dimanche, décembre 31, 2006
Et Bonne Année Aussi!
A few kilos fatter, the sleep-ins are being racked up, the fridge almost back down to its usual state of emptiness... Uh-oh, the festive season is drawing to a close! But wait, one more party coming right up!
Alex and I have both been off work the last week, and still have a couple of days to enjoy waking up to daylight, and we have had a gorgeously relaxing Christmas, although the impossible has happened: we are officially foie-gras'd out. No more, please! We can't take it. Foie gras, for those of you not familiar with this manna from the heavens, is the product of horribly force-feeding geese and ducks until they can barely stand up, and it is absolute bliss... in small doses. Luckily, considering the price tag, it is definitely the sort of food for which the less-is-more can be applied, but around this time of year, every meal tends to be accompanied with a slice. Fanstastic, the first couple of times, a bit much the fourteenth time, and even walking past the display in the supermarket gets a bit scary. Here is part of the Monoprix spread:
In between the most whirlwind tour of Paris ever, including a croissant on the Champs-Elysées and frequent let's-get-out-of-the-cold-by-having-a-beer breaks, Johan helped us with the foie gras on his quick visit (which was almost prolonged after some airport trouble!) on the way to see his girlfriend in Brazil. Although he was only here for a day, it was of course really great to see him, after more than a year and a half without my little brother, who is turning 26 tomorrow. Holy cow! Not so little anymore!
Croissants are well and good, but now for a real french treat: snails!
Alex with some of our Christmas spread...
...and the three of us polishing off the last of it on the 26th!
Now, happy new year my faithful readers, good luck getting back to work and in keeping your resolutions. I've got to get ready to fulfill mine: dance more! And what better night to do it on!
Alex and I have both been off work the last week, and still have a couple of days to enjoy waking up to daylight, and we have had a gorgeously relaxing Christmas, although the impossible has happened: we are officially foie-gras'd out. No more, please! We can't take it. Foie gras, for those of you not familiar with this manna from the heavens, is the product of horribly force-feeding geese and ducks until they can barely stand up, and it is absolute bliss... in small doses. Luckily, considering the price tag, it is definitely the sort of food for which the less-is-more can be applied, but around this time of year, every meal tends to be accompanied with a slice. Fanstastic, the first couple of times, a bit much the fourteenth time, and even walking past the display in the supermarket gets a bit scary. Here is part of the Monoprix spread:
In between the most whirlwind tour of Paris ever, including a croissant on the Champs-Elysées and frequent let's-get-out-of-the-cold-by-having-a-beer breaks, Johan helped us with the foie gras on his quick visit (which was almost prolonged after some airport trouble!) on the way to see his girlfriend in Brazil. Although he was only here for a day, it was of course really great to see him, after more than a year and a half without my little brother, who is turning 26 tomorrow. Holy cow! Not so little anymore!
Croissants are well and good, but now for a real french treat: snails!
Alex with some of our Christmas spread...
...and the three of us polishing off the last of it on the 26th!
Now, happy new year my faithful readers, good luck getting back to work and in keeping your resolutions. I've got to get ready to fulfill mine: dance more! And what better night to do it on!
dimanche, décembre 24, 2006
Joyeux Noël!
Wow, Christmas again!
After a massive shopping trip yesterday (Foie gras! Schnapps! Guinea fowl! Christmas beer!), Alex and I are well and truly already enjoying Christmas, which is set to go for a bit of a marathon session this year. Today is of course, swedish christmas, and we have just had a great lunch of christmas ham, little swedish prince sausage equivalents, boiled eggs with caviar, and of course some glögg! Tonight we are going to a friend's place for a bit of an expat christmas dinner, and then tomorrow we're having Christmas at home, with just the two of us, and we'll be breaking out into an international style extravaganza, including the above mentioned foie gras representing France, the guinea fowl putting a french twist on the classic australian turkey, and a few swedish favourites including Jansson's frestelse and some sill and nubbe! And on the 26th, Johan comes for a quick visit on his way to Brazil, so we'll be having a few more schnapps with him! Finally, on the 27th, one of my best friends here (Renée the Canadian, who is spending christmas in Sweden (?!)) is coming over to make us some specialties from Trinidad and Tobago where her parents are from!
So, merry christmas to all of you, and we hope that you all eat lots of great stuff, have some relaxing times with your families, and get some colourfully wrapped goodies under the tree! Here's what is under our "tree"! (Yet another shot of the Vioxx umbrella Margs!)
God jul! Merry christmas! Joyeux noël!
