French Cuisine should be protected.

UNESCO has added gastronomy to it's list of 'intangible world heritage'.  French gastronomy is viewed as a "social custom aimed at celebrating the most important moments in the lives of individuals and groups"

In an interview on NPR, the reporter asked, 'Does French cuisine need to be protected?'  Apparently not, but just in case McDo and Picard start to gain strength in the country, better to protect the sacred French meal now.  Gastronomy is not just about food, but also "how wines are paired with dishes, how the table is dressed, the precise placing of glasses, for water, red and white wine, knife blade pointing in and fork tines down..."

Well you don't have to convince me.  While I might not get to make a 4 course meal every night, a little wine and cheese at the end of dinner is a delicious way to end a meal.  If I tell my boys to stay at the table, they are getting 'cheese'  they patiently wait (they are BTW 18M and 3Y).  L knows good cheese from less good cheese.  When given the choice between a Camembert and a vache kiri (laughing cow), Camembert is always chosen.    Little Z (18M) often steals cheese from A's plate and can be seen giggling at his acquisition. 

A couple of weeks ago, we had such a meal.  Started out with Foie Gras with wine-poached pears and a balsamic vinaigrette sauce with a Sauterne wine.  Then we has duck with rooted vegetables (carrots, turnips, potatoes and garlic) with a Bordeaux wine.  Then we had blueberry ice cream with  chocolate cake and other dessert goodies with Champagne.  There was no cheese.  But I am sure if any more good was eaten, we might have exploded.  6 adults, 3 kids it was quite a meal.

I feel like I am going my part to protect French culture;)

Giving Up Too Early

When I was in grad school, I gained quite a bit of weight.  I'm not sure how much of that was due to:
1) Stress
2) Cookies that were at every seminar and journal club
3) Trying different BC pills (the ones that made me cry also made me gain weight)
4) Cheap Beer

At some point I just gave up on my skinny self and accepted that I would be just a bit overweight.  In this acceptance I gave away all of my cute skinny girl clothes.  How sad life can be.  It was almost the act of giving those clothes away, that made the lbs melt from my body.  Well actually, getting pregnant seemed to be the secret to my weight loss.  I was so sick with the 2 pregnancies that the lbs melted away, well they turned into a baby.  So now I have little clothes in my new size.  I have been buying clothes since Z was born - but finding clothes that do not look like I have jumped out of a Micheal Jackson video from the 80s is tough.  What is wrong with 'classic styles'??  Maybe I am not a total Fashionista, I admit, I want to buy stuff that will last into next year.  Call me practical.  I would be happy to jazz up a plain sweater or t-shirt up with a junky scarf or socks.

I find myself looking for that great pair of jeans or sweater just to remember that it was lost.  So now I have lots of clothes that are too big, how long do I need to keep them?  Fovever?  Who has the closet space for that.  Maybe I never learn my lessons.

Still Waiting

Sometime in September I got myself fingerprinted and sent away for my criminal report from the FBI so I could apply for French citizenship.  Sad to say that I am still waiting more than 6 weeks later.  The FBI seemed to have just taken my money.  So I wonder how much longer it will take.  When is the money taken step?  When they are ready to send out my report, when they start to think about my report.

They claim 6-8 weeks...  So still waiting.

French Missionary?

You can imagine missionaries campusisng the globe looking for converts.  Today I was accused on being a French missionary.  Do I tell people that they should 'convert to Frenchism?'  No!  Never!  I am not sure that I am the best cheerleader for the country.  I don't like Camembert, I don't watch Rugby, I drink Virginia wine, sometimes I eat fried chicken from Popeyes.  I am certainly not a poster-child for Frenchness....  So I like a good Bordeaux, know how to make duck and rabbit, and can sometimes have been known to say a French phrase or two....  But doesn't make me French and honestly I have never tried to convince anyone that France will bring them salvation.  I am torn between two worlds -- old World Europe and New World North America.  I can choose anymore easily than I can choose my favorite chocolate or my favorite wine.  Wine and Chocolate are choosen based on the needs.  If I am having steak and cheese, my wine choice will be different than if the meal is moules frites.  Snickers is good for a chocolate, peanut and caramel craving, but dark is better with coffee...  France and the US are like wines.  I choose based on what I am looking for -- what do I want today?  Steak or Mussels?  Both are good and both have draw backs.  Well this is not true of steak and mussels, but countries sure thing?

