menu plan monday - week 6

Man, am I whooped! We had the Daylight Saving "Spring Forward" this weekend and I am really feeling it today. It took me a whopping hour and a half just to come up with a menu for this week. It's ridiculous how much difference an hour can make!

In other news, if you haven't stopped by since last Monday, I totally messed up the date for Stéph's birthday. Actually, it's not that I don't know the date, but I counted on my fingers instead of actually looking at a calendar and totally missed. So today is actually his birthday! Be sure to stop by again later for a special birthday post.

Without further ado, here's this week's list (which finally is a steak hachée free week! Yes!!). Thanks as always to Laura for hosting every week.

Monday - Happy Birthday Stéph! (for real this time)
Lunch leftover knacki pasta (see last week's MPM for the recipe)
Dinner Chef salad (bumped from last night)

Tuesday
Lunch Couscous and merguez (see below for more info)
Dinner turkey & onions, veg (veg will either be carrots, green beans or salad, whichever I feel like making at the time!)

Wednesday
Lunch Penne arrabiata (new recipe for me)
Dinner cheddar veggie omelette

Thursday
Lunch minced meat bricks (see below for more info)
Dinner Italian breaded pork chops, veg

Friday
Lunch tater tot casserole (based on this recipe)
Dinner Free night (leftovers, pull from freezer or eat out)

Saturday
Lunch tater tot casserole (leftovers)
Dinner chicken & onions (see the bottom of this post for recipe)

Sunday
Lunch salmon, potato pancakes (recipe from one of the magazines that Mia sent me)
Dinner chicken salad sandwiches

Couscous and merguez
This is a North African dish that is very popular in France. Here, couscous isn't just the semoule, like it is in the States. It is also a spicy sauce with veggies and chickpeas. My version comes from this recipe. You only need a couple of soup ladles for each meal so you can freeze a lot for future meals. I made a fresh batch two weeks ago and put six future meals in the freezer. I serve it over couscous and with merguez.

Minced meat bricks
This is a recipe I just sort of made up. Bricks are are very thin, unsweet pastry that comes in large round sheets of ten. (I can't actually find a link for this, you'll have to take my word for it!) Typically, food is rolled up in them and they become crispy when baked or fried. I make a mixture of ground beef, mashed potato and parsley, put a heaping spoonful in each brick, fold them up, brush on a little olive oil and bake until golden. It's not the healthiest meal in the world, but I haven't made these in ages and I kind of have a hankering for them!

fun with fruit, part two

Blueberries have a special place in my heart. For as long as I can remember, there has been an enormous blueberry patch at the family farm in North Carolina. This thing is so enormous that it easily gives us gallons of blueberries in good years, and still more than Grandma can use on her own in the dry years. Of course, actually picking blueberries was always an adventure for this child of the suburbs, as there were spiders! And chiggers! And beasties! (Oh my!) But you try telling my Grandma that you only brought back a handful of blueberries because there were spiders and see how far that gets you.

Anyway, blueberries always make me think of North Carolina, and when I found a little package of fresh blueberries at the store this week, I had to buy them. But what does one do with a cup of blueberries? Why, make blueberry muffins, of course.



This recipe is super easy to follow, but beware with the crumb topping. It is delicious but if it's not fine enough, it will weigh down the muffins and keep them from rising. Also, the recipe makes enough crumb topping for about ten batches of muffins. Just so you know.

I have a hard time regulating the temperature in our easy bake oven, so some of the muffins came out a little crispier than others, but there were all delicious. I would definitely make these muffins again!

fun with fruit, part one

This week, when I went to Grand Frais, there were lots of fruit choices. I am so sick of winter apples that I kind of went a little crazy and bought several different kinds of fruit with no particular ideas about what to do with them. Yesterday I had the idea to make a strawberry shake with my fresh strawberries, but we don't have a blender, just a little electric hand mixer. Soon, the idea of a fresh strawberry milkshake took over my brain and I thought I would die if I couldn't figure out how to make one, so I just went for it.



I'm happy to announce all went very well indeed.

Strawberry Milkshake by Electric Hand Mixer

(Serves one)

Clean and chop five large strawberries. Just cover with milk and mix until smooth. Add vanilla ice cream and mix until it reaches your preferred consistency. Pour into a tall glass and enjoy!

