Last week, probably due to a month of non-stop working, I lost my voice. It was extremely frustrating, since I had to spend most of the week working with a new client and they were horribly un-understanding. I was finally able to get to a doctor on Friday though, and thankfully the meds have been helping. My voice is probably back to about 75% now.

It's been ages since I last had laryngitis, and I forgot how much of a handicap not having a voice is. It felt like such a throw-back to my early days in France, when I couldn't speak French. Or answer the phone. Buy a train ticket. Talk to the hotel receptionist. Order my meal at night. I was reduced to pointing and hand gestures. I'd forgotten how demeaning it could be.

With the early years still on my mind, C & I went grocery shopping out in the burbs this weekend. As I walked around the supermarket, I had to marvel at all the changes that have come about since I first moved to France 8 years ago. All the products that were not available then but yet are so readily available now. We picked up a small BBQ for our balcony and in the meat section, I found Johnsonville Beer Brats. There was a 2-for-1 offer on Philly cream cheese in the cheese aisle. I picked up a box of Bisquick for our Sunday morning pancakes, and some more Hershey's chocolate syrup for sundaes.

And then there's the whole frozen food phenomenon. When I first came to France back in 2001 to meet Fab's family, one of the things that surprised me the most was the lack of frozen foods. At least in Bretagne, most supermarkets had only a few stand-alone freezers back then. And now 10 years later, frozen food is everywhere. Picard's are popping up like weeds, and are the savior of the working Parisian woman (and single men everywhere).

I suppose it's sad in a way. The long-standing French cuisine and traditions are changing at a fast-moving pace. Makes one wonder what things will be like ten years from now....

How do I love thee Crock Pot? Let me count the ways...

My family & co-workers often refer to me as the gadget geek since I love technology, and that spreads over into the kitchen as well. C got a pasta machine for Christmas and I got a food processor, so I've been using most of my new-found time to try them out. And to add to the mix, about a month ago, I decided to go ahead and get a crock pot.

I've been wanting one for several years now - because of the time difference with The Company, I often find myself working the most between 3 & 7pm, which doesn't make it very easy to prepare dinner. I've spent many a night chopping carrots with one hand while holding the phone to my ear with the other, ie not exactly the safest thing. But with the crock pot, I can prepare everything earlier in the day when I have time, and then just leave it to cook until we're ready to eat.

The problem was that up until recently, they weren't readily available in France. You could get them from Germany or other neighboring countries, but they usually charged a fortune in shipping. But for whatever reason, now they're everywhere, and for fairly decent prices too. When I was looking for mine, I wasn't sure if I'd end up using it a ton or not, so I didn't want to spend a fortune, which is why I purchased this one for 35€ from 3Suisses:
I love it, and have been using it several times a week ever since. It's hard to tell from the picture, but it is HUGE. The picture shows it filled to the brim, and I'm telling you, that is enough food to feed an army.

Now most of my regular recipes usually make enough to last for two meals...until you throw C into the equation. He eats enough for three. He's got abs (and buns!) of steel, so I don't know where he puts it, but I'm telling ya, that man can eat. It's almost frustrating to me - I like having leftovers for lunch the next day, but it hasn't really been possible since we moved in together.

Until the Crock Pot. I don't know what it is about these crock pot recipes, but they produce massive amounts of food. One of my favorite sites is the CrockPot365 blog - it's written by a woman who decided to use a slow cooker every day for a year (and of course she got a cookbook deal out of it). But she's got lots of good recipes - and one thing I especially like is that a lot of them are from scratch.

See, I brought a crock pot cookbook back from the US, and I actually haven't been able to use it that much since most of the recipes consist of "Add 1 can of Campbells soup, 1 big hunk of Velveeta and some random meat into the crock pot and cook for 8hrs". Or call for other things like "1 jar of BBQ sauce" or "1 packet of ranch seasoning"- things that are not readily available here, or at least not for decent prices. So I really appreciate that she uses a lot of things I have around the house. Like her BBQ Pulled Pork recipe, which instructs you how to make the BBQ sauce from scratch. And let me tell you, it was so tasty that even C (Mr. No Sauce) gobbled it up.

So two thumbs up for the Crock Pot - it makes loads of food and gets C to eat sauce.

C went to our new dentist the other day (she's great btw, thanks to Sophie for the recommendation), and she suggested that he pick up a special toothpaste from the pharmacy. It has sort of a funny smell, and I had to laugh when I saw the back of the tube:

Apparently the taste must not be so great either if you need 15+ days to get used to it! It just strikes me as funny, and I laugh every time I see that tube lying on the counter.
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We've been doing a lot of shopping these past few days - though I am regretting the fact that the Euro has taken a tumble. And it's been funny watching C's reaction to everything - we went to Sam's Club today and he couldn't believe the size of everything. I had to stop him from buying half the store - like what on Earth would we do with 50 rolls of scotch tape? But he did get permission to walk out of there with a 12-pack of Mac & Cheese.

He's also not using to watching TV at all, so he keeps getting caught up in the ads. I'll be in another room, and I'll hear "Oh, I want the Ab Blaster. And it's only $99 for a UV teeth whitener! Whoa, look at that steak - we should go to Outback Steak House. Oh, look, a 25 horsepower lawn mower!" And I'm all "Dude, we don't even have a lawn!" He's normally such a conscientious shopper, so it's funny to see how much of the super-consumer tendencies he's taken on in such a short time. I guess the US will do that to ya.

