The New 70% Rule

Erik and I were talking at dinner tonight (at the super yummy Indian restaurant next door) about the 70% rule. You know, the one where you're supposed to eat until you're seventy percent full. I always have a hard time with this one because I can never figure out how full I am until I'm way too full. So Erik proposed a new rule. Eat seventy percent more than you should. It's much easier to follow, and seems to apply to our general diet here in Paris. I think this could be the next big diet trend. Eating until you're way too full. Much more user friendly than some other diets out there. Although the verdict on the results is still out there...

Home Sweet Home

Moving tip #4: Moving is a lot easier when you don't have any furniture.

It's hard to believe that in 24hours we went from not being packed at all to pretty much settled in our new place.

The move went fairly smoothly. Luckily, I didn't miss out on any fun, and by the time I had gotten home from work, the action was just getting started. After loading up the car with as much as possible, I got to take one of the extra suitcases on the subway down to our new place. You never realize how many stairs there are somewhere until you try and take a heavy suitcase with you.

Finding a parking spot near our house involved some negotiating with the police, but we managed to stop somewhere for five minutes and unload the car as quickly as possible. Three trips up in the elevator, and we were done. Pretty painless, with the exception of our backs and legs (are we getting old?).

We even managed to find time to watch the second half of the France-Italy rugby game (France won) before heading back to our old place to collect the remaining suitcase and computer, and to clean the place up. It's good to know that we don't have to go back now until Tuesday to return the keys (and pick up some yummy bread from my favorite bakery, that Karina tells me was on the Bachelor!!).

Back to the new place (which smells strongly of fresh paint, even though it has been freshly wallpapered), and we managed to get everything unpacked and put away before finally calling it a night at 11:00. It was a pretty good feeling to wake up this morning and know that we didn't have to worry about unpacking. Although I'm pretty sure there is another trip to Ikea in our future.

As for the details, it turns out our worries about the water heater were unfounded. It just has a small drip that needs to be fixed. And we're hijacking someones unsecured wireless network while we wait for all the powers that be to get our connection organized. So, things aren't too bad around here. It's so nice to finally be somewhere that feels like home. I'll share pictures as soon as we get the camera back, but that's a whole other story.....

Moving Day

Well, the time has come for us to leave our lovely little quartier and move on to bigger and better arrondissements. Tomorrow is moving day, and for anyone who doesn't know, we've found a cute little place really close to Gare Montparnasse. Technicalities aside (more on them later), one of Erik's colleagues has offered to help us move with a car, which should make things about a billion times easier, as it appears that our initial four peices of luggage have been busy multiplying in the three months that we've been here. Zoe is coming over tonight to lend us one of her suitcases, and Erik found some boxes in our building this morning, so we should be all set, but I still can't believe how much stuff we have! I have to say that being a teacher without a classroom means that I tend to cart a large amount of papers and books around, all of which have ended up on our table or any other available surface near by. It probably also doesn't help that I went to the library this week and went overboard in the ESL section which I just discovered.

Moving tip #1: don't go to the library right before you move.

Anyway, probably the best part of this whole move is that I'm working until noon tomorrow, which is the time we are supposed to collect the keys. So, if everything works out, most of the heavy lifting should be done by the time I make it back into the city.

These past two weeks we have been busy figuring out how to get the internet connected in our new place, debating whether we need a phone line, etc. It turns out that you need to have a phone line for a reasonably priced internet connection, and it also turns out that it takes 3-6 weeks after the phone line is connected to get the internet hook up. This has been a very stressful situation for me, as I seriously don't know what I will do without my internet connection. So much of the planning I do involves the internet, or sending things to Erik to be printed. I guess I will become very familiar with all the cafes in our neighbourhood with free wireless, and I will also be spending a lot of time at the library. But regardless, expect the blog updates to be less frequent for the next (gasp) six weeks! Come on!!! How long does it really take to get something like this done? Ok, that's enough venting for now.

Moving tip #2: don't wait to the last minute to do anything. Especially if you live in France. For the best results, you should start organizing all these things before you are born.

The hot water heater at our new place isn't working. The landlady was kind enough to email us last week and let us know, but she also told us to 'patienter' while the electrician or plumber or whoever got their act together to fix it. So, there is a large possibility of there not being any hot water tomorrow. And this time, we're not going to Brugges for the weekend.

Moving tip #3: shower at your old place before moving.

That's it for now, got to go! Wish us luck tomorrow, and I hope everyone has a relaxing and move-free weekend.

Talk to you soon (hopefully!)

BYOB

Two of our loyal readers have been anxiously awaiting news of our trip to Ikea (ok, probably not anxiously, but it sounds more exciting that way).

This afternoon I ventured outside of my comfortable three zone Paris region into the depths of zone 5 to go to the bank with Erik. Except that I never made it. The train got to Lozere (Erik's stop) and announced that it wasn't going any further, and was heading back into Paris. There were some mighty angry people in the station after that happened. The only solution that they could come up with was to take the train back three stops towards Paris and get the bus from there.

As much as I was looking forward to spending the afternoon at Societe Generale, we figured it was too far to walk to Orsay, and it was already 4:30, the time we were supposed to be there. When Erik called to cancel, it turns out the guy we were supposed to meet wasn't even there, so I guess everything worked out in that sense. It also meant that we had more time to spend at Ikea.

Approximately one hour and three trains later, through what seemed to be the countryside, we arrived at the Ikea. Or close to it. Picture any Ikea you've ever been to. Picture the parking lots sprawling as far as the eye can see. Maybe you're lucky enough to have some big box stores nearby. Conveniently situated in an area as unhospitable as posible for pedestrians. We didn't think this kind of suburbia existed in France, but low and behold, it was waiting for us as soon as we stepped out of the station. It was like being back in North America.

Well, Ikea is a big box store like any other, and was pretty much exactly the same as every other Ikea I've ever been to. Complete with ball room, and snack bar, there were many moments when we felt like we were in Ikea Etobicoke. We cruised through the store pretty quickly, glancing fondly at familiar peices of furniture, that are now living happy lives in other peoples homes.

The highlights that I'm going to share with you, though, occured at the end of our trip, when we stopped at the snack bar for a bite to eat. They have the 1euro hot dog/pop combo, which I had. The bun is a nice whole wheat bun, and the dog is the most tasteless peice of rubbery pink meat I have ever had. Erik was pleased to see that they had Swedish beer, which of course he had to try. The eating area was, of course, mostly smoking, and we were the only ones who weren't lighting up. Seemed kind of weird because WE WERE IN THE MIDDLE OF THE STORE!

