Back in Paris: Visitors, Round 2

Already I'm finding myself catching up to the present and I'm wicked excited for that.

This past weekend, along with the departure of Sarah, Mark Andrew, Pat and Quinton to the States, came with the arrival of Irene et al., Lauren and Karen (one of Lauren's classmates from Oxford).

On Friday evening, I cooked dinner for Lauren and Karen, the course-list of which included:
Apératifs
Salmon carpaccio
Baked pasta with a pseudo-cheesy red sauce
Sweetened carrots
Salad (mâche, comme toujours !)
Cheese: emmental, comté, chèvre
Chocolat pudding with liégeois
Pain au chocolat and chocolat chaud

With the above menu, I think it becomes obvious why we did not feel like moving after that.

Saturday was my big tourist day with them. I met Lauren and Karen at the Sacré Coeur, after which we sat at a brasserie by the artist's square. We then headed off for some gelato and returned to the square to take a look at the different works on display for selling. Next, we attempted to go to Ste. Chapelle; with confusion as to whether or not we were supposed to pay to get in, we chose to walk along the Seine before ultimately deciding to take a river tour of the "Stars (i.e., monuments and notable sites) of Paris". With the sun slowly setting over Paris, we headed over to the Louvre where Karen got her photos taken with Lauren and the Pyramids. Close by, we headed over to the first English bookstore established on the European continent (got my English copy of HP7, as the French version was too expensive) and then later stumbled upon a street that included an Italian restaurant, two Japanese restaurants (one of them which had sushi), a piano bar, a jazz bar, and a movie theatre nearby. Naturally, we ate at the sushi restaurant and ended the evening with an American movie, Last Chance for Love.

On Sunday, I went to Church and made a quick stop at the grocery store, before meeting up with Lauren for lunch before she had to leave to go back to Grenoble. After a weekend full of activity, it was great to just sit down at a café with her and talk. Yet, the activity resumed as, after she left and I return to my apartment, I got a message to see a movie with Trevor, Tanya, and Camille (and when we got there, Pamela, too). When we got to the theatre, we were greeted with the exciting news that the price would be only 3,50 €/ticket/movie (instead of 10+ €) until the 25th. After watching La Fille du RER, Trevor and I headed back to the apartment, where we then met up with Irene. The three of us then climbed the stairs of the Arc de Triomphe and surveyed Paris at night, before returning back home. For dinner, Trevor cooked rice and beans, definitely feeding us more than was absolutely necessary.

On Monday, Irene left Paris to go back to Madrid, and I met up with Trevor after work. Unexpectedly, we watched a French movie (LOL) and I watched a quickly-spoken but rather hilarious French movie (Coco), while Trevor's second movie was in English.

Yesterday (Tuesday), Debra (my off-campus advisor from Albion) came to visit Paris, my programme and, by extension, me. I met up with Debra and Trevor back at BU and, together, made our way back to Argentine, where we had dinner at the brasserie right next door to our apartment. Following dinner, we met with our host family and impressively kept up an English-dominant conversation for over an hour. We capped off the night with, of course, pains au chocolat and chocolat chaud. Get ready Albion... I'm bringing this back with me!

The Rest of My Weekend and Les Restes

Well, so much for the touristy bit of my planned weekend with Lauren. Instead, we decided to just go ahead and go with the flow. We didn't actually get moving around Paris until about noon; before that, we took our time eating breakfast and getting ready for the day. Eventually, we made our way to Montmartre--reminiscent of my brief visit there freshman year of college--and somehow seemed to stumble upon the Sacred Heart of Montmartre (i.e., Sacré-Coeur). We made our way through the pilgrim's path within the basilica. About a quarter of the way in, I stopped in the bookshop area and purchased a text which included the order of the Mass, in French. Before even getting to Sacré-Coeur, I was able to purchase a new beret (I still think it was taken out of my suitcase during the baggage check, but I'm not quite sure...), and we tried vin chaud in a little courtyard outside of an adjoining parish. Following our visit to the basilica, we headed further down, just before t he tourist trap area, and after doing a bit of window shopping/shop exploration, had a mid-afternoon lunch at a pizzeria. Since it was cold and I wasn't thinking about the evening weather in terms of dress, we headed back to my room to warm up and fetch a proper jacket. I introduced Lauren to the chocolat chaud that Trevor and I usually end our day with (not the best idea when the day isn't yet over); afterwards, we didn't quite want to move. Even still, though, we found the energy to go back out and walked (and re-walked) the Champs-Elysées. At one point, we stopped in at Sephora. I had been to one in Michigan, and the one there had nothing on this one in Paris; there were so many choices of everything, and that along with the mélange of smells was quite a bit overpowering. After a quick stop at the Disney store (they played the French version of "He Lives in You"; SO great!), we decided to get some dinner which, had been decided a long time ago, ended up being sushi, to celebrate Lauren's 21st birthday. We quickly found the Japanese restaurant that's only a few blocks away from the apartment building. I had salmon sashimi with rice (I think that's what it's called), and a variety of dumplings that reminded me of Filipino cooking. I must admit I rather like Japanese food here. To wrap up the night, we stopped in at the brasserie that's right next door to the apartment building, and toasted one last time to Lauren's b-day.

