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Posts Tagged ‘Cooking’

Note: this entire entry is about food and beverages.  I know you love it.

So, last night was pretty fun!  A few friends came over here for a couple of drinks, and then we walked to The Frog & Princess, a bar which has quickly worn out its welcome.  It was so crowded you could barely move, let alone get to the bar to buy an overpriced beer.  If I’m going to be buying such expensive beer, I would rather do it with some breathing room.  We were looking to meet up with a few friends, but since we didn’t seem them in the sweaty throng of people, we left and went to a nice Irish pub around the corner, called O’Neil.  It was much less crowded, the drinks were a euro or two cheaper, and we managed to snag the VIP table up in a loft area (we’re kind of a big deal).  We even managed to get serenaded by two incredibly drunk Frenchmen, one of whom decide it would be a good idea to jump and hang onto the rafters.  I have it on video, actually, so I’ll be uploading that on Facebook sometime soon.  We were all pretty tired when the bar closed, so we just decided to head back to my apartment and hang out a bit before crashing.  I think we set the record for the number of people sleeping here (who don’t live here): 5!  We’ll have to see if we can top it at some point.

Anyways, the next morning, we all woke up pretty late and talked over a couple of cups of coffee.  The topic of conversation turned to American diner food…pancakes, burgers, milkshakes and fries.  After about ten minutes of discussing this, we were all drooling and trying to figure out how we could get our hands on some greasy, American goodness.  Fortunately (for all of our sakes), one of us remembered a place that our friend Marina had told us about, called “Breakfast in America.”  The whole restaurant is  owned by an American and is based on the idea of the traditional American diner.  Since it was only a 15-minute walk from my apartment, we decided to go for it.

The restaurant was pretty crowded even though it was nearing 1 o’clock.  We ended up having to wait for a solid 40 minutes before we were seated, partly because the group of kids sitting at our future table saw us eying them and their food while we were waiting, thus encouraging them to take their sweet time.  One boy smudged chocolate on another girl’s face.  Cute.  Not.  Another girl was trying to construct an architectural masterpiece with her change.  Go learn to be a real architect.  The other girl was taking pictures of everything with her silly little camera phone.  Stop being a creep.  I wish I were kidding.

They eventually got their act together and stopped being idiots, and we were shown inside by a skinny, very American hipster boy.  We hardly had to look at the menu; we knew exactly what we wanted.  All six of us got ginormous cheeseburgers and greasy fries, a few of us got milkshakes, and a couple ordered a side of a pancake.  The boys even ordered Budweiser and NY Cheesecake for dessert.  Our waitress was making fun of how much ketchup we used, and rightfully so; we used almost an entire bottle.  It was as if we were never going to taste the delicious condiment again!  Entirely too full about an hour later, we paid up, each of us in agreement that the food and experience was worth every single penny.  Centime.  Whatever those silly little coins are.

After brunch, Kelsey and I rushed over to BHV, one of the big department stores here in Paris.  We had signed up to take a cooking class!  What were we going to learn to make, you ask?  MACARONS, of course!  It was pretty intimidating at first, because the class was conducted in French.  There were only 8 of us, and it was quite apparent after a couple of minutes that we weren’t fluent in French.  The chef instructor was very nice, however, and spoke a little bit of English, so he was able to help us out and translate key bits of advice and information about the recipes as we went.  Cooking classes are  generally based upon demonstrations, and watching and learning, so it ended up not being much of a problem at all.

We learned how to make three different kinds: vanilla, chocolate, and caramel with butter and salt.  It’s a pretty intense process and involves a lot of random kitchen utensils that I unfortunately don’t have here (or at home), and I don’t think it’s worth buying them while I’m over here.  I’m definitely going to pocket the recipes for my return to Boston, and I’m going to take the city by storm with my crazy macaron-making skills!  At least, I hope I end up with them after some more practice.  I put a picture above and to the right of mine and Kelsey’s macarons, which came out quite pretty, if I do say so myself.  They tasted just as delicious, too.  YUM.

