Bonne Année!

Happy New Year everyone!!

Music Academy at night - absolutely gorgeous.

When thinking about going back home to Maine, I thought about when to come back, and what better place to spend New Year's Eve than in Paris? I did my research and learned that places like the Champs-Élysées is absolutely crazy, à la Times Square in New York, so my friend Lindsay, her two cousins, and I, decided to rent a small apartment, go to a nice dinner, and go dancing. Mission accomplished. This was honestly one of the best New Year's I've ever had and while Paris was extremely busy and flooded with people during the day and night, it was so beautiful to walk around the city at this time with all of the lights still up. It was also a bit nostalgic because it was almost exactly two years ago that Lindsay and I were sleep deprived and culture shocked as we participated in orientation for study abroad in Paris, essentially sleep-sight-seeing. Our apt. was perfect, located in the 5th which was a perfect location and we had the best luck with finding our way around and doing the perfect amount of walking, eating, resting, and shopping.

Galaries Lafayette
 essentially the
Bloomingdale's/NYC Macy's of Paris

Side of the Galaries Lafayette building

Lindsay and I at dinner - Au Petit Marguery
Had duck and crème brulée

Lindsay's cousins Dyan and Loren attempting to read the menu in French

Home Sweet Home - who wouldn't want to stay next to Leonidas chocolates?
Looking for a place to stay? This place is perfect for 2-4 people - great apartment and incredible people
to work with. Go to www.Paris115.com for more information!

View from our door
 this can be seen from our window too!

Our New Year's Eve picnic chez nous!
Yum!

Home Sweet Home

Even though I promised myself I would only write about my adventures abroad, I couldn't help, but include some pictures from my trip home - which technically counts as abroad now that I'm living in France ... right? Anyways, home was lovely. It was nice to be with family and friends for Christmas and eat some good food and just relax. I was home for 10 days and here were the highlights ... 

My friend Cait on her "surprise" bday dinner with her  boyfriend Alex -  her mom made
an incredible roasted dinner ... see below! 

Yu-Um.

Happy Birthday Cait!

While I was home a snow storm hit the east coast and we literally didn't leave the house for
almost two days straight ... not complaining. This is our front yard.

Christmas  tree!

Breakfast anyone? I tried Alice's Tea Cup "Pumpkin Cinnamon Scone" recipe
with caramel icing - they were delicious.

Traditional Christmas brunch chez moi - breakfast sandwich on a croissant?
Can't get any better than that ...

Christmas Morning (I attempted to include some non-food pictures ...)

Crown Roast for Christmas dinner
Dad did an incredible job

Mmmm White Chocolate Raspberry trifle
In true Mom fashion - delish

I promise my next post will be more about what I have been DOING and less about what I have been EATING, but I couldn't resist for now.  

Before winter break miss Sarah Marston came to visit me for a last horrah before we headed back to the States for Christmas - below are some great pictures we took of Christmastime in Rennes! 

Light show on the Mayor's office in Place de la Mairie 

Opera House all lit up

Hair pins!! Looking like candy, sushi, wrappers, and cookies - they looked incredibly real!

Christmas Market

Christmas Market

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas!

Happy December! It has definitely gotten cold here, and it snows close to everyday so I thought I would warm up with some tea and do a little update.

Santa's Mailbox

Crèche (Nativity Scene)

After America's real Thanksgiving, I had quite the 'holiday' weekend. Friday night the Marché de Noël started in front of the Parliament building. While some of the vendors have some 'different' things, most of it is knitted hats and gloves, or jewelry, or pottery - but most importantly, food. They have hot churros (basically like a thin Spanish doughnut that you dip in hot Nutella), gaufres (which are essentially Belgium waffles, but with Nutella, and you eat them for dessert), and all kids of candy and chocolate covered fruit (salivating yet?). So I walked around with some friends and admired the quaintness of it all.

Our beautiful, fresh, farm turkey

bon appétit!

