Bowling in Belgium

When Kermesse was finished, my day was far from over! Françoise La Blonde is one of the cleaning ladies at our school and has done a great job taking me in. (There's  also Françoise La Brune, who's another of the cleaning ladies!) Her nephew Fred's 31st birthday is next weekend but she wanted to surprise him with a night out before hand. Though I'd never met him she invited me along to celebrate with her family. Before Fred came over, Françoise, Nadia, Marine and I headed to a retirement home to visit with Marine's ailing mamie, where I was introduced to more of her family as "mon amie américaine". Once back at Françoise's place, Fred picked us up and we headed out to Belgium for the night! 

We went to Thémis Friterie in Mouscron for fries and sandwiches/burgers, where they're regulars. Being so close to Belgium, there are some Frenchies over here who won't order fries unless they're in Belgium. I really don't like french fries but I decided that I was in Belgium and was starving, so I ordered them alongside my chicken burger. I will admit that they're maybe the best I've ever had (and are delicious with sauce Andalouse). Dominique, another co-worker was supposed to meet us at 8:00pm... but didn't show up until after 9:30 when we had just been served our food. Until he arrived, Fred had no clue that we were there to celebrate his birthday. The second Dominique strolled in, he ruined the surprise! Fred was touched that Françoise had arranged it for him.  

Nadia, Marine, and myself  

Françoise and Fred, the birthday boy!

As much as I don't like fries, I did order them in Belgium since they're rumored to be the best. Some rumors are true! With sauce Andalouse, yum! 

Dominique thinks he's pretty suave... except he showed up an hour and a half late and ruined the birthday surprise! And then he left before we started bowling...

Then he wanted a picture with everyone...

We had our lane reserved for 10:30 but had to wait a little while for it to free up. When it came time to bowl, I was a little embarrassed that I had no idea what my shoe size was. Four pairs later, I'm a size 37. And if you're wondering, in French it's called bowling, a strike is un strike, a spare is un spare... des quilles and une boule are pretty important, too. I was first up in the game... well, Kaci was. I normally am terrible at bowling, as shown by my first frame score of 3 pins. But then somehow the American pulled it together and only lost by one. Fred joked that it wasn't fair to beat the birthday boy so he changed the rules for me. According to new regulations, I was only to roll the ball down the gutters and not down the lane. I sucked at following this rule. We joked that it was my scarf giving me the luck, so I shared it with him since I was breaking all the rules. My luck rubbed off. When I  got hot and took my scarf off, my talent slipped down the gutter. 

I'm going to miss Françoise! She's such a great presence at school and always wants to know that I'm doing well.  

Right before my first strike of the night! 

What's it gonna be? 

Françoise, Fred, and I

Fred's score needed a little boost and since I wasn't following the new rules he set for me, I gave him my scarf for added luck (it worked). 

I was first in the line up... and I lost by one point in the last frame! 

The only non-smokers in the group, Fred and I had fun trying to take a decent picture together while we held down the lane during the between game smoke break. We had a ton of fun together; it would have been fun to meet him earlier on. His cousin Margot (Marine's younger sister) kept mentioning that he's célibataire. My luck continued to rub off on him in the second game, which he won. I topped out at 80 points but didn't mind. Didn't want him to get beat twice by the American girl! 

Take 1

Take 2 - not any better but I think it's a cute picture!

Take 3 - put your glasses back on, please!

Margot was an animated bowler!

At the end of the night, Françoise and Fred drove me home even though Marine lives a few blocks from me. When I walked in the door after 1:30am, I was beat! It was an insanely long day but it was great. I had so much fun with Françoise and her family. I'm really glad that she got to see a fun side of me, too. At work, I'm pretty collect and am usually reading if I'm not in the classroom. I was dancing around and totally felt myself last night. It feels good to be me! I've got just a handful of days left before I leave and this will definitely be a memory that sticks. 

