Happy Toussaint Week!

Bonjour, Ya'll!

Just taking a moment to catch my breath...it has been a busy couple of weeks here.  We ended the first quarter of school, so now the kids get a holiday!  Called "Toussaint", French for "All Saints",  it is the Fall Break, so yay for another holiday!  Because we are new, we didn't realize "everyone" leaves for far-flung destinations, which are not so far-flung from here:  Rome, London, Greece, Italy, Dubai, Japan, and Spain, just to name a few places our friends have gone.  Of course, you knew it wouldn't be long before Paul and I would be "runing our girls' lives" again, so of course, we are the ONLY ones that didn't go to _________ (fill in the blank with any of the above places, Israel, or the US).  But we are excited to welcome new visitors this week--Paul's parents, Dr. Howard & Sonia Nornes, from Fort Collins, Colorado, fresh off their stint in Ann Arbor staying with my favorite nephew, Fumiya, while his parents are in China (Mark, I think China, but don't quote me on that--it could be Japan) and Hideko (back to Colby College in Maine).  So the Grandparents are going to Minnesota, Michigan, one day in Colorado, then here for a few days and onto Israel.  The girls are right--EVERYONE is going to Israel!!

So what the heck have we been doing?  One thing I did was to take my first cooking class, which was awesome!!  We made beef bourguignon and an apple pie, called "tarte tatin".  My instructor is Dominique, who is fabulously French and wore high heels to class.  I'm taking my in-laws and Paul to cooking class on Saturday, so very excited to learn something new and try it out in my own Easy Bake oven over here.

I was using my crock pot after cooking class, but I have no counter to place it on, I put it on top of the stove.  Turned on the burner to start my own tarte, but turned on the wrong burner.  Burned off the bottom (and feet!) of the crock pot with a pretty large flame...Oh, the joy of cooking!!

Seeing the Sights!  One really cool thing I am doing is a tour of a neighborhood or area every other Thursday.  Lately I have been to Les Marais and also learned about the covered passages of Paris.  Les Marais is one of Paris' oldest areas and famous for being the Jewish and Gay (2 separarte communities, although you could be part of both) part of town.  Les Marais has some of the oldest buildings, best bakeries and restaurants.  Great shopping, too!!  We ended our tour at Bastille, former site of the prison and the place the French Revolution began.  The covered passages were interesting as they were the beginning of shopping malls--how could we live without our malls?  I really enjoy the tours and our guide is excellent.  I highly suggest using a professional guide if you come here--you learn more and waste no time wandering around.

Katherine has been busy with college prep.  Hard to believe my girl is getting ready to turn 17 and be off to college in another year or so!  She took an SAT prep class, then the PSAT test last weekend.  Luckily for us, all the colleges come to our school to recruit, so she has the opportunity to speak to just about any school from the US.  She is undecided as to where to go, but most probably in Texas or possibly Oklahoma.  She is excited about going to Bali over Spring Break with her Habitat for Humanity club, where they will build a house for a family.  She is still running cross country and will finish up with a meet in Amsterdam, and then host the final meet of the season here in Paris.

She wanted to eat Subway, so we did.  Don't judge us.

Laura is getting geared up for her 15th birthday this week--can't believe it!  Not sure what we're doing, but it will be nice to have her Grandparents here for it.  She is enjoying school and being in the Filmmaking club and running cross country.  We found out Harry Styles of One Direction bought an apartment in the 16th, but she hasn't met up with him yet.  Lenny Kravitz also lives nearby, and try as I might, haven't run into him either, but there's always tomorrow!!!

No, no kitty for us--we are going crazy with our 2 dogs....

...one got a haircut this week and the other went to the vet with an ear infection.  BOTH rode the bus--here's Max, relishing the ride!

Paul is getting used to starting his day later and working later.  He normally left our house in Houston (Dallas & Big Spring) around 5:00 am, so leaving about 7:00 seems really late.  He has a much shorter commute, which is really nice.  Plus, no house, pool, or yard to manage!!  Less time fixing things and more time to walk the dogs...uh, oh, not sure that is a good trade-off...


So many different things here to learn:  everything in metric system, 24 hour clock (15:30??  what time is that??), new language, new money, public transportation, school schedules, ATMs in French, translating in the grocery store...I mostly feel like this now:

I'm trying to keep things simple:  Cross your fingers that I am washing our clothes with detergent, not fabric softener and brusing with toothpaste, not hemorrhoid creme, because I tell you, those things look exactly the same here.

Is Paris going to make me skinny or fat?

