American Food in France

More food adventures. I seem to talk about food a lot. Since being here I've been in a state of constant hunger. Which isn't unusual for me but its never happened this often. I wake up in the middle of the night and munch on a baguette. I crave charcuterie, which is various kinds of ham, prosciutto and salami, every single day. At any given time we have no less than 3 different kinds of cheese in our refrigerator. If there's any country for a foodie like me, France is it. 

Wednesday the school hosted a wine, cheese, and charcuterie tasting. I'm not a fan of wine, I went mainly for the cheese and charcuterie. Ever since I moved here I can't get enough of the stuff. But I ended up actually liking the wine, too. It was a diverse group, only 10 people, but representing Canada, Germany, South Africa, Brazil and Iraq and Italy. I like meeting all these people of different cultures.

Speaking of different cultures, our teacher informed us that Thursday there was going to be a party for all the international students at the University. Everyone had to bring a traditional dish from their country. After saying this she looked at the 2 Americans in the class and said "USA, what do you have?" We looked at each other and shrugged our shoulders. 

I wracked my brain all week, everything American I thought of (fried chicken, BBQ, buffalo wings, ribs) was not possible to make. Either it doesn't exist here or I didn't have the capacity to make it at my apartment, or the money. Then I had the genius idea to make PB&J: easy, cheap and very American. I've heard from 2 french people that its the weirdest thing they've ever heard of. Stores here only just recently started selling peanut butter and if you search hard enough you can find it.

Well, Thursday comes and I proudly bring in my plate of PB&J cut into triangles only to find out that 2 other Americans had the exact same idea! It only then dawned on me that I could have made Mac N Cheese and then I could have stood out from the crowd. My teacher said that every year, it never fails, there's always at least 1 plate of PB&J at the party. 

There was a lot of good food there. Lots of Chinese, various South American dishes, some Middle Eastern stuff. My favorite was something from Romania, which had ground meat, sauerkraut, rice, and cheese. I went back for seconds on that one. I need to find this Romanian person and get the recipe.

Speaking of American (ish) food in the France, when asked if there's any food he misses from the US, Adam says Mexican and spicy foods. There's a quesadilla place down the street but its more like crepes with stuff inside that's not exactly Mexican.
 We had a sweet salsa-ish type thing at a French friends house once and asked what it was and he said it was Old El Paso salsa. Adam and I busted out laughing and the french people looked at us confused. We said it was nothing like actual Mexican salsa. It was still good though, so I went to buy some at the store, Adam and I like spicy, but the French seem to have an even wimpier taste than most Americans. The only salsa options were Mild and Extra Mild. 

We were taking a walk one night and passed a store with nothing but foods from the US, Canada, and the UK. They had British teas and cookies and beers, Canadian maple syrup. For the US they had BBQ sauce, hot sauce, Lucky Charms, frozen onion rings, mozzarella sticks, mountain dew, root beer, campbell's soup, twizzlers and skittles, aunt jemima pancake mix, corn bread mix. It was pretty awesome. I left with a can of A&W rootbeer and some cream of mushroom soup to use in a recipe. I almost bought a box of Lucky Charms until I saw that it cost over 9 euros! 

Besides all the cheese, the French are pretty healthy (oh and minus the smoking, that stereotype is very true. I HATE cigarette smoke. But you can't avoid it. Everyone smokes. All the time. Everywhere. Even if they only have 20 seconds to spare they'll light up and take just one puff. They roll up their homemade cigarette on the tram and have it in their mouth waiting, impatient to smoke it, then the moment they step off the tram they light up. As if waiting 5 seconds to step off to the side is too much). Anyways, I digress... And Grenoble is like Denver, next door to the mountains so everyone is really active. I love it. In 5 weeks I can count the number of overweight people I've seen on 1 hand. But an interesting thing I noticed on the food ads hung at bus/tram stops. At the bottom of every food ad it says one of 2 things: "for your health, avoid eating too much salt, fat and sugar" or "for your health, participate in physical activity regularly" ...random thought but just something i found interessante. 

Week 4: I survived my first month in France!

So my new intensive language courses began this week. They didnt have a class for my exact level so they bumped me up one. I would have preferred to be bumped down one, seeing as I haven't taken an actual French class in 8 years. Its definitely challenging. My oral comprehension is not quite on par with my classmates. The teacher talks too fast. I've seriously contemplated asking to be demoted but for now I'm going to try to stick it out. 

There's one other American in my class. Its nice to have one person to relate to and ask in English what the heck the teacher is saying. The other students are Brazilian, Colombian, Qatari, Syrian, Korean and Bulgarian. Its interesting to hear the different accents when these people speak French. Sometimes its hard to understand their French because of it.

