July 30, 2013.
10:25am.
Well my dad's been writing me short emails with updates
about home and the family. I love reading them and very much appreciate him
sending them to me. In his last email he added that he's missing my blog. So
how can I refuse to write a new post?
Well, as usual, I'm feeling lots of different things.
I'll start with happy. I just spent a wonderful
evening/night with my friend Julie yesterday! She's the one I met at the café
in Vernon several weeks ago and have been playing tennis and eating dinner with
on Monday evenings. She's 29, speaks a fair bit of English, is super fun,
enthusiastic, and energetic - likes to call herself a child, is more that
willing to help me with my French/is very patient and eager about explaining
French phrases, words, etc to me, and has been really wonderful to get to know!
Unfortunately, she's only working in Vernon for a month...starting about a
month ago - this Thursday is her last day. Since she works in the day until and
I work from 6-11ish we haven't hung out any days except for Monday evening (my
evening off), but we may hang out this Wednesday night since it's our last time
to. I'm sad about her leaving. But anyway, like I said yesterday evening was
really fun. Normally we play tennis and eat dinner but she was at a different
hotel this time, which didn't have a tennis court. Sooo we ate dinner at her
hotel. WHICH WAS DELICIOUS!! Her other hotel had pretty mediocre food which was
a shame, but this was SO good. I got a fois gras salad :) ohhhh fois gras...mmmmmmm it was my first
time eating it in France so far - and damn. The salad also had smoked duck
slices, lardons, pine nuts, and sundried tomatoes. It was really incredible.
And then Julie's menu (paid for by her work) came with a café gourmand - a
coffee with an assortment of desserts - she sweetly asked the waiter if he
could put a little extra on for me to taste. And the waiter gave us a feast of
desserts - we didn't eat all of everything, but damn - there was a cinnamon-y
part flan-esque thing which was incredible, and the ice cream was topnotch.
Then we carried out my idea - which was to go back to her room and drink wine
and eat chocolate. I told her about how I used to do that with my friend when
we went to Europe last year. She thought it was funny and was totally down. I
bought white wine and cassis flavoring to add as well as two chocolate bars -
organic 75% and 73% with a little chili on top - right beforehand. I had bought
a kind of sweet white wine so with the cassis it was actually too sweet. But
plain it was pretty good. Not my favorite.
However, I'll tell you very proudly that I've passed step
one of becoming a true French woman/to becoming classy/to becoming...a
grown-up? I actually enjoy wine. Like...honestly, it tastes good. Not all wines
- in fact, the majority not. But good, slightly sweet white wines - delicious!
So I had a night in with Julie - and we drank wine, listened
to music, ate some chocolate, and talking until...like 2am! Hahahahaa at which
time I crashed at her place for the night. It was a great evening! This morning
she dropped me off at Vernon where I left my bike yesterday. She had work at 9.
I did some things around Vernon before biking back.
I stopped by a little fruit and veggie shop, looked around
for a little, couldn't make a decision, so left without getting anything. Then
I went to the fromagerie (which is actually where Le Jardin des Plumes buys our
cheese!!!). I spent a long time deciding on what cheeses to get, talking with
the lady who works there, etc, etc. I ended up getting a camembert, a little
round of some mild cow milk cheese, little jars of plain yogurt, liquid cream,
a little bucket of REAL fresh cream - it was off-color, and I was intrigued -
she said THIS stuff is REAL! So of course I got some. And I got a buffalo
mozzarella ball. Which of course brought me back to the fruit and vegetable
store to get a tomato for a caprese salad. The people who worked there were
amused. I also got a zucchini. Except I didn't realize you're supposed to tell
them what you want and they pick it for you - so I just took them from the
baskets myself (like you do in a grocery store) and she kind of came over to
get it for me, but it was too late - oops. I apologized and it was no big deal.
But the funny customs I don't know about! As I left the guy chuckled and said
'a tout a l'heure??' which is how you say bye if you're going to see them later
the same day - like "see you in a few hours?" basically. Lol.....
Well then I went to the charcuterie. Yes, I love little
french food shops. A lot. And I got a slice of...shit I forget. Two pâté-ish
things. Oh one was pâté de fois I think...which I guess is like a pâté with
liver? i don't know how that's different from fois gras...but anyway, I got some
of that and some of...something de campagne. I told the lady I'm American, love
all the things like pâté, fois gras, terrine, and just want to try some
delicious French thing that's very good. And she suggested those, so I said
great :)
I then stopped by a café to drink a café au lait. This
morning I actually had a bite of a croissant and a pain au chocolate that came
for Julie in her breakfast. Damn they were good. I've eaten a couple pastries.
