Thanksgiving…in France

I am thankful for so many things this year. I am thankful for my supportive family and friends (who were as excited as I was that I was going to France for an academic year to teach English). I am thankful that I have a job during a time when the unemployment rate is almost 10 percent in the United States and even higher for people my age. I am thankful for the friends that I have made in France, the ones that helped make this year’s Thanksgiving just as special as the other ones that I have celebrated. But, I am especially thankful to know there are so many people who love and care about me back in the United States. Though I am thousands of miles away from home I have received letters, packages, facebook posts, blog comments, and emails filled with love and support….It is amazing to know that so many people are following me on my journey as an English assistant in Tours, France.

Well, as you all can most likely guess, this year’s Thanksgiving was not “normal”. Once you set foot outside of North America, the idea of Thanksgiving is so foreign that you find yourself trying to “do your best” to make just another Thursday something extra special.

Thursday, November 25, 2010—I did not have the day off, I did not have my family around me, and I did not have a house filled with the smells of turkey, cranberry sauce, sweet potatoes, and other Thanksgiving goodies cooking in the oven. It was like any other Thursday in France…I went to work, I came home and ate lunch, and I returned to work… In my classes I talked about Thanksgiving and in some I had the opportunity to make turkeys (out of the students’ hands). Three of my four classes went really well, though my fourth one was terrible! I had to end the class early because the students were so bad (talking, not sitting still, laughing, dancing, moving their chairs and desks….)…and they are 9-10 years old, so not even the little ones! I think they were so distracted by the fact that today was the first snow in Tours…

When classes were over, I went to the grocery store and bought a bottle of the 2010 Beaujolais Nouveau (it’s tradition back home to have a glass on Thanksgiving) and some bread. I then came home and started preparing my contribution to the Thanksgiving meal that was going to be later on in the day (around 7:30PM). I was in charge of the mashed potatoes…not too difficult and quite different than preparing a bunch of dishes over the course of a whole morning/afternoon! I peeled a 2.5-kilogram bag of potatoes and after boiling them added 8 cloves of garlic (YUM), milk, sour cream, butter, chives, salt, and pepper. They were delicious! I then got ready to head to Ryan’s where we all would be eating and celebrating Thanksgiving.

Jenna, Molly, and I arrived at Ryan’s a little after 7:30PM; the house was filled with smells of Thanksgiving! It was so exciting! And though Ryan was not able to find a whole turkey, we managed to have two turkey-loin-like-things (it was white meat turkey and tied up in the shape of a short, thick pork loin). They were absolutely delicious and tender! And, in addition to the turkey (cooked with bay leaves, potatoes, chestnuts, and mushrooms) we had: sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, spinach casserole, salad, macaroni-and-cheese, corn, stuffing, cranberry sauce, and bread! It was perfect! Our potluck-style Thanksgiving worked out really well. There were 12 people total…a mix of Thanksgiving-virgins (French and Brits) and hardcore Thanksgiving-going-Americans.

All in all it was a great way to celebrate Thanksgiving…though I wish I could have been in the States with my family! Needless to say, it was not “just another day” in France.

-Alex

Cultural happenings in Tours, France

Over the past few weeks I have had the opportunity to see three French films, attend the “Festival of Language” (Festival des langues), and do my fair share of bike riding and crepe making in Tours. Am I becoming French? No. Am I appreciating the fact that I am in France? Yes!

A while back I wrote about a movie theatre in Tours called La Studio (I saw “The Social Network” there).  La Studio shows both mainstream and indie-like movies in their original languages. In early November, I saw a movie called “La Princesse de Montpensier”; it recounted the fictional story of the Princess of Montpensier in 11^th century France. In my opinion, the film was not great, though the actual filming technique was very well done, as were the costumes. In the middle of November, I saw a much better (and funnier) film called “Potiche” (which roughly translates into trophy wife). This film was unlike many other French films I have seen. The movie seemed to have a more intriguing plot and there were multiple times when I laughed! It was almost like an American film… Anyways, the film takes place in France in the 1970s and follows the story of a family who owns an umbrella factory. One day the husband becomes sick and it is the responsibility of the rest of the family to run the factory. And, most recently, I saw “Elle s’appelait Sarah” (She was called Sarah). This film is about an American journalist who lives in France. She is working on a story about the French and their role in WWII regarding the Jews. The journalist attempts to discover the story behind a girl named Sarah who was kept at Vél d’Hiv before her transport to a concentration camp. It was excellent and very well done. It may have shown in the states (half of the film is in English and it stars Kristin Scott-Thomas).

