column…) Timothy Egan, also quotes Palin, who is said to stand making up to $7 million if she writes a book. The quote from her is so painful to read, its words so utterly misused, that I was happy all over again, and for a different reason, that the election is over.

Pumpkin Soup Redux

Yesterday I tried to recreate the unbelievable pumpkin soup I made last week. Alas, it wasn’t quite as good as the first time, but still turned out delicious. I bought what the french call a “potiron” – according to wordreference.com, a potiron is what they call a pumpkin in the UK, and what those in the U.S. call a winter squash. Hmmm. The french have another word for that those in the U.S. call a pumpkin: “citroille”. I haven’t found, however, the UK word for what the U.S. calls a pumpkin…if indeed their pumpkin is our winter squash. (Question: why does is look perfectly fine for me to type “UK” without the periods, but strange {to me} to type “US” without the periods? And on the flip side, “U.K.” looks strange, but “U.S.” doesn’t. Anyone from the UK/U.K. or the U.S./US want to give it a try at explaining this one? If I bothered developing an in-house style sheet, I’d bring these into line however. Probably would go with periods throughout. Am I the only one who notices/thinks about this sort of thing?)

The potiron/citrouille/pumpkin I bought at the market. I will say it looks darker red than the pumpkin I know to be a pumpkin. I guess that is the winter squash in it. It cost about 5 euros which was a little more expensive than I anticipated, but I now have enough soup for many meals (see last photo).

Step one: clean the inside.

Step two: peel it with a big knife, preferably a sharp one. Don’t even think about trying this with a vegetable peeler.

All peeled. (I like this picture. They look like cartoon objects or something)

Step three: cut it up. (This could be a photo of cheese, except I know better!)

Step four: I started by sauteeing an onion, and last time I had a carrot at this point too. Try not to let the onion burn like I did. This photo was taken before the burning, and gives you a good look inside the amazing Creuset pot that I inherited from two legendary Valenciennes area assistants from last year, Kade and Caitlin. They bought the big orange pot for a song at a flea market, and I got it for even less (free!). It has helped create many a delicious meal. I hope to continue the tradition.

The inside of the pot is perfectly clean and smooth, contrary to the way it appears in this photo. I think it is just really old, which accounts for the blackening inside. But that doesn’t affect the way anything tastes.

Step five: I added two liters of chicken stock (made with bouillon, which seems to be the only way you can get ready-made stock where I shop). When that’s boiling I added the pumpkin and a zuchini I had lying around. Bring it back to a boil, and then simmer for about 30 minutes. During this time I added 2 tablespoons of unbelievable curry powder (this is the magic ingredient i think).

Step six: puree it. I borrowed an amazing little tool from Anne Laure to accomplish this task. Apparently, these things are very common here in France. I don’t know anyone in the states that has one, but everyone should. I pureed the whole batch at once, in the same pot I cooked it in. It was amazing. No trying to blend it in a blender in batches, which inevitably makes a huge mess.

Here is what I have left after already eating two huge bowls. one for lunch and one for dinner yesterday. I was guided and inspired by the utter simplicity of this recipe for pumpkin soup I found in the New York Times. Here, Mark Bittman puts forth a minimalist main recipe which he then elaborates on through suggested additions. For the record I basically doubled the amounts he suggests here to match the amount of potiron/citrouille/pumpkin I bought.

This soup is a lot of fun to make, yields a ton of food, tastes great, and is really easy (ok, given, more than half of the reason I say it was easy is because of the hand-held mixer Anne Laure lent me, but it was still really easy). I highly recommend it as a perfect winter meal!

explaining ice fishing

This afternoon I found myself in the personnel office submitting my tram pass receipt so I can get reimbursed, and I began talking about the weather with the ladies there. They were complaining about the cold, grey weather we have here in the North. I told them that where I used to live (Minnesota), it was much much colder. This was met with slight disbelief. I then told them that snow that falls in December might not melt until March. More disbelief, expressed wonderfully with really wide eyes, and a certain head gesture that is quite French. When I told them that it gets cold enough for long enough for people to drive on the lakes, and even set up little houses there to sit in while they ice fish, well, this was what earned me some dropped jaws. Fun.

apéro dinatoire

Photos from a recent little gathering I had chez moi. The guests have all asked to remain anonymous, except my wooly little friend Bé (pronounced Bey) here. He was a little drunk.

the bullseye project, continued

Here is a variation guided by bread shape.

what i did when i was in Paris

Things I did yesterday in Paris:

• ate 5 euro felafel lunch on Marais park bench
• visited Centre Georges Pompidou, it almost did me in – so much to see!
• walked through very crowded Paris streets, past Notre Dame, on our way to…
• Shakespeare & Company! Always a pleasure.
• nighttime walk down Champs-Elysées to see the Christmas lights
• dinner off of Boulevard St. Germain
• On the way out of town, had the pleasure of bring *driven* all the way across Paris at night, most notably, past the Louvre, through Place de la Concorde (w o w), and all the way down the Champs-Elysées which has been royally lit up for the holidays, and finally, to and through the roundabout at Charles de Gaulle Etoile. Amazing experience. I find Charles de Gaulle Etoile both frightening and fascinating. It was an experience of a lifetime to drive (ok, be driven) through it. What a thrill.

I found this photo online, of what traffic can look like there. Cars are often 10 abreast as they go around the Arc de Triomphe, I read. What a place.

a day in Paris, photos

Here are a few photos that I took in Paris yesterday.

Arc de Triomphe

Arc de Triomphe, detail

Metro: Cité

View from Pompidou Center

Hippo

Dusk

Champs-Elysèes, holiday lights

Place de la Concorde

Tour Eiffel in blue

my spot

Here is a picture of where I spend a lot of time, especially recently because it is cold out and its right next to the radiator!

