Still celebrating Easter!

So, I celebrated Easter, and like all Easter's, excitingly ran downstairs hoping to see what the Easter Bunny brought me, but alas, nothing. Apparently there is no such thing as the Easter bunny in France. They have some story about someone coming back from somewhere and dropping chocolat belle's and eggs filled with candy in the garden for the children to find. Similar to USA, but no fictious rabbit. Disappointed, my spirits were lifted when Madame Luthie returned home that evening to surprise the family with chocolat eggs blessed and sold after Easter Sunday mass. I pulled out a few chocolat belles that I had "helped myself to" at the school omelete cookout and shared them with the family. Then, when Mr. Farel came in, he surprised us all with a bag full of chocolat belle's. Then the next day at work, Dr. Talou gave all of the Americans a chocolat bunny! I guess I should have played it cool like my nephew Maddox and waited until the Easter Bunny made his way to my house! That little guy has to be the stud that all the girls at daycare baby-babble about.

Celebration of Easter in Toulouse.

Easter Sunday or Pâques as the French say was celebrated this Sunday. I began the celebration at the Saint-Sernin Cathedral. World famous in Toulouse! The place was packed, but we were 30 minutes late since not all churches have mass at the same time. Go figure? Also, I am truly in need of a Protestant church. I need to start researching the area because their has to be something resembling the equivalent of my church at home. At least give me a guitar please! The organs are nice, but I can't really sing along to that.............or sing hymns in French. At school today, we had a Pâques celebration. Apparently, omelettes are celebratory food for Easter! This were filled with everything from champignons (mushrooms), jambon (ham), bacon (bacon), frommage (cheese, Emmantal), and even omelette sucre (sugar and strawberries). Note the huge leg of cooked jambon (ham). Nothing beats slicing off a piece of fresh, cooked ham for a nice apertif (starter). Then, an informal wine tasting was presented along with an assortment of pate's (pork liver & fat patty), saucisson (sausages), and boudin (blood sausage) served with petit pain (little bread). For educational reasons and to continually develop my palate, I had a taste of each and every item today. Needless to say, a fine assortment of salad and water will be served for diner (dinner) followed by a petit dejeuner (small breakfast)! I can't forget about those pictures on the beach for our upcoming honeymoon in Hawaii. Fabio or Homer Simpson................Kristen, take your pick!

Easter Sunday.........on Wednesday!

I came home from lab last night to find an elegant Easter dinner being prepared for "my family" by Madame Luthie. I guess they had discussed having Easter dinner early while I was away in Paris for the weekend. Mr. Farahad leaves for Lourdes (his hometown) on Thursday's every week and Madame Luthie will be going to her sisters beach house for the weekend. So, we celebrated le Ressurection (Easter) early, and she served an incredible 5-course meal:

1. Apertif: Saucisson (sausage) smoked and rolled in black pepper. A sweet White Bordeaux accompanied the meal.
2. Entree: Deviled eggs stuffed with bechamel sauce and fried in sunflower oil. Served on a bed of fresh tomato sauce.
3. Main Course: Duck leg confit cooked in its own fat, drained, then poached in an oxtail (tail of an ox!) broth with poached carrots, leeks, and ratte (small potatoes).
4. Dessert: Baba au Rhum, a small, rum-soaked cake served with chantilly (homemade whipped cream). Apparently their wasn't enough rum, so she pulled the bottle out of the cabinent and suggested another shot be poured directly onto the cake. Do as the chef says!
5. Digestif: Champagne, not to be confused with sparkling wine. In France, it is illegal to call a wine champagne unless it was produced in the Champagne region 2-hours northeast of Paris.

This may have been my first dinner complete with our own dining cart to stack our fine china on in between courses.
Out came the Baba au Rhum for dessert, complete with fresh chantilly and an extra shot of rum from the French colony island of Martinique in the Caribbean!
And the finale, a nice glass of the bubbly. As the "guest" so to speak of the house, I was given the honour of opening the Champagne. Instead of blasting it into the roof, I popped the cork the elegant way, into my folded napkin and then poured everyone a glass. At this point, I had to shut down and not accept a second glass, but my family finished off the bottle for me. It is funny how goofy and talkative the French get when a little bit of alchohol is served at the table :) This was a highlight of my trip so far in France, even after seeing all that Paris had to offer. My greatest joy in life happens at my family table...........no matter where it may be. I look forward to replicating the dinner for my family back in Arkansas one of this days. Until then, Bon Appetit!

Everything Else in Paris.

Bonjour,
So here is a little more of everything that I took in during France. First off was Palm Sunday mass at the Notre Dame. It was an incredible experience..........even with 100,000 people walking and talking and taking pictures the entire time. I did find a corner all to myself and knelt for a special prayer in one of the oldest cathedrals in the world. I prayed for my family during our recent loss, my fiancee for her strength while I am gone and guidance in planning our wedding, and safe travels for myself and all of family back home. Patrick, Spencer, me and a few others from their trip went to the Musee d'Orsay. There I saw the famous works from Van Gogh, the Blue Waterlillies by Monet, and the Le Dejuner sur l'Herbe by Manet. Just to make sure that everyone doesn't think that I am becoming too mature in my travels, I captured the picture Le Dejuner sur l'Herbe only because of the plumber's crack being sported by the French student :) On Sunday morning, I went to a local Parisian outdoor market to capture the occassion that I so enjoy. Nice to have the backdrop of the Bastille as I shop for fresh apples. My breakfast of a raisin baguette was provided by a local merchant. Bon Appetit, the french way. My lodging was provided by Madame Luthie's son Vincent's cousin Sophie! For a few hours, I was contemplating sleeping on a park bench but instead, I got to spend two days at this incredible artist's loft with her and her family. Her 15 year-old-daughter had even been to Arkansas!!!!! Her and her father did a month long trip from Los Angeles across America, stopping in Dyess, AR, hometown of her favorite singer Johnny Cash, and ending in New York City. Wow! She has seen more of America than me! This journey to France continues to be full of super cool signs that keep telling me that I have made the right decision in spending my time here in France. Next up is Easter Celebration and a 3-day weekend. Au revoir.

The Eiffel Tower!

Next on things to do in Paris was go to the Eiffel Tower. I had a tour guide for the weekend, my housemom's son, Vincent, who has lived in Paris for 29 years. He was awesome and we jetted around by Metro and mostly by foot to all the cool places that are off the beaten tourist path. It is incredible what you can experience in Paris, when you take a back alley that links two museums together instead of the main boulevard. I spent lots of time doing what I love, menu browsing. In France, it is law that all restaurants must post their menu outside the restaurant, cafe, patisserie, or brasseries. I even went into a couple of them and had some wonder plat du jour's (plate of the day). Of course, I had to go see the Eiffel tower....up close. You can see the top of it from almost everywhere in the city! My friend, Wax, had sent me with specific directions to a secret map that his brother, Andy, had left him 8 years ago. As I tried to explain to my guide, Vincent, why I needed to go to the NE corner of the SW pillar, then look under the NE side of the cement pillar under a wad of old chewing gum, he looked at me with a bit of confusion but I laughed as I followed every direction to the T. It seems that the French take pride in their monument and steam clean the pillars regularly, so the wad of gum and note had probably been washed away many years ago, but I spoofed a new one and took it to the Notre Dame for the next traveler in Paris to find. Good luck and email me for directions to the new hiding spot!