Bisous,
-kelse/kaci

Une mamie - a grammie
Mon amie américaine - my American friend
Une quille - a bowling pin
Une boule - a bowling ball
Célibataire - single (not celibate)  

Bites in Brussels

Normally I eat a really healthy and balanced diet, heavy on fruits and vegetables and light on sweets. I don't like beer and rarely drink, except for when I really feel like it. Both those general rules flew out the door when I hopped off the train in Brussels. At least I had a healthy breakfast? ; )

After some shopping and siteseeing, Riina and I tucked into Delirium Café for a beer. Let me note that this was at 12:00pm. Delirium Café hold a Guinness Record for offering 2000+ beers from all around the world and also has a really cool ambiance. Like I said, I don't like beer but I knew that my dad would practically disown me if I didn't have a Belgian beer in Belgium so I asked for a white beer and was given a Watou's Wit. Riina and I toasted to Christmas in May and spent an hour chatting before she had to meet with her co-worker. Before she left, I asked the guys sitting at the barrel next to us to take our photo. Two of them said yes and then there were crickets... After thirty seconds of no movement, we started laughing and I joked with them that usually this was the point where one of them would take my camera. Once Riina left, I finished my beer and figured out my game plan. When I got up to leave, I noticed one of the guys in the group had Greek letters on his jacket so I asked them where they'd gone to school. I ended up sitting with them for over an hour chatting about traveling Europe and comparing Greek systems at UW and UC Berkeley. Finally, I declared that I needed food at 2:30pm and they said they were impressed that I'd had a beer before lunch. Actually, that beer was my lunch...  For the record, I kind of enjoyed it (the beer, not the fact that it was my lunch). 

Riina and I  - Truffles in Tartu and beers in Brussels, let's continue our world food tour!

My lunch: Watou's Wit 

AEPi's from Berkeley Jeremy, Yoni, Ben, and David

The guys and I parted ways and I decided that I could indulge on a Belgian waffle as a snack. What was wrong with me? Usually I am very good at talking myself out of these ideas. Luckily I didn't, because this was the best waffle I've ever had. Well, normally I don't like waffles so that might not be saying much, but it's safe to say that I'll probably never have a waffle in the US again. Belgians know their waffles! The little crystals of sugar imbedded in the waffle are the best part! I can't believe I'm going to say this... I didn't have any chocolate while in Brussels because I'm over chocolate. Belgian chocolate is, however, very tasty! 

I had plenty of decadent options for toppings... 

But I kept it simple with just powdered sugar. Miam Miam!

For dinner, I went back to an Indian restaurant that I'd been to in October and enjoyed a delicious Tandoori Chicken Tikka plate with naan. This makes me excited to get back to the US where I don't have to go to another country to get good ethnic food!

Well, at least I did a ton of walking that day! 

Bisous, 

-kelse

Quiche à la Keecee

While I was eating and drinking my way through Le Mans (apparently I only drink while I'm on vacation...), I realized that I haven't eaten a whole lot of French food while I've been here. I certainly haven't really made anything French either. My family is going to expect that I have something to show for living in France and I have nothing... until today. Emilie gave me her recipe for Quiche Lorraine, the classic quiche that you've likely all tried. Since I got back to Marcq-en-Baroeul, I've been trying to figure out what type of quiche I wanted to make. An online search for recipes just left me confused and craving quiche! Some people use 5 eggs and others 2 eggs; certain recipes use half-and-half while others use milk, flour, and all vary in measurements. On top of that, tons of recipe commenters mentioned their quiche to be too watery or not eggy enough. For someone who only bakes vegetables, I took a chance creating a recipe from scratch - and I'm sure happy that I did! 

Voici ma recette for Quiche à la Keecee (since hardly anyone here can properly call me Kelsey). You could also call it Quiche aux Poivrons et Piments. Bon appétit! 

