American cake

Not long after we moved to Chartres, June showed me a cake that he wanted me to make. He told me that they bought the cake mix when they were in MN this past summer and asked if I would be willing to make it the next time everyone was over. Of course I agreed and thought it would be a moment of redemption for me after the cheesecake situation.

So I checked the back of the box to see what ingredients were required, the basics of eggs, water, and oil (I was so happy to see instructions in English, ahh it's the little things). I asked if there was a certain type of frosting that they would like for the cake and vanilla frosting was suggested since it was a white cake. So the next trip to the grocery store I had set out to grab a container of frosting for the cake.  At this point, based on my grocery shopping experiences here, I should have had minimal expectations going into to my hunt for frosting. However, I assumed that this would be the same as in the states where you have 50 different kinds of frostings to choose from in the baking aisle. Not the case, I couldn’t even find ONE container of frosting in the baking aisle. It figures that in a country of amazing desserts that all of the baking is done with real ingredients, not pre-made.

So my backup plan was to make frosting from scratch. I turned to one of my BFF’s (best friends forever), Pinterest, and found a couple of options.  I decided on one that required minimal ingredients (butter, powdered sugar, vanilla, and milk). Those ingredients were not too difficult to find other than the powdered sugar I found wasn’t exactly the same as I am used to back home. Thankfully I brought measuring cups with me to be able to bake using recipes from the states so it was pretty smooth sailing from there.

The only other challenge was to convert the oven temperature from Fahrenheit to Celsius. I have an app on my IPhone (which is now really an IPod Touch since it isn’t being used for phone service) that does conversions.

The cake and frosting appeared to have turned out well and got rave reviews from the family. It’s good to know I can still make a box cake mix turn out alright, thanks Betty Crocker!!!

Dino's got skills

So while my visitors were in town, one of the areas that we did some sightseeing in was the Montmartre neighborhood. This artsy neighborhood is situated at the top of a hill overlooking Paris. The view from Sacre Coeur overlooking Paris is beautiful.

There is one area that is all set up with artists displaying their work and creating work as people walk by.  There are also many artists walking around the neighborhood looking for a tourist to be enticed by a personal drawing or silhouette cut out.  I have gotten pretty good at saying a firm NO when approached by people in the city.  During our ascend up to Sacre Coeur I was approached by a handful of people wanting to show me their work and to give them a minute to showcase their talent. One person was even bold enough to grab my arm in the midst of my broken record of “no, no, no!”

Just before reaching the church I was approached again by an artist. I am not sure what it was about this person that I allowed him to get more than 2 words out of his mouth before I completely shut him out. However he did, his name was Dino. He told me that he rarely sees blonde and loves curly hair, he continued on to say that he wanted to draw me just for his collection, no obligation from me to buy anything. So the MN nice slipped out and I sat down next to Dino and allowed him to start drawing.

He asked me where I was from, what brings me to Paris, and was I married. Dino stated that my husband was a very lucky man and quickly followed that by telling me that he was also married. 

Dino is originally from Italy and makes his home in Paris now. We had a cordial conversation with a little bit of Italian charm thrown in. At the completion of his drawing Dino told me that he wanted me to have it. That he didn’t want any money from me for it, just that I should keep it. In turn he also gave me his business card and asked that if I have any free time he would love someone to practice his English with.

All the while this was taking place, Dawn and Sara roamed the area and of course took pictures of Dino and I to prove that I gave in to Dino’s request to draw me.  They haven’t shared those pictures with me yet but if they ever come my way I will try to remember to share them.

What I do have though is a lovely drawing completed by Dino. He obviously has some mad skills in making people look better than they do in real life!!! I appreciate his viewpoint and will strive to look like the diva he created on the paper.

P.S. I kept Dino’s card in case any of you need a portrait drawn of yourself while in Paris!!

Market day experience

This past Sunday we went to the city of Saint Germain la Coude (near Alençon) to have dinner with James’ brother and his girlfriend at her home. The city had a large market (that happens once or twice a year) going on as well. The best way to describe this market, and give a visual of what it would be like in the states, is a cross between a garage sale/flea market/gold rush sorts of thing.

We had a great lunch and then walked around for a while taking in all of the items being sold and of course did some serious people watching. Some things definitely stood out for me, as it isn’t something I feel like I would see anywhere at a flea market in the US.

The first being crepe stands! There were multiple locations that were making crepes on site and selling them right off the griddle. I think we could adopt this sort of thing from the Frenchies.

On the other end of the spectrum was a booth that was selling meat products. For those of you with weak stomachs you may want to skip over the next 2 pictures. I witnessed the “butcher” funneling the meat into casing and twisting it every so often to make a “sausage.” James tells me that the meat is pork and that it is so dark in color because they also add in blood from the pig that has been boiled. Now, why in the world would such a food exist amongst all of the amazing things that French cuisine has to offer?

