Drunk Pasta

A few months ago, I read a small reference to pasta risotto. The person linked to an article and video by Mark Bittman on how to prepare pasta like risotto. I had never heard of pasta risotto, but it intrigued me so I bookmarked it. Though it intrigued me, it was apparently not enough to ever get me watch the video. Yesterday, in trying to think of stovetop-only recipes, I recalled the article. I pulled it up and watched the video.

Let me tell you, this was the best idea I've had since deciding to apply for TAPIF. Everything about it made me feel wonderful. The scents recall long ago soups and Thanksgivings (granted, this greatly depends on what you put in the pasta risotto). I was so pleased with the result. From the first ingredients going into the pot, I could smell the deliciousness soaking in. Without further ado, here is the (very, very loose) recipe of my Drunk Pasta:

Loosely dice/chop:

• 2 white onions
• 4 stalks of celery (~1 cup, I would guess)
• 1 red bell pepper
• 1 tomato
• a few cloves of garlic

Heat a couple tablespoons of Extra Virgin Olive Oil in a wide, deep pot.

Add in the onions, celery and garlic.

Enjoy the aromas for three minutes.

Add a generous amount of white wine (hence, the drunk bit... I honestly can't say how much I put in, but at least a cup. This can be substituted with water.).

I will admit I used more wine than I might have in trying to take a picture of it. No regrets.

Add in your pasta (I used linguini, broken into short pieces).

Once the pasta is "glossy," add in the bell pepper and a half cup of chicken stock.

Continue to add in chicken stock little by little bit (allowing the pasta to soak in the liquids. I used 10 oz of chicken stock and could have used more or less).

Stir in spinach and chopped tomatoes.

Chop up chicken breasts (I used three).

Once the pasta is mostly soaked in, stir in the chopped chicken.

Cook (and stir) until no pink remains on the chicken.

Serve and enjoy.

Yum.

All gone.

Serves four generously. Leaves your home smelling like, well, home.

HON HON HON: or how I came to love French

Since my wee childom, I have loved languages. I will credit this with learning that my Great-Grandmother had been of Welch ancestry, but I suspect it began much earlier. I oft wished growing up that we went to the Greek Orthodox church across the street so I could learn Greek (what a great use of church! learning another language!). I had two Usborne First Thousand Words in [Language] books and I thought they were the best things ever. I had the German and the Spanish and loved looking through them for the little duck while "learning" German and Spanish. My mom quickly caught on that I was interested in languages and gave me possibly the best gift for a 90s child with a passion for languages: Rock 'n Learn French volume 1 (with cassette!). I tore through that shit and had the whole cassette memorized. "Hello. Bonjour! Hello Bonjour! How are you? Ça va?Fine, thank you. Bien, merci. What is your name? Comment t-appelles-tu? My name is Jean. Je m'appelle Jean." This tiny book ignited a love of the French language. Though the other books had helped me in my love of languages, it was probably hearing the French language (and on-command... all the time) that led to my particular admiration for French. (As a side note, I would make my mom read me Rottkäppchen in German a lot when I was a kid, but there's only so many times you can ask that of your mom. :) )

Ignoring an extended foray into Welsh (which included the creation of a website dedicated to learning Welsh which I can't link due to it having been on the now defunct geocities), I focused on French. Then, one day, fifth-grade-me got extraordinarily lucky. A new neighbor moved in... and she was French! and she taught French! So my mom's friend, my mom and I began to take group lessons in French from our neighbor (heretofore to be referred to as Madame. While there are sure to be many more Madames in this blog, she is and will always be my first Madame). I cannot express how lucky I was to learn from Madame at such an early age. Using le nouveau sans frontières series, we learned in a very oral-focused fashion. Writing and reading can be learned later with practice (and, trust me, I got my comeuppance later when I took my first French class in college and realized in Pre-Revolutionary French that I had never written an essay in French. Oy. I learned quickly), but learning early on that it is possible for you to communicate with a native speaker of your target language is incredibly empowering. I'm not going to pretend like I don't get really shy about speaking to French people (scratch that, new people), but my French beginnings definitely have kept me going where I might otherwise have stopped.