I liked it so much I had to make one for Stéph when he got home. Considering the fact that he's not a big fan (milk is for kids! bah), he drank the whole thing and proclaimed it to be good, which is high praise indeed.

Hm, I do believe I still have some strawberries left...

Also, apropos of nothing, Stéph's birthday is not Sunday, as previously reported, but Monday. Yes I know my husband's birthday but apparently I don't know how to read a calendar. That's what I get for relying on counting on my fingers...

those crazy revolutionaries

Last night, a friend of mine in the States emailed me to ask if I could translate the info she found on a possible ancestor in the link on my last post. I was going through it this morning and when I got to the date, I very nearly just told her that the revolutionaries made up their own months and years and left it at that (this was before coffee, after all), but my curiosity got the better of me. Lo and behold, the French Republican Calendar.

This new calendar went into affect September 22, 1792, the day after the monarchy was officially abolished. This day became the first day of the First Republic and the first day of the Republican year. This became year I, as they preferred to number the years in Roman numerals. But much to my surprise, it wasn't enough to simply rename the names of the month, but they overhauled the whole system of time.

They kept the concept of twelve months, but split them up into four seasons, with each season's names ending similarly - the autumn months end in "aire" - and each month was named after Latin or French words to describe the time of year; Vendémiaire, from the Latin "vindemia,' or grape harvest, ran from the end of September to the end of October, for example. Then it just gets weird.

Apparently, the revolutionaries were also obsessed with the metric system. Each month was made up of three ten-day weeks called a "decade" with the days of the week called "primidi" (first day), "duodi" (second day), etc. Since this didn't result in a perfect 365 days, the days that were left over were tacked on to the end and proclaimed to be national holidays, celebrating Virtue, Labour, Convictions, and so on.

But the obsession with the metric system didn't end there - then the clock got involved. The new Republican day was made up of ten hours, each hour being made up of one hundred minutes, which in turn were made up of one hundred seconds. Of course, they had to futz with time in order to make this system work, but new clocks were created to follow this new system.

My favorite thing about the Republican calendar is that instead of celebrating the Saint's Days (a practice that is still common in France as people often celebrate their "name day"), the revolutionaries had an animal, tool, mineral or plant for every day of the year. (Yay, my birthday falls on the celebration of Garden Angelica!).

Thankfully, this system only lasted for thirteen years before it was chucked out in favor of the boring old Gregorian calendar. The Roman Catholic Church was re-established in 1801 and the old days of the week were the first to reappear. Eventually the rest of the Republican calendar was thrown out the window as, I can only assume, the French came to their senses.

I hope you've enjoyed this little history lesson as much as I did. It's the quirky trivia like this that makes me truly happy!

decapitated ancestors

I found this through This French Life:

Do you have an ancestor who was decapitated during the Revolution? You can find out by checking out Les Guillontines, a website that listed all those that were condemned to die, deported or imprisoned during the French Revolution.

I don't have any French heritage on my side of the family, but I couldn't resist looking for my married name. And yes, there are three guys listed, but our family name is not especially unusual in France - it's not a "Smith" but I still see it from time to time - so there's no telling if they're really related. I couldn't help looking for my friends' names, too. I've found more than a couple. Is your family name listed?

menu plan monday - week 5

Aaaaaaaaaaaaand we're back. It's funny, even though I put the weekly list up on the fridge so we know what's coming, I'm really liking having these menus searchable through my blog as well. Since I make my weekly plan sitting in front of the computer, I have most of my tools at my fingertips. Maybe next week I'll purposefully do it downstairs so I can flip through my cookbooks instead.

This is another weird week since today is a national holiday and everything is closed. I actually already had today's lunch and dinner and tomorrow's lunch planned since I knew I wouldn't be able to pop out to the store today. Sunday is Stéph's birthday, but once again he doesn't want anything special (grrr). I'll be making one of his favorites anyway, plus I'll be looking at desert options during the week.

Y'all have a great week and be sure to check out I'm an Organizing Junkie for more menu ideas.

