Lundi: grocery expedition round 2

Having finished off the chicken breasts, almost all of that jar of pasta sauce, 1/2 of the brie wheel and the final bits of cucumber, I decided it was time to schedule in "grocery shopping take 2." It was cold and rainy this morning, but I made the trek to Biatrix and then to my local supermarkets to stock the fridge.

Having learned that the chicken breasts, though delicious, were kind of pricey when I could get a full prepared meal at the Resto U for 2,90 without lifting a finger, I opted for the cheapest meat that wasn't meant to go straight into the microwave: sausages. I also opted for a lot of canned veggies this time -- though I really enjoy having fresh tomatoes on hand, I really don't want to prepare my own spinach or corn. Canned veggies are cheap here, and they last for a long time so you don't have to worry too much about the "date limite." I grabbed 2 fresh bananas, a jar of berry jam, and some sauce basilic for when my current pasta sauce runs dry. I got all of this for under 6 EUR.

My trip to Franprix was just to fill in the blanks: a 2 EUR bucket of chocolate ice cream (to fill in the sweet spot) and a microwaveable sachet of medeterranean rice for 1 EUR (I thought this would go well with some corn, ratatouille, and sausage).


While there, I eyed the tomme but resisted. I also noticed some massive cans of tuna (which I thought could make some mean tuna melts with my tomatoes, brie and baguette) and a jar of chili (which would be so great with a dolop of crême fraiche). I might return to supplement this grocery trip with these items.

Estimated time until grocery trip "round three": 14 - 18 days. First person to guess the date on the nose wins a crappy Eiffel Tower key-chain.

Tonight I assembled some of my groceries with some other groceries I still have from my last trip and created the most amazing dessert I've ever made at a very friendly price: under 83 centimes.

Directions to the do-it-yourself nutella banana crêpe with chocolate ice cream:

1. take out your pre-made crêpe and cover it generously in your faux nutella

2. pop it in the microwave for 10 seconds before cutting thin slices of banana onto the nutella covered surface.
3. back in the microwave for 10 seconds.
4. fold the crêpe up on itself and top with some chocolate ice cream.
Voilà -- a gorgeous crêpe for less than 1/6th of the price at a restaurant.

Tomorrow I have no class but I've got some plans to go to the 15th and sign up for the Bruges and Brussels trip. I've also got a bit of reading to do. Alicia is comming this weekend to see her friend, but I'm hoping to grab a french onion soup with her at au pied du cochon!

Total damages today:
Groceries at ED: 5,98 EUR
Groceries at Franprix: 3,03 EUR
Baguette at biatrix: 85 centimes
Hot chocolat during the coffee break at school: 40 centimes

First day of offical classes

I got to sleep in today and decided to celebrate the occasion with a hot-out-of-the-oven baguette from Biatrix. The man in front of me asked for his baguette in English and got one of the cold ones. I asked in French and got a fresh-out-of-the-oven baguette. Coincidence? I think not.

I then made myself a little sandwich of pesto, tomatoes, cucumbers, and melted brie that I packed into my bag for lunch later. I must say, there is nothing better than a sandwich on fresh bread. The sandwich must have cost less than a euro in total, but tasted like a million bucks. Upon arrival at school, I grabbed a can of cola light from the local ED and went into the computer room to print out my homework for the day.

My first class was "La France Multiculturelle" with M. Mongo-Mbussa. He was incredible. I've never seen a professor get so passionate about a subject that he actually breaks a sweat and has to pause in order to get out a tissue.

After class, I snagged a free coffe and cookie with Natalie, the activies director, and chatted about possible extra curriculars during the semester. I'm hoping to be able to work with kids somehow, doing volunteer work or something of the sort. M. Mongo-Mbussa says he might be able to put me in touch with someone he knows who works at a ZEP.

Finally I got to see a familiar face when we reunited with M. R-G for the offical start of our French class. She is as adorable as ever. I have my first "Tutorat" with her tomorrow and I am very excited!

I finished the eveing with a walk home and a pit stop at Gibert Joseph to pick up some of the reading materials for my classes.

Tonight's dinner brought back an old favorite: the ever cheap and ever satisfying pasta with tomato sauce alongside a tomato and cumcumber salad with pesto and balsamic. Dessert? The rest of the baguette in some delicious faux-nutella.




Total Damages today:

Baguette at Biatrix: ,85 EUR
Cola Light: 19 centimes
Lined paper for notes: 2,79 EUR
2 books for "la france multiculturelle": 9,70 EUR

Better butter

I've discovered why I love French cooking so much (and perhaps why the French love cooking): butter. The butter here is amazing -- I just made myself some chicken in a beurre blanc that I'm sure I could have never made at home. The chicken came out perfect, oozing with the brie I stuffed it with, and I wondered why I ever thought that butter was "the enemy." It is certainly not. The butter here tastes like someone forced two butter sticks into one -- it is such a silky and luxurious taste that after my meal, I feel like I've already had dessert.