The bathrooms. I still can't figure this one out. This was a picture inside one stall. Not sure why someone would need two toilets....

And now for the 'B' of BYOB. Bags. They don't provide them. They were 20cents a pop. Not a big deal, but a bit of a surprise. You could also buy the big blue Ikea bags, like the ones they provide in the store, for the low price of 60cents. But who wants to carry one ridiculously heavy bag? Erik didn't so we went for three smaller ones, so I could get in on the fun.

As with any good trip to Ikea, we spent more than we had intended, and need to go back because there is just so much good stuff to be had! Next time we'll have to rent a car....

The Internet

Could you go six weeks without it?

Quiche

Lesson #1: Whole wheat flour does not make good pastry for quiche crust.

Lesson #2: Farine de ble complet means whole wheat flour in French. Now that I've typed that I realize it was a stupid mistake. Oh well.

Not Your Regular Fat Free Yogurt

But it is definetly the most delicous yogurt I have ever tasted!














Zoe introduced us to these lovely little pots of yogurt when we had dinner at her house on Saturday. I was sold by the fact that they come in super cute terra cotta pots. It helped that it was some pretty tasty plain yogurt.

I decided to pick some up when I was at the Champion today. When I caught myself licking the inside of the pot after I'd finished eating one, I thought I should write about it.










When we first got here, I was having a hard time finding good fat free yogurt. I've figured out why it's so difficult to find. Why the heck would you want to eat the fat free kind, when you can get the full fat kind that tastes amazing? Who cares how many calories are in it? I did buy some regular stuff to see me through the week, but I think Nutella has some competition for best snack (I bought some more of that too).

The ones I got today were vanilla flavored. It said on the package 'flavored with the essence of real vanilla beans' and I was kind of hoping that there would be flecks of vanilla bean in the yogurt, but there wasn't. It didn't matter. It still tasted vanilla-y, but not to sweet, and nice and thick and creamy. Kind of like ice cream, but better, because it doesn't melt and it's not as sweet.

Just thought I'd share it with you. I've been trying to figure out why I write so much about food. I've decided it's because it takes up a large part of my day. I do enjoy cooking and eating, but I'm grocery shopping every day of the week (except for Sunday, but that's another story). It's hard not to think about it when you're heading to the grocery store or the market trying to decide what to eat. It's a big change from the once a week/every two weeks kind of shopping that we used to do in Toronto.

Rainy Day

Aside from the fact that I spent the day in my pyjamas (not that I need to justify it, but it's one of those rainy days, and the house really needed to be cleaned, plus we talked to Steve which inspired the making of miso soup...), it was Erik's turn to cook tonight. Look what he made:











Lemon and thyme chicken roasted in the oven with the rice, and parsnips, green beans and leeks. It was delicous! I'm so lucky to have such a great cook as a husband. (Erik just noticed that I never put my contacts in today. It's just been one of those days....).

Because Erik cooked, I got to clean. That means unloading the dishwasher, and filling it up with the dirty dishes. I have to say, I love the dishwasher. It's like magic. Dirty dishes go in, nice clean ones come out, no one has to stand over the sink for too long. It's great. It will definetly be missed once we move, but I know that we survived two years without one in Toronto, so I'm sure we'll manage at our new place.

That's it for now! To keep with our Japan theme today, we're going to watch some sumo.

Hope everyone had a nice Sunday. :)

Saturday

We had planned to spend this weekend getting ready for the big move. There are some things that we need to buy before we go (blankets, pillows, etc), and others that we are going to order, but wanted to check out before we did so (oven).

On Saturday we trekked out to the 20th arrondissement to see the selection of fours a pose (table top ovens, or the glorified toaster oven). The website had an extensive selection, so we were a bit dissapointed when we arrived at this store to find that it was no more than a showroom for tacky furniture. Apparently the electromenageurs (appliances) are only to be bought online.

Luckily on our way back to the metro, we saw a Darty and decided to see what they had. They actually had a much larger selection of ovens than our local one here, so we took some measurements and did some comparisons, and felt like the trip hadn't been a complete waste of time. To make it even better, the TV section happened to be playing the Canada Switzerland hockey game. I left Erik in front of the TV and went to check out the cookbooks. Every time I glanced up to make sure he was still there, there were more men gathered around the screen. Darty sure chose the right channel! Unfortunately Canada lost, and we're not in the market for a large screen TV, but it did extend Erik's shopping tolerance by about one hour. And I got two new cookbooks out of it :).


Anyway, the main point of this post was a) to prove that we do things aside from eat and b) to show you the picture we took in the iron aisle. Neither of us could figure out what a normal person would do with one of these crazy contraptions. I think ironing is bad enough, can you imagine having to lug that huge piece of steel out of the closet every time you do laundry? I think I'll stick to the 'basic' model.

Nutella

It all started with an innocent looking small sized jar of delicous Nutella at our local Champion. Well, that's a lie actually. It all started with the delicous fresh crepes that I so enjoy filled with Nutella. It soon became clear that shelling out 4euros for this delectable creation was not going to be a financially viable habit. It seemed like a much better idea to spend the 4euros on one jar of the stuff, and enjoy it in small quantities whenever I felt I needed a sweet hit of chocolate and hazelnuts.

Well, one jar soon became two, and then three jars, and I have now decided that it's time to start buying the bigger jar. I also discovered that pre-made crepes could be bought at the grocery store, and heated up in a frying pan with some butter, to create a perfectly acceptable alternative to the street vendor Nutella crepe (with bananas too, if we have them). The bonus of the homemade Nutella crepe is that you can always go back for seconds. Or thirds.

This weekend I have hit a new all time low. Having finished the package of pre-made crepes, I have decided that the crepe isn't really important, and that Nutella and bananas would taste just as good on toast. Having finished the bread, it was Nutella on bananas (even better!), which then led to just licking the stuff straight off the knife.

I can only justify it as some long repressed urge that was never satisfied in my peanut butter-free childhood (still can't stand the stuff!).

Unfortunately the jar is empty, and the Champion is closed (it is Sunday, after all). I'll have to wait until tomorrow to track down a Costco-sized jar of this delicious spread to get me through the rest of the week.

"C'est Fini!"

Guess how they clear out the metro when service is finished?

With big scary dogs that bark at you.

Not very friendly, but I have to say it's effective.

L'Os à Moelle

Erik and I have never celebrated Valentine's Day on the 14th. Our first Valentine's Day together was the year I was doing the cruise ship thing, and my contract at that time happened to start on the 13th of February, or something. So we celebrated it before I left. This tradition has continued, and it has always been quite convenient, as it's a lot easier to get a reservation at a restaurant around Valentine's Day rather than on the day itself.

