Oh hey blog heyyyyy

So much to update on before I have to "actually, really, no, seriously" start studying for finals. Because, you know, finals here are all that my grade will be based on.

Dear wonderful friend that sent me the card (you know who you are), I miss you and love you and the card is now on my wall making me very, very, very happy.

So... November. It feels as though yesterday was Halloween, but that is very much not the case. A lot happened. Good golly did a lot happen. I will pare it down for you though to: Revisiting Brittany! and THANKSGIVING for 20!!!

I'm kind of tired, though, seeing as it is 2h14 here so I'll present this in pictures:

Yay Breton coast! Mmm sea air. 

Hello Atlantic, I've missed you. Pokoù. 

Fantastically good home-cooked French meal. Nomnomnom. The family with whom I stayed knows I love duck, so they made me a classic French dish with the pork switched out for confit de canard. Holy shit, best meal ever?

Fest-Noz Quéven 2012! It was great to be back and to see everyone and to dance like a Breton. 

My dear Canadian friend and I had a photo shoot in the streets of Lorient. Guess what, it was a Sunday. That is why there was NO ONE else around. 

When I got back, I started cooking and baking. This is the apple pie I made (entirely from scratch), please note the apple shaped bit in the middle. It looks burned here, but it wasn't. It was fantastic. 

There were 20 of us total, I was the only American. I made 4 roast chickens, stuffing, cornbread, a sweet potato casserole, cranberry sauce (soooo goooood), sautéed green beans with pink onions and 4 pies (1 apple, 1 pumpkin and, of course, 2 derby pies). The French adored the sweet potato casserole, cranberry sauce and derby pies. Proud to say that two of those things had bourbon in them. Just doing my part for the Kentucky economy by making new populations love Bourbon. 

My room (where the eating happened), during a brief moment after a few of the guests had arrived but had been moved into the kitchen. I would post pictures from when everyone was in the room, but I try not to post pictures of other people so... sorry. 

So many bags. 

Aftermath, after the guests had left. 

So much food to figure out what to do with. 

My wonderful flatmate N and I put everything away and cleaned all the dishes. This may be my favorite picture as it represents a night well finished. 

Food for WEEKS. 

I was pretty pleased with myself for defleshing the chicken the next day and using the carcasses to make stock. I had no idea how gelatinous home-made chicken stock is. Fascinating. 

I hope that you all had wonderful Thanksgivings (even if you're not American/Canadian). 

I am so thankful to be back in France, to have a wonderfully supportive family who is encouraging me to have this adventure and to have amazing friends who put up with my inability to keep in contact. 

Much love, 

MCJ

Domesticity

My herbs have started sprouting!

Déjeuner. Sautée garlic, onion and bell pepper (orange), add boiling water and a bouillon cube. Verser into the glass pan, add a bit of diced potatoes and seasoned chicken (I used herbes de provence, thyme, cumin and black pepper). In the oven at 210°C (~400°F) for 30 minutes, remove, flip the chicken, add frozen peas, turn the oven to 180°C (~350°F), let cook for another 20 or so minutes. Enjoy delicious, tender chicken with lovely chicken gravy to spare. 

Wall decorations + orchid.

My lovely new futon!

My room is wonderfully bright and now I have a comfortable couch to sit on and enjoy the sunlight. Strasbourg is treating me kindly and I promise to write about it soon. 

Gros bisous

MCJ

Kenavo (farewells, part 2)

Yesterday, I left Brittany. It was a mixed-bag of feelings:
Happiness with an excellent time there
Sadness that it was over
Awkwardness that I was being ridiculous waving to friends while sitting across from a very attractive Frenchman in first class.

This post, however, is not going to be a discussion of yesterday. I'm going to talk about Saturday, my real day of goodbyes.

Note to everyone: NEVER agree to two meals (even if one is called an apéritif and the other is called "come see my house") in one day in France. Though delicious and highly amusing, it is something of a stretch for any person's stomach. Oof.