It wasn’t until later in the evening I found out that James’ brother enjoys this meat and that he had bought some to have for dinner. It was cooked in a pan with apples (as if that is going to make it more edible) and then served with the apples. He INSISTED that I try it. Keep in mind that the 3 other people at the table refuse to eat this meat. However I obliged and took the smallest bite possible. Needless to say there was a 4^th person now at the table that refused to eat it. I am not sure how to describe it other than the texture (and taste) was all wrong! So it’s official I have found a food in France that I do not care to brag about or share with my American friends and family!!!

In addition to noticing the food booths there were many fun and interesting items. I am told that the item below is a machine that was used to separate wheat grain from the plant prior to having machines do this for us.

The other item was something I could have totally seen buying had I any small children nearby or it didn’t cost a ton to ship to my favorite little friends back in the states. How fun that these school desks had a built in buddy right next to you?

So there is what a market experience was like for me in this city of approximately 800 people. I really do enjoy walking around and looking at things. I think it will be even more fun to go to these markets when we are in our own space and start to need things to make it a home!

My first visitors

 Last week I had the privilege to hang out with some familiar faces from MN. Dawn and her daughter Sara (who is actually studying in Spain this semester) jetted over to France for a few days and we traipsed around the city. I was able to share some of the sites that are familiar to me in Paris(the above photo is a site that is still mesmerizing to me even after seeing it numerous times).  In addition to working on my tour guide skills (that I hope to be using with ALL of the friends and family visiting) these few days in Paris also allowed me to check out some new spots which was really great.


One of my new favorites was seeing the beloved Eiffel Tower lit up at night. In addition to lighting up it does some fun blinking light show every so often as well.  I can envision sitting at a cafe with this in view and sharing some coffee and dessert, anyone want to join me?

After walking through the Montmartre neighborhood and seeing Sacre Coeur we headed down the hill and walked to the Moulin Rouge. Conveniently there was a Starbucks located right across the street that allowed us to sit outside and enjoy a little taste of the states while looking at this fun venue.

We also went to the famous Louvre. I had seen the Louvre during a river boat tour in the past but up close this building is bigger than I could have ever imagined.

 They say that it takes a whole day to get through the museum. I can completely understand why after seeing it. Being a resident of France there is little in the site seeing department that makes James excited to see repeatedly. I had texted him while we were sitting outside the Louvre and he responded that it was one of his favorites. So it is on the to-do list that we will be spending a day here in the future for me to experience all the amazing art that is within.

After a few days in Paris, Dawn and Sara came out to spend the day in Chartres with James and I. It was really fun showing them around the city, hosting them in our home, and trying to jam in as much French experiences as possible before they left the following day. Sara really wanted to learn how to make crepes so James and her spent a little bit of time in the kitchen and there is video to prove that by the end she was able to flip a crepe like a pro.

Of course these experiences also included amazing desserts (macaroons, religieuse, and too many others that I have yet to know the names of), the best French baguettes in town (so good that they both took some back with them on the planes), and of course a little French wine with (our Korean) dinner.

It is amazing how spending time with friends from home even in a foreign land feels familiar. Thank you to Dawn and Sara for all of the laughs and for allowing me to finesse some of the tour guide skills for the next round of visitors.

P.S. There are more macaroons waiting for your next visit (or an apple croissant or chocolate eclair)!!!

Making the move tomorrow

Writing this post surrounded by boxes as the plan is to move to Chartres tomorrow (the city we plan to live in long term that is closer to Paris). This week we have spent a great deal of time packing and deciding what we are taking to Chartres now and what is going into storage for a short while as we will be staying with some family to start. This is the plan until I find a job and we can save our pennies to live in a castle, I heard those are pretty cheap in France.

For the most part this move is all positive, at least in my book. We will be in the city that we plan to live in which means I can try and put some roots down and invest in getting to know the city. I can unpack the suitcases I have been living out of for the past 3 weeks. There will be other people to interact with when James is working long days. And we will be closer to Paris with easy train access for all of the job interviews that will be presenting themselves.

Speaking of the job front, I have been submitting applications for positions teaching English or to nanny. While these are not my first choices (using all of that higher education), they will give me the opportunity to get my feet wet and hopefully start meeting people here. While applying for those positions I am still job hunting intensely to see what all of my options are and hope that something ends up being a good fit.

Feel free to send good vibes this way that the move is smooth sailing tomorrow (it should go great as there are friends enlisted to help, but let's be honest, this girl is sick of packing and moving)!!!

Cheesecake, the results are in...

Thought I would give a quick update about the dinner on Saturday evening (more importantly the cheesecake) and weekend events here. We had a delicious dinner at our friends. It never fails that she pulls out all the stops and it is a multi-course meal. It is even more impressive to note that this was accomplished yet again in spite of the broken arm she is dealing with. So this only adds to the pressure of the cheesecake being at least edible.