Me and Berit

Saturday was the big day. On Wednesday a few of us had gone to a market to seek out a special butcher for our Turkey. Turkey's are NOT easy to come by like they are at home, but we found a really nice man who gave us a HUGE turkey to feed about 15 of us ... it was enormous. And not to be too graphic, but he informed us he would get it fresh and proceeded to tell us he would kill it for us on Thursday afternoon to be picked up on Friday. When a friend of mine went to pick it up, his main question was "Head: on or off?" - I guess you can't get fresher than that! So by Saturday morning everyone had gone to the market, picked up their last minute produce and began to cook. A few of us tended to the turkey starting around 5 with some appetizers and cocktails. We had to cook the turkey in one oven, then carry it across town to eat it at my friend Caely's - quite a production. We ended up having an incredible, incredible meal: baked brie, stuffing, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce (which is genius because it definitely does NOT exist here, so bravo to my friend Julia for making-do with some hard-to-find and très cher dried cranberries), sweet potatoes, brussels sprouts, salad, and paté - not to mention about 12 bottles of wine and apple pie, apple brownies, ice cream, pumpkin bread, and pumpkin pie (another incredible feat, due to the fact that nothing exists here to actually make pumpkin pie, so one has to find a real pumpkin and purée ... intense no?). After overeating, some of us cleaned, while others took a short nap. No one left Caely's until about 3 am - it was quite epic. 

And don't forget dessert ...

In other news ...

Teaching is going well. I've had some difficult kids the past couple of weeks, but I also was able to work with my favorite class for 2 hours this week. They are all sophomores - so about 15 - and they are so smart and funny and really fun to be around (aka they laugh at my jokes). There is about 36 of them and they are ALL really great - it's cute to see them outside of the classroom too because they are always saying "Hello miss - How are you today?" - I think they get confused sometimes if I respond in French. 

Tomorrow is the big Monaco vs. Rennes match in Rennes so I am going to that which will be great - hopefully the snow will hold off. 

Going home in about 3 weeks from tomorrow! Very excited because the peanut butter I brought has already run out, so I need to do some work stocking up.

À bientôt!

p.s. Thank you for the pics Caely!

Ode to Pumpkin Pie

Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope everyone had a wonderful day full of family, friends and of course, food. While my Thanksgiving was on the lamer end of things (laundry, rain, and leftovers), I did happen to have the best piece of pumpkin pie ... ever (sorry Dad!). Remember that café I told you about Apple Pie? Where I had an incredible organic Welsh Rarebit? Well my friend Caely (a fellow foodie) and I decided to grab a cup of coffee there today in order to chat it up with the owner about Caely's hope to break into some kind of food-writing-blogging-experience while in France (à la Julie and Julia, her most recent success was boeuf bourguignon, not an easy feat). Coffee turned into coffee and pie, because after seeing the pies "no" was not a valid answer to the question "Would you like a piece of pie as well?" So cheers to Lisa at Apple Pie for making the best pumpkin pie and bringing some American Thanksgiving to France.

Not to make you jealous or anything ...

On that note, I am thankful for living in France, for my family, for my friends, for my students, and for pumpkin pie.

New in November

Trying new things (and yes, most of it involves food).

So much has been going on since the departure of my mama. It has definitely been a month of firsts! So here is a list of things I have done for the first time in November …

1. Tried Tibetan food: at this place called Dolma, we had vegetable curry with rice, which was incredible, and afterwards instead of mints, the woman gave us this interesting bowl of mixed spices almost. It had bits of mint and licorice and many other flavors, which I imagine is some sort of palate cleanser? Who knows, but it was good!

Mysterious post-dinner mints from Tibet

2. French film: First French film of the year, no subtitles and very hard to understand, but nonetheless WONDERFUL. If you get a chance to see “Les Petits Mouchoirs”, do yourself a favor and go. And bring lots of tissues.

3.     3. Karoke: Ok, not me, but my students. A teacher approached me about doing it with the students with English songs, as sort of a voluntary thing for the kids to do during study breaks. I thought it would bomb considering we have tried to have an “American Cinema” hour that hasn’t had anyone show up. But I was wrong – the kids loved it! They sang ABBA, Jason Mraz, and The Kinks for an hour and were quite happy. Currently doing some research for next week …

4.     4. Prom: After learning I had helped plan proms in high school, I was recruited to help the students plan their prom. They are so interested to know what a prom is and how to get dressed for it and who will be the king and queen. We have our second meeting next week to discuss music because we’ve already settled on our masquerade theme – Gossip Girl fans would be proud.

