Ouefs Poche

Forget that overcooked egg from last week!

Used last night's leftovers and some lettuce and tomatoes as a bed for this perfectly poached little egg.  Yumyumyum.

"Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience." Ralph Waldo Emerson

National Chocolate Cake Day

was Friday and even though it's an American "celebration," you know I observed.

Theatre du Pain

Or, The Best Bakery in Blois.

Anytime that I tell someone where I live, they always reply, "Ah, right next to the best bakery!"

Yes, it's true.  The very best bakery.  Besides their gourmet wheat baguettes, to die for pain au chocolats and croissants, they make, handsdown the best macarons and desserts.

On Fridays I Teach at Eight in the Morning

And secretly I love it, shh!  Here's a neat graffiti wall on a youth center right across from my school.  I always hear drums and music pounding out of it as I walk by, and the kids always look so cheerful walking in and out.

Serieusement...

Seriously, who am I?

I don't teach until late in the afternoon on Thursdays, which gives me more than plenty of time to concoct some sort of something for breakfast.

Earlier last week, I bought some bananas from Intermarche, a grocery store here.  Smarty that I am, I carried them home in my grocery bag, bouncing and hitting my arm and various other items.  Moral of the story?  Be careful with your bananas or they will be bruised.

Incapable of eating bruised bananas (who can do that?!) I was forced to await their ripened state...and then what?

 And then I made some delicious oatmeal.  I don't even like oatmeal.  But this, this is delicious.

Poached Ya!

I poached two eggs tonight.  Oh yes.  It was pretty easy, all things considered.

How'd they turn out?  A smidge overcooked.  Drat!  Next time, poached eggs, next time...

The secret to nicely shaped eggs?  Prick a pin 3/8 inch in the egg shell, boil for 10 seconds and then crack and begin poaching process.  Secret number two, add vinegar to the boiling water.

It's easier to crack into a bowl so it will slide easily into the water.

 Let boil for about three minutes, I did four hence their overdone-ness.

I put mine on a delicious baguette covered with tomato mozarella sauce over a bed of white beans.

Felicitations!

Congratulations to my roomie for getting into grad school!

Obviously a cause to celebrate with none other than delicious French desserts...

First eclair et chocolat chaud in France!

"God made this whole world round, and maybe it's that way, so the paths we go down, will cross again someday." Jason Aldean

En Fin

The best way to end a weekend of birthday celebrations?

Brunch.  And not just any brunch.  Brunch from scratch.

Pancakes and French Toast made by yours truly!
If you're not using buttah, you're not cooking...

Yummy quiche, chocolate croissants, fruit and juice.

Lovely friends to celebrate

Vingt Trois

Twenty-three.  AH!  When did this happen?!  Commence freak out...

Can someone please tell me how this May will be my fifth high school reunion...How I've been living the post-grad/real-world life for almost a year...How I am rapidly approaching mid-twentydom?!  Time flies, my friends.

Okay, freak out over.

So how did I celebrate the momentous occasion here en France?  By going to the most beautiful castle in the country, of course.

This is a castle, which is also a bridge.  Blew my mind.  The history of it is pretty funny as it was given to Henry II's mistress, until Henry's death when the queen kicked the mistress out.  Drama!

Surprise!

My wonderful French amis surprised me with a petite soiree today for my birthday!  They're the best.

Christopher made the voyage from Dreux and brought some delicious macarons, quelle surprise!

Miyoko and Silas came, too!

The usual gang

Such a fabulous way to kick off the birthday festivities!

Antique Street

As you know, I live on the street of swanky antique stores.  Here are some shots of the windows I see on a daily basis.

Handbag store

Middle Eastern-y store

These below are rings and necklaces that look like macarons and desserts!

That's me!  Stopped to take pictures while bringing laundry back...Bonjour!

Qu'est-ce que c'est ca?!

What is this?!

In attempting to further learn French, I have been watching absurd amounts of French TV, which is rather terrible, aside from the fact that they mostly play reruns of great American shows.  (Like Friends, How I Met Your Mother, Monk, Jag (?), etc.)

Tonight they're featuring Dodgeball.  Still hilarious en francais.

Due to my lack of DVR (slash I don't think anyone in this country owns or knows what TiVo is), I am forced to watch commercials which are clumped together for about 7 minutes and played at the end of an uninterrupted show.  Not bad.

What is bad?  This weird/ridiculous commercial.  Seriously, Renault, seriously??

Je Dois

I must.  This year, before I depart for les etats-unis, I must do the following things:

1.  Perfect the poached egg
2.  Speak French sans accent
3.  Visit as many places as possible
4.  Rock climb somewhere
5.  Fill my postcard wall
6.  Live within my salary...seems like a no-brainer...in reality, harder than I thought
7.  Find something cool in every day, i.e. Tree below

"I'm trying to eat better. And, I do feel wise after drinking tea. After eating vegetables, I just feel hungry." Carrie Latet

Not if you're eating these kinds of veggies...

Made these Zucchini Chips (that I found on Pinterest!) to go with some tuna and tomatoes.

Weird meal?  Yes.  I know what you're thinking, Zucchini Chips?  But they were divine.  Try them.  So easy to make.

Galette du Roi

We were invited to partake in this delicious French tradition with our favorite little French family.  Like King's Cake, although not as extravagant, the Galette du Roi is a Christian tradition where a cake hides a small favor.  The person to discover the favor in their piece is named le roi, the king!

Amoury, the youngest (as tradition dictates), gets under the table and calls out who receives the next slice of galette.  This is done so that no one can see who is getting the little favor inside the cake.

Laure, our French maman, made the galette herself.  Most Frenchies buy their galettes from a bakery.  Not Laure, she made this delicious, buttery, flaky, almondy creation of goodness from scratch.

Two pieces and no favor later...

Officially Winter

C'est froid ici!  Despite the misleading sun, today was the first day of true cold.

In honor of what felt like true winter, Miyo and I lunched at Douce Heure after strolling la marche for a bit.

 Les fleurs at the Saturday Market

 Soup, toast avec fromage et salade

Dark chocolate tart avec les cereales au chocolat blanche

Soldes

Sales.  These soldes are absurd.  They occur twice a year and nearly everything in a store will be on sale, as in 30 - 70% off.  Including H&M and Gallery Lafayette.  I obviously partook and did some major damage.  Happy early birthday to me?

Stopped off to have a little coffeebreak, first one of 2012.  Mmm!

"Things do not change; we change." Henry David Thoreau

Building set for demolition and rebuilding soon.  Still beautiful.

Je M'en Fiche

"I don't care" what anyone says.  There is nothing like bread and dessert en France.

Moulleux Chocolat Nutella from Theatre du Pain

New Year's Resolutions

In true American New Year's fashion, my students were asked to write three New Year's Resolutions these last two weeks.  Below are some of my favorites:

My more ambitious students:

Equally ambitious, yet unrealistic eleves:

My realistic students:

Makes you wonder what your own 2012 Resolutions are...