This past weekend I attend the Festival of Languages in Tours. The festival is held annually in Tours and showcases different countries from around the world with cultural displays, language classes, and music/dance performances. This year’s festival was November 20-21. At the festival I had the opportunity to take four language classes…I attempted to learn some Arabic, Italian, Vietnamese, and Chinese. Each class was about 50 minutes long and was organized by the respective cultural organization in Tours. Next time you see me….you can ask me to say something in one of these languages….

More regularly, I have been riding my bike to and from meetings, classes, and events. I am so fortunate that my landlords let me borrow their extra bike! It is so wonderful for getting to the bus stop…I can sleep 15-20 minutes more because I do not have to walk! And, it’s also great when I oversleep or need to be somewhere in 5 minutes!

Crepes! YUM! So, ever since I had crepe night at my house….I LOVE MAKING THEM! They are so easy and delicious to make. I have figured out the proportions to make two crepes with: 1 egg, ½ cup of flour, ¼ cup of milk, ¼ cup of water, dash of salt, and 1 tablespoon of melted butter. This means that whenever I want a sweet snack, I can mix all of the above ingredients together and have two crepes (to fill with whatever I want) in less than 10 minutes! My favorite type to make is with apples and cinnamon sugar. I put one sliced apple in a bowl and add about a tablespoon of butter, tablespoon of sugar, and ¼ tsp. of cinnamon. Then I microwave it for about 1 minute and stir the mixture; I do this until the apples are soft and the sugar and cinnamon has created a caramel-like substance.

This is all for now…I have to get ready for my busy week ahead of me. In addition to my classes (which will be getting Thanksgiving lessons), I have to film an English sport called netball with the other primary assistants on Tuesday afternoon, I am hosting fondue night at my place on Tuesday or Wednesday night, I have a session on Wednesday morning where I will be teaching English to adults with some of the other assistants, and I have Thanksgiving on Thursday! And then…before I know it…Kaitlyn arrives on December 5!

Julia and Alex

I was inspired by the movie “Julia and Julie”, but also encouraged by my friend Katharine to document not only the places I saw, people I met, and events I attended, but also the food I ate.

Weekly, I have a 25-Euro budget on groceries—this is roughly $35 to spend on all the ingredients and food I need to feed myself for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. For some, this might not be a challenge at all, but for me (coming from a family that appreciates food and frequently dines-out) this is, in fact, a true challenge.

My first trip to the grocery store (Carrefour) was quite pricey; I purchased the basics, the necessities, and the “everydays”. I knew that I would not be able to cook without (1) herbs/spices, so I purchased salt, pepper, basil, thyme, oregano, dried garlic, dried onion, and cinnamon, (2) oil and vinegar, (3) potatoes and onions, (4) sugar, and (5) Dijon mustard. With these items, I believed that I had the “bones” for preparing a wide range of meals.

This week’s menu featured four “star” dishes: (1) duck confit with navy beans, (2) pork chops with cinnamon apples, (3) potato and leek soup, and (4) spinach, mushroom, and goat cheese crepes. But, it also featured some salads, other soups, sandwiches, omelets, and pasta.

Sunday night I made my first “stock”…if I can truly call it that! Earlier in the day I had purchased fresh leeks and celery from a local market. I was going to use them in the duck confit and the potato and leek soup, but I did not want to waste the tops of either of these vegetables. So I thought to myself, what can I make with celery leaves and the hard green part of leeks? I had onions, I had carrots, I had fresh garlic, and I had plenty of dried herbs to make a “stock”. I filled a pot with water and all the above ingredients; I hoped that after an hour or so of simmering on the stove I would have a decent “stock”. Well, it wasn’t bad, but it didn’t have that chicken flavor (since I did not have bones to add)…so, naturally, I add two bouillon cubes. This stock became the base for chicken noodle soup and would later be used in the duck confit and the potato and leek soup. My next stock will have duck bones in it, so I, hopefully, will not have to add any bouillon cubes!

