Dear teen years: to you I say adieu

I think one's teen years is like learning how to swim. Nerve-wracking and necessary for survival in the real world, but in the end, a lesson in life you're glad you learned.

Also, something you never have to go through again. Hurrah!

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That being said, everyone knows that leaving behind one's teen years is most definitely not saying goodbye to stress (I'm sure quite the opposite actually). Case in point. Wednesday, 16th of November, day of my birth: went to my 9am class, handed out mini pumpkin spice muffins I made myself, got out of class and went home for lunch. Finished paper for my fashion class, considered not going to the field trip for said 2-6pm class on account that I was tired and had plans later that night for dinner, but went anyways. Got lost trying to meet with class, had to call teacher, who was not too happy, delayed our tour, endured rest of boring tour, returned to school for lecture half of class, got out a half hour later than normal because of stupid field trip, got kicked off the metro along with everyone else due to transportation problems, had to hurry to other nearest metro, transfer to a bus, and got home an hour later to Skype Mom and Papa, hurried to finish cake I'd made, skipped shower (yuck) so I wouldn't be horribly late to Theo's and mine birthday dinner. (The got super hungry and started without me.)

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So yeah, stress-free life from now on? Hardly.

The middle of my day pretty much sucked, but dinner was nice. And everyone loved my cake, which was a two-layer banana bread with a jam center, cream cheese frosting, and shaped and garnished to look like an X-Box controller. I chose this shape because while Theo likes to pretend he's just you're typical suave French guy, I know he's a geek at heart. And I know it was my birthday as well and I shouldn't have been the one making a cake, but I took the excuse that it was also his to bake such a fun cake. Needless to say, he was surprised, and it was a big hit in both looks and taste. :)) Behold:

In other news, I think I've made progress in getting more funds from my school. But I can't expect anything before Tuesday, so my babysitting money has to tide me over until then. I really hope we don't hit yet another bump in the road (knock on wood!) so that I can get a ticket home, not have to worry about rent again and finally buy the things I need for around the house (read: my tiny studio apartment).

Also:

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas....evvverywhere we gooo...

Actually, it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas here in Paris, and while it's beautiful with all the lights that have started to go up, it's really making me miss home. I've already had another birthday and Christmas without them, I'm about to miss a Thanksgiving, so missing yet another Christmas would be kinda depressing. But we'll see.

Here's to hoping for the best,

Rachael

P.S. God, I can't believe I'm twenty!!

Losers see barriers, winners see hurdles

Found this on another blog on Blogger, check out the link, there's tons of these inspiring post-its

Now that I've gotten all the event-y posts out of the way, I can now take the time to post about daily life again. Even if daily life isn't always cheery and full of rainbows.

Well, what my daily events are fine: class, wandering the city, grocery shopping, cooking, baking, preserving...(more on that later).

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Let's talk about school and classes. While all of my classes are at least 3 hours long, I've gotten used to them. Wednesday (class from 9-12, 2-6) still makes me want to bang my head against something concrete, but at the very least I don't have babysitting on those days. And then it means I can faire la grasse matinée, or sleep in (literal translation, make the morning fat aha) on Thursday. And now when I think about how I thought 1.5 hour classes were long, I want to laugh.

Anyways, not sure if I explicitly said this previously, but I really, really love going to school here. Despite having two other classes, they're not terribly demanding and I feel like I can really focus on my French. Of course, I am living in Paris and French is kinda a requirement even outside of school, but still. It's nice not having to worry about writing an 8 page paper on rhetoric. Ew.

Me after my long days

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So I don't really stroll freely through the city anymore, but I just love being out and about. Being on errands, or even just admiring the scenery when studying outside (ok, I did that once, and I didn't study so much as feed hungry pigeons). Also, I love love LOVE Sunday market. Yeah, I have the market 6 days a week, but Sunday is the busiest--and therefore best--day to meander down the entire street, eyeing the redness of apples, or the abundance of lemons and clemetines. The excitement of all the people trying to find the best deals is just so...reviving, especially in the brisk November air. It's also times like these though that I really miss Mom and Papa, because I know just how much they would love it too.