Chef brough in some pains au chocolat and croissants one day, so I had a pain
au chocolat. I've had some bites of the croissants Tibo and I make. And Tibo
made a pastry with the same dough but with chocolate and a cream inside also -
I don't remember what he called it, but he said it's called a different thing at
different places. It was delicious anyway. All of the pastries were. Like
really. The French know how to do their croissants and pains au
chocolat..though I've actually now made the pain au chocolat and croissants
also :) I make the dough most of the time, and I did the whole process for the
last batch. Make the dough and form it into a rectangle to refrigerate. Flatten
a fat stick of butter into a rectangle to go inside. Roll out the dough a
little to fold the butter inside of it. Roll it out longer. Make a double fold.
Roll it out again until it's the right thickness. Then..
for croissants: Cut it into triangles. Take each
triangle, stretch it a little, and roll
it up into a little croissant. Brush them with egg and bake!
for pains au chocolat: Cut into rectangles. Put a stick of
chocolate down, fold it in, put another stick of chocolate, fold it in, and
voila. Again, brush with egg and bake!
So yeah that's cool!
I made a pâte à choux the other day which Tibo made into the
choux pastry - it's really cool actually, you put down a really small circle of
totally flattened/rolled out dough - and it puffs out into this hollow ball!!
Which you can then fill with whatever you want! He filled it with peanut butter
chocolate and sesame chocolate. The first time he makes something new (I mean
he's made these things before, but as a new thing in this patisserie, with this
specific recipe, or whatever) he makes it for the personnel and/or his
girlfriend. So he made this batch for the personnel, but he said the next he's
making for his girlfriend. It makes me happy that he's nice to someone. I said
that to him and he said yeah, she's the only person. -.- Charming.
On Sunday - I ended lunch shift around 4 and Chef gave me
Sunday evening off, as usual. As usual, I wasn't as excited as one might expect
to have a long weekend. It actually made me really sad. I wanted so badly to
stay for that night shift. Especially since it was Ollivier's last day. I
didn't even get to say goodbye. They all had a drink together after work at
around midnight (I talked to Nadia a little when she got back). I don't even
know what he did after that but he didn't come back until even a little later
than Nadia. I would have liked to have a drink with all of them! I don't
understand why they don't do more hanging out hanging out. It's sad and
annoying. But anyway, I had the evening off, so I went to Hotel Baudy (the
restaurant I think Nadia is going to take me to next week) and has a yummy duck
salad. And a glass of wine. Mmmmmhm! See now THAT wine a truly enjoyed! And
loved every bit of the fact that I was enjoying it! As I was leaving it started
to pour. Shit. Lol. I was walking back to the house (about 10 minutes away).
And I realized Le Jardin des Plumes was about 1 minute away. So I ran there and
Quentin let me stay in a nice, cute little room next to the kitchen where I've
seen Nadia and Joackim sitting and talking before work sometimes. Which means I
didn't actually see any of the staff (except Nadia and Quentin). Until Yoan was
getting coffee, literally right next to me on the other side of the window...he
didn't see me for like 3 minutes, and when he finally looked up I totally
startled him and he jumped back. It was quite funny. But I didn't got and talk
to or see anyone. Which is what I would have liked to do. I actually fell
asleep at like 9 and woke back up at like 10:30 when Quentin came in and told
me it stopped raining. Nice little nap :) But still sucks not to be able to
really hang out with all the staff. They're weird. I wish I could be better
friends with them. None of them hang out with anyone as much as I would like to
hang out with them. Except Yoan and Jena-Ba together maybe.
Anyway,. I was talking with mom after work Sunday and we
talked about ideas for my weekend. She told me to spend a wonderful time in
Paris and treat myself to a fabulous nice meal. So yesterday I went to Paris. I
had looked up a couple restaurants beforehand and took a picture of the names
and strees addresses of a list of other nice restaurants in the 16th
Arrondisement because I decided to go to Musée Guinet, and that's where it is.