After a massive shopping trip yesterday (Foie gras! Schnapps! Guinea fowl! Christmas beer!), Alex and I are well and truly already enjoying Christmas, which is set to go for a bit of a marathon session this year. Today is of course, swedish christmas, and we have just had a great lunch of christmas ham, little swedish prince sausage equivalents, boiled eggs with caviar, and of course some glögg! Tonight we are going to a friend's place for a bit of an expat christmas dinner, and then tomorrow we're having Christmas at home, with just the two of us, and we'll be breaking out into an international style extravaganza, including the above mentioned foie gras representing France, the guinea fowl putting a french twist on the classic australian turkey, and a few swedish favourites including Jansson's frestelse and some sill and nubbe! And on the 26th, Johan comes for a quick visit on his way to Brazil, so we'll be having a few more schnapps with him! Finally, on the 27th, one of my best friends here (Renée the Canadian, who is spending christmas in Sweden (?!)) is coming over to make us some specialties from Trinidad and Tobago where her parents are from!
So, merry christmas to all of you, and we hope that you all eat lots of great stuff, have some relaxing times with your families, and get some colourfully wrapped goodies under the tree! Here's what is under our "tree"! (Yet another shot of the Vioxx umbrella Margs!)
God jul! Merry christmas! Joyeux noël!
mardi, décembre 19, 2006
La Bouffe de Strasbourg
Vin chaud, glühwein, glögg, hot mulled wine... however you say it, 'tis the season for it! And this weekend, Strasbourg was the place for it. In the east of France, just on the German border, Strasbourg is a wintery Christmas paradise, if mulled wine is your idea of paradise (yes! yes!). It is a very pretty and charming town, famous in December for its giant Christmas market, selling mostly yummy food and even yummier mulled wine. They are clearly aware that Christmas cheer is the drawcard, so they go all out to deck the halls, so to speak, with all the charming little streets strung with I don't know how many thousands of lights and lanterns, while the buildings and shop windows look like postcards- but call me Scrooge (Alex already did), I still don't think Santa hats should ever be sported as legitimate items of clothing!
Not too much was really achieved on our weekend in Strasbourg other than eating and drinking (a climb up the cathedral tower and a boat tour on the Rhine were pretty much stop-gaps between lunch and first-afternoon-snack), but this was basically what we had planned anyway! The favourite was flammenkuchen, kind of a German mountainy pizza, so thin and crisp, and topped only with sour cream, onion and bacon. Oh my god, so good! Also tried and devoured were baeckeoffe- various porky goodies stewed with potatoes; bretzels- giant salty, bready pretzels; kugelhopf- yummy almond and sultana cakes; and a delicious stew of what was translated to me as "Bambi's mum" with the most amazing and delicious potato dumplings. In short, we certainly didn't go hungry, and with Christmas around the corner, diets will have to wait until January! Hurrah, pass the ham!
Part of the market from the cathedral tower.
Same scene, different angle!
One of the less tasteful displays, polar bears, hanging from their necks from garlands of Christmas lights...
A lovely nativity scene...
And lastly... Ahh, flammenkuchen... Where can I get more?!?
Not too much was really achieved on our weekend in Strasbourg other than eating and drinking (a climb up the cathedral tower and a boat tour on the Rhine were pretty much stop-gaps between lunch and first-afternoon-snack), but this was basically what we had planned anyway! The favourite was flammenkuchen, kind of a German mountainy pizza, so thin and crisp, and topped only with sour cream, onion and bacon. Oh my god, so good! Also tried and devoured were baeckeoffe- various porky goodies stewed with potatoes; bretzels- giant salty, bready pretzels; kugelhopf- yummy almond and sultana cakes; and a delicious stew of what was translated to me as "Bambi's mum" with the most amazing and delicious potato dumplings. In short, we certainly didn't go hungry, and with Christmas around the corner, diets will have to wait until January! Hurrah, pass the ham!
Part of the market from the cathedral tower.
Same scene, different angle!
One of the less tasteful displays, polar bears, hanging from their necks from garlands of Christmas lights...
A lovely nativity scene...
And lastly... Ahh, flammenkuchen... Where can I get more?!?
mardi, décembre 12, 2006
Les grands sportifs
On hearing that I wasn't too keen on joining the lab at the swimming pool on Wednesdays (french public swimming pools: maximum 25 metres by 4 lanes, obligatory one piece swimsuit for the ladies and speedos for the boys, obligatory swimming caps for everyone, open about three quarters of an hour a day when 400 people cram into each lane... No thanks!), I was invited to join my new boss, Clotilde, at a Stretching/Fitness class at the uni gym on Thursdays, and on Friday to a musculation class which involved me doing squats while Clotilde (yes, Clotilde, my new boss) rode piggy-back on me!