1.     5. Degustation: Holy merde. This was incredible. Two friends and I, Seth and Julia, heard about a tasting where the market is and decided to check it out. It was a lot like the market, but essentially you pay 3 euros to get in, and you can sample champagne, wine, cider, cheese, bread, sausage, honey, chocolates, cookies, macaroons, whiskey, apple juice, mushrooms, oysters, foie gras, paté … you get the picture. We went around and tried to taste as much as we can before buying goat cheese, bread, and smoked salmon for a little lunch. They set up tables and chairs and gave out paper/plastic plates and utensils, and wine glasses (of course) for everyone to enjoy what they had purchased. It was lovely and I really hope they do it again very soon!

Julia enjoying Breton Cider at the Degustation

Trying goodies at the Degustation

Welsh Rarebit: my friend Julia introduced me to an incredible little café called Apple Pie in the center of town. It opened about a year ago by a lovely Irish woman named Lisa. She lives next to a farm and therefore posts the menu every Monday depending on what was good from the farm that week. She also makes her own flour and has specialty desserts every week. Saturday she has special brunches so after the market, a few of us checked it out. This Saturday was a Welsh special called “Welsh Rarebit” – first of all I learned that it isn’t “Welsh Rabbit” as I had thought, and second of all, it’s amazing. If you’ve never heard of it, it sounds odd, but it’s basically bread soaked in a sort of chedder cheese and beer sauce. Take my word for it, it’s amazing. She is planning on having some sort of American Thanksiving special on Thursday so perhaps I will have to check it out. In addition to her incredible plats du jour, apple pie, scones and cheesecake, the space is adorable. If Anthropologie was going to have a cute French brunch place, this is what it would look like …

Tea and Date/Apple Crumble

Welsh Rarebit

Adorable Setting in Apple Pie

Art Walk: much like First Friday in Portland, Rennes had a huge art walk this past week. A bunch of us met up and trekked across the old city seeing art and stealing hors d’oeuvres. Most of the art was a bit bizarre, but below is a photograph from one of the galleries I really enjoyed …

Favorite Paintings from Rennes Art Walk

1.     Derby: not a derby like you are thinking, but a derby Breton, meaning two teams from Brittany playing each other in soccer. I went to the Brest vs. Rennes match on Saturday night, which was great. Because Brest is so close, it is a huge rival and there were so many people there – the most I’ve ever seen at a game. Rennes ended up winning 2-1, and had 2 incredible goals (Brest scored off a penalty kick, boring). Anyways, it was very exciting and I’m anxious to see the next game against Monaco!

Corner kick from one of Rennes' star players: #8 Sylvain MARVEAUX

1.     Parc Gayeulles: very much like Smiling Hill Farm (for those of you who know Maine), but it is a wonderful park that has animals and big fields and running paths. It is enormous. Fabienne, the German assistant and I, went for a long 2 hour walk post-lunch last Sunday and it was really nice. As you can see we had a bit of an obsession with the miniature horses …

Fabienne and the mini horses at the Park

Duck Pond at the Park

Autumn at the Park

Mar (from Madrid), Marisa (from Italy), Raquel (from Spain) and Fabienne (from Germany)
Enjoying hot chocolate!

Mère à la Mer

Me and Mom in Saint Malo

After traveling and having guests for almost 10 days, I had one day of rest until Mom arrived in Rennes! I picked her up at the train station – with lots of goodies of course – and we refreshed back at the hotel before walking around Rennes. I first took her to my “apartment” and we did a bit of grocery shopping (aka wine and cheese) before heading back into the city. That night I took her to a traditional creperie where we had galettes and crepes. She was exhausted so I dropped her off at the hotel and stayed in town to meet some friends for a drink.

View of a fort from main land
in Saint Malo

 Friday morning we both woke up late and I joined her in town. We grabbed croissants and walked around before meeting Staci and Daniel, my program directors for CIEE when I studied abroad. They are SO nice and we had a lovely café with them before my class at 1. Mom came to school with me on Friday and watched me help some of the advanced students with a debate on whether or not prostitution should be legal. The kids did an excellent job and I think Mom was impressed. We then headed back into town and walked, walked, walked and shopped a bit. We had some wine and cheese before dinner then began our search for some traditional French food. First stop was one of my favorite bars/cafés called “Le Chat qui Peche” (tha cat who fishes). We met some of the other English assistants there for an aperitif, which was very nice. Sans reservation was a little tricky, so we ended up eating at a fondue place. 

