Séchoir

Here's something I love about Europe: the séchoir à serviette.

Never again will your towels grow musty in humid weather. Never again will you step out of the shower during the winter and shiver while you dry off. Added bonus: it heats the whole bathroom. (Only disadvantage, but it's a biggie: the séchoir evaporates all the moisture from your towel into the air, leaving your bathroom more humid and at-risk for mildew than ever. Solution: crack the window just a touch.)

Am I getting one of these upon my return to the states? Thanks to Amazon, it's a strong possibility . . .

Galeries Lafayette

Sunday made it two weekends in a row that we went on a clothes-shopping adventure. (Last time we hit up Ding Fring, in Belleville.) We went back to Galeries Lafayette, which had been closed the first time we stopped by.

Along with Bon Marché, Printemps, BHV (owned by Galeries Lafayette) and La Samaritaine (closed until 2011), Galeries Lafayette is one of the "Big Five" Parisian department stores that have been around for more than a century. "Department Store" is actually a poor translation; they're more like malls unto themselves. Each has a restaurant, a café, a supermarket, a gourmet épicerie, as well as expansive collections of clothes, kitchen ware, furniture, electronics, media, everything. Galeries Lafayette, for example, is spread out over three huge buildings, one of which is 10-stories tall. Take that, J.C. Penney! Unlike American department stores, there's no sense of "lowest common denominator" in the products offered (sorry, Ralph Lauren or Tommy Hilfiger fans). Rather, you can find cheap, store-brand stuff, as well as high-fashion, boutique-style items. It's impressive.

Also unlike American department stores, these French department stores haven't done well as franchises, with just a few other locations around the world (including Jean Nouvel's Galeries Lafayette in Berlin). In part, that's because the grandiosity and flash of each store makes it an event as much as a retailer, and that's hard to replicate.

To give you an idea of what I mean, check out the escalator bank of the five-story Galeries Lafayette building (home and kitchen wares, restaurant, café) just across the street from the main one:

Clearly I was dazzled by all the pretty colors and flashing lights, as well as the seemingly-unrelated place names and nouns (Engrish?). Eventually we crossed the street and entered the extension to the main/original building (can you tell this is a big operation?) where we were completed overwhelmed by the throngs of people who had had the same idea: it's Saturday! There are sales (soldes)! Let's go shopping!

Also overwhelming were the smells of the place. After another, less interesting escalator ride, we arrived at the epicenter of odors: the spice table just outside the supermarché:

We still hadn't gotten to the clothes, or the original building. First, we had to cross a skywalk, which (as if not to waste any space) doubled as one of two locations to buy sunglasses. But then, we arrived at the Galeries Lafayette Coupole (dome), and immediately forgot the crowds, the smells, and the terrible dollar-to-euro exchange rate:

Clearly France isn't so far behind the states in terms of the total commercialization of Christmas - even here, the soundtrack in the store was Christmas carols, and it isn't even Thanksgiving (which the French don't celebrate, commercially or otherwise) yet. But gosh, is that dome beautiful - and the tree, too.

We didn't end up buying anything, in part because the crowds were too intense. I guess that means we'll have to go back! (On a weekday. After Christmas. Having left our credit cards at home.)

First French Haircut

I've now spent a total of 8 months of my life in France, but I've never gotten my haircut in the country. (All my previous trips were just long enough that I could "do without.") That changed Saturday morning, when I took the plunge and braved my first French barbershop. (Just like documenting a baby's first haircut, I thought it was important to document this "first.")

Here's what I looked like when I went in:

Unfortunately, you can't hear the Bollywood music playing in the background. As befits a Belleville barbershop, this one was run by South Asians. (Belleville's diversity never ceases to amaze me.) In fact, I'm not sure my barber spoke French. He certainly never asked how I wanted my hair cut - and I never offered, because I barely even know how to describe how I want my hair cut in English.

30 minutes and 7 euros later, here's how it turned out:

Maybe you've seen my television program - with all the make-up on, and with different lighting, I look slightly different:

Actually, I'm really pleased with the haircut - the part is only temporary, but the length is right, and you can't knock the price. In another two months, I'll be going back for more . . .

Portraits of the Bloggers

Panda is kind of like the Mona Lisa in this one - is she looking at the computer screen, or at the camera?

She probably doesn't miss me right now, since she's making new friends at the kennel. But there's no question that she misses Maggie - they have a special bond.

This post, as well as the next few, are all "pre-fabricated" - I set them up before we left for Belgium so you'd continue to be entertained while we're "afk". But we'll be back with "live" posting as soon as we return Sunday evening!

Today

While eating lunch in my favorite park, a woman sat down next to me on the bench, and after a few moments of silence, she asked if I was American. "Oui," I replied. "Comment saviez-vous?" She pointed to the whole wheat oat bagel, vache-qui-rit and lox sandwich I was eating. Apparently she had spent some time in the states and recognized a bread shape she hadn't seen in many years. I informed her that a) you can totally get bagels in Paris (in addition to Ninasushi and La cérise sur le gateau in the 19th, yesterday I stumbled on an awesome-looking sandwich shop in the 6th called "Bagels and Brownies"); and b) you can easily make them yourself.

