This week someone explained to me how to prepare cow's tongue. As a meal. To eat. I'd try it, but my mom is visiting right now, and she has declared (in no uncertain terms) that she will NOT eat cow's tongue. Nor rabbit. Nor horse. I suppose this means I will not be expanding our culinary palette. Not for a few more weeks, anyways. But stay tuned, because I just might post recipes for these and other such delicacies in the near future.
Speaking of delicacies, have I mentioned my new-found LOVE of comté cheese? Eating comté is like having a party in your mouth.
You know what would NOT be a party in your mouth? A hairball. Today, as I watched our cat bathe himself, I said to David, "Aren't you thankful that you don't have to lick yourself clean?" Yep! Add that to your list of 1000 Gifts.
Speaking of 1000 gifts, my parents brought us some of our very favorite things from the States: Pop-tarts, Jelly Bellys, Kraft Macaroni and Cheese, socks. Yes, of course they DO have socks in France. But for some reason, my boys do not like French socks. Who knew socks would be different? But perhaps the funniest thing that we asked my parents to bring was cheese. We asked them to bring cheese TO France--the cheese capital of the world. Over 600 cheeses are made in France, but no one here makes cheddar. I love all the cheeses that I can find in France (particularly a hard, white cheese called, "comté"); however, when one wants tacos or a cheeseburger, only cheddar will do. Tillamook cheddar, to be exact.
You know what is NOT exact? The process by which one obtains a long term visa in France. After 12 days of being illegal (the original extension to our long stay visa expired), David and I received a second EXTENSION to our first long stay visa. We still do not have the renewal, for which we applied in May. Last week they called to inform me that I needed to submit a different photo. Apparently, in the photo that I had sent, my teeth were showing. Apparently, it is absolutely forbidden for one's teeth to show in a photo for a long stay visa. So I went back to the photo booth, closed my mouth, took a picture of myself, and sent the photos to the powers that be. Perhaps once they receive my closed-mouth photos they will decide to give us our visas. We shall see.
Speaking of things that "we shall see," we are all getting pretty excited about the things that we shall see next week. This weekend we leave (with my parents) to go on a vacation. A VACATION! I am praying for sun and anticipating a grand adventure. Do you want to know where we are going? I'll give you a hint: We'll pack Bonnie, we'll follow Paul, and we'll quote Dr. Jones. Did you figure it out?
You know what I can NOT figure out? I cannot figure out what these are for. The real estate agent gave them to me, but I have no idea what they lock or unlock. We feel plenty secure using the other 9 keys that she left for us.
Speaking of things that were left for us, have I told you about our dishwasher? We found a dishwasher on leboncoin (which is like Craig's List) and we made an appointment with the seller to go and see it. At the appointed date and time we drove to the next town over to view said dishwasher. When we arrived we found ourselves in a small rural village. No one was home, and the house looked as if it had been deserted for weeks. But the dishwasher was sitting in plain view on the porch. We waited for an hour, but the owner never came. We tried calling him, but he didn't answer. So we decided to, well, to take the dishwasher. We thought that if we got it home and found that it worked, we would call the owner and tell him that we would mail him a check for the asking price. If it didn't work we would simply put it back where we found it. Even though I knew that we were NOT stealing the dishwasher--that we had every intention to pay for the dishwasher--it still felt like a clandestine operation. Long story short: Dishwasher works, check has been mailed, no one was arrested in the process.
Aren't you glad this post ended with the good news that we were NOT arrested?
Speaking of delicacies, have I mentioned my new-found LOVE of comté cheese? Eating comté is like having a party in your mouth.
You know what would NOT be a party in your mouth? A hairball. Today, as I watched our cat bathe himself, I said to David, "Aren't you thankful that you don't have to lick yourself clean?" Yep! Add that to your list of 1000 Gifts.
Speaking of 1000 gifts, my parents brought us some of our very favorite things from the States: Pop-tarts, Jelly Bellys, Kraft Macaroni and Cheese, socks. Yes, of course they DO have socks in France. But for some reason, my boys do not like French socks. Who knew socks would be different? But perhaps the funniest thing that we asked my parents to bring was cheese. We asked them to bring cheese TO France--the cheese capital of the world. Over 600 cheeses are made in France, but no one here makes cheddar. I love all the cheeses that I can find in France (particularly a hard, white cheese called, "comté"); however, when one wants tacos or a cheeseburger, only cheddar will do. Tillamook cheddar, to be exact.
You know what is NOT exact? The process by which one obtains a long term visa in France. After 12 days of being illegal (the original extension to our long stay visa expired), David and I received a second EXTENSION to our first long stay visa. We still do not have the renewal, for which we applied in May. Last week they called to inform me that I needed to submit a different photo. Apparently, in the photo that I had sent, my teeth were showing. Apparently, it is absolutely forbidden for one's teeth to show in a photo for a long stay visa. So I went back to the photo booth, closed my mouth, took a picture of myself, and sent the photos to the powers that be. Perhaps once they receive my closed-mouth photos they will decide to give us our visas. We shall see.
Speaking of things that "we shall see," we are all getting pretty excited about the things that we shall see next week. This weekend we leave (with my parents) to go on a vacation. A VACATION! I am praying for sun and anticipating a grand adventure. Do you want to know where we are going? I'll give you a hint: We'll pack Bonnie, we'll follow Paul, and we'll quote Dr. Jones. Did you figure it out?
You know what I can NOT figure out? I cannot figure out what these are for. The real estate agent gave them to me, but I have no idea what they lock or unlock. We feel plenty secure using the other 9 keys that she left for us.
Speaking of things that were left for us, have I told you about our dishwasher? We found a dishwasher on leboncoin (which is like Craig's List) and we made an appointment with the seller to go and see it. At the appointed date and time we drove to the next town over to view said dishwasher. When we arrived we found ourselves in a small rural village. No one was home, and the house looked as if it had been deserted for weeks. But the dishwasher was sitting in plain view on the porch. We waited for an hour, but the owner never came. We tried calling him, but he didn't answer. So we decided to, well, to take the dishwasher. We thought that if we got it home and found that it worked, we would call the owner and tell him that we would mail him a check for the asking price. If it didn't work we would simply put it back where we found it. Even though I knew that we were NOT stealing the dishwasher--that we had every intention to pay for the dishwasher--it still felt like a clandestine operation. Long story short: Dishwasher works, check has been mailed, no one was arrested in the process.
Aren't you glad this post ended with the good news that we were NOT arrested?
OH I love this post today. I am so glad that you didnt get arrested and I wondered how hard it would have been to ship you a dishwasher from the USA. Might have been a pretty penny. I also wonder if I ship you cheese...would it last and be healthy upon arrival? Hmmm One wonders. I am very very excited to hear of your cooking adventures and really anticipate more sharing. I pray that you will enjoy your time there for it wont last forever. It will come to an end and I hope that each moment is savored. I know you are doing the Lords work and this is so important but I also believe that he wants us to be very happy. I continue to pray for you. So much love from the states. Big huge hugs!
ReplyDeleteWe discussed starting a business selling the cheese you squirt from a tube...they need more cheeses in France. And we missed Tillamook Cheddar too! 'So glad we can buy it in San Diego! Have fun with your carte de sejour or whatever you're getting. The pain never ends. By the time you get it, you have to start applying for your next one. The guy at the center wore the same sweater every time we went.
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