On Monday, I had chicken noodle soup for lunch and made dinner with Jenna (another assistant who is becoming my dinner buddy (since we both live by ourselves and close to each other, we thought this would be a fun idea). Jenna came over for dinner and we made a salad with grilled chicken, tomatoes, chickpeas, onions, celery, and homemade croutons. This was all tossed in a homemade dressing—which was a little too mustardy. Next time we will not add as much Dijon…it’s not like the Dijon in the states! For dessert, Jenna made amazing hot chocolate! It was as simple as heating milk over the stove and adding powdered hot chocolate mix and a bar of milk chocolate.

Tuesday’s lunch was leftover salad and a ham, cheese, and onion omelet. I have truly started to appreciate leftovers…not that I did not love them back home, but I am growing more accustomed to eating the same thing 2-3 meals in a row! For dinner I made pasta and topped it with grilled chicken and broccoli. With dinner I made some homemade garlic bread…without an oven! It was very good! I heated up a pan with olive oil and melted some butter and dried garlic in a bowl in the microwave. I then slathered some day old bread with the garlicky mixture and toasted it in a hot pan!  I will be making this garlic bread again. And, this just goes to show you do not really need an oven to cook…though I wish I had one to make tarts.

Wednesday’s meals consisted of chicken noodle soup for lunch and duck confit over navy beans with garlic mashed potatoes and green beans for dinner. The duck confit over navy beans was very good, with the exception that it was on the salty side (but I usually do not add salt to my dishes…and duck is on the saltier side). I am going to work on a way to fix this. The problem, I think, was that I purchased canned navy beans….so they had been sitting (for God knows how long) in a salty brine. I opted for the canned beans because they cost me 0,56 Euros, while the hard beans cost 3,50 Euros. I said to myself, “Alex you will make this work”.  I ended up not soaking the beans overnight since they were already soft and went right to the second step of the recipe.  I started by adding the canned beans, carrots, onions, celery and some stock to a pot. I brought it to a boil, reduced it and let it simmer for about 45 minutes. I then added two legs of duck, allowing their fat to melt into the navy bean mixture. Cooking the duck took about 10-12 minutes. However, the interesting part of preparing the meal was peeling the potatoes without a ”normal” peeler….I used a knife-like peeler and thought I was going to cut my fingers off the entire time! In the end, I successfully peeled 6-7 potatoes and had all ten fingers. The green beans were easy to make and at the end I added some fresh parsley, garlic, and butter.

On Wednesday night I also made the potato and leek soup. Since I was in “the groove” of peeling potatoes…I thought why not peel a handful more for the soup. The soup was easy to make and involved sautéing onions and leeks in butter, then adding chicken broth, and then the potatoes. The soup then simmers until the potatoes are velvety-soft and easy to mash. I mashed the potatoes into the broth with a slotted metal spoon….no food processor to blend it all up, but still delicious!

Thursday’s lunch was potato and leek soup…and dinner was crepes! I invited Jenna, Jenny, and Miriam over to my place to make crepes (and do laundry…I am the only one that has a washing machine…so naturally they wanted to use it!). I invested in a crepe pan at Carrefour…at a cost of 9,20 Euros; I thought that I would use it enough…so it was a worthy investment!  We made spinach, ham, onion, mushroom, and goat cheese crepes. They were very good, but my crepe batter needed to be tweaked after the first one.  But, now, I have the recipe down and it is SO EASY! I can make crepes for snacks in a jiffy! For the crepes’ filling, we sautéed garlic, mushrooms, onions, and ham in a pan and then added this mixture to the actually crepes with raw spinach and goat cheese. We then put the crepes back on the stove to melt the cheese and wilt the spinach. Nevertheless, the best was dessert! We made dessert crepes and had so many options to choose from! I brought out all of the potential toppings/fillings and set them on the table and we all went at it. I had peanut butter, nutella, raspberry jam, honey, sugar, lemon juice, and bananas on the table. Jenna made a (1) raspberry-nutella and (2) peanut butter crepe…Jenny made a (1) sugar-lemon and (2) raspberry-nutella crepe…Miriam made a (1) sugar-lemon and (2) nutella crepe…and I made a (1) peanut butter-honey-banana crepe and (2) nutella crepe. THEY WERE ALL DELICIOUS and enjoyed with a pot of tea.