Today (Sunday), Lauren and I went to Notre Dame for a Gregorian Mass service. I have a bit of trouble following Mass in French; it was quite a bit difficult to follow it in Latin, especially without the guide sheet. After Mass, we came back to the apartment building and after Lauren finished packing, we went downstairs to join Trevor, Christine and Antoine, and eventually the kids, for our weekly lunch. It was relatively shorter, in comparison to our past meals, in large part because Lauren's train would be leaving soon. Comme toujours, Christine made a wonderful lunch. We began with an apératif, this time including quite a bit of Spanish influence. Following that, for our first course, we had salad, along with a flaky crust dish with somewhat of a salmon filling. I don't quite understand what's going on with my fish consumption, but I don't seem to be complaing much about it. For our second course, we had wonderfully-cooked chicken alongside rice. Our third course consisted of some cheese, and homemade bread. We then tackled the dessert which (at first, I got extremely worried at the mere possibility that it was made of mango) Chiristine quickly checked and confirmed it was made of passion fruit.

After lunch, Lauren and I lounged a bit to gather more energy, and then headed for Gare de Lyon, where I dropped her off a few minutes before she had to leave. After our good-bye exchanges, I rushed off to the grocery store to soon find out (again) that they were closed, but not as late as other stores are on a given Sunday. Failed by my attempt to purchase the items on my grocery list, I went back to my room to clean up a bit and began to continue my studying. Thankfully, I have only one class tomorrow and was able to get through the article (i.e., my only assignment for Monday).

Now, I could get ahead in my work... at least, that was the thought that Trevor and I had. We soon realised, however, that our study habits needed to relax for the time being, and thus began eating dinner. If you look it up in the translating dictionary, les restes is the French term for "leftovers," which Trevor and I had this evening. As we went through the night, we eventually (and accidentally) formed a five-course meal, and finished quite a bit of food in the refrigerator. I definitely need more room after tomorrow's shopping extravaganza. Tonight, we had:

*Boiled potatoes with raclette (a cheese which is melted for this dish) and prosciutto
*Leftover cream of mushroom chicken (Trevor had some of the leftover rice, as well)
*Salad with tomatoes
*A hodepodge array of desserts, including a berry-mousse dessert I artistically concocted and focused my attention on for quite some time. Eventually, I'll get photos uploaded so you can see my creations.
*Chocolat chaud with pain au chocolat

Tomorrow, Trevor and I have also decided to finish the rest of our leftovers, that time around including the salmon I cooked last Friday.

Bienvenue à Paris

So, I would like to first apologise to Lauren for pretending to be a Parisian today and apparently catching her a bit off-guard after just having gotten off the train. In any case, she has safely arrived and Trevor and I have begun to show her life in Paris.

Today, I woke up rather late, I suppose because I could, but also because I wanted to. (Hope that makes sense.) In any case, I got up a few hours before Lauren arrived and made my way to the poissonerie, i.e., the place that specialises in fish. I got three cuts of salmon and though I don't really like fish, they looked pretty tasty, even uncooked! After completing my round of groceries, I headed over to the train station to get Lauren and got there right on time. Heading back to the Argentine stop, we had a bit of lunch (not sure if that was the best idea, bearing in mind the elaborate dinner I was planning) at the brasserie next door to the apartment building. Once back, I commenced the cooking preparations. After Trevor's cooking class day (which also may not have been a good idea, though very tasty, I'm most definitely sure), he joined us for what would be the planned end to our "Tour de Food" run.