All of this cooking and eating has made me tired though.  I’m off to take a power nap so that I can hopefully muster up the energy to go out later!  Have a good evenin’!

I was absolutely DREADING going to the National Archives this morning, especially because I’m usually supposed to have Fridays off.  I felt that it was bad enough that I was obligated to do something for school, but it was even WORSE that I had to be there by 9:30.  Meaning that I had to get up significantly earlier than I have been getting up for the past several weeks (save for the welcome program).  With all of this rage and bitterness just about bubbling to the surface, I readied myself and left, allowing my Parisian scowl to take over my whole disposition.

As I emerged from the metro, I was startled to see myself standing next to the Centre Pompidou, which is this big, loopy, and quit ridiculous building that is essentially “inside out.”  As soon as I saw it, I thought to myself, “well, if the rest of this day is terrible, at least I saw this absurd building.”  I made my way down the street, peering inside the bakeries, markets and butcheries.  I eventually arrived at the National Archives, and was taken aback.  It was an absolutely beautiful building, and the architecture was quite impressive.  I was 15 minutes early, so I awkwardly chatted with my professor until two other girls showed up.  By the time 9:45 rolled around, there were about 10 of us (5 were MIA), and our tour guide and her son came to greet us.

She introduced herself…and off she went.  She spoke so quickly that I found it hard to understand anything, except maybe every 17th word.  Which makes it quite difficult to get a general idea of what a person is saying, let alone fully understand.  Regardless, our little group followed her into the archives.  She led us up a staircase and through a door that said Acces Interdit (access prohibited).  I immediately perked up; I was being allowed somewhere that most people weren’t!  As my eyes adjusted to the lighting, I was astonished to find myself standing amidst a very large, cold library.  I looked around, and was excited to find on the book bindings dates prior to the French Revolution in the late 18th century.

As if it wasn’t cool enough seeing books from 1712, our guide led us into another section of the Archives and showed us a large, papyrus scroll dated 700.  Yup, that’s SEVEN HUNDRED.  As in 1,300 years ago.  It was INCREDIBLE to see such a thing preserved.  One of them was addressed to Charlemagne, King of the Franks!  And then, on top of all of this, our guide opened up a set of metal doors…and then another set of even thicker metal doors…and then finally a third set of doors, thicker than the previous two, to reveal the sacred set of French constitutions.  I saw the original constitution of the French republic, King Louis XIV’s signature and all.

After I returned from the Archives, I took a quick power nap.  Since it was so nice out, I decided to go explore the Jardin du Luxembourg, which is a gigantic, beautiful park that’s located 30 seconds from my apartment.  People go to the park to eat, chat, read, relax, and exercise.  I noticed that a lot of people were running, so I’m definitely planning on doing that myself once it gets a bit warmer out.  I can see myself doing some homework there, too…if I ever get into the groove of school again, which at this point, isn’t very likely.

Anyways, so I wandered around for an hour taking pictures and basking in the late-afternoon sun by the fountain in front of the Palais du Luxembourg.  I found myself doing some serious people-watching, as the weather, time and location were all perfect for doing so.  I saw an older man teaching a boy how to maneuver a little, toy sailboat in the fountain with a stick.  I saw a little girl and a little boy feeding breadcrumbs to the pigeons (which actually in my opinion, isn’t the most sanitary thing to let your children do…where was the mother while all of this was happening?!).  I saw adorable older couples walking hand in hand through the lazy shade of the trees.  I also saw an older man sitting in one of a pair of chairs with his arm draped around the other one, as if he was missing someone or something.  Something about the scene was so striking, so captivating, that I decided to take a photo of it (which I’ve inserted to the left).

