For a number of reasons, I have a special place in my heart for France and its people. I minored in French in college. I spent a year studying in Luxembourg which allowed for several trips to France during which I fell in love with the country's dynamic, beautiful cities; picturesque villages that seemed to be lifted from the pages of a storybook; and its verdant and charming countryside. Near the end of my year abroad, and just about a week before my 20th birthday, I was in Paris with my mom, who had come to spend a month travelling with me before I was to return to the States with her. Exactly 20 years, later, just shy of my 40th birthday, my mom and I were in Paris again, this time with my 10-year-old son, my uncle and aunt. In all of my many travels to France, I have, without exception, found the French people to be warm, friendly and helpful.
It goes without saying then, that Historian and I were especially glad to spend several days focusing our geography studies on France. The girls caught our enthusiasm, especially for the food!
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| We decorated the table with a French flag, books and, of course, food. |
Orangina, a lightly carbonated pulpy orange drink in an adorably shaped bottle, became a favorite drink of mine when I travelled around France as a young adult. Historian, in turn, fell in love with it when he visited Paris. Naturally, when we found it in stores at home, we introduced it to the girls and, well, they couldn't get enough of it. Now it is met with squeals of delight when it is offered as a treat for special occasions. Clearly, it was a necessary choice for our French fete.
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This grilled sandwich is called a croque monsieur, which translates as "Mr. Crunchy." It is a popular street food in the cities of France. It's quite simple to make: place ham and gruyere cheese between two slices of French bread. Dip both sides of the sandwich in beaten egg and grill in a hot buttered pan. It's basically a grilled ham and cheese sandwich with the addition of the egg coating. Historian, as usual, was our chef. He also made a creamy gruyere cheese sauce to pour over our sandwiches, taking it from street food to gourmet fare. If you place a fried egg on top of this sandwich, it becomes a croque madame or "Mrs. Crunchy." I never questioned the naming of the feminized version of the sandwich, but when I told Butterfly this piece of information, she immediately surmised, "It's because the egg is like her bonnet."
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| Our meal was really unbalanced: too much bread, but it seems the French do bread better than anyone and we just couldn't limit ourselves to one kind. Here, you see the flaky, buttery, quintessentially French croissant. |
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| Baguette and camembert. This photo represents what an entire meal often consisted of for me and my travelling companions as college students, and that was, by no means, a bad thing! |
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| Historian's chocolate mousse failed to reach a silky smooth consistency. However, you really can't go wrong when you combine melted chocolate and homemade whipped cream. Needless to say, there is not a drop of it left. We had to stop ourselves from licking the bowls. |
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| Historian and I at the Eiffel Tower. He was 10 at the time. |
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| Standing in front of Notre Dame Cathedral. |
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| Historian's selected souvenir from the gift shop bookstore at The Louvre. Notice that Waldo has become Charlie! |
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| My mom, Historian and I at Sacre Couer Basilica at Montmartre, France. |
I have to admit, I was a bit reluctant to leave our study of France; it brought back many wonderful memories. I could stay here a while. I even sometimes dream that Steady Man and I will some day move to a little village in France and become a part of the fiber of that community (Steady Man does not share that dream). However, my kids are itching to move on, and so we must, this time to Historian's current obsession when it comes to countries: Germany.
Auf wiedersehen!