Notes: Breakfasts for Stéph are waffles, for me they are a bowl of cereal with milk and a cup of coffee or tea. Each lunch includes a piece of bread (bought fresh everyday) with cheese and a glass of 100% juice with no sugar added. Snacks will include seasonal fruits, carrots, cornichons (small pickles) and cheese and bread for Stéph. My "dessert" is a plain yogurt, cereal biscuits and a glass of 100% juice with no sugar added.

Monday
Lunch Tomates farcies (stuffed tomatoes) and rice
Dinner salmon and green beans

Tuesday
Lunch Tomates farcies (leftovers) and rice
Dinner Potato frittata and salad

Wednesday
Lunch Basil chicken pasta (based on this recipe
Dinner potato frittata (leftovers) and salad

Thursday
Lunch soft tacos (Old El Paso kit) (yes, we have Old El Paso in France!)
Dinner soup & sandwiches (bumped from this past Sunday)

Friday
Lunch leftovers
Dinner mushroom ravioli and carrots

Saturday
Lunch chicken & broccoli stir fry
Dinner steak hachée, green beans

Sunday - Happy Birthday, Stéph!
Lunch knacki pasta**
Dinner chef salad

**knacki pasta recipe: This is one of those recipes that is super simple but much loved. This is something Stéph's mom used to make and he loves it so much, he asks me to make it every once in a while. Knacki are small, thin sausages that are nearly identical to hot dogs. Basically, you throw some cooked pasta, cut up knackis (or hot dogs), and some cubed ham in a casserole. Sprinkle some cheese on top and throw it in the oven until the cheese is melty or golden. I add a bit of flavor by cooking the pasta in broth and I think this helps keep it from drying out too much as well.

Happy Easter!

Oh dear, I've done it again, haven't I? I get distracted by other things and forget about blogging. Well, to be honest, you haven't missed much.

Yesterday we made a suicide run to Troyes around lunchtime in order to dash through a couple of shops. My father-in-law's birthday is coming up so we had to go grab his gift, plus run into a bookshop for Stéph, plus dive into the grande surface mega-store for one thing I needed. Normally, making this sort of shopping run the day before a major holiday is madness but we were super lucky and were headed back home in under an hour. Then I spent about two hours all afternoon slaving over my Famous Apple Pie, which will be shared among family today.

This past week also marked Stéph's introduction to Peeps. The hilarious part is that I called from the other room, "Hey, do you want a peep?"** and then realized what I'd said and burst out laughing. Yep, we definitely bring the class around here at DfF. Oh, but I should also say that he liked the peeps just fine (the marshmallow ones, thankyouverymuch).

This morning we woke up to a fine dusting of snow on cars and rooftops, but with clear blue skies and sunshine. Since we were supposed to have nothing but clouds and the threat of snow all day, I have no idea what to expect for the rest of the day. In any case, we'll be spending most of the day in Troyes with family, stuffing ourselves silly. Here's hoping the Easter Bunny brings you something special this year!

**"peep" sounds like "pipe" in French - which is slang for fellatio!

happy fridge

Our fridge makes me smile every time I go near it. Not only do the most recent baby announcements make their way there (by the way, you can click on the photo to see who's appearing on the Baby Hall of Fame these days), my weekly menu finds a place, and a very special comic strip that my Mom sent me right before she died has a place of honor on the side. The drawings on the bottom are from school. Once a week, Stéph presides over an "études" (studies) class for kids that stay after school until 6:00, when their parents can pick them up. A couple of weeks ago, two young students that didn't have any homework drew pictures for Stéph instead. While I can't wait for the day that our own kids' drawings will appear on the fridge, these always make me smile when I'm in the kitchen.

What do you keep on your fridge?

Updated to add: I forgot to mention that I finished my charity blanket! Go check out Tricot du coeur to take a look!

another weekend in the big city

I'm not doing a Menu Plan Monday this week because a) I haven't had time to actually make a list for this week yet and b) I don't know when I'll do it because I'm so dang tired. I'm so dang tired because I've just come back from another whirlwind weekend in Paris.

I like to go to Paris every once in a while to remember how terribly out of shape I am, but also to catch up with friends and get some badly needed culture. Hey, living out in the country certainly has its perks, but a wide variety of cultural events ain't one of them.

