French Friday...night

I made a fantastic discovery tonight. It all happened because I believed there to be a Sun Devil volleyball game at 7 p.m. this evening. I was scheduled to work the game, planning on making dinner when I got home, but upon arrival realized the freakin game got pushed back to 8 p.m.....

My blood was boiling. I arrived so early and no one told me?! Determined to make something of my evening, I went wandering near the ASU campus in hopes of finding dinner. Even penny-pinching grad students need to eat, you know.

That's when I decided to stop in at a Middle Eastern restaurant and grocery I walk past almost every time I'm on campus. When I lived in France, I used to LOVE North African pastries and Middle Eastern cuisine. Understatement.

Anyways, I sat down, ordered the Falafel Deluxe Pita -- hummus, tabbouleh, falafel and tons of fresh mint with a large side salad -- and a bottle of guava juice before the waiter started chatting me up. I never know what language I'm thinking or speaking in anymore... it doesn't help that I'm about to start taking German next semester either.

He asked me where I come from originally and then what I was doing in Arizona... when it came up that I'm a French TA on campus. He FLIPPED OUT and immediately began speaking to me in French. It came up that he's from Morocco, I shared that I had lots of family in Morocco and we chatted on and on in French for a bit. 

Long story short, he told me I had to come back and the next time I was not to speak to him in any English whatsoever. We're only going to converse en français from here on out... I also noticed my bill was much less than it should have been, by the way. In all, a fabulous outcome from what seemed to be a bleak-looking evening. It literally changed my entire mood around. And I will be back. The food was incredible! I could eat Middle Eastern and Mediterranean food every day of my life.

French Friday: My brain is fried

I promise I haven't fallen off the face of the Earth.

For the past few days and over the course of the next week, I'm knee-deep into grad school and TA orientation. During the academic year, I'll be teaching introductory French courses and pursuing a master's in French Comparative Literature (maybe modern/contemporary literature through the Italian and English departments as well).

Orientation is going very smoothly. I'm FINALLY meeting people. Foreign people. International students. Multi-lingual people. And it's making me so, ridiculously giddy. I've been speaking a strange mix of franglais (English-French hybrid). My brain doesn't even know what language to speak. I'm accidentally speaking French to the German and Spanish TAs and vise-versa.

IT.IS.AWESOME.

So, I leave you with some scenes from mon film favori: Amélie (Le Fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain)

Enjoy!

@+ (à plus...or see you later),

French Friday: Crustless Quiche

I’ve been a terrible Frenchie lately. I mean, yesterday was Bastille Day (the equivalent of Independence Day here in the U.S., just, a celebration of royal heads rolling through the streets of Paris…) and I drank GERMAN wine with dinner.

I haven’t even been watching much of the Tour de France… but I did root for France in the Women’s World Cup semi-final match against the United States. And I did make kir a few weeks ago. Oh yeah, and I made a quiche.

So at least I’ve got something going for me with regards to my Frenchness.

Crustless Shrimp, Spinach & Asparagus Quiche

Ingredients:

• 1/2 small onion, finely chopped
• 1 tsp olive oil
• 10-15 asparagus spears
• 2 c spinach, rough chopped
• 2 T cilantro, finely chopped
• 1/2  T rosemary, finely chopped
• 4 large eggs
• 4 large egg whites
• 2 T milk
• 1/2 c parmesan cheese , shredded
• 8 T sour cream (I used plain Greek yogurt again)
• 1 large tomato, chopped
• 6 oz shrimp , cooked
• salt and pepper

Directions:

Heat oven to 350. Spray pie plate with cooking spray.

Heat skillet over medium heat with oil. Saute onion and asparagus and 5 – 8 minutes until tender. Whip eggs and milk in mixing bowl.

Layer onion, asparagus, shrimp, parsley, thyme, spinach and cheese in pie plate. Pour egg mixture over the top, pressing the spinach down into the egg mixture. Bake at 350 for 20 – 30 minutes until set.

Top with chopped tomatoes and Greek yogurt for each serving.

Personally, I’m not a huge fan of full-fat creams, cheeses and buttery crusts. On special occasions, generally, but not in my daily cooking.

So this was perfect! It was super easy, didn’t require an intricate crust and is fairly healthy. I ate it everyday for almost a week and never got bored of my quiche.

Oh and I even consumed a bottle of red, FRENCH wine with each of my quichey meals. Take that, German Gewürztraminer!

Since I’m not intimidated by quiche-making, you shouldn’t be either! This is a very simple French meal anyone can make at home. Might as well make it and catch the final eight stages of the Tour de France (aired on tape delay on Versus). My favorite scene is always the cyclists pushing through the final stage on the Champs-Élysées:

Bon appétit!

French Friday: livre edition

 

If you love wine (Dad, I’m talking to you), history and/or you love to read, you absolutely need to find this book:

 

A friend recommended The Widow Clicquot to me, knowing that I enjoy wine just as much as she does and also that I love anything French. Enthusiastic about the recommendation, I’ve literally gone to every bookstore within a 15-mile radius of my house in search of this biography. How is it that no one carried this book?!