Speaking of buying things, does anyone have any experience with the SlingBox? I'm considering getting one for my birthday, but I'm not 100% convinced I'll use it enough to make it a worthwhile purchase. I'd want it mostly for the evening TV line-up, but my mother doesn't have TiVO and I don't really feel like staying up until 2 or 3am to watch my favorite shows. Nor do I want to spend $200 on the SlingBox plus $300 on a DVR. So if anyone else out there has used one, please let me know what you think.

I'm really liking this song right now:



It's called "Comme des Enfants" by a Quebecoise named Béatrice Martin. I just bought the entire album, entitled "Coeur de Pirate" - both Fnac.com and Amazon.fr offering select albums for only 2.99€. For that price, there's no need to think twice about downloading legally!

A website I first heard about several months back is finally up and running! It's called My American Market and is targeted towards American (duh) expats living in France. It's run by a French woman named Anne-Claire who spent several years in the US and is now back in France.

I spent some time looking around the website and the prices are pretty reasonable for most things. I mean, who wouldn't pay 2.59€ for a box of Mac & Cheese? Or 1.69€ for Reese's PB cups or Reese's Pieces. The only thing that I'd really love to see is more Mexican stuff - like canned Black beans or taco seasoning - take note Anne-Claire! ;)

Plus if you blog about it, you will be entered in a drawing to win a 40 € gift basket - click here for more information.

My American Market:

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This may sound strange, but one of the things I love most about living in Paris is the relationships I've developed with various commercants in my neighborhood. Normally people think "Oh, capital city, it must be so impersonal and you're just a random face among all the others living there". But I've had totally the opposite experience. I've found here what I was looking for all those years in Bretagne - some kind of recognition. And I don't mean recognition in the awards sense - I mean literal, physical recognition. Or acknowledgement if you will. Just some kind of sign that the person working there recognizes me and my fidelité to their store. That's not too much to ask for, is it?

I find that here the grocery store down the street - after just a few months, they'd realized I wasn't a tourist and all of the sudden I was getting friendly "Bonjour's" and "Ca va's?" Whereas in Bretagne, I couldn't even get a "hello" after five years of going to the same grocery store a block down the street. Same thing for my bakery - I went to the boulangerie across the street from our apartment at least three times a week and purchase the same baguette every time. But yet every day, it was like they had no clue who I was or what I wanted. And it pissed me off because really, how many Americans - or even foreigners - could they get in that small town on a regular basis (especially for a boulangerie on the edge of town)?

Another example here is rhumrhums. While the owner of the rhumrhum bar has still refused to acknowledge our weekly presence, at least our regular waiter has. She's taken the time to learn our names and has even bise-d us on occasion. Though she's unfortunately been banished to the basement, so I haven't seen her in a while. But after rhumrhums, I always head to see my crêpe dude. He's just over a block away from the rhumrhum bar and I get a butter & sugar crêpe from him every Friday night. He knows me by name and he always greets me with the biggest smile. And he realizes if I'm not there one week and always asks where I was.

Funnily enough, last month when I was in Bretagne, I stopped by that old bakery again (they make the best sandwiches ever). When I walked in, I saw the same woman who'd been there the entire time. We made eye contact, and I saw a brief glimmer of surprise in her eyes as she remembered who I was. But then it disappeared and I got the same old stony "What can I get for you?" as always. No "Oh, long time no see! Where have you been?"

It's taken me a lot of time to realize that a lot of this is Bretagne-specific. That was all I knew for most of my time in France, so for me, that's how all of France was. But I've slowly realized I was wrong (and thank God). Now, when I go down South, the people down there definitely remember me and welcome me with open-arms. And even in the Loire Valley, the hotels I go to on a regular basis are starting to remember who I am. But it's yet another reason I had such a tumultous relationship with France for so many years. These kinds of connections may not be important for some people, but they are vital for me - it's really important for me to have an emotional connection with my surroundings, and I was just never able to establish that in Bretagne. So I'm really grateful I've had the chance to experience the rest of France - and to get to know the France that so many other people love.

Organs, it's what's for dinner

I saw this on my way to a client's the other day, and it cracked me up - it's so representative of this rural area.

It's an ad for a supermarket chain, advertising a crazy-days sale on various organs & innards. For the piddly sum of 1.50€ per kilo, you can get your fill of kidneys, hearts or pig tongue. Bon appetit !

"But it's only ten dollars!!"

So I got my hair cut & colored yesterday.....and I absolutely LOVE it. It's a huge change, but it looks good. I might have to wait until I get back to post a picture though - I forgot my camera cable and my cell phone isn't letting me email a picture to myself (maybe that feature doesn't work abroad??).

In other news, I also did a bit of shopping today and treated myself a new Coach purse and a really cool Vera Wang black spring jacket. I'd like to get a dress too for my friend's wedding, but I think that will be it for shopping this time around. I'm trying to get away from buying stuff just because it's cheap, and move towards buying a few high-quality pieces that will last me a while. I've been here a week, and I haven't even been to Target yet - can you believe it? I'll probably post more about it later, but I'm just growing tired of this whole mega-consumer culture, where everything is so cheap and disposable. Everyone just has so much crap everywhere and since it's so cheap, anytime something breaks, people just throw it out and buy a new one. We're filling up landfills like nobody's business.

My friend Yuri sent me a link to "The Story of Stuff" a while back, and it really resonated with me. If you've got twenty minutes or so, check it out here.