I had made sure to ask James to give a disclaimer about the cheesecake upon our arrival at their home. He briefly explained the process of making it and being unsure if it is even close to what cheesecake should resemble. So after the incredible meal we take the cheesecake and strawberries out to serve. James finds the need to record the events on his iphone as I attempt to serve the dessert (remember this is a normal pie type pan, no springform pan to aid in easy serving).

Everyone has their piece of cheesecake and I plead with James to try it first so that if it is awful we can spare the others from eating it. He takes a bite and claims that it is great. His friends follow and report that they really like it.  So with less anxiety I take a bite...to all my fellow cheesecake loving friends, this is NOT what cheesecake is suppose to taste like. In addition to the taste being different, the texture is way off. The part of cheesecake that is normally smooth, dense, and savory is a light and cottage type texture (maybe because the ingredient is not really cream cheese?). If you have never had cheesecake maybe you really can like it. However, to know what the real stuff tastes like it is suffice to say, this is not it. The best parts to me were the crust (made of biscuit type cookies) and the strawberries.

There was about a 1/3 of it left after everyone had a piece (of which they actually ate, no small pets to sneak it off to). At the conclusion of the evening, our friends report that they will finish it and get the pan back to us. We saw them the next day because we went to a outdoor city market (like a flea market) in the village near their home. They returned the clean pan to us and I am not convinced that they just didn't toss the rest out after we had left.

The lesson learned(in my point of view) is that we find real cream cheese before giving this a try again OR just buy some of the fabulous desserts available at any given bakery.

Adventures of cheesecake

The first week in France has gone well. I am adjusting to the time difference, enjoy being with James and starting to take in my new surroundings in a different way. In many ways France feels similar to home but in so many little ways, things are very different too. An example to help illustrate this is trying to make a cheesecake.

James really enjoyed cheesecake when he was in the States and during that time made a point to say that he hopes I can make cheesecake for him in France. So I got a recipe from a friend, which is suppose to be "to die for cheesecake." While visiting a friend the other day they invited us to dinner for Saturday evening and James declared, "we will bring cheesecake for dessert."

So I scrambled to make sure I have the recipe and yesterday we set out to get things we will need to make it. As we may or may not have pointed out in the past, James doesn't have a lot of kitchen supplies! A spring form pan is definitely not something that he had. We went to 3 different stores and could not find a springform pan to buy! James asked "do we really NEED this type of pan or can we make it in a pan that is similar but the sides don't come off?"  I guess he really wants some cheesecake. Now I know how to bake but in no way is cheesecake something I have made more than once; I mean who needs to go to such trouble with the Cheesecake Factory not far away. With some hesitation I agree that we will try to make it with the other pan.

The next item on the shopping list is to find a handmixer. Stores 1 and 2 did not have them but we scored at the 3rd store. So now onto finding the ingredients. I had talked to James the other day about cream cheese (prior to the cheesecake making came about) and he and his brother insist that there is cream cheese in France; they know what Philadelphia cream cheese is and claim that it exists here.

During yesterday's shopping extravaganza Philadelphia cream cheese was not to be found. Some other items on the list proved to be pretty basic: eggs, sugar, and vanilla. However in addition to the cream cheese 2 other items were causing me some concern, graham crackers and sour cream. James was confident about what sour cream was and we purchased a container of it. The cream cheese that we bought was the brand he saw a picture online this morning while researching what a spring form pan was. Now for all of you cream cheese loving fans, this is where it gets REAL questionable. The cream cheese that we purchased came in a container like cottage cheese or yogurt would, not our standard 8 oz block format that all of us Americans are used to. Graham crackers were not found so we purchased something that looked close and is probably some sort of biscuit cookie. I figured that this could turn out ok since there are cheesecakes that have oreo crusts and such.

We left the store with all of our supplies and started in on the process of making this cheesecake. The crust process went fine, just labor intensive with the crushing of the biscuits. The cream cheese filling...let's just say that if this is in fact cream cheese, it does not have the same consistency as the cream cheese we are used to and sits in a little liquid with a built in strainer. Throwing a little caution to the wind,  I proceeded to mix things and dump them into the pan. I baked it in the oven and after cooling it on the counter it has been in the fridge since last night.

It should be quite an experience this evening when we bring this cheesecake to his friend's house. Not only do I have no idea if the ingredients are comparable, but the conversions of measurements and the oven temperature also play a role. Thankfully the company we will be with this evening are good sports and if this is a total flop they will be able to have a good laugh with us. James is confident and said that if this is the best cheesecake I have ever had then he is going to tell them that he made it :)
Stay tuned to find out the results, fingers crossed that it is at least edible!!