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

Déjeuner du jour:

Grilled chicken breast in parisonastudentsbudget marinade,
served over pasta with extra marinade sauce,
cucumber salad with balsamic on the side.

Total damages:
1 baguette: 80 centimes
2 bottles of faux champagne: 2,66 EUR

French class day 2: already exhausted!

Today's French class lesson consisted of an exercise on accents, reading Camus' acceptance speech for the Nobel Prize, and listening to Jacques Brel (my French teacher adooores Jacques Brel). After feeling exhausted and ready to sip a hot chocolate and take a nap, I ran over the the resto u for some salad, sausage, veggies, mashed potatoes, and a raspberry tart thinking that a full stomach would wake me up. It did.... until the Art History professor showed us slides of some of the art we will see this weekend in Provence. When the lights went down, my eyelids got exponentially heavier.

After class, I hit up some supermarchés to grab some ingredients for the caprese salads that Taylor and I were planning to make. 1 kg of tomatoes for 1 EUR is not too bad....

When I start feeling more rested, I'll update with some more interesting information, but I don't think I'm going to be doing much before Friday morning when we leave for AIX, Marseille, Cassis, Saint-Rémy, and Avignon.

Total Damages today:

Breakfast of Madeleines: ,80 EUR
Lunch at Resto U: 2,90 EUR
1 kg tomatoes: 1 EUR
Pesto: 1,53 EUR
Mozzarella balls: ,89 EUR each (I bought 2 = 1,78 EUR)

Lundi -- J'ai fait du shopping

Before I left for France I got some very generous donations to the "keep Emily chic" fund from both my mother and grandmother with instructions that these donations were best to be spent on the latest French fashions. Being the frugal girl that I am, I had yet to spend more that 7,50 EUR of this money on clothes, keeping it handy for a rainy day, a nice meal, or maybe just keeping it out of the hands of the stores at les Galeries Lafayette who are known to eat large sums of money without warning.

Well last night I got a careful reminder from my mother that I had such a sum of money and that perhaps I should do some shopping. I didn't have any classes today, so I made myself a little shopping time slot in the assortment of various other activities I wanted to accomplish. I began the day with a trip over to some of the local vendors, finding little that I hadn't already seen. Next I went down to boulevard du Montparnasse thinking that I could snag myself some lunch at the Resto U after a trip to les Galeries.

To be honest, I wasn't that impressed with the Galeries Lafayette. It was just like every other mall except everything was more expensive. I was even charged 50 centimes to use the toilets, which were just as crappy as the ones in the metro! I advise you all to pee before you go.

Feeling disappointed, I walked down the boulevard to CROUS and had a huge meal of steak, frites, salad, baguette, and a big hunk of cheese. I know some of you may be wondering why I passed up delicious French desserts for a hunk of cheese. All I have to say to you is, it was a hunk of cheese. I couldn't finish the whole thing so I tucked the baguette into my purse and took off to revisit Montmartre.

Unlike at les Galeries, I had great success at the little boutiques on the sidestreets in Montmartre. I don't know if it's because I've lost weight doing all this walking, or if it's because I'm actually built more like a French woman, but the clothes actually fit me better here. I even got a pair of the very chic "skinny jean," something that never fits me right in the states (I have very long legs, so I always flood them and look like Steave Urkle). The best thing about the clothes here is that I noticed my clothing size is for the most part the same as my shoe size: 40. How easy is that?

These are the jeans hanging out on my bright blue couch --->


The boutiques in Montmartre aren't that expensive either (not cheap, but a decent bargain when we're talking Paris). Sweaters were going at 10 to 15 EUR a pop for anything not-cashmere, and I got myself a nice, wool, red peacoat that I absolutely adore for only 23 EUR (about 35 dollars). The punk/ military look seems to be very "in" here, and both the jacket and the skinny jeans reflect that style in a very subtle way.

Feeling that 38 Euros out the door was enough shopping damage to satisfy my mother for one day, I decided to trek back from Montmartre via rue des martyrs, a "long" street ("long" being very relative as nothing is really that long in Paris) which goes from the 18e to the 9e. I felt very epic making the same journey as Saint Denis supposedly made, even though I wasn't headless or immortal. Most of the street felt pretty old world, except for the Carrefour which installed itself about half way down the street. There were chocolatiers and patisseries, antique dealers and ateliers -- I think if I had just gotten beheaded, I would have liked to walk down such a wonderful street as well (though I realize Saint Denis was beheaded before such a street existed).

When I made it to the bottom, I wandered about the 9e a little bit, remembering that GOUTU, the 1 EUR sandwich shop, was in the 9e. When I found it, they were just closing but I managed to get myself a sandwich for later: turkey, coleslaw, and curry. To be honest, I don't know if it was worth my 2 EUR -- it's pretty much as small as the dinner-roll sized baguette we get at Resto U. For only 90 more centimes, I could have gotten a full meal and seat right next to my school. I'm still intrigued by the sandwich (perhaps it is delicious) but I don't think I will frequent GOUTU as often as I thought I might have.

I walked home via my normal route along the Seine, spotting lovers and venders and musicians everywhere. The streets really smell delicious here at around 1-2 pm, I've noticed.

The day is still young -- only 5:46pm here -- so I may just put on my new jacket and flâner. My dinner is really portable after all -- pocket size, you might say!

Total damages:
Using the bathroom at les Galeries Lafayette: ,50 EUR
Lunch at CROUS: 2,90 EUR
Skinny Jeans and Red Jacket: 37.98 EUR total including taxes
Sandwich at Goutu: 2 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