Saturday at lunch, ma belle cavalière, aka my Breton dance partner, came and picked me up for a visit at her house. This visit ended up being a crazy delicious six-hour lunch with her family. Magret de canard, merguez, veal sausage, lots of cheeses, marinaded anchovies (even if you think you don't like anchovies, try this if you get the chance), homemade ratatouille, cheeses and a lovely strawberry tart. It was a really enjoyable meal and another fun look into French family life, including teenage angst. (The French: they're just like us! Only not!) Sidenote: there was the usual overabundance of bisous, even from the random neighbor boy who came by. Now that I'm in Paris with Americans, I have to say I actually miss bisous. I did not expect that to happen. It was really jarring for me today to meet people and not have the usual bisous/enchantée routine.

At the end, ma belle cavalière and I went on a little tour of Pont Scorff:

There was a very Breton wedding going on, which we crashed (I mean, the doors were open...). We also did a little tour of the artist ateliers around town. If you're ever in the region, I definitely recommend a trip to Pont Scorff. Not only is it completely charming and authentically Breton, the many artist studios are interesting, unique and filled with warm, talkative people. The pays de Lorient region where I live is Breton but does not always look so. During World War II, it was heavily bombed due to Germany's encampment there. America was the bomber and we managed to destroy everything but the German submarine bases. Pont-Scorff, only 30 or so minutes from Lorient, however, seems to have escaped completely unscathed. The current town hall was the former house of a prince and interesting sculptures are waiting to be discovered around the town. The cour des métiers d'art is a great place to go if you're searching for a unique gift. Fortunately I had left my wallet at home and couldn't be tempted into buying any pieces. 

Balloons all ready to fly away. 

This outfit earned me many a "Mais t'es toute belle ce soir!" 

The very Breton wedding. The door were open and we actually went in to watch. 

After the little tour, I was returned chez moi so that I could then be picked up to go to an apéritif at the president of Spered Kewenn (the local Breton association). I knew going into the apéro that it was very possible that this would be one of those apéros that is actually a dinner. I still thought, however, that the apéritif would be a somewhat short affair. Silly me. Silly, silly, silly me. It was six hours long and could have definitely been longer had people not needed to get up to vote in the morning.

It was an unforgettable evening. My Breton classmates and a few members of my dance class were in attendance. I was so incredibly touched that they all turned up to wish me farewell and a hopeful à bientôt. One of my classmates made me a little bag hand-embroidered with a Breton pattern and another woman baked a cake decorated with an American flag (myrtille for the blue, bananas for the white and strawberries for the red) and a single Breton flag. Another classmate made a far (a type of Breton cake) with apples. SO DELICIOUS. Normally fars are made with fig. Apples take the cake. Miam.

Hand-embroidered bag. 

A Breton-American cake. 

An apple-far cake. 

As the night wore on, after the champagne bottles had been emptied and the wine bottles dwindled down, the singing started. As it was the first Saturday of May, I sang My Old Kentucky Home (far away).  Breton songs were sung, as well as the French drinking song, Il faut que je m'en aille.

After the tea and coffee, but before les pruneaux. 

To finish off the night, we had traditional pruneaux. These are prunes soaked in eau de vie. At that point, my properly drunk classmate told me how much the class was going to miss me and how wonderful it was to have some youth in the class. He said that my being there allowed for such a night to happen. Normally it is only the "extremists" that sing Breton songs at a dinner, but because of me, even non-extremists partook in such an occasion. "Tu as marqué le coin," he said, but the truth is that I am the one that has been most changed and most marked by them. It's hard to part, but I know that I will always be welcome back. 

Buvons encore une dernière fois (Let's drink another, one last time)

A l'amitié, l'amour, la joie (To friendship, love and joy)

On a fêté nos retrouvailles (We've enjoyed our meetings)

Je m'ennuie pas, mais il faut que je m'en aille. (I'm not bored, but I must leave) 

-- Graeme Allwright 

Behind but spring is early!

I'm really behind on updating this, but that's just because I've been having a wonderful time and keeping myself busy figuring out the future.

Things occupying my time:
Work
Finally going on that roadtrip
Studying for the TCF (Test de Connaissance de Français)
Enjoying the crazy good weather (like, crowded beaches with sunbathers good)
Finally writing that lettre de motivation... oops.