In keeping with our tradition, we went out for dinner last night to celebrate our first Valentine's Day in Paris. After scouring many restaurant reviews, Erik chose L'Os de Moelle, a small restaurant in the south west corner of the 15th arrondisement. He chose to go for the first seating (good choice!) at 7:30.

We arrived right on time, and were seated at the back of the restaurant, with a good view of all the action. We were served an amuse bouche immediately, a tiny cup of crab soup with a fennel cream on top. Delicous! Apperitifs were served, Erik chose port, and I had a pink champagne type drink, recommended by the waiter.

The menu is a menu de degustation, a five course meal, no a la carte, with two or three choices for each course. The people at the table next to us didn't like this idea, but we thought it was great. It's a nice way to taste a lot of dishes, and neither of us were full afterwards. Just pleasantly satisfied.

The first course was soup. I had a cold mushroom soup, with Italian ham and thyme, and Erik had a potiron with garlic cream. The waiter brought us empty soup bowls with just croutons, and some flavorings to the table, then the soups were served from a tureen that was brought around the tables by another waiter. Both were very nice. Mine had a subtle mushroom flavour, that was complimented nicely by the crunchy croutons, the ham and the thyme. Erik's started with a big scoop of garlic cream, which melted into the soup once it was served. His was very rich tasting, and very comforting with the garlic flavour.

Next we were served oysters and joue. Joue means cheek, and that is exactly what Erik got. Braised cheek (I can't remember what animal), with white beans and rocket. It was fantastic. It had the texture of fish, and could be cut just with the side of the fork, and melted in your mouth. I had oysters, which I thought were going to be cooked, but seemed quite raw, but had a hot butter sauce. They were alright, but Erik finished them off for me, as I stole white beans from his plate.

The fish course was next. I was served three lovely coquilles St. Jaques (scallops on the half shell) with a yummy sauce and celery root. They were fantastic, if a little bit hard to get of their shells. Erik enjoyed a piece of grilled bass served with cooked carrots, pinenuts and chestnuts. Both courses were amazing.

Our main course was next. I plat consited of a delightful piece of lamb, cooked with a garlic crust and served thinly sliced on a bed of mashed celery root with tiny chipos. I'm not sure what the chipos were made of, but they looked like tiny purple streaked potato chips. Erik's was roast pigeon, served with mushrooms and potato fingers. The pigeon had a game-y flavour to it, and was very moist and rich. Another immensely satisfying course.

The cheese course was next, a piece of farmers cheese and salad.

Then we were on to dessert. Erik had a chocolate quenelle served with coffee flavouring and whipped cream. Yum! I had banana sorbet, caramelised pineapple with pina colada cream and a small meringue. Also very yummy.

As if all that weren't enough, we got a small plate of chocolate truffles to enjoy while we waited for the bill. We also had a fantastic Bordeaux with dinner, however all I can remember of the name was that it was from a chateau or maison that was called Peugot (like the car), but spelled differently. I'll ask Erik for some more insight.

It certainly wasn't the least expensive meal that we've had here, but it was definetly the best, and worth every penny. We were both satisfied, and happy to have had our first 'fancy' meal out since being here. It's also nice to know that this little gem will be so much closer once we move into the opposite corner of the quartier.

L'Os à Moelle
3 rue Vasco de Gama, 75015 Paris

France vs Ireland

So before everyone wonders why Torie's grammar has gone down the tubes and why she is swearing like a sailor, this is one of Erik's rare contributions to the blog. This past saturday marked my first real international rugby game (as a witness, not a participant). Although we have previously attended the Canada vs New Zealand Maori game up at York (also described as "The Father-Son Game" or "The Headmasters Schoolboys Game), an afternoon standing in the rain behind 6 foot tall female locks and watching Canada demonstrate how to get pummelled gracefully does not quite compare.

A capital R "Researcher" at Ecole Polytechnique - Dr. Laurent Philippe - had two tickets available as he is a rugby referee (and receives copious bribes to make unsubstantiated calls against me, I am sure). I picked them up from him and asked Francois (a buddy who had come to Canada for a year and played for the Dragons) if he wanted to go. I am still quite indebted to Francois for checking out our apartment in France before we came, and he is also a good guy with whom to watch a game and tip back a plastic cup. So I arranged to meet him at Gare du Nord on saturday afternoon.

But before I met Francois, Torie and I went for a run around our neighbourhood, and received the first notice that it was a rugby day. At one of the Irish bars near our house, people were lining up to get in.

At 11am. The game started at 2:30.

Now I'm not one to let likely explanations get in the way of long-standing cultural stereotypes, but it has been pointed out to me that the Irish pub was probably selling tickets to the game as you can't buy tickets in Ireland to Stade de France. I prefer to believe that this was the first of many displays of enthusiasm that you only see because of rugby or due to the publishing of deitical cartoons. That is a word now.

So I met Francois at the Gare du Nord an hour before the game, and did my Good Samaritan deed of the day by guiding some Irish fans to the correct train to the Stade. They were visibly shocked when an unprompted stranger stopped them from descending the stairs to the wrong train and showed them the right way with a Canadian accent. ("You're aboot to get on the wrong tren") No explanation asked, so none offered.

Francois and I piled our way on to the correct train and were joined by approximately three times the design capacity of the train. I spent an uncomfortable four minutes face to rosy face with a 65 year old french rugby fan. There is no small talk for when two straight men have their faces less then 10cm apart, and there is definitely no eye contact. There is only a shoulder-shrug and a wave of relief when you get off the train and join the flood of people flowing into the walkway towards the stadium.

Luckily, french vendors know their market (the Irish + Francois + me) and so had set up a number of beer stalls between the exit of the subway and the stadium, about a 200m walk. The crowd was thick with the irish colours - green jerseys and red faces. These guys get started early. We made our way to the front gates, discussing Francois' dismissal of the French team as a bunch of upper-class military types (he prefers the Welsh blue-collar style, his grandfather's homeland, fought at Normandy, met a french girl, etc etc), and finished our beers while the security staff frisked us. It is amazing Donna, how much more relaxed security staff are when you unbutton your shirt to reveal the home jersey, thanks for the great gift. Here are the pictures of the stadium from the outside as you walk up the stairs to the upper deck.