It's not a greasy taste like the one I've always found in American butter, it's much more rich. It's like a stick of cream. Cream that makes ordinary chicken taste like ... well ... butter. In short, if I had all the money in the world, I would have all my butter imported from France. It's that good.

I think I'll like cooking at home quite a bit! I'm trying to pair these butter-licous meals with something somewhat more acidic to cut down on the heavy and bloated feeling often associated with butter. Tonight I've done tomatoes and peas in a balsamic with a red wine, but I think a simple vinegarette on some salad would suffice. I'm thinking of getting a huge bottle of balsamic tomorrow since I've almost already gone through the little bottle in the cabinet, and the balsamic can make a mean vinegarette when mixed with some olive oil and dijon mustard.

Today's lunch was also quite a feast. I cut open some of the baguette so it lay on a plate open-faced. I coated each side in some berry jam, covered that with thinly sliced apples, and covered that with some brie slices. Off into the microwave it went for 20 seconds where it became an oozing delicious concoction for my taste buds before I headed down the street to the centre pompidou for the exhibition, "elles."

Out of my groceries, I've so far used:
1. 3 tomatoes
2. the baguette
3. 1/5 of the cucumber
4. 1 chicken breast
5. 1 apple
6. 1/8 brie wheel

Tentative list of supplementary groceries for tomorrow:
1. balsamic or vinegarette (roughly 2 EUR at ED)
2. more butter? (roughly 1 EUR at ED)
3. more of this ridiculously cheap and delicious cab sav? (1,69 at ED)

I'm loving the gastronomy here. I feel like a princess even though I'm eating some of the cheapest foods around. Good thing I like cheese, wine and bread!

I think it will be pretty hard to adjust back to American life. Many times I've thought, 'I could really use a bagel right now' but then realized I would still take the fresh baguette smothered in goat cheese over the bagel any day. When I think that I would like some Yogurtland right about now, I see the nutella across my desk and think again. I know that food will be relatively cheaper in the US -- certainly restaurants are -- but I'll miss the few things that are so accessible here. Until then, I'm trying to frequent the boulangeries as long as I can, hoping that they will spring up in America one of these days. I suggest the same to any student in Paris.

Easy and cheap meals I've found to be incredibly satisfying:
Baguette and Cheese
Do-it-yourself nutella crêpes
Apples (they come in season in the fall/ winter) with cheee or nutella
tomatoes (they come in season in the summer/ fall) and cucumber with vinegar
Pain au chocolat with a banana
Petit beurre crackers and jam (or cheese, or nutella...)
Tomatoes and Mozzarella (only ,60 EUR/ ball at Carrefour or ,90 EUR at Monoprix)

I feel like all the above are good ways to save a little money here while still living what would be an expensive lifestyle in the US. I bet you all of those meals cost more on average than they do here. For the vegetarians, living like this is pretty easy. For us carnivores, we have to learn where to invest our pretty penny.

Total Damages today:
0,00 EUR!

Last weekend before classes start

After a long nights sleep, I woke up and prepared myself some breakfast that I made with the baguette I stashed from last night's dinner at CROUS and some jam. I had a cup of fauxrangina with it and felt ready to take on the world.

Today we finished our 2 part series of lectures on the formation of Paris, its architecture, art, etc... I remember learning this when I was in Mme. Saigal's class , but it feels so much more authentic now that I'm here. When Mme. Moll mentioned the various walls that defined the territory of Paris throughout history, I remember that I had not quite understood this in Mme. Saigal's class. However, now I know those streets that mark the walls. I know the buildings that expanded them, too. I feel like history is so much more interactive here, and it is so much more engaging!

For lunch I had the other half of the pizza that I got at CROUS last night, as well as a banana from the local Franprix. Since I wanted to start cooking some real food at home instead of relying on CROUS all the time, I bit the bullet and did some real grocery shopping after my french class with Mme R-G.

I bought what I thought would last me at least the weekend and perhaps a few days after that. If it only lasts me until Sunday morning, I still saved money in comparison to eating at the RESTO U.


At ED, I got:
3 chicken breasts (3,41 EUR -- meat is SO expensive here!)
2 gala apples (only ,26 EUR there, not too bad)
a kilo of tomatoes (1,49 EUR was pretty good)
a cucumber (,50 centimes, pretty decent)
a huge wheel of brie (SO cheap here, only 2,99 EUR)
canned ratatouille (I had to try it for 89 centimes)
cab. sav. (1,79 EUR -- it's pretty good -- I'm drinking it now!)


At Franprix, I got the desserts for the weekend:
1 container of generic nutella: 1,15 EUR (which is less than half the price for the same size of nutella, and it takes the same)
1 package of 12 crêpes: ,91 EUR

Basically I can make 12 nutella crêpes for the price of one on the street! They will also be good for crêpes salées (salty crêpes) -- eggs and brie sounds good to me!