French computer keyboards, not the same as american ones. The A and Q are switched. The Z and W are switched. The M is next to the L. You have to hold the shift key to type numbers and to type a period. its incredibly frustrating and its a good thing I'm in a classroom or I'd throw it at the wall.

One day we walked into the classroom and it was warm. I was like Hallelujah! But immediately it was deemed stuffy by the other students and the windows were opened for 10 minutes to get air circulation. That's the closest I've been to being warm here. Its really starting to get on my nerves this being cold all the time

Random tidbit about French universities, they're rather rundown looking. In dire need of a good power wash and some modernization. There's good reason for this: its virtually free for the French to go to college, so the money the schools receive from the government only covers the basic costs, teacher salaries, etc. There is no tuition money coming in. So no extra money to put towards landscaping, central heating and air, renovating the bathrooms so I don't feel like I'm in the bathroom of Dana's (only my college friends will understand that reference)

I discovered my new favorite French food. A crêpe with cheese, prosciutto, salami, and a fried egg. I've eaten it 3 times now this week. Crêpes were already my favorite. I've been making them with nutella and strawberries every 2-3 days or so.

I got a French cell phone! Its a super cheap smartphone but getting another samsung galaxy would have cost well over 600 euros. I now have gotten all of the important things out of the way. Except for my residence permit, which is also my work permit, but I've been told not to hold my breath on that one... Oh the French, they're lucky have have such a beautiful country and language 

Week 3: French Food and Skiing

I had a rather boring 3rd week. Highlights: I got health insurance and I got a French bank account a debit card (the concept of credit doesn't exist here). It was a long, annoying process for both of those things so I'm very relieved.

Food!
If you've ever been to France you should know that the food here is perfection, always. I've never had a bad meal in all the times I've visited this country. The baguettes and the croissants are addicting. The cheese: the stinkier the better.
     Each region has its own specialties and the Haute-Savoie region of the Alps that I live in has some good ones. All involve cheese, potatoes and cured ham (prosciutto) in a variety of ways.
     One night, after a long day of skiing, a group of Adam's friends gathered to eat something called Raclette. There's a special Raclette maker which has about 8 small shallow bowls and you melt a piece of Raclette cheese until its liquid and then pour it over boiled Raclette potatoes and then eat it together with a piece of prosciutto or salami. Its amazing. Its so popular even Dominoes advertises Raclette Pizza.
     Next new amazing dish I learned from my new German friend. You take a soft cheese called Mont D'Or, which comes in a wood bark bowl, scoop out the middle and fill it with minced garlic and white wine. Stick it in the oven and also pour that over Raclette potatoes when its all liquidy. Yummy.
     There's also Tartiflette. Which is like a baked casserole of au gratin Raclette potatoes, cheese, and cured ham. As you can see, lots and lots of cheese in all these dishes. I love cheese. If you try cheese in France don't smell it, just eat it. Like I said, the stinkier the better.
     Then one night we went to a restaurant and got something called a Potence. It looked like a medieval torture device, short, thick iron stick with spikes on it, each spike with a big chunk of duck meat. Hanging over a pot of french fries. Its set on fire to cook then all the juice from the meat drips onto the fries. Then you get dipping sauces for the fries. Probably top 10 best dinners I've ever had. I love duck, but only in France, its just not as good when I've ordered it in the US.
      Food mistake I made: don't try to save money and go to the grocery store and buy cheap grocery store brand baguettes and cheese. Not worth the money saved, you gotta go to the little patisseries and fromageries (bakeries and cheese shops)

Skiing
I'm learning to ski. I figured I should since I live in the Alps. I've gone every weekend since I've been here. You can see on my Facebook all the beautiful snowy mountain pictures I've posted. I bought all the equipment at a second hand ski store for under 200 euros. 
    Our first week we took the Ski Bus and the bus got stuck in the snow and we had to walk a couple km in the snow uphill with our gear, hitch hike with a car full of German guys, and we didn't get out on the slopes till 3pm. The bus got stuck at 9am. This 3rd weekend, I skied at a different location and on the way back on the Ski Bus it was the same driver that got us stuck! I was surprised he still had a job and that I made it back to Grenoble in one piece.  
     I only ever truly skied once in the US, in Lake Tahoe last year. It was a nice resort with a big lodge at the base and one at the top and places to sit and relax and lockers to keep your belongings. I've also seen the resorts in Breckenridge in the summer. Very nice. Well, I'm learning this doesn't really exist in France. Yes they have ski resorts but not like the ones in the US. There isn't really anyplace to sit and relax when you don't feel like skiing, no big lodge, unless you go to a cafe but then you have to buy something and sometimes they're very small and cramped and crowded. There are also no lockers. Unless you have a car or a hotel room there you must bring a backpack and ski with your belongings on your back. Also, the little cafes are not heated, like the rest of this country, there is nowhere to go and get warm.