Vin gai...?

There is an expression in French about drinking wine – it can either make you vin gai or vin triste. Some people get very happy and boisterous after a little drink, but others will become depressed and weepy.

I think Plutarch looks a little vin triste in this shot.

The book in the photo is by my professor’s professor – I thought it’d be wise to check it out. I’ve been drinking Diet Cheerwine to fuel my work on my mémoire (first-year Master’s thesis), which involves Plutarch’s Life of Themistocles. My soutenance (defense) is set for September 13th in Montpellier, but I need to send the final copy of the paper off to my prof and the other jury member around the third week of August.

No Cheerwine in France, as far as I know – no Dr. Pepper either. There’s vanilla Coke though. I think my favorite sodas in France must be Fanta citron and Orangina Light. I drink so much more soda now, after my time in France, than I ever did living in the U.S. This must be due to the Company I Keep, but since I don’t drink alcohol anymore for the same reason perhaps the negative effects cancel each other out.

The shelf-life of Tabasco®

My life in Montpellier is reduced for the moment to telephone conversations with Ahamed about our respective arrivals in September.

Ahamed told me on the phone the other day that when he got to Montpellier he would throw away old food because the apartment had probably gotten too hot. It’s been up to 40 degrees Celsius there, and since the studio we live in is on the second and top floor, it gets very hot from the sun (which hits it directly).

He always seems to be throwing stuff away… He threw away the pyjama pants I bought him (kind of a unisex style – well, okay, they might have actually been women’s, but you really can’t tell – a red flannel pair) because he lost the drawstring somewhere. He also threw away a pair of my pyjama pants (from Gap Body, if I remember correctly) I’d left behind in Montpellier a year ago (no drawstring either, but still usable! That’s what the elastic is for). He threw away my bottle of Tabasco too. What keeps longer than Tabasco (except perhaps honey, as my grandmother tells me) ? He did have to move his stuff out of his room at the Cité for the summer, but he kept herbs and spices and I just don’t see why he couldn’t have kept the Tabasco too. I mean, it’s a small bottle – nobody buys pints of hot sauce that I know of.

Koko sniffs out the expiration date of the largest bottle of Tabasco I've ever seen.

Anyway, when I reproached Ahamed for this throwing away business, he said he wouldn’t pitch the olive oil or the rice, but might get rid of the sugar. What can happen to sugar anyway ? As long as it doesn’t melt or caramelize, I think it should be fine.

I think this is a problem of conflicting mentalities, because in my family no one ever (I mean it) throws anything away. Even if it has a layer of mold on it, it’s still salvageable (what’s under the mold is fine!) Old clothes can certainly be used as dust rags.

I asked him not to throw anything away before I arrive, but am afraid I’m going to get to the studio and everything will already have been tossed. I’ve already got my pantry going and I don’t want to have to stock up on bouillon cubes and hot sauce again!

La Coupe du monde 2006

I’m back home in North Carolina for the summer, but that didn’t stop me from holding a World Cup party for my family when Les Bleus made it to the final!
A little late, here are some pictures from the event :

I apologize for Materazzi in the background, but we were ready to eat and I didn’t have time to wait for the French players to get on the screen!

Our starting line-up (of dishes) was as follows (clockwise from cupcakes in the photo above):
World Cupcakes (buttermilk cupcakes with tricolor cream cheese frosting from the Gourmet cookbook ; my cousin decorated two in Brazil’s colors, because even though they weren’t playing he considers them the best team)
Peanut Barthez (plain peanut butter to spread on apple slices and baby carrots for my 10 year old cousin)
Veggies Vieira-ra (celery, carrots and cucumber)
with Ribery good dip (anchovy dip)
Brie à la Henry with Do a little dance, Makalele loaf…of bread (Brie and baguette slices)
Snap, Abidal and Pop (Cheese Crisps made with Rice Krispies)
Champignons au pistou, pour Zizou (Hot mushroom caps stuffed with pesto)
Not pictured : Cheddar Sagnol-ives (Hot baked cheddar olives from the Gourmet cookbook

Lilianopites (my mother’s miniature spanakopites, or Greek spinach pies)

A note on ingredients : I have looked for anchovies (les anchois) in France and have not yet found them. They do not seem to be kept in the tinned fish section where you might expect to find them next to tuna, sardines, and mackerel. After asking an employee at the Carrefour in Lattes and being told to look in the fresh/frozen seafood section halfway across the store, Ahamed and I were too tired to continue the search.
I have also recently had trouble finding Rice Krispies in France. I know I bought them two years ago when I made Rice Krispies Treats for my host family, two of whose daughters are allergic to wheat. Now I can no longer find them anywhere, and only see Cocoa Krispies, which I don’t recommend as a substitute in the Cheese Crisp recipe.
And as far as the cheddar – I have heard rumors it can be found in France but will only believe it when I see it for myself. I don’t know if Emmenthal can be substituted. The French seem to use Emmenthal in everything – from savory “cakes” to quiches to topping pasta.