gordon's visit: part two

As my cousin rightfully pointed out to me today what started as a "Dear Family and Friends, this is what I am up to!" blog, has really become Emma's adventures in eating. Not saying that is bad thing, but I feel like I should start writing superfluously about teaching, traveling, or my cultural discoveries to balance that out. Don't worry, I won't start today. There is too much to share - especially after having someone stay with you, showing them around/telling them what to eat allows you to experience all of your favorite things for the first time. 

gordon and berit

gordon, berit, and caely

enjoying berit's quiche!

Gordon's visit was wonderful and we couldn't have asked for better weather or timing. We had a very low-key weekend filled with lots of sunbathing and food. Saturday we got up early and went to the market for a couple hours. We pretty much bought anything and everything: figs, goat cheese, comté, duck and rabbit paté, kouing amann, caramel tarts, bread, Fall apples, homemade apple juice and beaujolais sausage (yup. wine flavored sausage). 

different kinds of sausage including mushroom, bison, duck, and cheese.

caely and gordon catching their breath at the market.

galette saucisse.

flower market.

We sat in the sun and enjoyed our purchases before heading to Apple Pie to meet the other English assistants. Gordon tried one of Lisa's raspberry cupcakes. Amaze. The way he put it was, "This is like eating a raspberry, but, like, in cake."Very philosophical G. 

apple pie's raspberry cupcakes.

We walked around Rennes a bit before heading home and waiting for Berit. The three of us had a nice little debrief of the day over paté, goat cheese, and cocktails before I made dinner. The weather has been so nice that we have been able to eat outside even at 10 o'clock at night. We are so so lucky that we have a little terrace and we can profiter from the sun. After dinner we may, or may not, have brought iPod speakers outside and had a bit of a dance party for all our neighbors to see. 

we are very sophisticated chez nous.

not sure it gets better then this.

dinner for three - very romantic. 

sunday flowers.

The next morning we slept in quite late ... let's just say well into the afternoon, then went to find a café open for business on Sundays. We had a coffee and a small pastry before remembering this weekend was the Festival Gourmand. Even though I included the link, for those non-French speakers, "gourmand" is the French way of saying "foodie." But, it has a bit of a negative connotation when you are talking about someone being a gourmand, unlike in English when saying you are a foodie simply reflects your love and appreciation for food. In French, gourmand is more along the lines of glutton. For instance, if you are a young American living without a refrigerator and you grab breakfast at the market and eat it while walking around, many of the vendors might look at you endearingly and say "bon appetit! quel gourmand!" which basically means, "wow. enjoy your breakfast ... glutton." Maybe not that harsh, but you get the gist. Back to the festival ... we wandered inside to find lots of vendors selling meat and apple juice and chocolate, and there was a food demonstration. The chef was local and he was making a three tomato tart on a basil, parsley, and cilantro based tart. I know, it was amazing. I translated for Gordon as we oo-ed and aww-ed at the final presentation. 

cooking demonstration.

Across the street from the festival there was an outdoor bar showing the Rennes/Lille soccer game so we sat for a couple hours and unfortunately watched Rennes lose. We rounded up Gordon's visit with a visit to my favorite créperie where G got a shrimp, scallop, and mushroom galette in a cream sauce, with a side of a special sweet bread and foie gras. They don't play around as you can thoroughly see. 

gordon's fancy galette. 

absolutely beautiful in front of the mayor's office. oh, and proof
i take pictures of things other then food ...

It was so nice to have Gordon here - very relaxing and low key, especially now that he knew what he was getting himself into.

School starts today! So as I write this I'm preparing to see some former students and meeting my new ones. I'm getting excited to start a routine because I feel a little like I'm on vacation, which is, don't get me wrong, fantastic, but not exactly realistic. I will work every day except Wednesday and have a bunch of tutoring gigs as well which will be great for some extra income. Tomorrow, there is a little get together at the lycée to meet the other foreign assistants which will be really fun. That is all for now - more to come once school picks up and I have some more pictures of ma vie.