Lettres de motivation are so... weird. So much of French writing is incredibly formulaic. I'll be taking the optional writing test on the TCF and it seems like the major component to succeeding that section is simply knowing how you're supposed to write French letters, des synthèses and other French arguments.

The day light savings shift means it is now light out at 9pm. This means that eating dinner even at 8pm seems way too early. Ahhh change.

Today I had to send a kid back to his teacher for disrupting the class. Sigh. I really don't like doing that.

Bisous!

MCJ

During winter break, I'm gonna go to Belgium.

And you?

Why yes, the winter break is in February and, yes, it is this soon after Christmas break and, yes, it will also be two weeks long and, yes, I will have another two week break in April.

France is full of win.

So tomorrow morning, in the wee hours, I'll be heading off to Brussels where I hope to drink beer and eat waffles and fries. In the meantime, I'm going to teach another 4eme class about gonna, gotta and wanna. I wanna go home and pack, but I gotta teach this class. JK, I love hanging with the kids. Especially now that I've decided to teach them awkward turtle as a way to signal to me that they don't understand.

Random assistanting tip, if ever you are faced with a class that just won't stop talking, start doing something like the awkward turtle that they don't understand. They will fall dead silent trying to figure out what you're doing. It works like a charm. Also, if it actually has cultural significance, they really enjoy learning about what it is.

Last weekend, the roadtrip that wasn't, was a lot of fun, even though I finally caught the cold that my friends had been passing around. Much ligretto was played, cafés were frequented, Port Louis was visited (again) and a lovely dinner with a visiting Moroccan family was had. I didn't make it to the Super Bowl due to the aforementioned sickness, but my diligence in resting means that I won't be sick in Belgium. YAY MCJ! A sickness that lasted less than a week! I literally can't remember the last time that happened. Thanks mono, you bastard.

I'm hungry.

Big bisous,

MCJ

Il fait fucking froid

Bonjour les amis,

Winter has actually come to Brittany now and it is cold. This weekend it might even snow (extremely rare for this part of Brittany -- it can get cold, but rarely below freezing). While I am excited for snow, I am saddened because this means the roadtrip this weekend was cancelled. Sad faces all around.

It's probably for the best however, as I need to get serious about l'avenir. It also looks like I'll be going to a Super Bowl party (starting at midnight on Sunday, lasting until 4am... oy.). Luckily for me, the primary school is going to the movies on Monday so I won't have work. I just need to make sure I get on a bus home before my students start heading to school. I've taken an early morning bus home with them as they went to school and it was not quite pleasant.

I taught my classes awkward turtle today. This is now what they'll do if they don't understand what I'm saying. I'm actually very okay with that, seeing as I'll have a clue other than their blank faces. It's also a clue that makes us both laugh. Awkward turtles all around. I also had to try and explain awkward. They understood the hand gesture better.

It had better snow, is all I'm sayin'.

Bisous,

MCJ

ps Sorry I never post pictures.

A super weekend

This weekend was one of my best yet in France. It started out with cookie baking chez D, dinner and drinking chez D's colleague and ended with a party chez G. I discovered that D's colleague was supposed to have come to Rice as a French lecteur during my sophomore year. He had his visa ready to go and everything when he decided to switch career paths slightly. Tant pis, but I've met him now. It was nice to tell a French person I went to Rice and have them recognize the name. It was an emphatic first. Many, many fabulous people were involved with this Friday night. The real end to the night was finally seeing "my" night bus driver again for the first time in 2012. It was extremely exciting, I got to wish him and his family a bonne année. When I went to sleep on Friday, my cheeks were actually sore from laughing and smiling.

Saturday, S and I finally went to see The Artist. Due to its success in America, it has been rereleased in French theaters. Damn is that a good movie and damn do I wish Jean Dujardin weren't married. That man is talented. And attractive. Very attractive. We were supposed to go ice skating with some others but ended up making a dinner and eating bonne maman ice cream instead (so there was still ice involved... sorta).