So we got up to our seats just in time for the kickoff, and we were in for a treat. Both teams play their best rugby the way the best of their countrymen live life. The French wait with infinite patience and skill, and then when their opponents make the tiniest of errors, they capitalize with what can only be called brutal flair. At the time when the opposition is at its most perplexed, recovering from a mistake, they launch into their greatest displays of skill. The Irish, however, throw themselves headlong time and again into impossible odds. Even the look on their faces as they run into multiple tacklers is "well, this is going to hurt, but this might be my lucky day". Before I forget, here are the shots from inside the stadium.




The crowd was decked out in their teams' colours - the Irish fans in green and the French fans in black. Because who would wear anything but black to a rugby game, les sauvages irelandais.

So the first half went according to script. The french, embarassed by last week's defeat at the hands of the lowly Scottish, took it out on the available whipping boys. They ran up a nice set of four tries to one or two before heading in for the half. To the informed observer though, they weren't really mounting any attack of their own, just counter-attacking. In the second half, the Irish cut down on their risky play, and mounted a surprising comeback. They got within two tries of tying it up, but some dodgy-decision making and an extended goal line stand allowed the french to hold on to victory.

After the game, Francois and I decided that trying to immediately get on the train was folly, so we headed back to the post-game analysis area. The beer tents had begun to play irish tunes, knowing what was good for them. We sidled up beside the drunkest non-monk frenchman who has ever convinced a beer tent worker that he is okay for one more. He picked up on my use of conditionnel present instead of indicatif futur simple to order beer and immediately identified me as an anglo-saxon. He was friendly enough to attempt his only english phrase "Good game". I said "Thanks, I thought I played well". My hilarious joke was greeted by his flustered response "Je suis desole, I don't speak Irish". Turns out neither do I, so rather than fling myself against the impossible odds of a successful conversation, we finished our beers and I headed home.

I'm sure Torie's posts will fill out the details of the rest of the day, but it was an amazing time, and I can't wait until Kerry and Roman show up for the World Cup. By then, I'm sure Torie will have learned to appreciate the game for more than short shorts.

I'm In Heaven!

For various reasons, it's been about a week since I've bought a fresh baguette. Most recently, yesterday, all of the bakeries in our neighbourhood were closed. This resulted in the purchase of a bag of chips which were, unsurprisingly, not nearly as satisfying.

Tonight we're having risotto (I've managed to get control of the risotto tonight, I want to try a new recipe), so that obviously warrants the purchase of bread (it's the carbs with carbs on carbs diet. You should try it. It's great!). I'm not usually in the shops at this time (6:00pm), I like to go earlier in the day on my way home from work, and I was surprised to see how bare they were. My favorite bakery looked like it had been pillaged of all its tasty treats, and they couldn't get the baguette out of the oven fast enough. That meant that my bread was so warm, so delicious, so satisfying, that I felt I needed to share it with you.

I used to be blown away by how cheap the baguette was. Until I did some basic math and realized that we usually spend about 7 euros on bread a week. One euro here and there certainly doesn't seem like much, but realizing what the grand total is makes you wonder if it's really worth it (absolutely!). When we lived in Toronto, our bread purchases were limited to bags of pita bread that we would freeze for the odd occasion when there was nothing left for lunches except tuna sandwiches. I think we would have been hard pressed to spend $7 a month on bread in Canada. Maybe I'm exaggerating a little, but I'm still amazed at how quickly our diet has changed since coming here. I don't know if I can say it's changed for the better, because I think the term 'good diet' is very different in both countries, but we eat well, and always have, it just happens to be a different kind of 'well' here.

On that note, I'm off to get started on the risotto (and have another piece of bread. Hopefully there will be some left by the time Erik gets home...)

Oh yeah!

I forgot,

Happy six month anniversary to us! (for real this time).

And happy Valentines Day to everyone else!

Hope you're eating lots of chocolate. All we've got in the house are some Sapporo Beer chocolates, that Steve was kind enough to send us. Yup, they actually taste like beer. Nope, it's not a good combination, but sometimes you just really want some chocolate...



We got these in the mail today, thanks Kristen!

Erik vs. cell phones

Last night Erik finally conquered the cell phone technology and figured out how to get the pictures off. Our high tech phones have infra-red ports (is it a port?), and Erik's computer also has one, so magically the pictures come right off the phone and on to the computer. Mom, you were wondering about wireless internet, how does all this sound? :)

Anyway, I've updated some past posts with the appropriate pictures. Recipes, Pete's birthday, and Risotto Revisited. Please keep in mind that neither of our cameras take the best pictures, and the birthday pictures are, well, not a typical night out for us. But they're fun anyway.

On a happier note, our real camera is getting closer to having a new life. It's in Calgary at the repair shop (thanks Karina!), and will hopefully be back in Paris with us in less than two months. Have I mentioned that I will always, always, always use the wrist strap from now on? And maybe the neck strap too, at the same time...

I'm working on getting Erik to write about the rugby game he saw on Saturday. Life has been pretty quiet since Pete left, and I haven't wanted to bore everyone with the minutia of our everyday life. But since I'm logged on here anyway, here you go:

We signed our lease on Sunday (sidenote: Zoe and I tried to go to the gym on Sunday prior to the lease signing, around noon. Turns out the gym closes at 2:00, but they close all the machines at 1:30. Plus, it was going to cost 25euros. We had coffee instead. And who pays 25euros to go to the gym for the day?). Apparently we're in the process of being screwed over by yet another landlord (we got enough of that from Harvey!), in French this time. We thought it had been made clear that the rent in our new place was 'charges compris' or all charges included. They had mentioned it a couple of times, and we asked when we signed, and they assured us it was, and it seemed like it was written in the lease. So we handed over the cheque and left with a good feeling that we were on the road to happy tennant/landlord relations. Erik got an email the next day from the landlady asking for his bank information so she could set up the electricity account for us. It doesn't specifically say electricity in the lease (the four pages of finely printed French tennancy jargon that we translated with the help of the internet and a bottle of wine one evening), but doesn't leave us with a good feeling. We were just there the day before, why didn't they ask for this information then? It's not the end of the world if we have to pay for it, but I don't like the feeling that they're trying to pull a fast one on us. Regardless, it will be great to finally be in our own place.

Ok. That's it. Now it's your turn. I know everyone has busy lives, but we'd love to hear what you're up to. Emails (or snail mail, if you prefer, we'll have a new address shortly) are always appreciated!

Feeling Confident in French! Day #5

Well, I'm sad to say that my week off has quickly come to an end, as has Pete's visit with us.

On Wednesday night we went for fondue with Pete and Zoe, then out for drinks afterwards. It was an enjoyable time, and you really can't go wrong with fondue!