For dinner, we had:

*First course: an apératif, with baked red-skin potatoes, topped with raclette (which Lauren told us is made in Grenoble) and prosciutto. I had first had this recipe as a main course in Noisy-le-Roi way back when. What was I thinking serving this as only an hors d'œuvre?
*Second course: pan-seared salmon, with rice and green beans. I must say I was incredibly proud of the salmon for having cooked it for the first time... ever.
*Third course: salad with tomatoes and the two types of salad dressing we have to offer.
*Fourth course: cheese plate of emmental, comté (which we found out Lauren likes, as well), rocquefort, and chèvre, paired off with grapes.
*Fifth course: galette de bonne année from our local (and favourite) boulanger. Lauren got the fève.

Christine dropped by during dinner to drop off another storage unit for food, as well as extra linens (merci mille fois !).

Following dinner, we headed over to the jazz club that Trevor had chosen. There was a really great atmosphere that brought me back to my visit to New Orleans. Perhaps the fact that it was rather zydeco and included a washboard made a bit of a difference, nê?

For tomorrow, I've got some rather touristy things planned for Lauren's visit. Hopefully the weather'll be as great as it was today!

The Tour de Food

Hyuu! If you've been following my blog at all, you may have noted that we eat quite a bit here in Paris, and tonight was no exception. But first... I began my day by getting to my last class for the week: economics. The class definitely has the potential for some great discussion but, in the meantime, we're still trapped in learning about economic theory and the history of the European Union (mind you, all in French). At the end of class, I found out that not only do I have a different presentation partner, but I also have a different topic to work on. This'll be an interesting couple of weeks. Outside of that class, I had nothing else to do really, except think about the exciting meal that would soon ensue. (Really, I work on more than just food on any given day. :-P) On a repetitive note, tomorrow is grève day, but I found out that line 1, which is the main line that Trevor and I take since it's the closest one to us, will be operational. We're quite excited to see what Paris will be like.

So, in any case, I left the classroom building with grandious optimism and perhaps cautious enthusiasm with the meal plan Trevor and I had cooked up last night. We had divided up the grocery list, had gone through them at least 10 times to confirm what we needed to purchase, and I somehow still ended up buying salad and dressing (at least we bought different kinds of each). A few important notes about the shopping adventure:

1) I found another supermarché chain called Ed's, which seemed like it was cheaper than Franprix. Also, they had mangoes for 0,99 € each! So excited
2) Ever since French I (freshman year of high school), I have been looking for the French card game 1 000 Borne (pronounced "meel born"). I had lowering hopes as the day went by and I happened to come across a toy store by one of my stops and asked one of the workers if they happened to have the game. She looked and me and said Oui ! My eyes opened wide and I must've been too überly excited to realise that I would be paying 28 € for this game. Oh well, in my opinion, it was worth it.
3) I love the boulangerie patisserie that's like a half-minute walk from the entrance to our apartment building. Have I ever mentioned that?

So, with everything purchased and ready to go, I was about to start making dinner and then realised that Trevor and our dinner guest, Camille, wouldn't be back for another 5-6 hours, as they still had class and a movie to see for their film class. After waiting a bit, I commenced dinner preparations and got everything finished right on time. I think I've got this dinner serving thing down to a science. Voilà :

1st course: apératif + hors d'oeuvres (grilled/crisped pain de campagne rounds with tomato sauce topped off with chèvre)
2nd course: rice with cream of mushroom chicken, with a side of brocolli
3rd course: salad, with a choice of (we ended up trying both) salad dressing
4th course: cheese plate of rocquefort, chèvre, emmental, and comté, with a serving of sweet mango and a serving of sour mango, and a fresh baguette from our favourite bakery
5th course: three-part dessert -- mousse au chocolat noir with fresh berries (raspberries and blackberries... apparently really expensive here!) and a slice of galette de rois, followed by my improved chocolat chaud, along with pain au chocolat from our favourite bakery, a marshmallow bear, and a small piece of candied orange dipped in dark chocolate

Geeze, I'm getting hungry just typing the menu out. We've finally decided to slow down on the grandiose dinners, and are slowly bringing the eating to some level of cuisinary decency. However, Lauren is coming to Paris this weekend to celebrate her birthday (Joyeux anniversaire !) and the end of our "Tour de Food" will end Friday evening. Until then, bon appetit !

ps / Congratulations goes out to Camille for getting the fève, which definitely was called "Psycho Duck."