So Friday I took a train into the city (and you can hear about my train adventures on Episode 126 on the Katia & Kyliemac Show) and had some girly slumber party time with Kyliemac. Saturday we met up with Katia and had delicious smoothies and wrap sandwiches (honestly - To. Die. For!) and did some very serious people watching (which you'll hear about in a future episode) before retiring to the Coffee Table Studio for silly shenanigans.

Sunday was the real reason for the weekend in Paris (the rest was a clever excuse to come into town early!) - the Salon du Livre, or book expo. Stéph and I have gone every year I've been here but one, and as we're both big readers and are descended from big readers, this is a big deal for us. This year the Salon is somewhat controversial as the invited honored country is Israel, in commemoration of the 60th anniversary of their becoming a state, and many Arabic countries (some of which also happen to be Francophone countries) have boycotted in protest. Despite the fact that a large protest was scheduled for Sunday, we didn't hear a peep of opposition. We did have a very exciting surprise waiting for us inside - Raymond Feist was there and signing autographs! Stéph had all his books but one (that are available in French, I should say: notably the fantasy classic Magician and its associated trilogy) so after a little cajoling he got in line and met the author. Afterwards I think he was disappointed that he got a little nervous and he thought of some questions that he would have liked to have asked, but he was still very happy about having met him and having one of his books dedicated to him.

After that it was the long drive home. I think next time Stéph will go back to taking the train both ways - a little less exhausting when you've got to work the next day. Nevertheless, it was another lovely weekend in the City of Light; many thanks to my hosts (and to the weather for not being too terribly crappy this weekend!)!

when mail makes everything better

This has been one of those weeks where I feel like everything is spinning out of control and it's everything I can do to hang on. I can't concentrate (when I really need to, even worse!) and some random, kind of scary stuff is happening in the background that I can't tell you about yet but nevertheless has me wanting to just shut down and sleep until all the bad things just go away. Yes, I'm totally a grown up, why do you ask?

Well, just like any immature dingbat, I find that presents make anything better. Back when I started blogging about my cooking woes, Mia offered to send me a few cooking magazines to help me broaden my repetoire, and how can you refuse a kind offer like that? Well Mia took the concept of "care package" to a whole new level:



Not only did she send me some cooking magazines, but she included Easter candy (peanut butter cups! blue peeps!) and YARN. Socks that Rock yarn. In a gorgeous colorway. I want to hug it and pet it and call it George.

So let me take this opportunity to say Thank you so much, Mia! This arrived exactly when I needed it most!

menu plan monday - week 4

I have to say, I'm quite pleased with myself that I've managed to keep this up for four weeks in a row. It's been great to go through the other posts and get ideas. This week is relatively easy, since I'm planning on going out of town this weekend and Stéph will be joining me on Sunday. I'm planning to make a nice big dish he can eat while I'm gone, which was his request. Other than that, nothing too taxing or new recipes - well, new to me, anyway!

Notes: Breakfasts for Stéph are waffles, for me they are a bowl of cereal with milk and a cup of coffee or tea. Each lunch includes a piece of bread (bought fresh everyday) with cheese and a glass of 100% juice with no sugar added. Snacks will include seasonal fruits, carrots, cornichons (small pickles) and cheese and bread for Stéph. My "dessert" is a plain yogurt, cereal biscuits and a glass of 100% juice with no sugar added.

Monday
Lunch chili, rice, carrots
Dinner chef salad

Tuesday
Lunch chili (leftovers), rice, carrots
Dinner chicken & onions, steamed green beans

Wednesday
Lunch Carbonara (see below), salad
Dinner steak hachée, steamed green beans

Thursday
Lunch Mom's meatloaf, couscous, veggies (to be determined)
Dinner pasta, Dad's ragu sauce (from the freezer) (hey, it's Mom & Dad day!)

Friday
Lunch meatloaf (leftovers), couscous, veggies
Dinner (Vivi gone) hachis parmentier (see below)

Saturday
Lunch (Vivi gone) Stéph fends for himself!
Dinner (Vivi gone) hachis parmentier (leftovers)

Sunday
Lunch Vivi & Stéph have left the building!
Dinner soup & tuna sandwiches

Recipe for carbonara: This is a super simple and easy French version of the Italian dish that Doc gave me shortly after I moved here. In a large skillet, cook 200 grams of lardons (small pieces of bacon). Drain and add a carton of crème fraîche (sour cream). When this mixture reaches your preferred consistency, pour over cooked pasta. Serve with shredded gruyère (or your preferred cheese topping).