Sunday, one of my Breton classmates invited me to lunch with his family. This being in France, it was a six hour affair. For the apéros, we had a white wine with andouille and a rillette made of something seafoody whose name I forgot. We discussed politics and diwan schools. I got to learn a bit more about Breton politics and the different Breizh separatist parties. I also learned that back in the day, my little town (and quite a few nearby) was communist. For the meal, we started with langoustines (prawns). I know how to eat them now! It's pretty simple to get at the meat and they are quite delicious. The main dish was lotte fish in a tomato sauce and for tea/coffee/dessert we had a trio of a madeleine, far breton (a cake) and dentelle-topped beurre salée (aka caramel, aka you never want it to leave your mouth it tastes so good). Oh yes, and prior to that there were the cheeses. It is clear that France has not yet made me a big fan of cheese. I'm slowly getting there, however. Very slowly.

After the meal, they took me to see Gavré, another lovely coastal town in the region. They then dropped me off in Lorient where I hung out with friends at the one place (an Irish pub) open on Sundays.

So yes, an excellent weekend.

Next weekend is looking like it could top this one's. I might just be going on a roadtrip.

Bisous,

MCJ

Eyeliner

Apparently wearing it prompts "you're so pretty!" remarks from French friends and students.

LOL

T'es belle aussi, France.

VACANCES pt deux

Larmor Plage, the day after a storm

Courtesy of my sixièmes, snowmen

Monster Snowman

Bonsoir my lovely friends and family (except for my parents, who should be boarding their plane to France right about now)!

I'm sorry about my incredible lack of posts since the sickness. I'm all better now! Yay! I'd been putting off posting as I worked through an existential crisis.

I'm also very sorry to the personal friends that will get the next news from this rather than "in person." Also to said friends, LET'S SKYPE THIS WEEK!!! I will have access to wifi this week at all hours. Wonderful!

So, big news, I've decided not to apply to grad school in the US for next fall. I'm not 100% on my plans for next year aside from my hope that it be in France, Austria or Germany next year. I'm looking into grad school in France next year. French grad school is cheaper than American grad school, by which I mean the schools I've looked at are less than a thousand euros a year INCLUDING paying for social security to the state (which shouldn't really count). For the summer, I'll be back in the US. I'm looking into working with disabled children over the summer (or doing something similar that would relate to a future speech language pathology career). In the meantime, I'm researching grad programs here and prepping for the DALF exam.

I could write really profound things about this, but I'm le tired and I'll be getting up earlyesque to meet my parents at the airport!

Highlights from the last week of classes:

- Singing "You are my sunshine" for the Breton Association's end of the year soirée

- Getting a lovely card from one of my sixième classes.

- Going to an amazing dinner at one of the Spanish assistants' with her lovely, fun friends.

- Going to Lorient's Christmas fair (the rides were only 2Euros, what, like, half the price of the same rides at the Texas state fair/Houston rodeo)

- Giving my Monday primary kids American cookies. "Miam miam miam miam miam miam miam miam."

Much love,

MCJ

Being sick

Bonjour à tous!

I've been mildly sick for the last couple weeks, until last Thursday when my throat started to hurt. And then this weekend when I started to cough. I should prooooobably go to the doctor, but I have a special case of laziness about these things (see: last May when I had bronchitis for three weeks before going to the doctor or this summer when I had mono for two weeks before seeing the doctor because of the all-body hives that broke out). Being sick, however, has not prevented me from doing things. Except it's gotten me out of a lot of bisous (AH NON NON NON NON ATTENDS! JE SUIS MALADE). (I apologise to S whom I bisoued despite the sickness.)

This weekend was very fun, rather relaxing (all good given my sickness' turn for the very present). Friday, S and I went over to Port Louis where we discovered that entrance to the citadelle was free for us. On the way there, we accidentally took one boat to and from the other side of the river because I thought it made two stops, the second at Port Louis (which is what it does on Sundays, the other time I'd been there). We did not walk into the water and we had to run after our bus because the busses switched numbers at the roundabout where we were waiting. The museums at Port Louis turned out to be rather fabulous. In fact, I have been incredibly impressed by all the Lorient-area museums I've been to. They are very well done. We also had lunch at a really lovely crêperie, where the lady gave us maps of the island and we had shrimp curry crêpes. Delicious.

