Roommates : BYOP

Although we have yet to have any dinner parties, parties or even friend movie times at our apartment due to our 'mononucleosis' and general anti-social behavior, this is what it would look like if we were to invite you over to share a plate of food.

Roommates : Stealing Wifi

I moved into a new apartment. It's perfect and I hardly ever want to leave. However, there are certain quirks that make it that much more of an adventure. I've sketched up some comics to explain the situation.

The Importance of Being Cool

As I grow older and closer to maturity with my parents, I realize how flippin' cool they are. Not in the like "we still go to hip concerts and buy our kids whiskey on the weekend" way but more so in the actual cool way. As a parent you donate the rest of your life from the moment a six pound screaming bundle of joy is born to slinging diapers, paying for soccer camps and taming raging teenage hormones. And holy shit, that's pretty cool. That commitment to another hungry, and sometimes hangry being is probably the hardest thing one could ever do. So thanks Mom and Dad, for being so cool.

Broc Balls

Need to satisfy a craving for meatballs but are feeling vegetarian? 

Here's an option that doesn't taste like meat at all... But they are delicious!

1 head of broccoli

1 cup spinach

1 cup chopped almonds

1 cup parmesan cheese

3 cloves garlic

1/4 cup olive oil

basil, salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 350. Put all the ingredients (broccoli first) together in a food processor and blend until mostly smooth. Add the almonds last so that they don't get too fine. Grease a muffin tin and plop in the broc ball mixture. Bake for about 35 minutes or until they're lightly browned. Serve with spaghetti or on a hoagie with marinara sauce for a vegetarian meatball sandwich!

Go Home Banana, You're Drunk

A shot for the muffins, a shot for me... A shot for the muffins and a shot for me. These vegan whiskey soaked banana muffins are delicious for a pep-up in the morning or a night cap in the evening. You'll enjoy them anytime, and not just because you're drunk.

2 over ripe bananas
2 shots whiskey (or a little bit more..)
2 cups flour
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1/4 cup white sugar
1/3 cup brown sugar
2/3 cup soy milk
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
little bit of salt

Yields 12 muffins

Mix all together and put in a greased muffin tin. Bake at 350 for about 35-40 minutes and serve with whiskey and/or coffee.

David Asser, Phoenix food critic: "These muffins are scandalous"

Kale Flavorful Chicken

I love KFC in all its fried chicken glory. However, I usually really have to weigh my options when deciding to indulge or not in those fatty bowls of grease. Here, I've made a healthy and just as flavorful alternative to a stomach ache and heart attack.

1 sweet potato
1 chicken tenderloin
2 strips of bacon
3 leaves of kale
some frozen or canned corn
about half cup of onions, chopped
olive oil
salt and pepper
BBQ sauce
Total cooking time: about 1 hour.

Start by baking your sweet potato (whole) at 350 degrees by setting it just in a pan with two fork stabs in the top. After about 15 minutes, prepare your bacon. I baked it in the oven on a cookie sheet for about 20 minutes. Optional: put brown sugar on the bacon before baking. After the bacon is done baking, rip the leaves of kale into bite sized pieces. Spread out on another cookie sheet and coat with olive oil, salt and pepper. Pop in the oven for about 10 minutes, or until crispy. Meanwhile, heat up a frying pan for cooking your chicken. Put the tenderloin in some olive oil and add the onions, corn salt and pepper. Cooked until the chicken is done and tender. By this time, the sweet potato should be cooked through. Take out of the oven and chop in half. Pile with the kale, broken pieces of bacon, cut up chicken, corn and onions. Garnish with BBQ sauce.

Me-So Pink, Soup

Now, what girl and fem boy doesn't love a pink soup?

About 6 stalks of beet greens and the pink stem part too
half a red onion, chopped
a clove of garlic, chopped
About 3 tbsp miso paste
1 cup vegetarian broth
1 cup water
pinch of cumin seeds
salt, pepper,
1 package Top Ramen noodles, or any other asiatic noodle
(fried tofu would be a good addition)

Caution, make sure to really clean off all the dirt from the beet greens. Chop and sauté all the beet greens and onion in the bottom of a large saucepan with olive oil. It should take about 15 minutes on medium heat for them to soften up. This should also turn your soup pink! Once slightly tender add the broth, spices, garlic and water and let simmer for another 15-20 minutes. Then once the soup is lightly simmering add in the miso paste. Submerge the clumps and stir in for about 5 minutes. Meanwhile, break apart your Ramen noodles in the bottom of a bowl. Once fully satisfied with your soup, pour it over the noodles and cover the bowl with a plate or something until they are softened (like 3 minutes). And voila! A vegetarian, almost vegan, soup that'll make you feel like you just watched a rom-com.

Peepin' Francisco and Coit Tower

The Green Monster

Like all expensive things, avocados are delicious.

Here's a little dish I whipped with what other ingredients I could afford

2 avocados
juice of half a lemon
2 sprigs of green onion (the whole thing) finely chopped
splash of balsamic vinegar
tsp. parmesan cheese
salt
pepper

Mix it and put it on some toast.
Then triple the recipe.