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And speaking of fresh produce, what is it that I do with 2 kilos of apples, a kilo of pears, and 4 lemons? (All for under 5 euros, btw). Why, I preserve, of course! Oh, wait, what's that? Didn't you know I was into this kind of thing? That's ok because neither did I! But apprently I am and now I understand how the Martha Stewart and Paula Deen shows could be so popular. I don't know what it is exactly; is it that I'm living on my own for the first time? Are constantly seeing baked fruity creations everyone inspiring me? Or could it simply be that I have too much time on my hands? Whatever the reason, I now peruse my first ever cookbook (in French, but pssh, when it comes to food it's easy to understand in any language) daily, bookmarking recipes that sound good. Already I've made:

-Broccoli, egg, ham, and cheese souflees

-Mongolian beef

-Broiled pork

-Ginger chicken

-Muffins, twice

-Pumpkin pie, twice

-Pumpkin spice cookies

-Bakes pumpkin seeds with my own seasoning combo

-An ok baguette (was my first time)

-Various jams

Don't worry, I'm not quite this bad...

...yet...

Now I'm just gonna mention this briefly because I don't want to dwell on it too much, but I'm unfortunately having a really tough time financially. All I'm really buying these days is food, and even then, not a whole lot. Guess that's one way to slim down, har har. And if my phone gets cut off for a few days, I guess that's not THAT big of a deal...:/

I'm not babysitting as much as I was originally told I'd be needed for, and that's one problem. The major one is that there are some really incompetent people working for important positions at Western, but I'm hoping against hope that everything will be worked out this weekend and I will have money to buy myself a belated birthday gift. And pay for my phone. And maybe a ticket home for the holidays. Because hoping for anything by Wednesday is kinda pushing it. So there you have it, why this post is titled the way is it.

Well, so that this post doesn't end on a sour note, here's another picture of a kitteh!!

You know you love it,

Rachael

Salon du Chocolat...aka In Which We Gorge Ourselves On Gourmet Chocolate

Alas! This post is finally up :)

A couple weeks ago, the metro started putting up giant posters for Le Salon du Chocolat, (see the bottom of my previous post for picture) a convention apparently only held in Paris, New York, and Tokyo. Panels, demonstrations, samples, and a chocolate dress fashion show?? I was so there.

I'd just set my mind on going when my gastronomy teacher surprised us with the announcement a couple days later that we would be taking a class field trip to said convention--and at a reduced student price. Oh happy was I!! ;)

We went on the first day, and were given shiny, sparkly tickets--because of course Paris has to be classy with anything involving chocolate. I felt like one of those chosen kids from the Willy Wonka movie with their golden tickets...expect no body was knocked off, hehe.

I took a ton of pictures, but basically all it really was was us sampling chocolate after chocolate after chocolate after chocolate after....well, you get my point. Unfortunately, the chocolate dress fashion show wasn't to start until 5, but by that time I had to leave to pick Kevin up from school. Regardless, I loved getting the chance to marvel at such magnificent and artistic creations of the cacao nature--definitely one of the best field trips I've ever taken. Though I think that it goes without saying that everyone was just a tad bit queasy after consuming so much chocolate...

Anyways, enjoy the pics and try not to drool! :D

The entrance:

PILES of chocolate-covered marshmallow sticks:

Chocolate violins!

'Whoa' was all I had to say:

Got to try wasabi chocolate! Different, but not bad:

They had the Grand Marnier crepes going..definitely gonna have to try that sometime:

How clever, wanna try this sometimes too :)

Ok, so these were spices, but the sheer amount was just so impressive...

...though I'm not quite sure what that blue, green, and orange stuff were:

All made out of carefully textured chocolate:

Just realized I put this picture in twice and stupid Blogger won't let me delete it...so Grand Marnier crepes again:

Chocolate/white chocolate pencils and vegetables:

Cigars, too:

Can't forget the macarons:

I want a bouquet of chocolate flowers..!

A lot, yes:

Something they call nougat. Not 100% sure what it's made of, but it's light and airy, but stiffer than marshmallow (maybe made with egg whites?) Either way, it was good:

Sausage-shaped chocolate biscuit:

Cute necklace idea:

You can all wipe your mouths now, hehe.

Love always,

Rachael