Saturday, S, D and A came over to Quéven to visit me! My first visitors! Hahaha. Unfortunately, it was raining out which pretty much cancelled out everything I had planned for them. Instead, we bought tea and cookies at my Leclerc and watched music videos in my little room. Afterward, S, A and I went to the movies to see L'art d'aimer. There was some miscommunication, however, and two of us ended up with tickets to Les adoptés. We did not realise this until later, after the movie. We ended up watching Les adoptés and it was so, so good. It's definitely up there as one of my favorite movies I've seen so far.

Sunday, S, A and I went to Le Gandhi, a delicious albeit expensive authentic Indian restaurant. Samosas nom nom nom. I tried a hot sauce which irritated my throat and caused a coughing fit that led to tears. It was apparently very attractive.

Monday was the second stage for the elementary school assistants in Morbihan. I brought along a box of tissues and used them up during the all day stage. I also sneezed and coughed a lot. Luckily, the stage leaders are very very sweet. It was a lot of fun and gave me a lot of ideas for what else to do with my elem kids. Though I was sad to miss out on a day of working with my elem kids by doing this, I was very happy with what I learned.

Today, I'm still sick. Womp. As soon as I walked into the school, the lady at the welcome desk (who was talking with others at the time) said "Mais tu as l'air malade!" Me: Oh yeah, I'm a little sick, but it's not a big deal. The people she was talking with turned out and stared at me. Fun times. Then I went off and ad-libbed a lesson on Christmas with some 6èmes. Luckily, I had a nice long break between that and my second class of the day, so I went back and slept some more, apparently making myself look far less sick. Yay! In fact, at the end of my second class a student (a 4eme) came up and said I was very beautiful. Brown noser. I know I look like shit right now, but merci quand même.

Coming up today: more sleep and Breton class, where I will continue to not bisou people (I was sick enough last week not to, now I apparently look sick enough that no one will want to).

Friendly, germ-free smiles,

MCJ

Mary, the American who likes Breton culture!

An article about me appeared in the Lorient edition of Ouest-France. You can see in the picture me with the rest of my class (but not the teacher... he got cropped out?). Breton is going well. I'm understanding more but am nowhere near producing anything on my own, granted there have only been four classes so far with two weeks off in the middle.

I love my Breton class a lot.

Also, I'm getting really good at bisous now. Y'all would be proud.

Bisous,

MCJ, l'Américaine qui aime la culture bretonne

Toussaint

Toussaint is November 1st every year (similar origins as Halloween <-- All Hallows' Eve, All Hallows <-- All Saints, All Saints = Toussaint). In France, it is a jour férié (no school, no work) where you pay respect to all the saints including those unrecognized. From what I saw it manifests itself in the visiting of loved ones' final resting spots and the laying of fresh flowers.

A vendor selling Toussaint flowers right outside the cemetary, for those who forget.

Walking up to the cemetary, it was a lovely autumn afternoon.

A view of one of the Lorient cemetaries.

French cemetaries are decidedly different from the ones I've seen in America. Generally each of the tombs that you see here is for an entire family, ideally generations of the same family. And, because they've had to be doing this much longer than Americans have, final resting quarters are somewhat more cramped. It was depressing to see signs up saying that the rent for a lot hadn't been paid and that one should address their queries to the townhall in order to avoid the loss of the spot. I'm not sure what then happens to the tomb/people within.

I have no idea

Today, I was working on lessons at the collège when one of the teachers came up to me. You need to go see l'intendance right now! There's a man coming to look at your heater. Oh... okay? I haven't tried to use it yet so I have no idea if there's something wrong with it or why this man is coming.... It's kind of like when someone came to put in a telephone line and then it was cut because I really don't need a fixed line.... Bizarre bizarre bizarre.
So I meet the guy and we go to chez moi. It turns out I do not have a heater, I have four. For my one room apartment. I have no idea. It's not like we're in a super cold place... it's supposed to rarely go below freezing. So from best I could understand (not because of the French but because no one really seemed to know), I'm getting a new heater so I don't use the water-based heaters as that would be using water from my neighbors' and I'd be adding to their bill. And then the electric heaters are apparently in crap places where they wouldn't help me at all... so I'm getting a fifth. For my one room. Five heaters. I have no idea.

Good stuff: http://www.history.com/topics/thanksgiving
Also, looking at Thanksgiving food when hungry is a terrible idea.... So hungry now.