Ingrédients:
1 store-bought pastry shell [I used a pâte brisée]
Dijon mustard
1 each red and yellow bell peppers, sliced
2 jarred chili peppers, sliced [I deseeded mine in case Séb wanted a piece]
3.5 oz crumbled feta cheese [I used100 grams]
3 eggs
1/2 pint or 3/4 cup + 1.5 TBSP (low-fat) half-n-half [I used Elle & Vire Fluide et Légère Crème Fraîche with only 3% fat]
freshly ground pepper

Directions: 

1. Slice red and yellow bell peppers and roast in oven set to 175°C/350°F for 10 minutes, until slightly tender. Place in a single layer on paper towels with sliced red peppers from jar to drain liquid. Also place feta cheese on paper towels to draw out excess liquid. 

2. Set oven to 200°C/400°F. In a pie dish, set your pastry dough with excess edges hanging over the edges. Spread a thin layer of dijon mustard evenly over the bottom of the shell and poke several times with fork. (This prevents the pastry from rising up while you blind bake it.) Bake crust for 5 minutes. 

3. Fold over excess dough to form the crust. Layer your peppers evenly in the pie shell and top with crumbled cheese. 

4. In a medium-sized bowl, mix together eggs, crème fraîche, and a little freshly ground pepper. Pour evenly over peppers and cheese. Bake in oven at 200°C/400°F for 45 minutes or until egg is fully set and knife inserted into the center comes out clean. 

I thought this was delicious; next time I might add fresh basil but would happily make it as is again! Let me know if you test it out. Miam miam! Bon appétit! 

Bisous,
-kelse

Voici - Here is...
Ma recette - My recipe 
Quiche aux Poivrons et Piments - Quiche with bell peppers and chili peppers
Un poivron rouge/jaune - A red/yellow bell pepper
Ingrédients - Ingredients
Une pâte brisée - A pastry crust dough 
Fluide et Légère - Fluid and light
Crème Fraîche - Fresh cream (Note: The crème fraîche you buy in the US is different than in France because by law, it has to be pasteurized in the US. There are recipes to make your own online and it can sometimes be bought in specialty stores. Or, you can substitute with half-n-half)

Wine and meat in Le Mans

Last weekend I was lucky enough to be invited to stay with in Le Mans with my friend Emilie and her husband Marc. Emilie is a friend from high school. Funny thing about our friendship... the first time we actually hung out was when she picked me up at the train station! I always thought she seemed like a really fun, outgoing girl, so I was excited to have the amazing opportunity to get to know her in Europe. I had such an amazing weekend with them both and look forward to seeing them the next time they're back stateside! On the topic of meeting people from home, she introduced me to some English assistants still in Le Mans... two of which happen to be from the Seattle area (and I even share multiple mutual friends with one of them) - small world! 

I loved walking around Vieux Mans (also called La Cité Plantagenêt). It really put Vieux Lille to shame... The Cathédrale Saint-Julien was built between the 11th and 15th centuries, which explains it's diversity in architectural styles. It's one of the largest cathedrals in France. No matter how many churches and castles I see, they will never cease to amaze me. There are also a ton of Renaissance mansions and half-timber fronted houses that really show the history of the town. Why couldn't I be here instead?

Cathédrale Saint-Julien 

Can you tell that it's one of the largest in France? 

Me and Emilie

I love the centuries old half-timbered houses! They were all over the place!  

Umm, how quaint is this? 

The carved men at the bottom of the window frame are holding the columns up! 

Le Pilier Rouge

Renaissance mansions (15th-16th Century) that are now private homes. How do I get a room there?

After exploring the old town (which they literally live right next to!), we ran a few errands before heading to our afternoon activity. One of those errands was to go to la boucherie, which I'll admit I have stared through the windows of but haven't actually bought anything from (in France). You'll see in a minute some of what we picked up. One of my favorite experiences so far was the dégustation we went to Saturday afternoon. The département of Sarthe (within the Pays-de-la-Loire region), of which Le Mans is a part, is home to two delicious appellations of wine: Jasnières and Coteaux du Loir. Seventeen wineries were present at the event, which was held at the base of the cathedral. Tasting delicious wine and speaking to the winemakers in French was a great experience! Did I mention that this was my first wine tasting? I picked up a lot though I've got a lot to learn but this I know... the Jasnières Demi-Sec by Jean-Marie Renvoisé is my new favorite wine! (The 2003 we had on Friday night was probably the best wine I've ever had and in the photo below, Jean-Marie is behind me in the button-up.) 