Yesterday was a slow day, Pete got himself packed up, went to give a talk at his conference, then he and Erik headed out to see the catacombs. Unfortunately they were a bit late, and it was already closed. We had a last dinner together by the Arc de Triomphe and walked home. It was a nice final tour of the city for Pete.

He left this morning with Erik to catch his flight to London where he is visiting another friend for a couple of days before heading back to Canada.

We have a new addiction. Sudoku. Pete picked up the puzzle book that Erik got for Christmas and started doing the puzzles early on in his visit. He quickly got us all hooked, and we spent last week fighting over the book. They are very satisfying puzzles and now I understand why they are so popular.

Anyway, onto the main subject of the post. French. I've had a fair amount of practise this week, and have generally begun to notice that I understand things much more easily (although unexpected statements still throw me off). The cooking courses were in French, and I just got off the phone with SFR where I successfully changed my phone contract, and understood everything she was saying to me (and I'm assuming she understood me too!). I'm getting better about not getting hung up on words I don't know, and people are generally very helpful if you make an effort to ask about the word is that you're missing. It's a good feeling.

My plan for today is to try and check out the gym nearby. I've decided to postpone my cooking class for another day when I'm feeling more inspired. I still have to remind myself that I'm not going anywhere, so it's not necessary to squeeze everything I want to do into a small amount of time.

Erik is quite excited about the rugby game that he is going to see tomorrow (France vs. Ireland). He's going to wear his France jersey, but apparently will be cheering for Ireland. We'll see how that goes...

Hope everyone has a fantastic Friday!

Recipes

I just realized that the links to the recipes that I added in my past posts only work when I'm logged on to the Atelier des Chefs site. So, I'll just post the recipes here for everyone to enjoy. Unfortunately they are in French, but they are pretty straightforward. Just let me know if you need any help with the translations.

Verrine de mangue au sabayon caramélisé

Ingrédients pour 6 personnes
2 mangues
60 g sucre

6 spéculoos (cookies)

6 jaunes d'oeufs
90 g sucre
10 cl crème liquide (cream)

20 g sucre glace (icing sugar)

Matériel nécessaire
1 fouet éléctrique
1 cul de poule
1 chalumeau

L'accord parfait

Dans un cul de poule, fouetter à l'aide d'un fouet éléctrique les jaunes et le sucre jusqu'à l'obtention d'un mélange mousseux (3 fois plus volumineux).

Fouetter la crème liquide en crème fouettée. Mélanger les 2 appareils. Réserver au frais

Eplucher les mangues et tailler en lamelles de 3 mm de largeur. Dans une poêle, disposer le sucre et le laisser caraméliser. Ajouter les mangues et les faire colorer. Retirer de la poêle les mangues et les couper en dés. Disposer les dés de mangue au fond du verre, émietter des spéculoos, ou autres gateaux, recouvrir de sabayon. Saupoudrer de sucre glace et caraméliser à l'aide d'un chalumeau

Tarte fine aux pommes

Ingrédients pour 6 personnes
250 grs de pâte feuillettée,
50 grs de sucre semoule,
60 grs de beurre,
6 pommes type golden,

L'accord parfait

Etaler finement la pâte. Tailler des ronds de 12 cm de diamètre dans la pâte feuillettée.

Eplucher et émincer les pommes fruits.

Garnir les fonds de tarte avec les pommes émincés, saupoudrer de sucre en poudre, et de petit morceaux de beurre.

Cuire dans un four trés chaud (220°C) pendant 20 minutes environ,

Dès la sortie du four, couper les bords bien nets et servir encore tiède.

Mille feuille de saumon fumé et voile de sésame

Ingrédients pour 6 personnes
4 feuilles de brick,
40 grs de beurre,
20 grs de graine de sésame, (sesame seeds)
6 tranches de saumon fumé de 70 grs,
100 grs de raisins roses ou rouges, (grapes)
30 grs d'abricots secs, (dried apricots)
1/4 de botte de ciboulette, (green onions, I think)
1 yaourt nature, (plain yogurt)
1 échalote, (shallot)
1 betterave cuite, (cooked beet)
vinaigre de vin vieux, (wine vinegar)
huile d'olive,

Matériel nécessaire
une plaque allant au four, un cercle inox, un pinceau, un mixer.

L'accord parfait

Tailler la moitié de la betterave rouge et les abricots secs en petit dés, tailler les raisins en quatre, ciseler la ciboulette et l'échalote.

Mettre tout ces éléments dans une calotte, assaisonner de sel, poivre et d'un yaourt.

Couper les feuilles de brick en 8 quartiers, les superposer et les beurrer avec le beurre fondu, saupoudrer de graines de sésame et de sel, plaquer et cuire quelques minutes dans un four à 200°C.

Mixer le reste de la betterave avec un demi décilitre d'eau et un trait de vinaigre de vin vieux, ajouter un peu d'huile d'olive sans trop mélanger.

Dans un assiette, poser un triangle de brick, puis une cuillère de garniture, une demi tranche de saumon fumé, une nouvelle brick, un peu de garniture puis le reste du saumon fumé.

Terminer par une brick, décorer de batônnets de ciboulette et de la vinaigrette de betterave.

Mille feuille ganache chocolat au piment d'espelette

Ingrédients pour 6 personnes
200 grs de feuilletage pur beurre, (puff pastry)
30 grs de sucre glace, (icing sugar)

125 grs de chocolat noir,
125 grs de crème liquide,
2 pointe de couteau de Piment d'Espelette,

L'accord parfait

Couper 12 carrés de pâte feuilletée de 6 cm sur 6 cm. Sur une plaque à pâtisserie avec une feuille de cuisson exo pat, disposer les carrés de feuilletage. Recouvrir d’une autre plaque à pâtisserie et cuire au four à 200°C pendant 20 minutes. Une fois cuit retirer la plaque du dessus, et saupoudrer les feuilletés de sucre glace. Positionner le four en mode grill et redisposer les feuilletés au four pour que le sucre glace caramélise. (Environ 2 minutes à 240°C). Réserver de côté.

Réaliser la ganache : faire bouillir la crème liquide et la verser sur les pistoles de chocolat, ajouter 2 pointe de couteau de Piment d'Espelette. Mélanger pour obtenir une pâte lisse et faire cristalliser la ganache au frigo pendant 20 à 30 minutes.

Dès que la ganache est refroidie, la disposer dans une poche à douille et réaliser des petits dômes sur 6 feuilletés. Recouvrir la ganache avec les autres feuilletés.

Day #3: Millefeuille and Running

Let's start with the less glamorous of the two. Running (sorry Howard!).