The waiter told us the plates weren’t for sharing, but he was misinformed. Literally the biggest plates of food I have ever seen. I’ve had my share of potatoes, ham and cheese for the rest of my life. We laughed throughout the whole meal – unfortunately she has the pictures so I will post them as soon as she sends them to me. But really – it was the most enormous meal I’ve ever seen.

Saturday morning we went to the market. Of course it was raining, but nonetheless it was still really fun and Mom was amazed by all the colors and food and vendors. We got sausage, fresh tomatoes, fresh goat cheese, and some organic bread and headed for a café at Saint Anne to enjoy our picnic. We also bought some Kouing-man and chocolates for dessert. Kouing man is a typical Breton dessert that is basically like a cinnamon bun, but with butter, sugar, and caramel. It’s incredible. We sat and had our café and ate our meal under a tent in the rain. On Saturdays you are more then welcome to eat what you have bought at the market at any café as long as you order beer, wine, coffee – some sort of beverage. 

Mussels in Saint Malo YUM!

They will also give you a plate and a knife and are always very nice. We met up with Jeanne (Sarah’s old host sister who is now studying in Rennes) and her sister briefly to say hello – they are absolutely adorable. We decided to head home and dry off and lay down for a minute as we digested our French brunch. It was a crappy day so we went into town to get our haircut from someone Staci had recommended on Friday. She did a wonderful job and we were both very satisfied. (She asked me if I died my hair, and she was very impressed I did it “myself” so thanks Linds). By the time we were done with all of that it was time for showers and to think about dinner. Saturday night we had a MUCH better meal at an Italian place with fresh pasta, good wine, and delicious thin crust pizza. We were very satisfied and rolled home to get some serious REM before our big day on Sunday.

Rennes is a beautiful city and there is a lot to do! But it is also nice to explore Brittany as much as possible to really get the full experience. I took Mom to Saint Malo on Sunday for the day (I’ve been twice before and it is the perfect place to see the ocean and eat some good food). There is NOTHING to do on Sundays and everything is closed so it was the perfect day for a getaway. First we met Lise, my contact at my school, for coffee and croissants. She is SO nice and she and Mom had a nice conversation about both of their involvement in horseback riding as a form of rehabilitation. Hopefully Lise is going to take me to the stables close to Rennes in the coming weeks before Christmas! We got a train to Saint Malo around 11:30 and arrived in the rain – but of course – thank god the sun came out just as we approached the walls. Saint Malo has an older part of the city that is completely surrounded by water and walls – much like a fort. There are tons of restaurants and pastry shops and touristy shops inside the walls that make for a perfect afternoon. Not to mention the view. It was low tied so she was able to see the beach and the forts on the surrounding islands. We even found a ramp up to the top and we were able to walk on top of the walls, which was so beautiful. Late in the afternoon we sought refuge from more rain and had moule frites (mussels and French fries) along with some typical Breton cider. On our way back to the train station we discovered a bakery with SIX LAYER cake – it was incredible and overwhelming – so of course we got some. We got back around 6 in time for us both to pack up, have some tea, and enjoy our cake. Best dinner I’ve had all semester.

6 layer cake!!

It was sad seeing Mom go, but we had such a good time and I was really glad she got to see “a weekend in the life of Emma.” She met pretty much everyone I see on a regular basis, saw my apartment, saw my school, met my co-workers, explored Rennes – it was really nice. It also made me realize I’m LIVING in France. Everyone who has visited so far speaks the language and it was so interesting to be the translator (and definitely frustrating at times).  It also made me realize how fast this year is flying. While there are so many frustrating things about living here, it really is a wonderful place and it is a challenge every day. Only about a month and a half until I go home – crazy!!

Back to the full grind this week. I’m currently writing this entry from the CMP, which is the high school I teach at on Mondays for students with mental/physical/psychological disabilities. Doing a conversation lesson on fashion today – oh la la. Thursday is a holiday, like in the US, so I’m hoping things will be open in town so I can spend some time with friends.

I’m sure I will have more to report as Thankgiving approaches so stay tuned!