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Published: October 24th 2007
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Another Mountain Shot
Snow on the Pyrenees this week So Tuesday for dinner we had an unusual entrée that Patrick and Christine brought back from their recent trip to Amsterdam. Patrick ran a marathon there this past weekend (Just a little something to keep them busy between the Van Gogh museum and bike riding). Anyways, Christine sets a plate of what looks like falafel on the table, and tells us to dig in and guess what it is. I cut into a little fried sphere and watch something that looks tauntingly familiar ooze out. I spear a piece with my fork, chew a bit, and immediately know what I’ve got. None of the other girls have a clue, because none of them have spent the past 4 years living in South Carolina. Yet again, my adopted corner of the States helps me on an international level. What I had before me, boys and girls, were little fried balls of cream chipped beef. Futher proof of the southern proverb that you can fry absolutely anything.
Now of course, the Dutch don’t call it fried cream chipped beef. They have some ungodly unpronounceable word for it. The Canterots wouldn’t have know what I meant by that either, so my revelation
Go England
Helen was very excited when they actually scored went something more like this…
Christine: Girls, guess what’s inside these!
Laurence: Cheese!
Elsa: Spinach!
Sabine: Milk!
Christine: No, no, and no
Kate: It’s bits of beef, and a sauce made from milk and flour
Christine/Patrick: That’s exactly right! You’re amazing! How did you guess that?
Kate (slightly ashamed): We eat it at home on toast (I wasn’t even going to try to explain “biscuit”)
For the record, the Canterots also brought me back an adorable little purse from Amsterdam. I almost cried at the table, I was so touched.
Backing up to a little earlier in the week, the assistants all got together on Saturday to watch the Rugby World Cup final between England and South Africa. I asked Sabine if she wanted to join us, and she did, which made it even more fun! We met up in Place Clemenceau, which is right in the middle of the centre ville. The town had set up a HUGE screen (like, drive in movie size), and people were standing around drinking wine straight out of bottles like clochards (bums) and watching the match. Don’t let it be said that the French interest in the sport has waned any
The Victory
Sam was even more excited when South Africa won just because their team was out of the running. It also happened to be absolutely freezing, for the record. So we all stood around huddling for warmth while Helen proudly sported her “go England” sandwich board-like vest that she had made. The French were all rooting for South Africa, partially because England knocked them out of the tournament, but mostly because of their general dislike for the English.
After the match we all went to “Le Garage” to “rechauff” or warm up. It was packed, but we managed to squeeze everyone into one tiny table, with lots of shin bumping and cursing. A couple of Sam’s friends who had been assistants in Tarbes the year before joined us, and one of them was from Maine (but sorry, bro, she didn’t go to U Maine). Overall the evening was very enjoyable, and I’m so glad that Sabine came along. The girls and I also watched a really good movie this weekend. It’s called “Maria, Plein de Grace”, or “Mary, full of Grace” and it’s about drug smuggling between Columbia and the US. It’s a Spanish language film, and it’s definitely worth a look.
Today I didn’t have classes, but
brrr
Alicia was just plain cold. I spent my day off baking scrumptious peanut butter cookies to give to my kids as a Halloween treat tomorrow. I’m sure they’ll be incredibly suspicious, but I think in the end they will be won over by the smooth peanut-buttery and chocolate goodness. I had to shut Bacci in the laundry room though, so that he wouldn’t hop up on the table and eat everything.
And here’s my cute student story of the week to finish off with. I was teaching my 4emes, who are about 12, a lesson on parts of the body. I told them that the English word for “les joues” is “cheeks.” “Oh,” pipes up Lauren, one of my most precocious students “you mean like fromage!” Cheeks, Cheese, I guess they’re close.
Vacation starts Friday….I’m Corsica bound (at least, I think). I’ll make sure to tell you all about it.
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Murdock
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You CAN fry anything.
"So Tuesday for dinner we had an unusual entrée that Patrick and Christine brought back from their recent trip to Amsterdam." Fried weed? No wonder your kids thought that their cheeks were made of cheese. Little stoners.