Snapping Shots

Sedona ain't never gettin' old

Goose with a Williams pie

Fruit of the loom

123 Cold Cucumber Soup

3 cucumbers

2 cups greek yogurt

1 sprig mint

splashes of olive oil and lemon juice

This is a recipe passed down from my boss and is the perfect remedy to a hot day.
Take all the ingredients and throw them in a blender. Blend until smooth and garnish with your herb of choice. For a smoother texture, peel and take out the seeds. By using the basic cucumber and yogurt base, you can most definitely play around with different flavors. Try a bit paprika, or parsley and chive!

Holy Grilled Cheese, Batman!

Who Cut the Cheese?

2 slices delicious bread
2 slices pepper jack cheese
sautéed spinach, red bell peppers and onions
pesto and/or hummus of choice
avocado slices

Butter the assembled sandwich and grill 'em up just like mama did.

Things Mildred Says and Does...

One month being back in America and a lot has changed. I've gone from stumbling over complicated French phrasing to yelling simple sentences at little old ladies. I'm so grateful to have my old job back working with seniors. I get to once again visit my 100-year-old lady (who is now 101!).

When I was showing her pictures of my life in France on my Mac I asked her, "Have you ever seen anything like this before?"
She replied, "Why I've never seen a photo-show-er like this, no."
She stumbled over that noun that she didn't know existed, computer.
L'ordinateur in French.

And these little phenomenons make me think that maybe life hasn't changed all that much. 

It continues.

It's still about exploration, and learning, and words, and photo-show-ers. 

Muddy Feet and Stinky Cheese

With muddy feet, a bike ride and a last morning spent underneath the goats' butts, I bid goodbye to the farm.

I'm glad I was able to enter into a world I would've never been able to experience otherwise; 'twas the farm life : down and dirty, full of jolly people, animal excrements and fresh cheese.

Now there were just a few jumps, skips and layovers across the little ocean Atlantic before I'd be back in the ol' USA.

And this is where milk comes from...

And this is the joy it brings!

La Ferme du Petit Changeons

I find myself finally at the farm I was promised. It's beautiful, stinky and I live in a hut. The outdoor kitchen has one working burner that I have to control with a rusty tool. I eat goat cheese for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Besides learning to like cats (the one below seems to pester me the most); I've become well acquainted with goats' utters (which we have to milk everyday at 8 am sharp), a little goat named Zigzag and a troop of piglets. Photos to follow... ! 

Un Road Trip Breton

Lots of hikes through green gold.

Two hours after arriving at the farm I'm WWOOFing at, I was back in transport on a roadtrip through the middle of Brittany. A place rich with culture; a stubborn culture that won't let you escape the fact that you are in BRETAGNE. Crepes, weird slightly celtic music and green farms.

Lots of farm-made food

Pontivy (a little town)

Say no to hamburgers and yes to crepes with butter.

Je Te Dirais 'A La Prochaine', Montpellier

Chère Ma Petite Montpellier,
These last ten months have been amazing with...

The dirty nights at St. Roch Church...

Surprising beauty...

The markets...

Tunisian treats...

And the best of friends...

Now my next part of my adventure sends me WWOOFing at a goat farm in the north of France.
Merci pour tout, a corner of my heart shall always be found here.
Love,
Rebecca

The Smells That Will Linger

They say that smell holds the strongest key to memory. That being said, Montpellier will be difficult to forget. As my time in Montpellier is winding down I find myself nostalgically walking through its windy streets and alleyways. Walking with friends at night and walking with my groceries during the day I stumble across scents fragrant and foul. Here I've compiled a list of the daily things I've been smelling for the last 10 months.
- coffee
- the stink before rain, rain and the refreshing after-rain
- pain au chocolat and bakeries
- poop, pee, sewer, garbage and exhaust
- Frenchy body odor
- chrysanthemum, hydrangea and sperm trees
- curry and garlic
- l'herbe qui n'est pas de qualité
- "the oaky afterbirth of wine" - Michael Scott
- salty beach air and the swamp
- people smoking cigarettes outside of bars, restaurants, classes and the health clinic
- lavender laundry

Pescetarian Paella

12 large shrimps
2 kilo of mussels
8 sea snails
saffron oil
paella rice
1 red bell pepper
2 tomatoes
lots of garlic
1 onion
1 bottle of cheap white wine
salt, pepper and oregano
bouillon
fresh parsley

First cook the mussels by boiling a cup of water, a cup of wine and splash of saffron oil and steaming for about 15 minutes. Let cool. To cook the sea snails do the same but add a clove or two of garlic.

Remove the mussels and sea snails from their shells and place in a large pan of butter and garlic on low heat. Boil water and add a bouillon and wine. *Follow the quantity ratio on the package. Add the rice to the pan with the seafood, toast the rice (two minutes) and then slowly mix in the boiling bouillon water. Let simmer.

In a separate pan add all the veggies with oregano, olive oil, garlic, onion and saffron oil. Sauté. Once the rice is nice and fluffy, mix everything together and top with fresh parsley.

We all tried this and survived, even enjoyed it. Bon appetit!

Pasta Primavera

 

Post-beach, if you boil pasta in red wine, add tomato, onion, garlic, lots of basil and friends; you get a Montpellier Family Dinner.