I have Breton class tonight for the first time in a few weeks... wish me good luck, I haven't been studying and there's going to be "la presse" there tonight.

Rebonjour!

Three pictures, because I care:

At first I was not so happy about walking to work this morning in the dark, then I saw the sunrise and decided it was okay.

This house/these houses are behind chez moi and I really love them. Especially on this day when there was smoke coming out of the chimney and it was a super gray day.

I drew uniforms of different professions for the elementary kids. They are currently preparing a project for the mediatheque (library, more or less) in which they dress up in their parents' occupations' clothing. So I drew these to show some American uniforms and teaching them police officer/doctor/firefighter/cowboy and mailman (not pictured). Next week, when I cover Halloween I'll use them again. Perfect!

Oh hey didn't see you there

Today I bring to you a random assortment of thoughts:

1. Just about everything is cheaper for students/young people/people with small salaries. This includes everything from lunches for faculty to Breton lessons. When I arrived for my first Breton class (a group class) the teacher was like oh well... since you are a student (I'm not...), we will something out for you. Well, okay.... Pas mal.
2. Speaking of my Breton lessons, I love them. I've only had one so far, but the group is super amusing and even if I don't learn to speak Breton I'm going to have an excellent time linguistics-nerding-it-up.
3. I love French kids. Aside from half of one class (out of 30 classes at the middle school... so I won't see them often), the students are really lovely and wonderful. They're inquisitive and excited to meet a foreigner. They don't always like to speak English (they can be really shy about it), but sometimes they surprise me with their enthusiasm.
4. The primary school students... oh my goodness... they are so precious. Now that they all recognize me when I come into the school courtyard, a crowd of ten to twenty will run up and start asking me questions. Or just staring at me. I've gotten very used to being stared at. One little girl (a 6 year old, so she hasn't started English yet/won't have me in class) ran up to me today and asked if I was the one she saw at Leclerc yesterday. Well, little girl, I don't know what to tell you. I was at Leclerc yesterday, so maybe yes. Girl: huh? Me: It could have been me. I didn't see you, but maybe it was me. Girl: huh? Me: ... it was me. Girl: yayyyyyy! (runs off to friends)
5. The elem kids LOVE language games. I will describe some of them in an upcoming post.
6. When I mess up in French life, I don't mind too much because they lead me to Unique Speaking Opportunities (which I will now call USOs). Thus far, these have included a really nice chat with a taxi driver when I missed the last bus back to Quéven, asking a stranger about getting a taxi, talking on the phone with all sorts of people about bureaucratic paper-y French business. I like USOs. Because of USOs, I now say oui to surveys and don't get upset when I do stupid stuff like miss the bus because it came a minute early and wasn't marked the normal way. Who cares, I got back earlier than the bus anyway.
7. I now have a Tabac where the people know me, but no boulangerie. There are two and they seem to alternate being open late afternoons. As such, I have not succeeded in claiming one as my own and I feel super guilty for cheating on both of them. I'm sorry boulangeries, I've tried.

Okay, that's all for now. France is awesome, as always. I've finally met the other language assistants in the department and they're wonderful. I'm sure you'll hear more about them soon.

Bisous

MCJ

Project Cooking with only Hotplates

One of the many mini-challenges I will face this year is cooking with only hotplates. I consider myself an excellent baker and have a few entrée dishes in my repertoire. Unfortunately, they all involve some component of baking (ignoring, you know, basics like pasta). So in my last few weeks stateside, I'm trying out different recipes that only require a stovetop (or, as will be the case in France, hotplates). Tonight, I tried out my favorite cajun dish, chicken sauce piquant.

I adapted this recipe from Chef John Folse & Company.