Recipe for hachis parmentier: This recipe greatly resembles shepherd's pie but for the love of all things holy, never tell a Frenchman that! Brown a pound of ground beef (or a combination of beef and pork) with a chopped onion, herbs de provence, salt and pepper. Pour mixture into a large casserole dish. Cover meat with mashed potatoes. Sprinkle top with shredded gruyère or emmental cheese. Bake until the cheese is melty and golden.

For more menu ideas, check out I'm an Organizing Junkie!

we went out!

Yes, it's true! We left our house and socialized with other people! Can you believe it?

Last week, Doc invited us to join her and Marc at a local restaurant that was offering a complete steak frites dinner for a very reasonable price. It was so reasonable that even Stéph couldn't refuse! (har har) Anyway, it was a great excuse to get away for half a day and visit with friends (and give me a break from cooking, yay!).

Stéph and I talked about it over dinner and we honestly can't remember the last time we went out to a restaurant to eat. We know we ate out with some of his colleagues just before the Christmas break, but just the two of us, eating out? Nope, no idea. So thanks, Doc - that was a much needed treat!

Vivi learns an important lesson

This morning I had an early morning appointment in Troyes, so I thought I'd kill two birds with one stone and do the weekend grocery shopping before coming home. Now, you'd think after three years I'd understand the French's shopping patterns better, but no, I waltzed right into the grande surface shopping center without a care in the world and it wasn't until I'd rolled my shopping cart through the electric gate that I realized my fatal mistake: everyone in France goes grocery shopping on Friday mornings.

It was so bad that at some intersections is was like sitting at a four way stop sign, only with the less-than-impressive queuing habits of the French. Twice I exchanged a laugh and a snarky comment with another shopper as we narrowly inched past each other in the overcrowded isles. At least I hit the cash registers at a lull; when I had waltzed through the electric gate, I had a hard time telling those standing in line from those still shopping. Of course, the cash registers are a whole other story, as they total no less than thirty and maybe half of which were actually manned by the time I got there. I hope the cashiers came back from their breaks shortly after, knowing the tidal wave of customers that would imminently hit.

Wow, I have certainly turned up the snark here lately. I must be hanging out with them too much. (I'm also super sleepy from having to get up early so please excuse my cringe-worthy grammar - I can't seem to form proper sentences today.)

finally!

Things are finally falling into place for my ten year residence card. As some of you may already know, when I moved here spouses of French nationals were eligible for a ten year card after two years of one year cards. That changed right before I was eligible, so I had to wait an extra year. Another thing that changed for us is that because we don't live in the agglomeration of Troyes (or what we might call "the greater Troyes area" in the States) we have to go through our Mairie, or Town Hall, where they send my paperwork to the Préfecture in Troyes to be processed.

Alright, now that we're all caught up...

Last September I went to the Mairie with all my papers like a good little immigrant to start the process of having my card renewed/applying for my ten year card. I turned in everything they asked for, and a couple of weeks later they called saying that they wanted additional documents - a copy of Stéph's ID card and a written testament that we actually do live together as man and wife. At the same time I had to sit down with the head of the Town Hall so he could assess my French and see how I was adapting, all of which went fine. So that all went down in October (and now that I've typed that I'm sure I blogged about it at the time). Finally, I received my récépissé, or temporary card, that expired at the end of December when we would have to go to the Préfecture and pick up the shiny new card.

Still with me?

Now, I know I didn't blog about this because of all the other drama going on at the time, but we went to the Préfecture during the last week of December and after waiting for over an hour we were finally told that the card wasn't ready because they still hadn't received the extra documents and the letter from the head of the Town Hall here in Tiny Town. Stéph immediately knew that it wasn't the Town Hall's fault, as the Préfecture receives documents from all over the département so mine were probably just sitting in a big pile somewhere which means they were at least two months behind. Then the lady told us that we'd have to renew my récépissé, which I could do immediately, but I hadn't brought an extra photo, we didn't have enough change to take a photo in the photomat there in the Préfecture, and the office was about to close for lunch, so if we left to make change, we wouldn't be allowed back in. So she told us I could turn in the récépissé at my Town Hall with a new photo, "but you'd better hurry so you don't miss the deadline!"