I was definetly not feeling glamorous today. I'm proud of myself for going again today, but am regretting it a little bit because as the day has progressed, my ability to walk normally has greatly diminished. I spent the afternoon waddling around the city, wincing in pain every time my inner thigh muscles needed to work (which is apparently every single time you take a step). Stairs are also a challenge now, but more so going down than up. I think I caused quite the scene on the metro.

But it was all worth it, because I got to go to another cooking class this afternoon. This one was a millefeuille class, where we learned how to use two different pastries. They were both pre-made doughs, and the chef said as long as you make sure the pate feuillté contains pure butter, the quality is fine.

We started with dessert (as all good meals should). The chef had precooked the puff pasty (pate feuillté) for us, and it baked in between two sheets to stop it from rising. When it was sufficiently cooked, she took it out, and we sprinkled icing sugar evenly over the tops of all of them. Back into the oven, under the broiler, watching carefully, and the sugar melted into a nice glassy finish. Then we moved onto the ganache. Pretty basic, heat the cream, use good dark chocolate, etc. But we infused the chocolate with a pepper. It looked a lot like cayenne pepper and added an interesting kick to the chocolate at the end. She told us that you could infuse the cream with any flavour you wanted, mint, coffee, vanilla, etc, allowing anything that will be removed (ie mint leaves) extra time to steep. The ganache was then set aside to solidify (but not in the fridge, as this would make it too hard).

On to our savoury dish. This one started with the prep work, chopping all the ingredients into miniscule pieces for the sauce. We also cut up a beet and blended it with oil, water and vinegar to make another sauce. The pastry this time was called feuille de brick, and they came in large circular sheets. It is described (on Amazon!) as a crispy, non buttery dough (check the spelling of 'dough' on the site). It reminded me a little of spring roll wrappers, but a lot larger. We brushed each circle with olive oil and sprinkled them with sesame seeds, and cooked them just until they were golden (we burned four. Oops!). To assemble the dish, we cut each half moon shape into four triangles, and layered the sauce, smoked salmon and beet sauce on three of them. Then we stacked them artistically and topped them with the most attractive remaining triangle. I have no idea how you would eat this meal gracefully, but it was certainly delicious!

The dessert was assembled using two pastry rectangles, and making a quenelle out of the ganache, and sandwiching it between the pastries. A bit boring, I thought, but everyone started suggesting additions, like ice cream, raspberries or mint.

There you have it. I am now feeling quite confident in my dinner party preparation skills. As long as the party involves three dessert courses (and why shouldn't it?).

Bon appétit!

Day #2: The Best 34euros I've Ever Spent

Today was cooking class day. Aside from the fact that it took me awhile to find the 'atelier' everything went smoothly (and I got to discover the housewares section of Galleries Lafayette--it's a whole separate store!).

The class took place in a little kitchen on the bottom floor of the store. The walls were all glass, so we had many spectators during the hour. There were only two of us in the class!! The chef was very pleasant, and it was fun preparing the dishes. We made two delicious desserts. The first one was a tarte fine aux pommes (apple tart). It was pretty basic, puff pastry with apple slices and butter and sugar on top. She showed us how to use the apple peeling machine, and how to slice the apples thinly by hand. Basically, you need a sharp knife. We popped those in the oven, and got to work on dessert number two: verrine de mangue au sabayon caramelise (I just looked up verrine and it apparently translates into 'protective glass'. Basically, it was caramelised mangoes with a sabayon). Another easy one to prepare, but it was interesting to learn how to make the caramel sauce. We just covered the bottom of a pan in sugar and cranked up the heat. Eventually it started to melt, and we added some butter, then the mangoes. She said that if you wanted to make a thicker caramel to serve with the apple tart, you could add creme fraiche* (whipping cream, although I'm sure that's not an accurate translation) instead of the butter and cook it for a bit longer. The sabayon was made with raw egg yolks, and she told us to be careful about how we crack the eggs so as not to get salmonella (didn't catch the detail...probably should have asked for a clarification). She also said that the sugar that we beat with the yolks would 'cook' the eggs. That was the first time I'd ever heard that! Anyone have any insight on that?

The apple tart should be served with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, and the mango dessert was presented in small glasses. First the mangoes, then we broke some cookies on top, then a scoop or two of the sabayon. Then we sprinkled the top with icing sugar, and caramelised it with a blow torch!

All in all it was a delightful hour, and it was fun to see how the 'pros' prepare dessert. Neither of the recipes was particularly hard, but I think it was the presentation tips that made the difference.

Since getting home, I've signed myself up for two more: tomorrow it's millefueille--one sweet and one savory, then on Friday I'm going to a Champagne lunch.

Tonight we are cruising the Seine. It's Pete's last week, and of course we haven't done any of the touristy things that he had wanted to do. So tonight the Seine, and maybe they'll have time this week to squeeze in the catacombs (I think one time down there is enough for me!)

By the way, I went for a run this morning. It was hard!

*If I can remember correctly, creme fraiche in Canada is thick, is it not? I don't think I've ever cooked with it, and I was surprised to notice that it was liquid, looking almost exactly like whipping cream. She also mentioned to be sure to use a cream with at least 20% fat or it wouldn't whip, which also led me to think it was similar...anyone have any experience with this?

On Vacation! Day #1

Well, what's a vacation without a nap? I made myself comfortable on the couch to start a new book*, and promptly fell asleep, until Erik called to say he was coming home. I think I'm off to a good start...

Aside from deciding that I will spend the maximum amount of time in jogging pants this week, I did get some things accomplished today. At the top of my list of things to do for awhile now has been to get my eyebrows waxed. I noticed a place on my way home from work last week, and stopped by this morning. Although the result is nowhere as good as I was used to from Gladys (at Trade Secrets in the Eaton Centre in Toronto. She's fantastic!), it's definetly a step in the right direction. At least I know what to ask for now.

I spent the rest of the morning listening to the Current. There were some interesting segments, one of an interview with Kurt Vonnegut, and another about the debt that the US is accumulating.

For dinner tonight I tried a new recipe Baked Orzo with Squash and Mushrooms. I made some alterations, as the closest thing to squash I could find at the Champion was pumpkin (not a good choice), and I decided to use quinoa instead of the pasta. The quinoa was a nice touch, although in the end it was a bit overcooked. Next time I think I'll do the whole thing on the stove as a kind of pilaf, minus the squash, and maybe with some peppers instead. We also had an omlette with blue cheese. Yum! I've decided the secret to a good omlette that doesn't stick is lots of butter...it's taken me awhile to decide that the extra butter is worth it. It's so satisfying when the whole thing just slides out of the pan! All this accompanied by an inexpensive bottle of Beaujolais that Erik went to three stores to find (not to find the specific bottle, but the two stores closest to us were closed! It is Monday after all).