I also stopped at Biatrix for a baguette to complete the meal (I just spent 13 EUR on food, so I thought "what's another 85 centimes?").

I came home to the apt and dipped into the nutella with some baguette because I just couldn't resist. I felt I needed to do some laundry before actually making dinner, so I put in a load, cleaned up the room, and began to put the pasta to boil.

Tonight's dinner:
dessert: nutella
entrée: tomatoes and cucumber in balsamic with ground pepper
plat: spaghetti with peas in marinara
boisson: cab sav


I'm falling more and more in love with this place every day. I can't wait for Jay to get here!

Total damages today:
banana at Franprix: 26 centimes
Groceries at ED: 10,99 EUR
Groceries at Franprix: 2,06 EUR
Baguette at Biatrix: 85 centimes

L'orientation: 3eme jour

I didn't have to be at school until 10:30 today, so I decided to clear things up with the bank. It didn't quite work out that way -- they told me I still needed a mailbox at mon domicile (my residence) -- but I figured out a plan that will keep my money safe and sound until my landlord and the building manager have a coffee and decide to hand me a mailbox key. We decided that I would withdraw my money and close the account until I receive a mailbox, at which point I will re-open the account (complicated, I know).

Then I went to Reid Hall where we learned about our carte de sejour (yay! another fee!), how to use French computers (it's difficult), and various tips on "good maners" in France.

For lunch I went to Pomme du Pain for their 4,95 lunch special with 1 girl and 1 boy from my program. The special includes 1 sandwich (today was "le lyonnais"), 1 drink, and 1 dessert (today was chocolate cake). 5 EUR was not bad for a complete, delicious meal and a place to sit down on blvd. du montparnasse, but I think I'll start going to the Resto U (C.R.O.U.S.) since we'll have more time for lunch in the future.

The Resto U system is very handy -- I haven't been yet, but it's basically a cafeteria system for students in Paris. It costs about 2,90 EUR for a meal (about as much as a sandwich from a cart) but you get entrée, plat et dessert (and probably some beverages, too, I imagine). The one by our school is open for dinner, too, so if I like it, I may go there a lot.

After our class on "French manners" let out, I went with 3 other students to a librairie (bookstore) on the other side of les jardins de luxembourg: Gibert Joseph. Much cheaper than the neighboring Monoprix and other tourist traps, this librairie is close enough to la Sorbonne that it knows it needs to keep it's prices down for us students. I snagged an "agenda," or pocket calendar, for 2,89 EUR.

Before heading back home, I walked through les jardins and around St. Suplice for a while, just to take in the sights. I'm really so impressed by all the architecture here.

A couple metro stops later and I was back at the local ED to pick up an apple at ,48 EUR.

Perhaps I will go out again tonight? I still have my chocolate cake from lunch to devour...




Total Damages today:

1 lunch at pomme du pain: 5 EUR
1 agenda: 2,89 EUR
1 pomme (apple): 0,48 EUR

The Sketch Factor: La Drague

I am, for the most part, completely tolerant of cat-calls and things of that sort -- Especially in Paris where the catcalls consist of "t'es belle!" instead of "hey baby, nice ass." However, I draw the line when they don't stop, and get increasingly invasive. In America, I know how to deal with these wont-take-no-for-an-answer guys pretty well, but in France I have no idea what to say to them. I don't want to be rude, but at the same time, I do want them to leave me alone like all the other men who say their 2 or 3 words and continue walking. I've been pretending that I don't speak French, smile, shake my head, and walk away, but I would prefer a nice one-liner like we have in the states. "I'm sorry, I'm engaged," "I have AIDS," or even a simple, "Not interested."

So today when I left for Montmartre in an outfit that I thought was pretty cute, I didn't know what to say to the man who thought that I was pretty cute. I looked around me and noticed that I didn't look much different than the other girls on the metro, except that I was wearing very very tall shoes. So tall that when I was walking to the metro a little boy asked his mother if he could wear shoes like mine so he could be tall, too. Still, I remember seeing tons of girls in my neighborhood wearing even taller shoes, shoes that were brightly colored and would attract much more attention than my black suede closed toe heels. Maybe there is some unwritten "no heels in Montmartre" rule that I haven't figured out yet, or maybe I just got unlucky and happened to cross the path of the one sketchy guy in Montmartre.



After a gorgeous trip up and down the stairs of Sacre Coeur, I went one metro stop down to the local TATI where, as Samantha and Christelle had informed me, the prices were much more reasonable. I saw things I could actually afford! I bought 2 wine glasses (we only had 1 in the apt.) and a little hanging thing for the shower (we're girls, and we have a lot of shower products). At Monoprix, the shower stuff started at 9 EUR, but I got a large container for only 3 EUR at TATI. The pair of wine glasses was less than 5 EUR.