Happy Thanksgiving!

creative bullseye making

So this is the traditional preparation of a bullseye. It is also known as egg-in-a-hole, or even (Matt S., I’ll never forget that you call it this) toad-in-a-hole! But I think the word ‘bullseye’ really captures the concept:

Its a genius little meal. I like my eggs, when breadless, over easy. Ideally, there is toast on hand to soak up the runny yolk. As you can see, the bullseye prepares the egg and toast all at once! (Perfect circles are cut out of the bread thanks to the rim of an appropriate sized glass.) Alls well when you have lovely, large slices of ‘pain rond’ (round bread), but what do you do when you have eaten up all the big slices and only have the little ends that are too small to cut a hole in?

This unenviable predicament occurred this morning. I thought about eating something else, but I really wanted my bullseye! So I decided to give the egg a chance to step up to the plate (groan!):

The egg really holds the whole thing together. Literally!

Sunday it snowed

Sunday it snowed and I took a walk. Thank god! Finally something besides rain! It was cold and wet and it was great. I walked through Valenciennes with my camera, wanting to capture this place under, in, during snow.

Today is my dear friend Carly’s birthday and she just told me that she spent time today reading my blog. What an honor! Hearing that motivated me to post these photos. I hope you have a truly great birthday, Carly.

Near my apartment, there are a lot of lawyers. That’s me in the purple hat, reflected while taking the picture:

These are the cars the lawyers drive:

Heart graffiti:

Public art:

Old boulangerie door, glass:

Notre Dame tower over Valenciennes:

The park in the snow:

Creepy alley behind a gate, snowflakes illuminated by the flash:

new wall collage

Here is the latest installation of my postcard wall collage. These postcards were all bought at the Tate Modern. The bottom two rows are all postcards from the Rothko exhibition. I love how they look. The one that makes the whole group work is the yellow one, third from the left, top row.

saturday market

I woke up at 8:30, really tired but I needed to get up so I could go to the market! It was really really cold outside. when I got to the market, it started to snow!! There were really big flakes that stuck to my coat. Finally something besides rain.

Here’s a list of what I bought:

6 eggs from the cheese man
3 kinds of cheese from the cheese man: Feta, vieux Comté, Mont d’Or*
2 carrots
2 onions
1/3 of a pumpkin!
1 bulb of smoked garlic
1 small container of sundried tomatoes in oil
3 apples
8 clementines
1 small roasted chicken!
1 serving roasted little potatoes, hot!
1 round loaf of bread, the good stuff

I am going to make a soup with the pumpkin, carrots, onion, garlic,

* I didn’t really know what Mont d’Or was. I asked the woman behind me in line what she was going to buy, and that’s why I bought the Mont d’Or. This cheese, which sort of looks like brie, comes in a circular wooden box, and when I asked for it, the cheese man fetched a brand new box. He took off the lid, and then, with his huge knife he removed the staples that held the side section on. This wood, shaped like a hoop, is apparently present when the cheese is being made. it gives the cheese some of its flavor. He peeled the hoop of wood off of the cheese, and then he cut it from the base of the box. Now it was ready to sell!

Here’s what I just learned about Mont d’Or :

Vacherin Mont d’Or is a special seasonal cheese in both France and Switzerland, only available between mid-September and March. The cheese is made from the winter milk of cows who have been brought down from their pastures for the season. It is related to other mountain cheeses such as Emmentaler and Gruyere, but made in much smaller rounds and also treated differently, so that the cheese is almost liquid when fully ripe.

Vacherin Mont d’Or comes in a special round pine box with a layer of waxed paper over the cheese. When the cheese is pulled out, it in enclosed by a birch strip called a sangle, and a velvety red rind. To eat the cheese, it is recommended that it be allowed to breath at room temperature for several hours before carving off the inedible rind and scooping out the soft cheese inside. Vacherin Mont d’Or is a very delicate cheese, and should be kept very cold in storage before being consumed.

Sounds fun!

a must post – it still feels good

Thanks for this Doug – I piqued it off of your flickr page. (frangials for “stole”) But news this good has got to be free. Was discussing the election last night with some french friends. They said we know better than they do how to pick a president (not Sarkozy fans). Well this time maybe we did…

another typography video

Found another neat video about typography that I want to share. There was another really old, black and white one explaining in extreme detail how the linotype machine works, which I am linking to. It is a fascinating, incredibly complex machine, which is why, I imagine, the video is rather long—about 35 minutes.

This one, however, is short, sweet, and very clever. Its called, “Typography in Motion”:

i love/miss typography

I just found this delicious blog about typography, called “I Love Typography.”

In it is this fantastic video about letterpress printing. For one year, I was a letterpress printer. I used a Chandler & Price printing press just like the one the man in the video is using (when he is printing with green ink). My hands did exactly what his hands are doing. My press was a creature who talked to me in metallic clicks and bumps. Of all the archaic objects in the shop, my favorite was the furniture, old oily blocks and strips of wood used to hold the form in the chase (ahh I love those words too). I was so tuned in to the pica, that when I needed to design something on the computer, I changed Quark’s system of measures from inches to picas, so I would understand. I spent hours and hours sorting spaces. That’s right, sorting mixed up pieces of metal that would represent blank space on the page, into jars of specific sizes of blank spaces. This activity definitely gets you thinking abstractly. And when I stopped for lunch, my fingers were black from the lead, and my knuckles were stiff from holding so many pieces of something no one would ever see.

If you have time, check out this video. Its just beautiful.

new friend