I also signed up for a cooking course on a whim. It's tomorrow afternoon at Galleries Lafayette. The price was right, and hey, I'm on vacation! I'll tell you all about it demain.

All in all, a satisfying day. I hope to be a little more productive tomorrow, but I think I'm off to a good start!

*speaking of books, I recently finished Beauty Tips From Moose Jaw, by Will Ferguson (thanks Karina!). I have pretty much exclusively been reading books about France since we got here, and I have to say this book (about Canada) has been the most satisfying. It really makes you want to travel to all the small towns that he visited. There were also lots of interesting tidbits of Canadian history that I probably slept through in high school. He is also the author of Hitching Rides With Buddha, another one I've been wanting to read for awhile. It's about his adventures hitchhiking across Japan to follow the cherry blossoms. Although I should probably focus my travelling dreams on Europe for the time being...

Oops!

So, after stressing all weekend about planning for this week-long camp I'm working at, I discovered this morning that it actually starts next week. I somehow got in into my head that today was the day, and I noticed this morning as I was leaving that I had marked February 13-17th as the dates for the camp. It was too early to call, so I figured I'd go out there anyway, just in case (and it's not like I had anything better to do...). An hour on the train each way, and I'm now back at home, in my jogging pants trying to decide how best to get into vacation mode. Unfortunately cleaning up the kitchen is at the top of the list... Hopefully I'll be able to go for a run this week too (a real one, not a metro run). Any other suggestions would be appreciated (Joan, I'll look for your skirt).

That's it for now!

Happy 30th Birthday Pete!

Last night we celebrated Pete's birthday. Well, more accurately, the celebration began for Pete at breakfast when he had a beer to accompany his cereal, then continued through the afternoon as the boys watched two rugby games. It was his birthday! We were joined by one of Pete's friends who came in from London, and two other girls that Pete had met at the conference he's attending.

The evening celebration took on a bit of an 'international' flavour, with us starting at the good old Canadian bar. After drinks and appetizers we set off in search of a suitable dinner location, and one of the girls suggested an Italian restaurant. What a find this place was! A cute little (non-smoking!) place, with a big pizza oven right in the middle of everything. The two girls spoke Italian, so we were treated to some rapid dialogue of questionable content from the very friendly and entertaining waiter (a nice change from the typically cold service we get otherwise). We all had fantastic pizzas, and Erik and I will definetly have to go back (as long as we can find it...). The boys also tried Italian beer. We had never heard of it, and there is a reason why. Stick to wine next time you're eating Italian.

Next stop was an Australian bar, a smoky little hole in the wall with only one Australian beer (Fosters) and the bar staff wearing All Blacks jerseys. And they spoke French. Not a problem, but we didn't stay too long, quickly heading to Pete and Erik's new favorite place, the Pantalon. Drinks are cheap at the Pantalon, and they have a resident dog that Erik thinks is great. They also have the scariest toilet I have ever used (a room painted black, lit by a red light, toilet paper suspended on a cord...). Last night had shots, 5 for 10 euros, and being a birthday, we may have indulged Pete in a few to many...we'll find out today how he held up.

Erik and I left Pete and Terry at this point, who were planning on heading back to the Canadian bar to watch the New Jersey/Toronto hockey game that started at 1:00am. I'll be surprised if they made it!

Unfortunately the subway was no longer running when we left, so we hopped on a night bus, that I thought was going in the right direction. It wasn't. Luckily we were able to find a cab, who quickly whisked us back across the city.

Photo Update

Just want to let everyone know that the photo link in this post now works! You can enjoy every single picture that we took on our trip without having to sign in or log on.

The kids at school today were excited because the holidays start tonight. Many of them are going on skiing vacations, so it will be interesting to hear all about it when they get back. It's nice to know that I have two weeks of a 'break' even though I'll still be working next week. It's something different next week, then a week off. It nice to have a change of pace every once in a while.

Today two of the classes were showing off what they'd been doing for the last six weeks. The three year old class had done a unit on the circus, and they put on a show for the little kids. They had their faces painted, and did events like the tightrope and the tiger jumping through the flaming hoop. It was very cute! The five year olds had been studying teeth, and had all made molds of their mouths (the kind that you got done when you had braces). They were so cool! They had also done these cute little boxes to put your teeth in when you put them under your pillow. I was very impressed!

Thats it for now!

Strike!

***I am writing this post after having spent the entire afternoon drinking wine. That's what happens after you lock yourself out of your apartment in France, and the only other person with a key is the one person without the cellphone (Pete). I beelined for the closest cafe, and enjoyed glasses of bordeaux until I heard from our visitor. Then we went out for dinner....***

So, today at the nursery school, there was a boy who was clearly older than all the other kids, who I had never seen before. I learned that he was a son of one of the teachers, and that his teacher was on strike, so he was spending the day with us. The discussion that ensued was one of comparing teacher strikes. This teacher was very surprised to hear about teacher unions, and all teachers going on strike, etc, in Canada. I was very surprised to not have read anything about this teacher strike in the morning metro paper on my way to work...

Apparently in France, only 1 in 5 teachers go on strike, because as they don't get paid for striking, many can't afford to. Usually strikes only last one or two days (??!!!), and when they are really long it's maybe a week or two, but parents get mad because they don't know what to do with their kids (isn't the whole point of a strike for it to be inconvenient??). All public elementary schools in France are legislated by the country, so they are the same all across the country. My assumption then was that all the teachers in all of France were on strike (I didn't manage to find out why this teacher was striking, although I have a feeling that wasn't really important information). I was corrected when I learned that basically teachers can choose when they want to go on strike. It seemed a little convenient to me that the teacher was striking two days before the start of the two week holidays that start on Friday...

Other funny (non-strike related) things that I saw today:
A woman jogging. I haven't seen many women jogging here in Paris (I will even go as far as to say that this is the first female jogger that I have seen since we've been here. That's my excuse for not jogging. Really. That and it's too cold. I know. I'm a wimpy Canadian). Anyway. I'm on the subway on my way home from work, and a woman gets on the train. I notice her because she's wearing running pants, a white windbreaker, and a toque. A pink one. She sits with her eyes closed the whole train ride, and gets off at the same stop as me. As soon as she hits the platform, she starts jogging. Not real jogging, but the kind of 'running on the spot' jogging that one might do while waiting for the light to change. She does this 'jogging' all the way to the next metro line (no, she doesn't actually leave the station), where, upon noticing that the train has just left, proceeds to do some serious calf stretches. I thought this was hilarious. I guess it is possible to 'jog' across Paris, as long as you have a metro pass. To be fair, I don't know how far the woman had run before getting on the train, but I couldn't understand the logic of keeping the running going after 'sleeping' on the train for about 15 minutes! It's the newest workout, I guess. I'll see if I can fit it into my schedule. It's certainly warmer than running outside!