Then she told me her life story and the life stories of her kids, only stopping when she remembered she had originally sat down to smoke her one cigarette for the day. She asked, almost rhetorically, "Vous fumez pas, comme tous les américains?" I answered "oui," and she very kindly went off to smoke at another bench. I really do love that park.

Unrelated: Fast forward to tonight, when Maggie and I started getting ready for our trip tomorrow. We took out Panda's vaccination form to put it with her other stuff for the kennel and realized she's past due for a bordatella shot - which is the shot that's specifically for preventing disease while your pet is at the kennel. So tomorrow morning we're going to have to scramble to find a vet who will take walk-ins and hope we don't have to use the emergency service at the one place we know will be open. (Tomorrow is a state holiday. Emergency service is costly.) Luckily we haven't booked any train tickets, and since we're staying with couchsurfers we don't have any deposits down on hotels, so if we have to wait until Thursday to leave (when more places will likely be open) it's not the end of the world.

Oh, Panda.

Wij komen naar België!

As all you Dutch/Flemish readers out there already know, we're headed to Belgium! We leave this Wednesday, right after we drop Panda off at the doggie resort. (From the website it seems like way more fun than a normal kennel. She'll be staying on an island in the Seine!) Due to Armistice Day, which is a jour ferié (state holiday) in France, Maggie has no classes Wednesday through Friday this week, so she's not missing too much. And now that I've been researching consistently for six weeks, I feel like I can afford to take a break too.

Here's our itinerary:

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Wednesday night, we'll stay in Lille. Thursday night, we'll stay in Bruges. Friday and Saturday nights, we'll be in Brussels, and we'll return Sunday afternoon. We already have couchsurfing hosts lined up in each city, and we're looking forward to making new friends.

Due to the last-minute nature of this trip, we haven't really had time to plan out what we'll do in each city. Let us know if you have any suggestions - things to see, to do, to eat, things we absolutely shouldn't miss or things we absolutely should.

We can't wait to tell you all about it when we get back!

Aftermath

To finish up "food weekend," a tale focusing on the dark side of cooking.

Maggie and I have a deal: I take Panda out at night, and she does the dishes. After Friday night's dinner party, I definitely had the better end of the deal.

First, she ran out of room on the drying rack.

Then, she ran out of room on the fold-out table in the kitchen.

Luckily, the rest fit on our stovetop.

Because we didn't prepare anything in advance, we ended up using almost all the dishes, pots and pans in the kitchen. This just in from Maggie: "Dear Dishwasher - I miss you. Love, Maggie"

PS Props to everyone out there who never uses a dishwasher and still throws awesome dinner parties. (Especially Becky.)

The Dinner Party

Last night, we had new friends Sara and Guillaume over for dinner. (Thanks, Robert, for introducing us!) As if the day hadn't already been taxing enough - Maggie took the GRE and I drank a lot of coffee while waiting for her to finish - we decided to whip together a four-course meal. By "whip together" I mean we had three hours to buy a bunch of ingredients and make everything before our guests arrived. It was a little intense.

Our menu ended up being slightly eclectic but all delicious:

Entrée - tortilla chips and home-made guacamole

Plat - Tacos! Chicken, white beans, home-made salsa and grated cheese on whole-wheat home-made tortillas

Salade - basically the same thing you see here

Fromages - Sara and Guillaume contributed three excellent soft cheeses to our multinational, multicultural meal

Dessert - my great-grandmother's famous banana cake (some day I'll post the recipe)

So - when are you coming for dinner?

This is Ridiculous

As if we didn't spend enough time posting on our own blog, we're now guest-posting on another blog: my classmate Andrea writes "If Worst Comes to Wurst" about her experiences trying out different kinds of (you guessed it) sausage during her time in Poland, where she is also doing dissertation research. If you click on the link you'll be treated to a picture and description of a sausage-based dinner we enjoyed a few weeks back. And below you'll see the picture Andrea wasn't able to post (for technical reasons):

We love food too much!

Food Weekend

All food posts, all the time, at least through tomorrow - because there's so much to show and tell!

Earlier this week, we made whole wheat oat bagels, expanding our repertoire to something much healthier and every bit as delicious.

This may look like mac'n'cheese, but the cheddar-cheesy color actually comes from a sweet potato sauce we've made a few times since we arrived. It's basically sweet potato puréed with crème fraîche (sour cream) and spices. We did grate some gruyère on top, but more as a garnish. The whole thing went into the oven and was the perfect dish for the brisk days we've been having.

Salad's boring, except when there's apple and fresh French-style vinaigrette (Dijon mustard, balsamic and EVOO). Also French-style: we always eat our salad after the main course so that we have a light buffer between the plat and dessert.