Let's Play Catch-Up! (Part II)

Well, I suppose I'm far enough into the programme to realise that I don't have a lot of time to spend recounting stories that occurred a week ago, as well as keep up with what's going on now. A résultat, I'll simply list some brief snippets of the days leading up to the start of this current week. If something catches your eye, let me know, and I'll explain it in a more in-depth entry!

Supposedly well-rested after an exhaustingly long day, Wednesday rolled around, marked by the following:
1) An introduction to the BU staff: Renée, Odile, Isabelle, Dorothy and Karell
2) The realisation that our classrooms and the BU space in general is pretty much AWESOME!
3) Catered sandwiches tied up with ribbon, with ham, chicken and egg as the variants. Guess which one was barely eaten.
4) A bus ride, after a group photo on the Champ de Mars that superseded a day of orientation formalities, that lasted 2,5 hours! Sans doubte, it was at least a comfortable bus.
5) The purchase of identical cell phones… I still need to make a Facebook group for that.
6) Our first dinner by ourselves in Paris, i.e., not prepared by our host families, brought us to a Mediterranean/Middle Eastern restaurant. Perhaps there’s something wrong with this choice; not only has the choice been made, I tried schwarma for the first time. (Is that proper English?) At least I’m trying new things here, yebo?
7) Nearly a 2,5 hour conversation (en français) with our homestay dad, Antoine.
8) Stanislas joining the guys and proving that he’s one of the big kids, too.

Thursday started off and ended great, especially because:
1) Trevor and I began our day at the boulangerie that’s about a one-minute walk away from our homestay location.
2) The boulangerie, the food and the people are great. Trevor and I have since called it « our boulangerie » and intend on making it one of our staple spots.
3) We felt like Americans eating/drinking our breakfast en route to the classrooms. This is only a great thing because we came up with an even bigger question: How do the French eat their breakfast?
4) Mastered the Métro the night prior and were able to get to school on our own.
5) Le Week End, a bar-ish type place, was the location for my first croque monsieur in France, as well as the site of my first lunch not sponsored by BU in any way.
6) I may be able switch from niveau 1 to niveau 2 for my French courses, which means I could also possibly take the highest-listed course.
7) I got to see Lauren and Emily again (thanks for being so patient with me!).
8) The three of us were able to spend some time at the Arc de Triomphe.
9) I bought my first round of mini-macarons.
10) I completed my second round of groceries, where I saw even more Filipinos, and also had a difficult time (eventually failing) in attempting to explain bread crumbs.
11) I visited Nicolas across the street from Franprix, the supermarché. At Nicolas, I bought to my surprise, amazement and complete joy, a bottle of Sauvignon Blanc that was made in SOUTH AFRICA!!! So that I wouldn’t be a complete backstabber, I also bought a bottle of cabernet sauvignon, made in Bordeaux.
12) Trevor and I had our first meal at the Fondation with some of the other BU students.
13) We found the non-clubbing group, randomly got off at a Métro stop, and walked around Paris, taking pictures of buildings late at night. Eventually, we realised that it was nearly midnight and tried to rush back, until we further realised that, at the rate we were walking, it was still quite a ways away. Nevertheless, we made the trek back, and walked along the Champs-Elysées, one of the few streets that made me think of New York. I remember talking to Trevor after the long bus ride on Wednesday and saying that, if anything, the bus ride made me anxious to see them all in person and not just in a bus. I definitely did not plan on doing the same thing, but on foot.

Friday began to round out our week of orientation in Paris and included:
1) Meeting Julie, my internship placement coordinator who has found me an awesome potential internship.
2) Meeting past BU students and BU Paris interns.
3) Eating again at Le Week End, thinking beforehand that we were actually eating there for the first time.
4) Going to a French open air market under the bridge between Dupleix and La Motte Picquet Grenelle.
3) Watching "Paris, je t’aime" with my classmates and professors at Studio Galande.
4) Eating a wonderful galette (« chicky ») and crêpe (chocolate). At the restaurant, there was a giant American flag that was hung and, at one point, the American national anthem was played.
5) Discovering that mixing Coca-Cola with various beverages can actually make them taste better [at the crêperie].
6) A what-should-have-been-cool-disco-light-bathroom-but-is-actually-kinda-creeper-ish.
7) Finding another non-clubby group and eventually happening upon a piano bar. The music was great, and the pianist and singer (sitting atop the piano cover) had great personalities and characters.
8) Splitting off into smaller groups and finding a rather empty diner/café. We spent some time taking photos in the diner and enjoying our time together.