Take 2

Ok. So, my initial frustrations with technology have waned, I've eaten dinner, and now I'm ready to just give everyone a written version of our trip.

But first, did you know that Paris is the fourth most expensive city to live in? It's tied for fourth with either Reykjavik or Osaka, depending on how you read the article.









Alright. I believe I left everyone last night at the end of our first night in Brugge. We woke up fairly early the next morning, and set off after breakfast for the town belfry. This is Belgium's most famous Belfort, and there were 366 steps to the top (no problem after the CN tower!). Erik had taken an extra hard boiled egg at breakfast, and was carrying it around for most of the day. There is one picture of him holding it on the first level of the belfry. It actually lasted the whole day, until Erik and Pete were at the pub and Erik played with it too much and the shell cracked. Not really important information, sorry. The view from the top of the belfry was fantastic, and you could see most of the bells. They actually started ringing while we were up there, and were quite loud! On the way down we stopped in the little room where the carrillon is controlled. The gears were amazing!









Our next stop was the canal tours. They were described by LP as 'touristy by essential' and we were lucky that they were running that day. It was quite cold, and there was actually ice on the canals, but the boat plowed right through. It was a great tour, in English, French and Flemish, an interesting way to see some of the interesting and beautiful buildings in the city.



After that it was lunch, and we trekked way up north in the city to find a restaurant recommended by our friend LP. Unfortunately it was closed, but we managed to find another place that had a reasonably priced menu. The food specialty in Belgium is moules frites (Erik's favorite!), so Erik and I had that, and Pete had the chicken. I thought the moules were fantastic, nice and big in a nice sauce. Erik decided that they didn't have enough butter...

Being in Belgium we thought it would be fitting to visit a brewery. There were two listed on the city map we had gotten at the hotel, but only one in the LP. The non-LP one was closest, and we spent a whole hour trying to find it. For some reason the map didn't include an address, which made it quite difficult to locate. By the time we got to the other one, the tour had already started, and the next one was in an hour. I left the boys at the brewery so I could go and visit the chocolate museum, named Choco-story.

The museum was great. Any museum that gives you chocolate when you pay your admission is good in my books. The museum traced the history of chocolate, from the Aztecs, to it's arrival in Europe (and beyond). There was a great display of china chocolate cups and chocolatiers that you would have loved mom. My favourite part, though, was the chocolate making demonstration at the end. Belgium is famous for inventing the praline, or filled chocolates. The chocolate maker showed us how it is done, and of course we got to sample those too! They were delicious! And she made it look so easy. Although her chocolate was pre-melted in a fancy machine. No tempering going on that I could see.

I met up with the boys and we headed back to the hotel for a nap. Pete has caught my cold, and was feeling a bit under the weather. For dinner we headed to a place that we had noticed earlier, mainly because it had so many fries waiting to be cooked. Unfortunately our entire meal ended up being cooked in the deep fryer, and two meals of frites in a day is more than I usually indulge in. Plus, I didn't think the fries were that great. I'm going to try and focus on quality fries from now on....Does that mean I have to sample more?

We went for another walk along the canal and up to the 'draw'bridge castle where we had entered the city the other day. A couple of drinks in the pub and we were off to bed.

Another early start the next day. Our plan was quite vague. The boys were interested in seeing war stuff, and basically planned to drive into the cities along the Northern French coast that had been involved in particular battles. We started with a stop in Dunkirk. We checked out the port museum, which devoted a dissapointingly (for the boys, anyway) amount of wall space of the three floor museum to the fact that the port was almost completely destroyed during WWII.

Next was an unplanned stop at the Canadian Cemetary past Callais. I had noticed a sign on the highway that said 'Canadien' and we followed it to this beautifully kept cemetary for the Canadian (and British, and other) soldiers who died fighing their way across Northern France after D-Day.

Our next stop was a quick bite to eat in Boulonge, where we all ordered 'surprise' dishes (couldn't understand what the very loud waitress was saying). It was delicous.

Then came the long haul to Dieppe. Unfortunately being a seaside town, the memorial in Dieppe is closed during the winter. We did take a quick walk along the beach to check out the cliffs (quite spectacular) before driving to see the cemetary there as well. No pictures from Dieppe, unfortunately we ran out of film in Callais.

The drive home was incredibly long. We went through a dozen small towns, and Erik thinks he went through at least 12 roundabouts on that drive. Basically, all intersections are a traffic circle, that gets crazier the closer you get to Paris.

We had pizza for dinner last night, and it was great to be home. The heat was on, we all had great showers (no timer! Yay!), and went back to work the next day. Erik has commented on how fast the week goes when you take Monday off....maybe this will be a new habit.

I was talking today in my class about holidays with my students. I can't believe how much time they get off, and I'm not sure how it works out. They have a two week holiday every six weeks (can you imagine having to move from a French system to a North American one? Kids must go crazy!). They get eight weeks off in the summer, and Wednesdays off too. I just don't get it! One of my schools runs a camp the first week of 'vacances scolaire' so I'm working next week, but I'm certainly looking forward to the week off after that. I think I get paid for it too! I guess they make up for it by having to take courses like Latin. But what do I know?

Picture problems...

OK. What was supposed to be an easier way to share photos has turned into a huge headache. If you want to view the pictures, you need to create a Yahoo ID and login (what a pain!). I tried this place because it's supposed to be easy to post them on a blog, but I can only seem to do it one photo at a time. So, if you really want to see the pictures, feel free to log on. Otherwise, you'll have to wait until I have time to figure it out. Sorry!

The Pictures are Here!

Pete and Erik in front of a cool honeycomb structure
Originally uploaded by torieanderik.

Ok! I finally have some photos to share. It's been a while since we used a film camera, and it was hard to remember what we had taken pictures of already, so there are some similar photos, but also some holes where we didn't realize we had never taken a photo. I had intended to take a picture of the guys in "Pueggie" our rental car, and there are no pictures of Dieppe as we had run out film by then. Other than that, hopefully you can get a taste of how beautiful the city was. Enjoy!