They're rather a sporty bunch at this lab: between group outings to the pool, several marathon runners, and a couple of tennis ladies hoping to make it to nationals this year, one has to be very careful when accepting invitations to go "for a game of something." Asking whether a coach will be involved is a good measure for the level of seriousness or fun at stake! (I am not joking)
From that into a generalisation about the french: they like to do things properly. If you are going to run, train for a marathon. If you play tennis, you need a tennis skirt. If you're heading to the pool, slip into a pair of these:
They're rather a sporty bunch at this lab: between group outings to the pool, several marathon runners, and a couple of tennis ladies hoping to make it to nationals this year, one has to be very careful when accepting invitations to go "for a game of something." Asking whether a coach will be involved is a good measure for the level of seriousness or fun at stake! (I am not joking)
From that into a generalisation about the french: they like to do things properly. If you are going to run, train for a marathon. If you play tennis, you need a tennis skirt. If you're heading to the pool, slip into a pair of these:
dimanche, décembre 03, 2006
Dégustation
Over 1000 independant wineries from all around France and a handful of Cognac, Armagnac and Calvados makers, all offering tastings and shiny pricelists and mostly incomprehensible (to us pretend-french speakers anyway) commentary about their goods- for €6 entry (which we didn't even pay, since we had free tickets!), the Paris Salon du Vin was the place to be last weekend!
The result was tired arms from carrying our bounty through the metro system and up our five flights, a nicely stocked up wine cellar/tv cabinet, and a slight difficulty in focusing!
The catch of the day included some lovely Sauvignon Blancs and Merlots from the Sud-Ouest, just east of Bordeaux, some Chevalier from Lorraine (they also make quiches), some varied offerings from the Chinon region, and a lovely bottle of Lalande de Pomerol, a region of Bordeaux. Alex also managed to catch some Armagnac, after being thoroughly impressed by the guy's style: "Just help yourself [to this 1956 Armagnac that starts at €100 for the half bottle and was made by my grandfather] and then come back in thirty years to try the one that I made." Slow work indeed.
Although it might look like we are drinking beer in this photo (and this may or may not indeed be true), the flying visit from the newly married Mr Flit inspired the opening of the first mini-bottle of Armagnac that we could actually afford, and had this photo been taken just a few hours later, you would see us (or at least Alex and Flit) appreciating the golden coloured liquid gold.
Flit is down in the south of France for work and managed to squeeze in a visit to both Paris and London in one weekend, bringing tales and (abridged and heavily edited) videotapes of the recent Big Day, and even provided us with a lovely dinner courtesy of Company Card. Yet another visitor highlighting the fact that I need to change jobs. But don't you worry Margaret, we took good care of him, and even managed (just) to get him on his train to London, and we have since been feasting on your video, which is wonderful but makes me even sadder that I couldn't be there! But thank goodness for technology at least, it is so lovely to get to see at least some snippets of what looked like a magical day.
The result was tired arms from carrying our bounty through the metro system and up our five flights, a nicely stocked up wine cellar/tv cabinet, and a slight difficulty in focusing!
The catch of the day included some lovely Sauvignon Blancs and Merlots from the Sud-Ouest, just east of Bordeaux, some Chevalier from Lorraine (they also make quiches), some varied offerings from the Chinon region, and a lovely bottle of Lalande de Pomerol, a region of Bordeaux. Alex also managed to catch some Armagnac, after being thoroughly impressed by the guy's style: "Just help yourself [to this 1956 Armagnac that starts at €100 for the half bottle and was made by my grandfather] and then come back in thirty years to try the one that I made." Slow work indeed.
Although it might look like we are drinking beer in this photo (and this may or may not indeed be true), the flying visit from the newly married Mr Flit inspired the opening of the first mini-bottle of Armagnac that we could actually afford, and had this photo been taken just a few hours later, you would see us (or at least Alex and Flit) appreciating the golden coloured liquid gold.
Flit is down in the south of France for work and managed to squeeze in a visit to both Paris and London in one weekend, bringing tales and (abridged and heavily edited) videotapes of the recent Big Day, and even provided us with a lovely dinner courtesy of Company Card. Yet another visitor highlighting the fact that I need to change jobs. But don't you worry Margaret, we took good care of him, and even managed (just) to get him on his train to London, and we have since been feasting on your video, which is wonderful but makes me even sadder that I couldn't be there! But thank goodness for technology at least, it is so lovely to get to see at least some snippets of what looked like a magical day.
