Scattershooting on my way to the American Church in Paris

It's a challenge going to church each week around here.  I know most of you get in your car, drive a few miles, and there you are.  To get to our new church, we first ride a bus, next get on the metro, then walk about a mile (maybe less? It's usually cold, so it feels like a mile) to attend church each Sunday.   I attached a map so you can see where we go.  The church is located near the Musee d'Orsay, in the center of Paris.  We live near La Defense & the Bois de Boulogne.

But, when we get there, we're all glad we came!  We went to the traditional service yesterday for the first time--we usually attend the contemporary, which begins at 13:30 (great to be able to sleep late!).  We always love attending traditional worship during the Advent season with all the Christmas carols, decorations, and special music--today was no exception.  The choir sang, the chime choir played and it was a great service.

*Aside: It was really nice to hear a big organ again--I've really missed that sound! I took organ lessons back in the day at First UMC Big Spring with the incredible Charles Parham--my homies will smile when they read his name.  He was absolutely fabulous and fabulously talented.  During his offertories, you might hear anything from "The Flintstones" to the Big Spring High School fight song.  I had to learn 100 hymns from the Baptist Hymnal before my teacher would let me take organ lessons, it was a huge deal to me.*

Great article from The Washington Post about The American Church in Paris

The American Church in Paris was founded in 1814, the first American church founded outside the United States.  And, of all places in the world, the pastor is from Fort Collins, Colorado.  Yes, Pastor Scott Herr is from my husband's hometown.  He's a very gifted speaker, a Presbyterian minister, so we Nornes Methodists feel right at home there.  We really enjoy the services and the diverse congregation.  I am hoping to get more involved in a Bible study or small group there as we continue to feel more comfortable living here.  Recently, the Nobel Laureate Laymah Gbowee visited and spoke here. (we were so bummed to miss it!!)  The church also held a screening of the documentary about Ms. Gbowee and the other women who brought peace during the Liberian civil war called "Pray the Devil Back to Hell".  Such an inspiring story of courage and faith!! Here's more about Ms. Gbowee:
The Spire/American Church of Paris

Sunday is a good day for us to eat out and stroll around Paris.  Yesterday, we were so excited to eat at Chipotle, a favorite of ours from Houston.  We recently met Damon Biggins, the guy bringing Chipotle to Paris.  (His son, Sevin, is in Laura's class at ASP.)  His fun wife, Michele, grew up in Midland.  So we are very excited to know Damon is in the process of opening another Chipotle at La Defense, near our home & Paul's work!!  Yes!!  Mexican food!!  Blog-worthy!!

I threw caution to the wind and had a Corona & lime!  Only cost about $7....

We always walk by several embassies as we go to church--the German, the Finnish and the South African.  Yesterday, the South African was a shrine to Nelson Mandela, who passed away last week.  These moments provide my girls (and me!) with a sense of how we really are ALL connected.  As my hero, Glennon Doyle Melton says, "We all belong to each other".

Okay, this post is sounding like the stories on the CBS Sunday Morning show--interesting, but not really going anywhere...LOL  So, I must be scattershooting again...but here's the take-away:  We can do hard things if we get Mexican food, spend time with family, and go to church.  And, we belong to each other.  Say that to each other every day--that's what Nelson Mandela would want for us all.

The Dallas Omni

I Only Cook in English

Bonjour Ya'll!
We celebrated Thanksgiving on Sunday with a gathering of Texans in Marnes-LaCoquette.  Our friends, the Gilberts, hosted an awesome feast for a group of Houstonians complete with turkey and all the fixins'.
I wanted to show my cooking prowess--you know after all these cooking classes I've been taking, thinking I could really whip up some impressive "something"...I found sweet potatoes at my market, so I was pretty excited to make a down home, Southern dish.  Finding pecans was a little difficult--went to 3 different stores before I found some--you get about 1/4 cup for about $6.00.  But who cares??  Sweet potatoes must have brown sugar, butter, and pecans on top to be any good at all, right?  The other thing I wanted to bring was the Tarte Tatin I learned in cooking class (Cuisine de Dominque!)
So, yesterday morning, I got up early to start cooking.  I should begin by letting you know I call my oven an "Easy Bake" because it's about the same quality of the one my girls had when they played with dolls.  And, it just has these weird symbols that mean what??  What kind of setting is an ice cube??

BTW, the temperature is in celsius (celsius, dang it!!!)

When I preheated the oven, I used the "fan" setting to heat it up all evenly.  ("Learned that in cooking class" I said smugly.)  Apparently, there was some "food substance" on the roasting pan, which caught on fire and smoked up the kitchen.  Not really a great start to my cooking adventures, but I am UNBROKEN!!!!  Katherine has figured the oven out better than the rest of us, so I usually set the dial on whatever she tells me, and that has been working pretty good--until today when I wanted to make something to take to a dinner...  Not sure how it happened (well, we actually found out she has been using the "grill" feature), but next thing I knew, the oven was smoking and I had burned the pecans off the top of the sweet potatoes.

So much for 3 stores and $12 worth of pecans.   Paul found an online manual for the oven after that, so now we knew which setting to use for the tarte. (HOPEFULLY!!)
While I had been making the sweet potatoes, Paul was busy peeling the apples for the tarte.  His next step was to make the carmel for it and that's where we had a little problem.  You heat sugar with a little water on the stove, then after it turns into carmel, you add butter.  You pour the carmel on the bottom of the pie pan, put the apples on top, then bake it.  After it comes out, you flip it upside down, Voila!
But, back to the problem with the carmel.  It just wasn't working, so he started over. (first time).

Carmel #2: singed

  There could have been a 3rd, 4th, 5th, or 6th time, but I left to get in the shower.  Still no carmel after my shower, so I took a turn. (Paul had begun making carmel while I was busy burning the top off the sweet potatoes).
The first time I tried to make the carmel, I got it.  (I take classes, you know!)  I also got to use my vanilla bourbon sugar, which was very exciting!  So, I put the tarte all together and put it in the oven to bake.  All was well until after I took the tarte out of the oven and the carmel was still stuck to the pan after we flipped it over--somewhat uncooked, I might add.  So back to the stove with the vanilla bourbon sugar carmel to cook some more.

okay, it DID look pretty!!

After all this, it was time to go to the Gilbert's, so we were like WHATEVER!!! and poured the questionably-cooked carmel on the apples and shoved it in a box to take with us along with our charred sweet potatoes.  Happy Thanksgiving, ya'll!  and by the way, no matter how many cooking classes I have taken, I am still bringing an uncooked apple tarte with some blackened sweet potatoes to this shindig.