I finished up the afternoon with a walking trip to Monoprix and ED (in jeans and my most mundane looking shoes, of course). I picked up a quick pain au chocolat at Monoprix where they cost only ,60 EUR but are not quite as yummy as the ones at my local boulangerie. When I stopped by ED, I just intended to look around as I had at Monoprix, but then I saw that I could buy a whole kilogram of pasta for ,91 EUR and then there was the bordeaux for only 3,09 and the tomatoes... well lets just say I caved but honestly not the worst place give into temptation (did I mention the bordeaux? That wine sells for 13 EUR/ glass in many cafés around here, not that I've been looking...). My total damages at ED came to 5,53.

When Taylor came back from her weekend trip, I decided to take her for a walk along the Seine so that she could scream like a little girl the way I did yesterday. We celebrated her homecoming with dinner at a cute café right along the Seine. A prix fixe meal (I chose frites, steak and salad, and a fruit tart) with an orangina, a view of the seine, and a place to rest our tired feet came at 14,00 EUR a piece, and we even got a compliment from the chef about our French. :)

Might go out dancing later :)

Total damages thus far:

Wine glasses: 4,99 EUR
Shower container: 2,99 EUR
Pain au chocolat: ,60 EUR
1 kg spaghetti: ,91 EUR
3 vine ripened tomatoes: ,60 EUR
1 package of chunks of meat (I swear it looks delicious): ,90 EUR
bordeaux: 3,09 EUR

Where to buy your towels in Paris: a journey

How can a bottle of champagne cost only 1,90 EUR when a shitty cotton towel sells for upwards of 16,90?

Welcome to Paris, kids.

This is the kind of stuff they never tell you about. We are all educated about how to use the metro, how and where to eat, how to communicate, etc... But no one ever tells you where to buy a cheap towel if heaven forbid the ones in your apt. smell like mildew.

Now I'm not your average study abroad student -- I did my fair share of research and I knew that I would be able to buy a towel at Monoprix, the Parisian version of "Target" or so I had heard. Well, the place looks like a Target, in that you can buy your towels within 2ft of your baguettes, but sadly the prices were not very Target-like. I mean, 16,90 for a small crappy bath towel? The ones at Target cost 4 USD!

This was when I wish someone had taught me something about Parisian stores. I had so many questions: Is there a "bed, bath, and beyond"-style store here? where? are they just as expensive as Monoprix? I thought my French would help me here, so I asked the woman next to me in the Monoprix towel isle. Unfortunately, she was under the impression that Monoprix was the best deal in town. I wanted to tell her that in the United States, I could buy the same towel for only 4 dollars, but I just sighed, picked up a couple groceries (including that 1,90 EUR bottle of champagne and some ,90 EUR saucisson sec) and went out the door towel-less.

I was now determined to get a towel that wouldn't break my bank so I headed down rue du temple thinking that I would have to find at least one store on this long and store-laden street that sold towels under 10 EUR. I was right -- after I passed the American Apparel and about 30 jewelry stores, there it was -- "texaffaires: le linge de maison à prix dégriffés." Ah yes, "dégriffé," looked like just about the most beautiful French word I could have found next to "le linge de maison." I walk in and the towels are 7,60. Not good towels, but cheap. "I have triumphed!" I thought, and rewarded myself by continuing some window shopping down the rest of rue du temple.

I went as far as I could but then I ran into a monument (oops!) and hooked a right. Much to my surprise and pleasure there was a Zara and an H&M just waiting for me to faire le lèche-vitrine. I returned home with my victory towel in hand wondering if I couldn't find other cheap stores in my neighborhood.

It was lunchtime and I was looking for a fresh baguette so I walked to the 2 minutes to the centre pompidou and quickly saw a boulangerie with ,85 EUR baguettes fresh out of the oven. I picked one up and started nibbling when I noticed the ED on the corner. When I walked inside, I found prices lower than Monoprix offered and almost frantically grabbed everything I could in my excitement. I realized I had done my grocery shopping earlier and settled myself down a bit, but I kept mental notes of the fabulous prices. Diet coke for ,30 EUR? Yes, please!

When I returned to the apartment, I fixed myself a much needed sandwich with the ingredients that I bought earlier. I washed it all down with an enormous hoegaarden which was actually more expensive than the bottle of champagne, if you can believe it (though both were under 2 EUR). One much needed shower later and I'm just about ready to go out again.

As a side note, I want to point out that my Parisienne friend, Sam, informed me about "Tati" which is apparently THE place to buy cheap things. Thanks to Sam, I wont have to repeat the towel fiasco again.


Damages today thus far:

Towel: 7,65
Groceries: 7,80
Baguette: ,85
Toilet Paper: 1,03