I started getting hungry, so I decided to run to the grocery store to pick up some food.  I was craving shrimp, and I remembered making a pasta dish that was lemony and used white wine and garlic, so I picked up the ingredients I needed to make something along those lines.  Here’s the recipe I ended up using:

Shrimp Lemon Pepper Linguini

Ingredients:

• 1 (8 ounce) package linguine pasta
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 6 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 cup chicken broth
• 1/4 cup white wine
• 1 lemon, juiced
• 1/2 teaspoon lemon zest
• salt to taste
• 2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
• 1 pound fresh shrimp, peeled and deveined
• 1/4 cup butter
• 3 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh basil

Directions:

1. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add linguine, and cook for 9 to 13 minutes or until al dente; drain.
2. Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium heat, and saute garlic about 1 minute. Mix in chicken broth, wine, lemon juice, lemon zest, salt, and pepper. Reduce heat, and simmer until liquid is reduced by about 1/2.
3. Mix shrimp, butter, parsley, and basil into the saucepan. Cook 2 to 3 minutes, until shrimp is opaque. Stir in the cooked linguine, and continue cooking 2 minutes, until well coated.  Serves 4 people.

It was scrumptious.  But I must be off, the boys and Melanie are here and we’re heading out to the bars!  Bonne soirée!

I had another very Parisian experience today: I walked through my first marché en plein air (open-air market).  There are 20 arrondissements (districts) in Paris, and from what I understand, each district has at least one open-air market.  These markets are held usually once or twice a week, and you can find almost anything at them, depending on their size.  Apparently, the 6th arrondissement has three such markets, so I decided to check one out today on my way home from class.  I grew as giddy as a kid in a candy shop when I saw piles upon piles in rows upon rows of the freshest fruits, vegetables, cheeses, and meat.  My eyes raced over succulent cherry tomatoes, fire-engine red peppers and the largest cucumbers I have ever seen.  My nose tried to sort out all of the smells bombarding it; there were countless, pungent cheeses in this corner, smelly (albeit delicious-looking) fish in that one.  After walking up and down the aisles, I settled on the vendor who seemed friendliest and had the most reasonable prices and delicious looking produce.  I bought kilo upon kilo of vegetables to stock up for the week, and I can tell he and I are going to be the best of friends by the end of these next five months.  I found this picture of the market on Google; my apologies for not having taken my own picture; I didn’t have my camera on me today, but next time I go, I will certainly take a few and post them!

I also had my second class today, which was a French language class.  I was placed in level 3, which means I have a medium-strong grasp of the language (although at this point I am confident that I most definitely fall in the medium, rather than strong range…).  My professor is an kind, middle-aged man who is  unfortunately a major proponent of oral presentations.  We have to do two of them, ten minutes each, and the two I signed up for happened to be this month on the 16th and 23rd.  I’m not really sure what the topics are at this point, although based on the titles, one will be about how the telling of history changes it and the other will be about ‘Grand Paris’ and city life.  I’m sure I’ll be writing (aka complaining) about them as they draw nearer.

I made another Italian dinner this evening, and it was delicious (if I do say so myself…and I do)!  I have been craving sausage for the past few days, so I finally went out and bought some at Monoprix.  Here’s the recipe I used, because I KNOW you’re just dying for some sausage.

Italian Sausage with Peppers and Tomatoes

Ingredients

• 2 C uncooked, whole-wheat penne
• 1 tablespoon olive oil, 1 teaspoon olive oil
• 2 links hot sausage, cut into ½ inch thick slices
• 1 red pepper, cut into ½ inch thick squares
• 1 small onion, diced
• 10 cherry tomatoes, halved
• 1 (14.5 ounce) can tomato sauce (best with basil, garlic, and oregano)
• ½ t black pepper
• Pre-shredded fresh Parmesan cheese (optional)

Instructions

1. Cook pasta according to package directions, adding 1 teaspoon olive oil and a pinch of salt for flavor.  Drain pasta, set aside.
2. While pasta cooks, heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat.  Coat pan with 2 teaspoons olive oil.  Add sausage, cook 5 minutes or until browned, stirring often.  Add bell pepper and onions, and cook 3 minutes or until hot, stirring often.  Add tomatoes, sauce and black pepper.  Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer 5 minutes.
3. Place pasta in a large bowl.  Add sausage mixture and toss.  Top with cheese, if desired.  Serves 4.