On a whim, I went to the local library this week looking for a free DVD to watch sometime. Remembering this book, I searched the library database and there was one copy on hand! This book is as good as mine for the next 2-to-6 weeks.

The front flap touts this book as: “The story of the visionary young widow who built a champagne empire, showed the world how to live with style, and emerged a legend.”

The iconic yellow label of Veuve Clicquot (The Widow Clicquot, in French)

So far I’m about 50 pages in and am fascinated. Apparently I don’t know very much about making champagne. While this book is semi starting to go into the details of champagne-making (only one region in the world has the luxury using its namesake for its bubbly, the Champagne, which central cities such as Troyes, Reims and Épernay) the most fascinating aspect to me is the history of the late 1700s-early 1800s. If you know anything about world history, that falls right smack in the middle of the bloody French Revolution and the rise of Napoléon.

 

I did several history reports on such period of time in high school. I even took a few 18th and 19th century surveys in my French classes at UC Santa Barbara. I could literally read everything there is on that period. Good thing I’m going to be majoring in French, n’est-ce pas?

My one regret is that I, myself, have never visited the Champagne region before. How did I live in France twice and not let this happen?!?! My dad and I went to Châteauneuf-du-Pape and tasted the famous wines of Provence once, and on a second occasion, a friend and I went to several wineries and castles of the Loire Valley to do a little sightseeing and wine tasting. No sparkling wines however… next time!

   

That’s about as far in as I am now. So while I have a huge craving for a glass of champagne, I’m going to continue reading… As I said before, I highly recommend you find this book and join me!

Santé, mes amis!

(Cheers, my friends!)

French Friday with a guest!

This week's French Friday features a very famous American actor, speaking French. I know I'm slow with this, as everyone and their mom has already commented about it. I even Tweeted it awhile back.

Generally, I'm not not a huge fan of Bradley Cooper. He's played a-holes in most of his roles and I didn't even like the Hangover. BUT, now that I know he's fluent in French, I'm kind of in love. See for yourself:

Bradley Cooper : la coqueluche de Hollywood sur le plateau de TF1 Vidéo jt_tf1_20h sélectionnée dans Actualité

This comes from one of my favorite French news stations, TF1. I linked my favorite sites for watching French news in my last post, so here they are again: FRANCE24 | BFMTV | iTele | TF1

From the interview, we learn that Cooper learned French in college when he studied abroad in Provence and stayed with a family who only spoke French.

What most impresses me is his intonation. I find that French is a hard language to speak. Not so much pronunciation and accent, but as far as intonation is concerned (if you're curious, you can read more about it). While he does botch a bit of the grammar, I am impressed because he speaks quickly, understands most of what she is asking and his intonation is impeccable for an American speaker.

Even if you don't speak French, I think you should still watch it! :)

Breakfast and a bike ride

It’s been awhile since I busted out my bike… in fact, when I hopped on it this morning, I thought the brakes were sticking because of a horrible noise coming from the front tire. Turns out it was so flat, that was the excess rubber dragging on the ground. So I rolled up my sleeves and pumped some air into those suckers before heading out on a pretty leisurely ride.

You see, there was a really good motive behind my ride this morning.

FREE STUFF!

That’s what’s up.

If you haven’t heard yet, Starbucks is giving away a free iTunes 10 song summer mix to anyone who purchases a frappuccino this month (supplies are limited, however). I guess this deal began yesterday because sometime in the afternoon I received an email telling me so. What makes the deal even sweeter are the birthday gift cards I’m still using two months later! Free drink and music?! I think I’m in love.

Also, I tried something amazing. I’ve had hot green tea lattes before and enjoy them. I saw on their website that the green tea frappuccinos were also included in the deal. So I went with an unsweetened nonfat green tea frappuccino with coconut syrup. It’s a mouthful, but it’ll change your life. I promise, I can’t get over how good that was!!! I mean, I’ve had the coconut mocha before and wasn’t a huge fan. I think this is a much better use of Starbuck’s coconut syrup!! Please, try it ASAP if you enjoy tea. Now that I’ve discovered this combination, the possibilities are endless, raspberry syrup? Peppermint? Vanilla? This chick is about to go nuts… (And if you’ve got a registered account with Starbucks soy milk and extra syrups are F-R-E-E, theme of the day here).

Speaking of free, Starbucks, you can thank me for the free marketing/publicity. If you’d like, you can send me coupons for more free drinks!!! :)

Now about that bike ride…

There’s the little guy. Don’t let it fool you, it’s basically a cruiser with seven speeds. I can’t wait to have a full-time job and buy a nice bike and bike shorts and a helmet (I’m embarrassed to say I don’t own one. I know, that’s HORRIBLE and I’m considering going to Target just to get a cheap one for now. I kind of like having my life, you know…)

I went about six miles round trip and probably worked off all the calories in my drink ;) It was nice! On the way there I even listened to a random assortment of music on my iPhone.

Once there, I ordered my drink, found a nice shady table and downloaded my free songs. Then I enjoyed a Larabar, my green tea frapp and read a few chapters of my newest read, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. To be honest, I’m basically reading this book because it’s going to be made into an English movie over Christmas.