Chicken Sauce Piquant (serves 4 with leftovers)

- 2/3 chicken breasts

- 1/2 cup oil (I used canola oil... if you're a newb cooker, remember that you have to be very careful heating olive oil. If you feel you must use olive oil, try using a mixture of half olive half canola oil)

- 1/2 cup flour

- 3 oz tomato paste

- 5 oz Rotel tomatoes

- 8 oz whole tomatoes (if you don't have access to tomato paste/Rotel tomatoes/etc, you could probably use a combination of marinara sauce and some whole tomatoes. If you don't have Rotel tomatoes, add extra spices and finely diced chili peppers)

- 1/4 to 1/2 cup chopped celery

- 1/2 cup chopped onions (I used a yellow onion)

- 1/4 to 1/2 cup chopped bell pepper (I used a green bell pepper)

- 1 to 2 tbsps diced garlic

- 15 oz chicken stock

- 1 tbsp sugar

- 1/2 tsp salt

- black and cayenne pepper to taste

- cajun spice (if you have it)

- 1/4 tsp oregano

- 1 tbsp Worcestershire Sauce

- 1/4 sliced green onions (about 4 green onions)

- bay leaves (I used fresh, but dry would probably work as well)

Season the chicken breast with sea salt, black pepper and cajun spices. In a dutch oven or large sauce pan, heat up the oil on medium-heat. Once the oil is warmed, place in the chicken breasts. Allowing around 10 minutes for each side of the chicken breast, sauté the chicken until it seems cooked. Then remove the chicken breasts from the oil and keep them warm. Then, place in the flour and stir with a whisk or fork until you have achieved a brown roux (this takes... a while, don't forget to scrape the bottom). Add the tomato paste to the roux and stir for ~5 minutes. Add the celery, onions (NOT the green onions), bell peppers and garlic and sauté until they're wilted (~5 minutes). Add the tomatoes and chicken stock, blend it together. Bring the mixture to a boil and then reduce to a simmer. Add the sugar, salt, black/cayenne pepper and cajun spices and the chicken. Then add the oregano and Worcestershire sauce. Let simmer for at least 45 minutes. [Optional: I used two forks to shred the chicken. The chicken sauce piquant can be served with whole chicken breast pieces or with the shreds. As the dish of chicken sauce piquant that inspired trying this had shredded chicken, that's my preference.] Just before serving mix in the green onions and bay leaves.

Serve on top of fresh white rice. (You'll want to start the rice about 25 minutes before serving.)

Also, I went to see Elle s'appelait Sarah (Sarah's Key) tonight. It was incredibly moving and I cannot recommend it enough. The movie concerns principally the Vel' d'Hiv Roundup in Paris, a subject of which I frankly knew nothing. Currently out in some US theatres, (it's been out for two years in France) it has enough English that non-Francophone friends shouldn't be too upset about subtitles. The book off which it is based was written by Tatiana de Rosnay. (A girl in the back of the theatre was urging her friend to the read the book as the credits rolled and liked both the book and the movie adaptation, though it apparently left out a lot.)

Books about living in France

This post is mostly intended for future TAPIF-ers or people moving to la belle France.

Aside from reading through pretty much any and every blog by a former TAPIF-er I could find, I have tried to read as many books about living in France as a foreigner as I could. Here are a few:

I'll Never Be French (no matter what I do) by Mark Greenside [This was decidedly my favorite memoir on living in France as an American. It didn't hurt that the writer was writing about living in Brittany. In this book, you see the true warmth and nature of French culture. It was a decidedly comforting read and highly amusing to boot.]

French or Foe by Polly Platt [This book was recommended to me before I spent a high school summer in Paris by my French teacher as a way to understand the differences between French and American culture. It is absolutely excellent. It same me up with a very positive view about French culture and helped me to avoid the frequent pitfalls of Americans in France (always say bonjour! people don't smile, etc). Thanks to this positive view and better understanding of the culture, I had an excellent time. Whereas some of my fellow Americans came away finding the French rude. As a disclaimer, I have not reread this book since high school and did not take all of the book as The Absolute Truth. There are a lot of great basics held within, however.]

Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris [The second half of this book is loosely about Sedaris' attempts to learn French while living in Paris/a small French village. It doesn't offer that much about being an American living in France, but it is hilarious.]

Lunch in Paris by Elizabeth Bard [This memoir is a charming account of an American who falls in love and moves to Paris and her struggles and triumphs with French culture. As a bonus, it contains many delicious recipes!]

French Toast: An American in Paris by Harriet Welty Rochefort [This didn't add very much to my understanding of French culture, but it might help someone else.]