We were told that the Coteaux du Loir was more for a developed palette but I really liked it and my taste for red wine is very recent. 

We didn't stop by all the wineries since Marc knew which ones were worth avoiding (he studied wine and also worked in the industry) but they were all very generous with their pours. And they were sampling about 3-4 variations each. A solid meal was certainly in order after our afternoon of wine. Let's just say this was a weekend of wine and meat... tons of meat! The specialty of Le Mans is rillettes, a salty pork pâté that you spread on bread, which started off our meal. Hmmm, it's okay. After a delicious salad, we had some yummy herbed sausages and blood sausage! I was so excited to have it again! Marc suggested eating it with dijon mustard and baguette - de-lish! For dessert we made homemade Moelleux au Chocolat, like chocolate lava cakes. So easy and so delicious! If dinner wasn't enough meat, for lunch on Sunday we also had lamb kabobs and boudin blanc (boudin noir is better). Okay, we had more wine, too... that Marc's dad made! (Sidenote: Dad, you should start making wine instead of beer.)

Watch out! I know how to stab sausages and Marc makes a mean mojito!

Grill Master Emilie! 

Eating the rillettes... I wouldn't buy a tub of it for myself but I'd eat it again.  

Verivorst! Boudin noir! It's not weird that I know how to say "blood sausage" in three languages, is it?

Moelleux au Chocolat in a human-sized oven!  

On Sunday, Le Mans has their large flowers, antique, and food market. It felt a lot less intense than the market in Wazemmes. Everywhere I looked, I thought of my mom - especially since it was Mother's Day. Since I wasn't there to spend it with her, I wanted her to feel like I wasn't so far away. So I took a TON of pictures of the gorgeous flowers and sent them to her. My brother might have one upped me with real flowers but at least mine won't die! If I haven't mentioned it on here, I have the best mom ever! Luckily for her, Ian and I are pretty good about routinely making sure she and everyone else know it too. 

Pretty, huh? (No, I'm not talking about my hair!)

I'm thinking that's enough for today. Oh yeah, I GET HOME TWO MONTHS FROM TODAY! 

Bisous, 

-kelse 

Une boucherie- butcher's shop

Une dégustation - tasting

Les rillettes - "potted meat" or salty meat spread

Un boudin blanc- white pudding (sausage only filled with pork meat, whole eggs, and milk)

Un boudin noir - blood sausage or black pudding

I love vegetables!

Yes, it's true - I may be an addict. I've actually grown up quite a bit from the girl who a few years ago didn't know that the lettuce on her plate was actually spinach. But I don't want to talk about me... Let's talk about my students. In the last few weeks, I've been teaching my youngest classes the phrases "j'ai faim" and j'ai soif." I mean, "I'm hungry" and "I'm thirsty", and by last few weeks, I only see these little guys once a week.  I found some flash-cards for some main staples in food vocabulary (chocolate, fruits, vegetables, bread, eggs, milk... even fries) and so I've begun teaching them to say "I want fruit. I love vegetables." Once I exhausted the flash-cards I had access to, I still wanted to move forward with teaching them les fruits et les légumes. 

I started off this week's lesson with the question "Qui aime les légumes?" Seriously, hands shot up and les gosses were so excited to tell me their favorite vegetables! This would never happen in America... You want to know what they said? No really, this would never happen in America... 