This is not to say French was never uncontested for my admirations. Junior year, my high school offered the opportunity to take Chinese after school for college credit. Hello I was all over that, but my parents insisted I had to drop something from my schedule. The only thing that they would agree to was French. So for a year, I did not take French. BUT I wanted to go to Paris through a program that summer, so I studied on my own. That year, yeah, I learned some Chinese, but my French grew leaps and bounds. I bought a giant French workbook (that came with cassettes! Yeah!... in a weird way I think they make me more committed than CDs or mp3s). That year, I worked my way through the entire workbook, learning, finally, how to spell and write all the grammar I'd been hearing the past six years. For the first time ever, I began to really read in French. There were two books that were "breakthroughs" for me: Le petit Nicolas and La cantatrice chauve (suivi de La leçon). The first was my first "chapter book" I ever read the whole way through in French, the second (two plays by Ionesco) was the first real "adult" book I read the whole way through in French. That summer, I went to Paris for a month to study French and learned all my studying that year had payed off. It was an amazing experience. I still can't describe what it was to walk along the Seine and just be in France. I even got to see both La cantatrice chauve and La leçon at the famous Théatre de la Huchette (and then again two summers later). It was a summer I'll never forget. Now, though, it's time for me to get to know France beyond the Seine.

Yayyyyyy Me (left) and Ionesco (smiling, right), 2006.

Also, today I got a haircut so I'll look more professional (hah). Here are a couple pictures of me practicing teacher looks, too bad the glasses aren't real.

Nice teacher.

Not-as-nice teacher.

Please note the scary mound of packing behind my left shoulder. Aiyo. Gotta get to work.

And apparently I've reverted to 2006 me. I got the same haircut. Huh.

La Mer

Mary: star of the sea, dew of the sea, bitterness of the sea (depending on who you ask)

A painting of me playing in the Maine coast by my mother

Despite (or perhaps because of) growing up in a land-locked state, I have always loved the sea. During my childhood, my family visited the Maine coast every summer. We stayed in my grandmother's cottage by the sea and I would fall asleep to the sound of the waves breaking on the rocky shore. Through these summers, I learned to love the smell of salt water. This love and fascination was strong enough that I adored even the beaches of Galveston (a mere hour from my university). While a lot of my classmates had had great experience with California or nicer Gulf beaches and dismissed Galveston as dirty -- they're not wrong, it is dirty -- I still loved the feel of the sand and the taste of salt in the air.

Galveston does have its moments

While watching TF1 the other day, they started a report on les phares (the lighthouses) of Brittany. They now have automated lighthouses that don't require people to live in relative isolation. Unfortunately, these lighthouses are falling into disrepair. I've never been to Brittany, but the images I've seen of its coast line (particularly the Côtes d'Armor -- armor means coast in Breton and côte means coast in French) recall my wonderful summers in Maine. I can't wait to get there. Though I won't be living on the coast, I'll be less than an hour away and that's close enough for me.

Lighthouses in Cannes (2010), Marseille and the Chateau d'If (2008)

Nice at Night (2010)

By the way, my current background is a painting by Berthe Morisot of the Lorient harbor (Image source: wikipedia) in 1869.

My Future Students

Flash mob Collège Kerbellec 2011

I think my first lesson might be, "What is a flash mob?" Nevertheless, it's cute. I suspect it was their last day of class.

On a related note, if you can think of conversation topics for 11 to 14 year olds that speak only basic English (numbers, colors and shapes...), I am very open to suggestions! I will be working with the Collège students in groups of twelve to fourteen with conversation. I hope they like the Biebz.

For future assistants/people looking for French resources:

A live stream of the TF1 channel that works outside of France. (The same website has a lot of streaming content of French videos, they other night I found them streaming all of Kaamelott and Les Inconnus) I do not vouch for its legality, etc. etc. and from the TF1 website, the program schedule.

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.)

Trois Princes à Paris

Tidjani, Yadvendra and Luc just want to find luuuurve à Paris

Il était une fois... that the French channel TF1 put on a show called "Three Princes in Paris." Unsurprisingly, it follows three princes in Paris, but here's the catch (dun dun dun!) they are each searching for their princess in the city d'amour. Throughout the intro, they showed the three princes in their traditional dress (which can be seen above). The Polynesian in particular stands out given the fact that this was filmed in the winter and Polynesia doesn't really do winter. (They also show lots of video of him climbing trees super fast and hunting pigs, but that's not important here.) The three princes (for either bureaucratic or personal reasons) must find love, presumably there will also be "tasks" to drive on the show, probably experts in the art of amour will help them too. Most important, however, is the fact that they have to do it all without revealing they they are in fact princes (so you know it will be real amour and not just because there's a camera in the girl's face... obvis).

The three princes are:

Tidjani, 28, from Benin

Yadvendra, from India and

Luc, 21 , from French Polynesia

Perhaps the most sensational part of the show so far is the Polynesian prince running around Paris in his traditional garb. I assumed that that was just for the intro, but then he got on the plane in his giant headdress and grass leg/arm things. Understandably, when he got his luggage at the airport and said "Bonjour" to everyone he saw, people stared and smiled. It's nice to see the Parisians smile. Apparently Polynesian dude has not been around technology very much as he was absolutely shocked by the limousine. I can only imagine what the plane ride was like. "J'ai toujours vécu comme un sauvage dans la brousse." (I always lived like a savage in the brush/wild.)