As you can see, I served it with a glass of red wine that I purchased today.  I think I’m well on my way to becoming a sommelier…

My first class at Sciences Po…and I want to die.  I wrote about it a little bit in the last entry, but for those of you who aren’t avid readers of my blog (shame on you!), the class is called “Les grands enjeux scientifiques.”  This translates roughly to “The Problems of Science.”  If you’re wondering what a international studies student like me is doing in a class like this…well, so am I.  I was a bit worried about the subject matter, but figured I could at least handle the level of French required to understand basic concepts.  Boy, was I wrong.  I knew I was in trouble right off the bat when my professor asked within the first five minutes  for the “étudiantes étrangères” (foreign students) to identify themselves by raising their hands.  There were only 4 of us in a lecture hall of about 50 people, and everyone turned to look at us poor suckers.  The professor then proceeded to ask…something?…along the lines of whether or not we were familiar with science and the French vocabulary required to fully grasp lectures and readings about detailed nanotechnologies and biotechnologies.  Big oops.  I know nothing about biotechnology and nanotechnology in English, let alone in French.

Moral of the story: tomorrow I will be going to see Bruno, the director for the “premier cycle,” which is the program I am enrolled in.  I will be asking him whether or not there are ANY English lectures open, and BEG him on hands and knees to let me into one of them, even if it’s about why paint dries at the rate it does.  I feel like I’m letting myself down by dropping my French lecture, but the class gave me heart palpitations already and I don’t even have a homework assignment yet.  Oh well, maybe there are some French electives that are less frightening…I have some research to do ASAP.

Also, I received an e-mail from Myriam, our program coordinator, who informed me of upcoming apartment visits.  Tomorrow, I will be visiting what appears to be a beautiful apartment in the 4th arrondisement on rue de Rivoli, which is the fancy shmancy road that the Louvre is located on.  It’s also pretty close to Notre Dame.  So far, so good…at least it’s in a good area, and there are two bedrooms with hopefully two beds each, which means I can have my own bed!  I’ll let you know how it goes, as I have that at the crack of dawn tomorrow morning (aka 10am).

I have also officially embarked upon my journey to become a Parisian chef!  I donned my beautiful Anthropologie apron (courtesy of Nadia…thanks, darlin’!), got out my chaacken (read: chicken) and veggies, and off I went.  I made a Zucchini and Tomato sauté with Chicken, and it was delicious!  I’m going to include the recipe for all of you who’re budding chefs:

Chicken with Squash and Tomato Sauté

Ingredients:

• 2 t olive oil
• 2 skinless boneless chicken breasts, 1/2 inch cubes
• 1 medium zucchini, halved lengthwise and sliced
• 1 small onion, halved and sliced
• ½ t salt
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• About 10 cherry tomatoes, halved
• ¼ t freshly ground black pepper
• 2 T grated fresh Parmesan cheese
• 1/2 C Ratatouille sauce, or some kind of tomato-based sauce

Instructions: Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat.  Add chicken, cook for 2 minutes until it starts to get white.  Add zucchini, onion, and salt; sauté 5 minutes or until crisp tender.  Add garlic, and cook 30 seconds, stirring constantly.  Add tomato, and cook 1 minute or until thoroughly heated, stirring frequently.  Stir in pepper, sprinkle with cheese, and serve immediately.  Serves 2.

It was absolutely delicious, super healthy, and really easy to make!  If you’re cooking for many people, you can thicken this up by cooking up some whole wheat pasta and serving the chicken and veggies on top.  I served it with a white wine; I’m no sommelier, but I think you could go either way…it’s a chicken vs. red sauce battle, I suppose.  Feel free to correct me/give me suggestions if I’m wrong, as I’m ready and willing to learn more about wine!  In fact, one of my goals while I’m over here is to become a wine connoisseur…