I literally knew nothing about this book, other than everyone has read it and loved it. If you can’t wait for the English movie to come out in six months, I hear the original Swedish version is streaming on Netflix – you can be assured I’ll watch that as soon as I’m done reading the book.

Now back to my ride. On the way home, I decided to ditch my over played tunes and went for my favorite French newscasts! And get this, I can stream French news live for FREE (there’s that word again). I have about six apps and links I love, so if you’re curious and are a Francophile, look for those in a future French Friday post!

But if you can’t wait…

Si vous parlez français, il faut cliquer sur liens suivants pour écouter/voir en direct des infos et des émissions sur les sites français: FRANCE24 | BFMTV | iTele | TF1

Ce sont mes sites préférés!

Oh yeah, I’ve also been breaking in my NEW shoes (sadly, they were not free. But my sister did score me a 50% off discount at the Nike employee store in Portland)!!! The best part? I now have the capability to run Nike+… I just don’t have the censor yet to put into my shoes. In time… :)

Aren’t they pretty?!?! :)

French Friday + Week 20

I’ve been struggling with something new to do this week. I was going to cop out and write about the peach festival J.D. and I went to earlier. But I’ve been to festivals before, that didn’t feel right. I literally didn’t know what to do.

Until I watched an old episode of No Reservations on my DVR. I’d started watching one on Haiti a few days ago and finally got around to finishing it this afternoon. I literally cannot tell you what I saw. It’s devastating and immense and beautiful all at the same time. It didn’t feel right watching all of that without doing anything. Seriously, I urge you to watch that episode if you haven’t yet.

Anyways, as a French speaker, I’ve always been drawn to Haiti. The French Caribbean is something I’ve marked as a travel destination for a long time. And the ironic part is that I would have been placed in Haiti if I went through with my Peace Corps application almost two years ago. I would have been there (maybe not Port au Prince, but somewhere on the island) in January 2010. It is inconceivable for me to think about what volunteers were doing there before vs. after the earthquake.

Which is why I can’t just sit back after watching that episode. One of the things I wanted to do in 2011 was make a donation to an organization. I’m pulled in a thousand directions: cancer research, feeding the homeless, donating to Japanese earthquake relief, supporting international efforts, helping out people in my own state… and that’s just the tip of the iceberg. It’s overwhelming to think about who all needs help, and all the work still left to do in the world.

But like I said, after watching and hearing about J/PHRO (Haitian Relief Organization) over a year after the earthquake, I knew that was my start. Now I know I’ve griped about money issues a ton, but I live comfortably and have basically everything I want. Some of these people don’t have homes or food on their plates every day. I could scrounge up a little from my pocket to send their way for the time being. One day, when I have more money, I would certainly like to make charitable donations to a few organizations. Until then, this will have to do.

I just don’t know why it’s taken me 26 years to make my first donation. If you’re interested, you could help too. Maybe not to J/PHRO, but a charity near you (check that link for a searchable database of nonprofits or this one for a list of the larger international charities).

I know it’s not much, but it’s a start. Thanks for hearing me out.

French Friday!

This week I officially registered for my classes, signifying the beginning of my master's in French comp lit! ...Quite a change from the sports management master's program I completed a year of but ditched my studies in favor of a full-time job. But that's a story for another time.

On my plate for Fall 2011 will be Teaching Methods for my TAship (I'll be teaching 1-2 introductory undergrad French grammar classes), Théâtre du XIXe siècle (19th Century French Theater) and a cultural class that's cross-listed in the French, Italian and comp lit departments: Paris & Florence in the Middle Ages. I'm beyond excited to get started. However, a small part of me is fairly nervous/apprehensive. I haven't officially taken, spoken, or read French since 2008 and feel like I needed to do something to prepare myself over the next three months.

Enter {French Friday}! During the week, I am hoping to absorb all the French news/movies I can in effort to retrain my ear and cultivate my knowledge of French language/current events. These posts will feature various elements of French culture, cuisine, linguistics, literature, politics, geography, etc. Basically, it will be a little piece of France every week, from me to you :)

We'll ease into it this week with some of my favorite things right now. I present to you one of my favorite all-time songs, Complainte de la Butte by Rufus Wainwright (eh, who cares that he's Canadian and speaks English, the song is in French haha). I would say extra points if you can guess what movie it's from but it says it right on the video, oops :) Yes, Moulin Rouge! has been my favorite movie since 2001. So great.

The other video I have for you is a recent discovery. Grand Marnier has begun airing commercials in my area and I LOVE THEM! They're vintage and fun, like all the old French travel posters I adore. And of course, they're entirely in French! Here is a longer version of the one I keep seeing:

Grand Marnier - Balcony from Bo Opfer on Vimeo.

If you were curious about this Grand Marnier ad campaign, read more here. Oh and they also have an iPhone app. I'm definitely checking it out :) Please note, I have not been compensated by Grand Marnier to write any of this. This purely stems from my love of the French language and vintage French designs!

Bonne journée à tous! xx