Monday, January 5, 2009

A New Beginning...

New Year's Eve was great. We invited our new buds over but Flavia and Gilles were the only ones who didn't have plans... I'm so glad!!! It was awesome just being us four. I made two quiches--one Quiche Lorraine and one spinach-goat cheese--and Flavia made a tartiflette which is like a gratin, but you cube potatoes, put them in a bath of cream and milk, sprinkle in lardons (like a cross between ham and bacon), slice an entire wheel of stinky Reblochon cheese in quarters and lay the cheese over the top and pop it into the oven for an hour. DAMN that shit was good!!! I also made pigs in blankets--with home made honey mustard and home made sweet and sour plum sauce, hummus with pita wedges and no-bakes for dessert.

The kids got to stay up late watching movies and the grown ups rang in the New Year watching 80's videos and talking about the world. It was low-key, but just perfect for how we wanted to start 2009.

On Friday, the neighbors downstairs went out of town for the first to go skiing in the Alps. They asked me to feed their cat and their fish. I did it on Thursday and Friday, but on Saturday, I stopped by their place on their way down to the garage as we were on our way out of town for the afternoon. But the key wouldn't go in the door. I was like, "Shit, someone has messed with their lock. Maybe someone broke in!" And then, I wished I hadn't touched the door just in case the perps left prints... yep, that's me, the American getting all CSI on it! *eye roll*

I went down to the garage and sent Sam back up to try. No avail. We called them and left a message on their cell to ask if they had ever had problems with the key. Then, when we got back home, we checked downstairs with the concierge to see if she had a key but she wasn't home.

So, yesterday rolls around. They're due home around noon, so I pop my chicken in the oven (see details below) so they'll have something to eat when they get here cuz I know they're not going to be getting in their place... It was SUNDAY so there's nothing open. They get here, we eat lunch while we wait for the cops and the locksmith to get here.

Turns out somebody put tiny pieces of metal into their lock and destroyed it. WELLLLL, about a week after they moved their stuff in (the moved in but then went on vacation), they came back and weren't home half an hour before there was a knock at their door. THEIR downstair neighbor pointed his finger at A (5 year old) and said, "It's her!!! That little cretin (sp? in English?) has been running up and down the hall, jumping up and down and making all kinds of noise. Well, A's mom politely asked him not to put his finger in her child's face and that she would talk to A about the noise. A few days later, A's mom reached her hand into her mailbox and found a pile of cat shit. I kid you not. A's mom went and filed a complaint but the cops didn't even want to take the complaint because it would mess up the crime statistics in our neighborhood... my eyes ACHE from rolling them so much!!! Are you freakin' KIDDING ME??? Anyway, so we all have a pretty good idea who put the metal pieces in their lock.

Then, I went out to the movies last night with Flavia and Gilles to see "Burn After Reading." AWESOME flick!!! There were two parts that were so violent I shouted out, "Oh my GOD!!! Oh my godohmygodohmygod!!!" and made myself look like a bona fide American! Afterwards, we sat at the bar and drank beer. I was pleasantly tipsy when I got home.

Then, the day went as planned today... I've been feeling a little tired lately and well, I have been dizzy. I thought about going to the doctor to see if I had the same ear infection Lolo seems to have (she actually has SNOT leaking from her ear... it's a perforated ear drum *eyes bulging*). But I just couldn't be bothered. Then, around 10am, I got the irresistible URGE to eat a tuna sandwich with hard-boiled eggs, chopped up pickles and sliced apples and covered in mayo just like my grandma used to make. Then, just immediately after, LENTILS sounded SO GOOD. Then, I remembered the leftover chicken in the fridge (well, the carcass, I should say) and ran in there to pick off pieces of the yummy, nutty meat (it was a nearly wild chicken, so the meat was a little more resistent to tear off the bone, but SOOOOO rich and nutty and yum!). Then, I saw the bowl of leftover mashed potatoes. I added a little too much milk (making it slightly soupy, but whatever) and nuked it. SOOOO good. Then, the tuna sandwich popped into my head again. I could almost taste it. I even licked my lips.

Do you know what I'm getting at?

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Yes... Enceinte means pregnant. I'm gonna have a baby!!!


So, anyway...WOO HOOO!!!! See, told you this damn body wouldn't wait for spring time. I'm not sure what I'm going to do about the half marathon now, but I AM sure I'm not going to run a full this year. However, I told my sis (and this applies to you, too, Rachel) that if she wanted to still race somewhere, that I'd accompany her to the race and wait at the finish line and cheer my ass off!


As for the chicken... It's called a chapon, here in France. It's a humongous male chicken that is, like I said, nearly wild. I mean, culinary-wise, it's classed amongst the same category as, like, pheasants and quail and stuff (except for size). And when you buy it from the market, it comes with it's head and neck in-tact because people like to serve them that way. ICK. It's beady little eyes were staring up at me... Anyway, I searched the internet how to cut and cook it and I think I did a fine job. I made a brine of salt water, apples, onions and garlic and got that to boil. I turned off the burner, plunged the bird in and put the lid on. I think I left it in there for about half an hour. Then, I took it out, slid herbed butter up under the skin and roasted it in the oven (about 15 mins at 240 degrees C and then another 45-60 on 180 degrees C). I made some mashed taters to go with it and served it to the neighbors. We had dessert wine and King Cake for dessert!

Ryan and A ran around all over the place with their gold crowns on.

So, there you have it... You're all caught up on everything. As is to be expected, I'm a little tired, so I'm gonna head on outta here.

Oh, p.s. before I go... I'm working on my France memoire... the one I wrote a long time ago. I'm making some pretty good headway, so I think I'll send it to the AMD by March or so even if I DON'T hear anything back from him by then. So there!

5 comments:

Emily said...

Congratulations! What are you going to name him/her?

Joelie said...

If it's a boy, he'll be Cedric Aurelian Ledger (or Marcel... not sure yet).

If it's a girl, either Leila Noemi Ledger OR Lula something... Still unsure.

EXCITED!!!

Unknown said...

CONGRATS! That's super exciting! Way to start the New Year! yippee!

xlordashx said...

A baby! Congrats Joelie!

Catherine said...

Félicitations! C'est super!