Les épinards!     Spinach

Les courgettes!     Zucchini

Les choux bruxelles!     Brussel sprouts

Les betteraves!     Beets

Les choux rouges!     Red cabbage

Les endives!      Endives

Les poireaux!     Leeks

Les pois chiches!     Chickpeas

So I drew little pictures of each of these vegetables on the board and proceeded to teach the English translations. When I got to Brussel sprouts, spinach and beets, several students declared "c'est trop bon! j'adore les choux bruxelles/épinards/betteraves!!" This is no joke! Every class had the same list and not a single student said they didn't like vegetables. I explained to them that American kids and even many adults don't like Brussel sprouts or beets, they were literally shocked. I then told them that beets are one of my favorite vegetables and that I really like Brussel sprouts but hadn't tried them until I got to France. I'll be honest, I may be living in a country renowned for it's pastries and deliciously rich food but give me beets with goat cheese or cabbage and I'm much happier. 

I only wish that I had eaten like these kids did when I was their age! At least I do now, well, minus the fries, nutella, and so much bread...

Bisous, 

-kelse

J'ai faim. - I'm hungry. 

J'ai soif. - I'm thirsty. 

Les fruits et les légumes - fruits and vegetables

Qui aime les légumes? - Who likes vegetables?

Les gosses - the kids

C'est trop bon! - It's so good! 

J'adore les ___! - I love ___!

Not the most eventful week

The past week has been pretty good - just not incredibly eventful. I kept it low key most of the week but did make it out a few times to check out les soldes. You see, in France, sales are regulated and the dates are fixed. There are summer and winter sales which start on the second Wednesday of January and the third Wednesday of June and last for five weeks. It's a pretty big deal here; malls are open for the first few Sundays, there are shuttles available, and signs everywhere. (Stores can have promotions outside of these dates, but those, too, are regulated.) In college, I remember watching a news segment about the first day of les soldes in Paris which resembled news clips outside Wal-Mart on Black Friday - trampling and all. I did pick up a few things for myself, though I didn't dare try the sales on the first day. Really, anyone who knows me knows that I shop rather exclusively at Nordstrom and enjoy shopping their sales and their sales only...

My collègue Sylvia recommended that I go to L'Usine, which is an outlet mall near our school. On top of the already low prices, they take extreme discounts for the sale. This was perfect for me because I HATE outlet malls. I never find anything and always regret going. So I went on Friday afternoon with 100 euro in my wallet, sent from my Uncle Bruce. Why do I go to outlets if I loathe them? Because it gets me my shopping fix without impacting my wallet. In fact, I earned 10 euro when I bought a pair of jeans (the only thing I bought that day). They cost 19 euro and I handed la caissière my bill, she did the math to make change, I confirmed that my change should be 81 euro... and she handed me 91 euro! That was easy! On my way home, I saw un tigre being pulled behind a car in a cage. Yes, a real tiger; the circus is in town.

My week also included a few sweet treats, like une tarte au chocolat, croissants, dinner and a movie... but some things I've got to keep to myself! ; )

Bisous,
-kelse

Les soldes - the sales
Un(e) collègue - colleague
L'Usine - the factory
Le caissier/ la caissière - the cashier
Un tigre - a tiger
Une tarte au chocolat - a chocolate pie

King for a day

In France, there is a long-standing tradition to eat une galette des Rois on or around le 6 janvier or the first Sunday of the year (apparently the tradition dates back to the 14th century). The galette des Rois is a flaky puff pastry filled traditionally with frangipane (an almond pastry cream) but also commonly available with apple filling. Baked into the cake is a little trinket called la fève. Traditionally, the cake is cut so that everybody has a slice, leaving an extra slice for the first person who comes to visit. The youngest person present gets underneath the table and decides blindly who gets which piece of the cake; this is to ensure fairness. The person who finds la fève in their dessert is crowned as King for the day! 