I got to Paris around 2:30. I found the first restaurant I had looked up and it
was all shut down with construction inside. Damn it. I just happened to come
across another retaurant on the list right around the corner - it was closed
(probably closed at 2:30). I looked on a map for the street names and walked
about 10 minutes down one street to find another restaurant on the list. The
cuisine was closed there too. I asked him if all the cuisines would be closed
probably. He said no and pointed to some brasseries right around us. I asked
him which is good - I said I want really good food - and he said oh, that one
is good (right across the street), that one, just okay, the one down there is
good too. I asked if the one across the street was truly good and he said yes.
So I went there and god a black angus steak with green beans instead of the
fries (I ordered a French onion soup but they were out :/ ). It was tasty - it
came with a nice onion sauce too. But not INCREDIBLE. I mean, it was good! But
yeah, sorry mom, it wasn't a crazy nice incredible restaurant. I need to find a
gastronimique restaurant, not a brasserie to have a really high class meal. But
I got an aperitif called Kir - white wine with cassis flavoring - and it. was.
SO GOOD. That's what made me really excited about liking wine, because it
really was delicious. And that's what inspired me to buy the white wine and
cassis flavoring to drink with Julie! (I was a little disappointed when it
didn't live up to the Kir I had at the restaurant).
Anyway, the restaurant didn't blow my mind, but it was good
(though the green beans were really nothing special). And then I went to Musée
Guinet, which was wonderful! I really did enjoy it! Though Mom told me it's
where she took the photo of the Cambodian Bhoddi Satva figure that we show in
the course - so I was really excited to find it, but I'm pretty sure it's not
there anymore!! Because I looked very thoroughly for it! Oh well. It was still
really cool to see the museum.
I walked along the Seine a little, saw the Eiffel tower,
etc. Then went back to the train station and caught a direct train to Vernon.
Which made me really, really happy after the train being late/Mante La Jolie hour
long wait/encounter with the drug dealer/really late night return last
time...ugh. Having Julie pick me up from the Monoprix in Vernon at 9 and
spending a fabulous night with her suited me much, much better :) Oh boy, I'm
really sad she's leaving...she is definitely the closest friend I've made here,
and we got along so well! She's someone I feel like I am comfortable being
myself around, and I think have been able to convey who I am a little more
effectively with her than with anyone else - I think she's the closest person
here to knowing a little about who I am as a person. But she's leaving and I
may not see her again :/
I decided I'm not very good at traveling alone. I didn't get
the same skillset that serves mom so well in her travels. She always knows who
and how to ask for advice, where to find adventure and fun, how to look for
good quality, how to...speak the language. Ha. I just feel kind of unsure of
how to go about...exploring! I thought I would be better at that. I kind of
thought it would be easer to meet people/make friends. It really does make it
harder that I don't speak. But still. Finding Julie was a gem. But other than
that it's hard. When I go to Paris, I do enjoy myself, but I feel a little lost
and like I spend way too much time trying to figure out what to do, and not
even time...doing anything. I feel like if mom were here she'd quickly find
some cool gathering of interesting people or some dance or some neat market,
and come lunchtime she'd know where to go or know who to ask for the best
recommendation. Asking for advice has not worked very well for me here...when I
ask for restaurant advice I'm pretty sure people tell me to go to whatever
restaurant is closest, regardless of how good it is. And they just say it's
good. When I ask for menu advice I think they're not at all used to it - no one
ask for recommendations on what to eat. And often when they realize what I'm
asking for they give me some recommendation I don't want. And then it's awkward
when I get something else. Sometimes I think they try to suggest something that
resembles American food. Why don't they understand that's NOT what I'm in
France for?? But Julie is very good at asking for things. She asked the waiter
if he could throw a little extra fois gras into the salad because I'm American
and love eating that here. He did :) And like I said she asked the other waiter
for a little extra dessert for me and he gave us a feast of sweets...oh boy.
I have started eating more bad stuff. I've been having too
many tastes of stuff in the patisserie, more rice than necessary with dinner, a
little bread with meals that turns into more than just a bite, and...ice cream
sometimes. So my diet has not been ideal, and I'm quite sure I've put on a few
pounds. Which makes me more unhappy that Tibo told me I'm going to return to
the US as a big whale...and then fit in perfectly. Ugh. So I need to be better.
I'm returning to the kitchen...maybe tonight? And that should stop my
patisserie tastings. I'll be better though. It's more outside of the patisserie
that I've been having non-paleo stuff.
I miss home. I miss you famfam and George. I miss all my
friends. I'm still loving it here, don't worry. I really am. Like I've said, I
am always sad when I leave work. And I just had a really nice last night. But I
do miss you all.
So much love,
Monisha
