Les galettes de pomme de terre

My roommates and I, and Kevin, had a lovely night out yesterday.  We started out at Le Relais Odéon, which is a brasserie right by Place Odéon on Boulevard Saint Germain.  For those of you who don’t know, Blvd. Saint Germain is the place to see and be seen.  It’s hip, it’s trendy, and it’s also absurdly expensive.  We decided to brave the high prices, however, to enjoy the excellent weather and the amazing views for people watching.  We sat out front, sipped our beverages (I chose a lovely red wine from the Cahors region), and chatted like the posh Parisians do.  In fact, we probably could have passed for Parisians, were it not for our lack of cigarettes and our ability to consume the entire container of nuts & pretzels (whereas Parisians never consume such god-awful snacks).  It was overall a pleasant experience, but after an hour or so we decided to go somewhere a bit more affordable.  We ended up at O’Neil, an Irish pub around the corner from my apartment.  We enjoyed their house beer, which they actually brew in the bar.  We also met a few nice French guys, who were excited to speak with Americans in French.  They bought us a round, and I decided I like French people from outside of Paris; these guys were from Bretagne and Normandie.  The bar closed at 2, and because we were all exhausted, we called it a night.

This morning, Kelsey and Jill had plans to go to Marché Raspail in search of sweet potato pies and potato latkes, and I decided to join them.  On the short walk over to the beautiful open-air market, we marveled over the warm sunshine and glorious spring weather.  When we arrived, we continued to marvel at the beautiful, organic fruits and vegetables, pastries and bread lining the tables and stalls of the lively market.  I enjoyed being smiled at by the fishmonger and heckled by the nut man, but what I enjoyed most was my delicious galette de pomme de terre, or potato latke.  It was a fried, potato-y piece of deliciousness, complete with cheesy onions.  I don’t have much experience in the realm of latkes, but I sure did enjoy this one!  I also picked up what I thought was a mini-sweet potato pie, but which ended up being a pumpkin pie…not that I’m complaining, it was still pretty good!

After the market, I ended up falling asleep on the couch for an hour, and I just couldn’t seem to get motivated to do anything.  I basked in my laziness, which for me was a nice change.  It really is lovely to sit around with nothing important to do on a Sunday afternoon.  I eventually meandered over to the Jardin du Luxembourg to get some sunshine and to do some reading, and I stayed for a couple of hours before heading back to the apartment.

Kelsey, Simone and I were all in need of a Matt Damon fix, so we decided to see Green Zone at one of the gazillion nearby cinemas.  On the way, we realized that we were a) craving candy and b) candy prices at the theater are absurd.  We therefore decided to run into 8àHuit to pick up some candy.  I was in the mood for gummy bears, but the closest thing I could find was a pack of Schtroumpfs. Don’t know what a Schtroumpf is?  Neither did I, but I learned that it is the French word for Smurf!  I mean, smurf isn’t exactly an English word, so I don’t really know where the French get off making up their own word for the little blue guys.  Either way, my Schtroumpfs gummies were delicious, and the movie (*cough* Matt Damon) was great.  The movie really makes you question a government’s motives for acting a certain way or presenting information in a certain light.  A must-see.