This weekend, Séb brought some friends back to the apartment along with a store-bought, apple filled, Toy Story 3-themed galette des Rois. Though Ali was the youngest (finally it wasn't me), Ashley kindly demonstrated how she should get under the table to divvy out the cake. It was funny to watch her wriggle her way under the tiny table. Ali gave it a shot but we decided to skip that part of the tradition (it's no fun using the dining room table, I guess). Séb was very fittingly crowned King for the night after finding the figurine in his slice. I thought the galette was delicious - flaky, buttery, with apple filling? How could you go wrong? I bet it'd be delicious with French vanilla ice cream! 

Not the easiest fit, is it, Ashley? 

La galette des Rois

Séb le Roi! 

Despite some very disrupting shenanigans from our other roommate, we spent the night teaching Séb the wonders of Apples to Apples, which Ashley brought back for him after Christmas. It was funny to explain to him what some of the cards meant. Rush Limbaugh? Chunky? Beanie Babies? The game wasn't nearly as loud and competitive as my family gets when we play it but it was fun. (I love playing with Aunt Tracy and her outbursts of why her card is the clear choice.) It ended up to be a late and interesting night but tasty, as well! 

Regarding the shenanigans, there have been some issues at the apartment that I haven't divulged because I want to keep this a positive place and don't want to worry friends and family at home. There will soon be a major change at the apartment, at which point, I'll explain a few details. 

Bisous, 

-kelse

Une galette des Rois- King's cake

Le 6 janvier - January 6th

La fève - charm or bean (the original baked-in surprise was a bean)

Merry Christmas! Go get naked... Christmas in Kooraste!

Some people talk about surviving Christmas with their family; this isn't usually the case for me. However, this year, I can say that I survived Christmas in Kooraste! With the crazy levels of snow, getting to Sirje and Lembit's was questionable... We decided not to take Jane's car and instead have Lembit come pick us up (after our ride, Liivi and the other Lembit, decided it was best not to risk the roads). At times during the drive, I imagined I was either in a video game or on an amusement park ride; we were slippin' and slidin' and there were some spinning tires... We also had to pull over once or twice to scrape the ice off the windshield. The hail/snow mixture was freezing as it hit the windshield. I joked that they could blame me for the snow, since Estonia was making up for all the White Christmases I haven't had.

Eventually, we made it there and were welcomed into the warmth of their home before we were promptly shown the door... Presents? Dinner? After the sauna. It literally was like, "Merry Christmas! Go get naked. And you must jump in the snow. We'll feed you and you can give us our presents later. Go on now, get in the sauna." (Maybe that's not quite verbatim but that's what happened.) So Jane and I put our ski coats and snow boots back on, were each handed a drink, and we tromped through the snow to the suitsu sauna. Once we were thoroughly baked and drenched in sweat, we ran out into the snow, tossing armloads of snow onto ourselves and into the air - we were crazy enough to do it three times! It was actually a rush and not as painful as I anticipated. (Margo had said "It was terrible" and he only had the guts to jump in the snow once... Take that!)

The suitsu suana... I dare you! 

Inside the suitsu sauna. The buckets of water are used to through water onto the coals and for washing as much of the baked ham smell off as you can when you're done.

This was my third jump into the snow... Did you really think I'd take a picture without the towel? Each time, we threw handfuls of snow onto ourselves or at each other - your toes quickly get really cold!!  

Sirje and Lembit singing "Oh Christmas Tree" in Estonian for their present

Margo's girlfriend, Anneka, had tons of questions to ask about Americans, life in the States, and why my family hasn't moved back to Estonia. It was fun to talk about the differences between both countries and opened my eyes, once more to things I wish were different in the US. Finally it was time for dinner... more blood sausage, potatoes, vodka, sauerkraut, pickled pumpkin, and pickles... delicious. Sirje noticed how much of the pumpkin I was eating and sent me home with two jars of pickled pumpkin and a jar of her pickles (all homemade); plus lihapirukad and gingerbread cookies. When we woke up this morning, she served me a plate of blood sausage, stuffed beef round, potatoes, sauerkraut, and lihapirukad with coffee. Lesson learned? If you come to Estonia, come hungry! 

Anneka and Margo 

Bisous,
-kelse