My card has been in process for three months and we'd better hurry? Nice.

So last month I called the Préfecture to see if my card was ready, even though I hadn't gotten my récépissé back yet. After trying to call everyday for two weeks, I finally got through and was told that my card was not ready, but it should be ready by the time my récépissé expires at the end of April. Well, at least I knew that my répécippé had been created. The next day I stopped by the Mairie to see if they had it, and they didn't.

So. It's been a few weeks and I had a few errands to run around town today so I thought I'd stop in and see if it was there, and lo and behold it was. I am once again a legal alien with proof. (Ok, I was always legal but it still feels better to actually have the papers in my hand!) Now we just wait for the end of April for the next dance...

menu plan monday - week 3

Last week I tried a new tuna melt recipe (click on the link for the recipe). We quite enjoyed it, even if our easy bake oven only really toasted the outsides and left the centers kind of mooshy. Still, I will definitely use that tuna salad recipe for cold sandwiches this summer, it was really good!

You might have noticed that last week we had mac & cheese and this week we're having Stove Top stuffing, neither of which are readably available in France. We are quite lucky because our guardian angels, aka Michel and his beautiful wife Hannamari very kindly proposed to send me a care package in December and how could I say no? A couple of months later (which was my fault for hemming and hawing over what to ask for!) we received a box with Stove Top stuffing, mac & cheese, onion powder, Catalina dressing (that's for a cold taco salad recipe that I can't wait to make when the weather warms up a little!), Italian dressing mix and they even sent us two of everything, plus they threw in a couple of boxes of Cracker Jack, which Stéph enjoyed very much. Thanks again Michel & Hannamari for your kindness and generosity!

If you're interested in reading about why we eat the way we eat, please click here.

Notes: Breakfasts for Stéph are waffles, for me they are a bowl of cereal with milk and a cup of coffee or tea. Each lunch includes a piece of bread (bought fresh everyday) with cheese and a glass of 100% juice with no sugar added. Snacks will include seasonal fruits, carrots, cornichons (small pickles) and cheese and bread for Stéph. My "dessert" is a yogurt with no sugar added, cereal biscuits and a glass of 100% juice with no sugar added.

Monday
Lunch mushroom ravioli, carrots
Dinner chef salad, with cooked chicken, hard boiled eggs (deviled eggs if I'm feeling up to it!), tomatoes

Tuesday
Lunch chicken & broccoli stir fry (see below for recipe)
Dinner steak hachée, steamed green beans

Wednesday
Lunch tater tot casserole (based on this recipe)
Dinner chicken gyro sandwiches (based on this recipe)

Thursday
Lunch chicken & broccoli stir fry (leftovers)
Dinner mushroom omelette

Friday
Lunch tater tot casserole (leftovers)
Dinner Free night (leftovers, out for dinner or pull something from the freezer)

Saturday
Lunch chicken & onions (recipe appeared last week), stove top stuffing
Dinner steak hachée, steamed green beans

Sunday
Lunch salmon, potatoes
Dinner soup & grilled cheese sandwiches

Chicken & broccoli stir fry
Prepare rice (I steam ours for 30 minutes, always comes out perfect!), boil three or four frozen broccoli bunches for a few minutes until they are cooked through but still firm and then cut them down to florets, chop an onion and cube two chicken breasts. In a large skillet, sauté onion and brown chicken, add rice and broccoli, mix together and then add soy sauce. I don't measure the soy sauce; I just add a good slug and stir well, and when that cooks off I add another good slug and mix that in. Serve hot and eat!

For more menu ideas, check out I'm an Organizing Junkie.

finishing touches

Tricot du coeur is winding down now with one month to go and I'm happy to report that I'm down to the finishing touches.



Not the best picture in the world, but it's all seamed together and I'm just adding the border. Looks like I should get this bad boy done this week.

Today is windy, rainy and cold - a perfect time to turn on the internet radio and mess about with a nice big chunk of knitting.