Maybe I should start my own church of Frenchness though, I heard that churches get a tax break;)  Do you want to be a Frangilcan -- it's a church of indecision...

The Church of No Meat

Anyone living in France knows that being a Vegetarian in France is tough.  There are hardly any restaurants that have one dish without fish, meat, eggs or shellfish.  And to be vegan, it's totally impossible.  No animal products at all.  Not even cheese, honey or gelatin?  Zut Alors.

Not that I don't think that vegetarian have the right to be so, but in the US, they seem to be a quiet 'born again' movement.  Recent converts to the no-meat church, try to recruit others, the way that evangelicals do.   They bring out all kinds of arguments about morality, healthy, and an almost euphoric feeling that not eating meat will bring, similar to how I suspect Evangelicals talk about accepting the holy spirit.  Vegetarians aren't content letting you get by with eating your hamburger or chicken soup for lunch, they have to try to use this as a teaching moment about how your soul is jeopardy.  I think that evangelicals reserve that kind of scrutiny for teenagers trying to get into abortion clinics. 

I used to share an office with a vegetarian.    Last December my Frenchie had called me to ask me about how much foie gras we should order for Xmas dinner.  Well this didn't sit too well with my officemate.  For hostility usually reserved for genocide, I was called every horrible thing imaginable.  We didn't speak to each other until the following spring.  How awkward, spending 8 hours in an office with someone and not saying hello or how was your weekend.  He also liked to start sentences with 'You know what your problem is' .

The most ironic thing, is that most of these people have a problem with people talking about religion or imposing religious beliefs onto them.  But at the end of the day, whether we call it religion or vegetarianism -- strong beliefs are just that and trying to convert your friends, officemates and neighbors can lead to conflict.

31 fell flat

October is traditionally a difficult month for me.  My birthday is in October and for some reason this really put my dad in a bad mood.  So as a kid, birthdays were filled with sadness and disappointment.  I never had birthday parties and I was lucky if the day didn't end with my parents fighting.  I guess as I got older, my dad couldn't handle the fact that he too was getting older -- even if he is only 20 years older than I am.  As an adult I have tried to make my own traditions, so October wouldn't seem so depressing. It's the month that changes glorious summer in the mid-Atlantic to winter.  In just 31 days we can go from wearing shorts and flip-flops to coats, hats and scarves.  But over the years, the expectation of a magical day always leads to disappointment.  Some years it's not getting cake or a present from the hubby -- but most of the time it's that the hope is too big.  This year, I thought I would spread out the fun.  Try to do something out of the routine everyday.  I was doing really well at first.  The first few days were actually not too bad.  I even got presents and cake on my birthday.  But then I lost a friend -- a young friend of 36, who was taken from us too early in her young life.  Winter is setting in, pushing out the warm days of summer, too soon  and the happy days of October are behind me for this year.

This has made me question everything in my life.  Can I fix some regrets?  Maybe leaving France was the wrong decision.  While certainly dealing with striking crazies, isn't my idea of a swell time, the 9 weeks of vacation and the beautiful PACA weather is calling me back...  France is that lover that you can't get over, even if you never really got along -- is the pleasure  (weather, food, wine, etc) worth the pain (strikes, not being able to communicate, dealing with administration, low wages)?

Thanks for reading my blog.  I value you all of my readers.  Bisous

Refrenchification;)

I have been with 'A', since 1999.  He was very 'French'.  Soon though, he started to pick up American habits.  Said 'Though' for the Homer Simpson D'oh, told people to "Bite Me" and bought a pair of "relaxed fit" jeans.  Even bought a flannel shirt and for a while had a Chevy pickup truck.
I began to wonder where did I go wrong, one day I am married to Pierre DuBois and the next day to Billy Bob Smith.  After over 10 years, I have decided to implement my plan for "Refrenchification".  Operation no more baggie jeans was crafted.  I began to notice that all of A's jeans were holey and causually he mentioned that he needed some new ones.  When I went to the mall this weekend, I found a couple of pairs that were the right size and he actually didn't take them back (even if at first he thought that they were too tight).  Success!  Well maybe he won't get his accent quite back, but we are on the road;)