Chez Chloe

Nah, that's not really her name, either. But I bet you're curious what it's like here. And what I did til 5am at the other place. What if I decide not to tell you? What if I would rather sit here and eat my breakfast? Drink my bowl of caramel tea (mmm, a box of this is coming home with me.) Eat my slice of frangipane galette (dictionary says the word is the same in English, but it's a sweetened almond meal sort of filling, and the galette is the traditional epiphany dessert, another thing made with puff pastry) and eat my orange. Speaking of good fruit, I had strawberries and cream yesterday. Whenever I hear that at home, I think strawberries and whipped cream. And I'm actually not a big whipped cream fan. I know it's full of fake ingredients, but I honestly prefer 'non-dairy whipped topping' for the flavor, and sort of the texture. Though homemade whipped cream, well-flavored, can be very nice. Back to the point: here, strawberries and cream means strawberries and creme fraiche. An ingredient that you can get an imitation of in the US, if you want to pay like $5 for 1 cup, but only an imitation because the real thing contains the forbidden evil: raw milk. Creme fraiche goes very well with strawberries.

About my current host then? Fine, if you insist. She is a student in Arts & Culture - a sort of practical blend of sociology and anthropology for students who intend to later work in... hmm, how to explain the sector? Bah, not really sure. Well, students that plan to work with sort of community-based organizations. Vague, sorry, but will have to do. Personally, I like subjects that incorporate lots of different things, kinda like linguistics. :P She has a studio with a cool set up. There's a door that leads to her and her 'flatmate's' studios, so they have their own little section and a bit of shared hallway, but they each have their own space, complete with corner kitchen (rather typical for student studios here.) The bathroom is outside of the shared area because the building used to be a big house. It's a nice, big bathroom, though, and a much more practical use of space than trying to squeeze that into her studio.

I haven't done much here yet, just talk, had some food, watched some TV. I am very excited, though. Chloe likes to cook, likes to learn new recipes, AND has an oven!! Ok, in the US it would qualify as a toaster oven, but they work somewhat differently here, so it's a small oven. She also has a bread machine. So someone will be making cinnamon rolls today. She also has a small notebook with recipes copied from other people. Like her grandma's recipe for tarte au sucre that she got from her grandma. (Tarte au sucre is from this region. Yes, it means sugar tart. Yes, it actually has chunks of sugar on top. Yes, almost all of the regional specialties are horribly unhealthy.) So I will have a few recipes to copy down for myself as well as sharing mine with her. I made a shopping list this morning, she doesn't have any classes today so we'll be doing some shopping. K, she'll be out of the shower soon, so that's all for now.