I feel like things are getting more normal here.  I might not have anything to write about soon because I am becoming so boring and settled.  All the strange things we have been doing are starting to feel like we have always done things this way.  I may walk into Target when I get home and greet the cashier.
One of the biggest changes for me has been cooking.  Food here is expensive.  But the reality is what my sister-in-law, Hideko, says:  food in the US is cheap.  Actually, I would venture to guess it's the cheapest in the world.  She has been in many more countries than I, so she is a pretty good judge.  I can just tell you I tried to buy a small package of cupcake papers and it was 8 Euros (more than $10)!!!

Laura with CoCo, mid-lick

To further shock you:  We went to Geneva, Switzerland to get our visas for France (we go where they tell us) and spent the weekend there.  We got 4 sandwiches, 2 sodas and 2 waters and it cost over $80.00.  Not fancy sandwiches either--ham and cheese.  No chips or cookies, nothing else.  Another shocker--when we visited Japan 20 years ago, I took soooo many pictures in the grocery store because I could not believe the prices.  Cantaloupes were $20 each!!

I'm not really someone who loves to cook.  I don't believe a way to a man's heart is through his stomach and I'm terrible at chopping up vegetables.  As my friend Sandra Sheehan says, "Cooking:  there's no good reason for it."  But, since I'm living in Foodville, a.k.a., France, I've got to cook.  or at least take a cooking class and act interested.  (For those of you who know me well, you might remember we lived in our house on Highland Drive in Big Spring and I may not have ever turned on the oven in that house.  Okay, we did only live there for about 9 months)

So, here I am cooking like a boss in my tiny kitchen.  Did you ever have an Easy Bake Oven growing up?  Ours here is slightly larger.  All the appliances are about 3 feet tall.  Yes, we're all about 6 feet tall, so when I stir something on the stove, the vent-a-hood thing blocks my view since I am about 2 feet taller than the vent.  If I get on my knees, I can comfortably stir.  If you have a mental picture of a giraffe family cooking, you aren't far off.  I have to cook anyway because there is no Whataburger, no Chick-Fil-A, no HEB ready-made casseroles.  And, restaraunts are expensive. (*Aside* girls & I had lunch one day with $13 worth of water--I know, how stupid, but it was a tourist mistake.)  So thanks to Pinterest and Facebook, not to mention my computer, I can access literally millions of recipes, thank goodness!  Plus, the fruits & vegetables here are unreal--I can't think of enough adjectives to describe how good they are.  Really!  and the BREAD!!!  The Bread!!!!  Yes, we go to the bakery every single day and buy baguettes.  Multiple baguettes.  But we are still skinny because of the walking, the carrying of groceries and more walking.  So, we can eat all the bread we want!! (Did I mention the bakery is on my block?)

Champagne-16 euros, Milk-3 Euros & Beer (Belgian, of course!) 3 Euros

What we ate this week:  you might need to sit down for this, so you don't faint, because I made spaghetti sauce from scratch.
http://www.pinterest.com/pin/259660734739384730/

Yes, when you move away from all your family, friends and tennis teams, you have time to make sauce from actual tomatoes.  If I'm technologically savvy enough, I'll link up my Pinterest to this post, so you can have the recipe along with a pretty picture.  It was very good and I even made 2 batches at the same time and froze one for later.  For the record, I chopped up 12 tomatoes and have the pictures to prove it.  My very favorite thing here are the tomatoes.  I feel like I'm on an all-tomato diet I eat so many.  I don't even really like tomatoes, but the tomatoes here are sooooo good, so I eat about a pound every couple of days--no exaggeration.  I've barely eaten a chocolate bar (my former diet plan), but I eat tomatoes every meal except breakfast.

These are the coolest-looking tomatoes!

3 different kinds of tomatoes in my sauce--all yummy!!

Today I am making French onion soup, yes, from scratch, dang it, that's all we have over here!!!  But, thanks to my friends at Pinterest, it's not difficult.  Plus, baguettes from the bakery...Voila, dinner!
http://www.pinterest.com/pin/259660734738115831/

I would love to hear from any of you that have crock pot or simple recipes to share.  BTW, we don't have black beans (or at least I haven't found them yet), sour cream, Campbell's soup, or Velveeta or any of the other stuff I usually put in recipes, so I'm out of luck if you suggest something with that stuff in it.  Also, no Fritos, cream cheese, or jalepenos.  I'm SO happy we have found several Mexican places, so I might survive this move.  Send me some good suggestions so I don't have to make potato & leek soup again, which I LOVED, but my family told me I can't make it every single day.

Good to hear from you all via Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram & Twitter.  Keep in touch & bonne journee!!