The three are individually taken to some fancy room after the arrive and introduced. They make awkward chitchat in their respective accents, then they are set loose on Paris. Their first task? Mastering the métro. The most interesting part of this show is hearing their reactions to Paris culture (and seeing Parisians smile... all the time. Maybe it's because of the cameras constantly filming? or more likely the absurdity of seeing three men in three different radically different types of dress). Yadvendra, the Indian prince, remarked that when he got on the métro he thought that all the Parisians must be very sad because no one talked or smiled.

Pointing at the Arc de Triomphe, Luc the Polynesian asks, "C'est quoi ce truc-là?" What's that thing? They make their way underground and over to the monument where Luc finds the tomb of the unknown soldier which has an ever-burning flame. Luc, still in his traditional clothing intended for hot Polynesia, decides to warm his hands on the flames. Of course no one in the production of this could have stopped him (due to my general distrust of reality shows, I wouldn't be surprised if they encouraged him) and the police get involved. Luckily, the event is somewhat anticlimatic despite the producers' best attempts with dramatic music.

Fortunately, this potential exploitation of traditional customs stops and the three princes are given more "French" clothing. Then they have to shop, clean and even... work! This first episode shows them on their first shopping trip for food. This is spliced with shots of Luc and his fellow villagers chasing a wild pig, catching fish and cooking over a FIRE. Then, of course, he gets a frozen pizza (du jambon, bien sûr/ham, of course). They bought their baguette at the grocery store. I was disappointed in that. For shame. Get thee to a bakery, dear princes. What would your Parisian princess say if she saw you getting your baguette from the grocery store? I did enjoy the Tidjani getting excited about the "famous" Camembert at the cheese counter. So far, Tidjani has been far and away beating the other two princes. This is probably because he actually talks to women. There's a scene in which the three are at a bar and Tidjani goes and sit with two ladies in a booth while the other two sit together, uncomfortably, at the bar.

Prochainement... The show is canceled. Sadly, we will never find out if the princes found their luuuurve. Womp womp womp. I'm sad I'll have to miss out on an episode that was apparently the awkward princes feeling awkward about Moulin Rouge and the three princes fighting about who should do the washing. Apparently they also go to someplace snowy on a mountain (i.e. not Paris. The show title lied!) I'm sure the three have found their amours now that they have been revealed for their true princely selves. They probably should have made 3 Princes in New York instead... or New Jersey. I bet America would go for that. Or just 3 Princes and a village of rejected bachelorettes... in the dark. There we go. Winner!

In case you feel like checking out the failed show:

Le site officiel de 3 princes à Paris

For streaming of 3 princes à Paris, click here.

I should say that I only started watching this because it was the first show I saw on the TF1 site and thought it'd probably be beneficial to watch a "reality" show. Didn't really think about the fact that the main people would all have accents... oops. I'm pretending like that made it harder so I can feel really good about myself for understanding everything.

Lapin lapin lapin!

This morning when I got up I hopped around my room saying "rabbit" so you know this is going to be a lucky month. How can I be so sure it's going to be lucky month?

(1) I'm leaving for France this month.

(2) I woke up to an email from my contact person at the elementary school AND an email from the person in charge of my apartment at the middle school. It looks like I will be working with some of the best responders in all of France. I have never had to wait more than a day for a response to any of my queries. From the looks of things from the facebook TAPIF group, I win.

(3) My apartment will be furnished! I'll have a fridge! And a bed! With a mattress! And a microwave (?!??? I really was not expecting that). That is all definitely a relief. While I would prefer a real oven to a microwave, I'll take what I can get. (I will have hot plates... far more important.)

(4) The colder weather clothing I ordered arrived today and all fits perfectly. I got a jacket that looks nice and polished but is made with the lovely fuzzy sweatshirt fabric so I'll feel cozy and happy even when dressed not like a slob. I also now have more than one pair of jeans (including one of them "skinny" jeans that all the young'ns have been talking about).

and (5) I got a phone call from my best friend this morning and she's doing wonderfully in her new city. :)

The teacher from the elementary school asked me if I had found accommodation yet. Even though I'm really curious if there are other (better) options, I think I'll refrain, because I was really happy with my one and only option before and don't want to confuse myself and end up dissatisfied by having even more options. On a related note, I will be working in the Collège Kerbellec, marked below by the "A" on the map. You can see how close Lorient is! It's only a few kilometers away.

Vocab lesson:

la bouilloire -- (tea) kettle

les plaques electriques -- hot plates