Friday I had potato and leek soup for lunch and a cinnamon apple crepe (INCRDIBLE!)…for dinner I had leftover duck confit. Friday was not that exciting of a day. On Saturday, I went out for lunch…so I cheated! I went to a place called Mezzo di Pasta and got some pasta with an Indian-like curry sauce. For dinner I had more leftovers…duck confit.

Sunday I made thyme covered pork chops over cinnamon apples with green beans and mashed potatoes. This is another “keep dish”…but, again, I don’t know if any of these dishes were not! I coated a pork chop with dried thyme, pepper, and salt…I then cooked it in a pan until tender. I removed the pork chop and then added apples, lemon juice, sugar, and cinnamon to the pan…this mixture cooked for about 2-3 minutes (until the apples were tender and a caramel-like sauce was made).

Well, those were all my meals for the past week. It was really fun to document them and I know that it will not be my last. This week’s meals include: (1) chicken curry with red peppers, onions, potatoes, and green beans over basmati rice, (2) avgolemono soup (a velvety-chicken based-lemony soup), (3) lemon scaloppini of pork, (4) chicken marsala over pasta, and (5) Swedish pancakes (Jenna will be making).

Enjoy reading (as always…I hope)! And, if you want more details on a dish…don’t hesitate to ask!

Cheers from France…Chef Alexander!

Gorgeous Fall day at the Chateau de Chenonceau

This past Sunday, I went to the Chateau de Chenonceau with Emma, Jenny, and Jenna. It was slightly overcast, but we had checked the weather and it said “no rain”…

Emma drove to Chenonceau, so we did not have to worry about figuring out train and bus schedules. This was nice because last week our visit to Chambord was postponed because of a cancelled train! It is quite wonderful that we have all befriended a Brit…with a car!

Chenonceau is situated directly over Le Cher (the other main river in the region, besides La Loire). It was constructed in the 16^th century, was once home to Catherine de Médicis (1519-1589), and is known as “The Chateau of Women” because of its all female occupants.

We got to Chenonceau at about 11AM and spent about 1.5 hours touring the chateau and its gardens (which were not as impressive as Villandry’s). However, the inside of the chateau was gorgeous; it is a four-story high chateau, so there was plenty to see from the copper coved kitchen to the grand hallways to the warm fires. And, luckily, we were able to tour almost the entire chateau (there were only 2-3 rooms that were closed off). Yet, inevitably, after we toured the chateau it started to rain, so we headed into town and grabbed lunch.

All in all Chenonceau was absolutely breathtaking…but whether it is my favorite or not…I am not too sure!

PARIS, CDUR, and FRIENDS!

I just got back from four days in Paris, where the weather was perfect and the company could not have been better! I have been on break for about a week; it is the Toussaints Break in France (Toussaints or All Saints Day is November 1). What a tough life it has been for me…after about two weeks of work, I have ten days of vacation and I have already been paid for the month of October!

So, since our arrival in France, Katharine and I had been talking about a mini-Wooster-reunion in Paris. We knew that it would happen…even if it just meant the two of us would be there by ourselves. With there being six Wooster graduates in France this year (all in different parts of France, doing the same teaching program as us), we thought it would be wonderful to meet up with our former college French professor (who is currently on her sabbatical in Paris working on the memoir of an American author who lives in France) and share our teaching experiences amongst each other. In the end, after the invitation was extended to everyone, three of us made it to Paris…and we truly had an amazing time!

Coming from three different areas of France—Katharine in Marseille (south, 4 hours), Lucy in Cambrai (north, 2 hours), and myself in Tours (central, 1.5 hours)—we decided to coordinate our travel so that we would be able to meet up on Tuesday, October 26.  I left Tours around noon on Tuesday; I had an expected arrival in Paris for around 3PM…key word being “expected”. However, I did not arrive in Paris until 8PM. There was work being done on the railroad tracks between Orleans and Paris, so my train had to stop in Orleans. I was in Orleans for about 3-4 hours before I could leave for Paris. So, with my newly acquired “free time”, I toured the oldest hotel in the city and looked around the city’s gothic cathedral. I was finally on my way at about 6:30PM…

We all planned on meeting at Notre Dame de Paris at 8PM, but, with my delays, we met up at around 9PM instead. When we finally met up, we had a big group hug and were on our way. Katharine, Lucy, and I had dinner around 9:30PM at a small, quiet restaurant in the Quartier Latin; we all ordered salads and shared our teaching and French experiences amongst each other. Katharine is working with high school students (she only works on Mondays and Tuesday…) and Lucy is with middle school students…so we were able to cover all levels of the French education system in our conversation, as well as our experiences with the strikes! Katharine had said she had days where she had only a handful of students in classes and Lucy said that one day a group of middle school students refused to leave the courtyard (they had sent out a Facebook message to strike). All in all, it was wonderful to catch up with the two of them; it was the first time we had all seen each other since our graduation in May 2010!

On Wednesday we met at Le Centre Georges Pompidou (modern art museum); Lucy and I had never been before so we decided that it would be a great place to visit. We spent about three-hours in the museum before we grab lunch at a falafel restaurant (known because Lenny Kravitiz once stated it had “the best falafel in the world”). After lunch in the Marais, we headed to the 14^th to meet up with our former college French professor (Carolyn Durham)!

We arrived chez Carolyn around 4PM (see our excitement in photo below). As we headed up the stairs, the anticipation and excitement was building. We could not wait to see Carolyn; we had come to Paris for this very thing! :) When we got to her apartment she showed us around (it was French, so it was a minute and a half tour tops!) and then we sat down to talk about our experiences. It was absolutely wonderful to share our teaching experiences with the person who had recommended us to apply to this program, let alone guided us in all of our French endeavors at Wooster! After a little bit of conversation, we headed out for a walk around her neighborhood; she showed us interesting architecture (especially for Katharine—art major), her former apartments (as well as those of famous people), university housing (Cité Universitaire), and, eventually, Parc Montsouris (where we walked around for a bit, taking in the sights of the second largest park in Paris). We could have spent all day outside…the weather was perfect!

But, after about an hour or so, we headed back to her apartment for an apéritif (cocktail/snack before dinner) and continued our conversation about our teaching experiences, as well as French/American politics! We then headed out for a wonderful dinner at one of Carolyn’s favorite Italian restaurants. It was delicious; I had some tortellini with meat sauce, Carolyn also ate pasta, and Lucy and Katharine had pizzas! Yummy! Then dinner finally ended and we had to (inevitably and sadly) head back. We walked Carolyn back to her apartment and began to say goodbye…but then realized we had forgot to document our evening with a photo! Nevertheless, we found a gracious family (in first photo) to take our picture…below you can see both versions! All in all, it was a fabulous day! Katharine, Lucy, and I cannot wait for our next rendez-vous! Marseille? Cambrai? Tours?

On Thursday we met at La Place de la Concorde (place were Marie Antoinette and a 1,000 more people were executed). We did a lot of walking on Wednesday, so we decided that today would be more leisurely…it was, however, not!  Our plan was to meet up with a Wooster student who was doing his junior year abroad in Paris (Chris) around 2PM on the lawn of the Eiffel Tower. But, before we met up, we did a mini-photo shoot, found the mini-version of the Statue of Liberty, and bought food for our Eiffel Tower picnic lunch! The three of us did not spend the evening together…we returned to our respective places for dinner. When I got back to Nancy’s (yes, I stayed with Tess’ aunt again…so thankful!), I played Guess Who? with Lexie and Allegra…and then “store” with Lexie.

On Friday we went shopping and met up with Chris and Daniel (another Wooster study abroad-er) in Chinatown! We had lunch at a Chinese restaurant (La Lune...I think). It was very yummy; I had Chinese broccoli and a trio of Chinese meats (duck, roast pork)! While we were there, we also jokingly pretended that we were doing a semester in China program. It was great to head to Chinatown because none of us had been there before (with the exception of Chris and Daniel who said they go there weekly!). After lunch Lucy had to head back to Cambray, so we took her to get her stuff and sent her off to the station. Katharine and I then made evening plans with the former Wooster French language assistant Wooster who lives in Paris (Ceclia). We grabbed dinner at an Italian restaurant, reminisced about Wooster, and enjoyed crepes in front of Notre Dame de Paris before we were all off in our separate directions.

In the end, Saturday finally came around…and I had to pack my bags, leave Paris, and headed back to Tours. All in all, Paris was AMAZING, but very exhausting (lots of walking), so I was glad to head back home… and just in time for Halloween festivities!

Enjoy the photos! Enjoy the blog! I think I am off to the Chateau de Chambord tomorrow!