Have you ever known someone that didn’t live near you, that you only saw once a year but somehow you knew each other so well it didn’t matter?  When I was about 8, I met someone like this.  She came from Canada every summer with her family for 2-3 weeks and while her father would fish all day, she was “stuck” at the beach.  Sometimes it would be rainy and gross but he’d still go fishing and she’d be trapped.  So I would go visit her and we’d take walks, swim, play, and just talk about everything.  As the years went by, she came every July and I would look forward to it so much!  The blueberries would be ripe and since she was taller and older, she could reach what I couldn’t and I loved that!   A few times, she came with just her father, but mostly it was with her mother and sister and a couple of times with her brother and his family. 

When she got married, I was pretty sure I”d never see her again, but she came that next summer with her husband!  Then a few summers later with her first baby!  Then a LONG time went by, her father stopped coming, and we sort of lost touch.  2 years ago, out of the blue, she showed up in my driveway with THREE sons!  It was like she had been there just the year before.   We picked up right where we left off. 

I was excited when she emailed me 2 weeks ago and said she and the boys and her husband were coming down for the week.  We went to the beach, though this time she wasn’t stuck there!  We didn’t get to pick blueberries because they were already gone.   We didn’t have endless hours together like we used to, but it was fun.  It’s amazing to me that for over 25 years we have been friends but I’ve never been to her house, I never went to school with her or knew any of her friends, but somehow that didn’t matter.  

I won’t be surprised if her parents show up in the next few days!  Last time she came, right when she went home, her parents came to the Cape because they missed the old days!

Last night, I had the pleasure of meeting Madame DuBois, a French woman who will be here for the year to teach French at DY high school.  She is doing a teacher exchange with Madame Boyle.  Madame Boyle will be at Madame DuBois’ school in France, teaching English!  They are both excited about this exchange and so am I, for two reasons.  First, I am THRILLED to have a French person here for the year to speak French with, to show what Cape COd is all about and to have my students who are now at the high school get to have French classes with her!  My second reason for being so thrilled is that in April, I plan to visit Madame Boyle in France!  How cool will that be?!?

Today we focused on Provence.  This is my favorite part of France.  I spent a semester in Aix-en-Provence and really enjoyed the way of life in the south of France.  I wasn’t very adventurous with food at the time, so I didn’t take the time to enjoy what Provence provides for great food.  I have since become a big fan of the Mediterranean menu and make a lot of dishes that are inspired by Provincial ways of cooking.  They use lots of vegetables, lots of fresh herbs, olive oil and their way of cooking is very simple.  Nothing is heavy. 

Today we made Ratatouille and Salade Niçoise.  I am not a fan of Ratatouille, no matter how it is prepared.  I like vegetables but something about this combination doesn’t taste good to me. Salade Niçoise is a favorite of mine.  This one did not have potatoes.

One thing I have learned over the year is that cooking is not always precise.  These dishes in particular can be made so many different ways, I can’t even keep track.  As long as it tastes good, who cares?

Today we made 3 dishes and focused on Bretagne.  First we had Moules Mariniere, then Crêpes Traditionnelle and Clafoutis aux Prunes.  We didn’t put anything in the crêpes but there was sugar in the batter so they were very tasty.  The clafoutis was like a cake with plums- pictured.  You could use any fruit in this dish. Notice I didn’t mention the moules.  I don’t eat mussels but I did include the picture.  It smelled really good!

    Today’s region was Alsace and we made two dishes.  Tarte à l’onion, pictured and Gateau aux Pommes.  They were very tasty!  We made 3 tartes and put cheese on two of them.  The gateau had applesauce between two crusts. I wasn’t such a fan of that.  I would have preferred actual apples rather than the sauce.

I’m taking a French cooking class all week and today was great!  There are 23 of us, all French teachers, and the instructor is French, from Annecy, France.  Each day, we will learn about a particular region in France and then cook two dishes from the area.  Today we learned about Auvergne and make a stew (the name of it is in my papers which I’m too lazy to get right now) and a pie called Tarte Aux Myrtilles- blueberry pie!  Unlike the typial American blueberry pie, there was no top crust and the blueberries didn’t get squished and runny like they do in ours because it wasn’t cooked very long at all.  THis isn’t a picture of the one we made but I just realized with my fancy new phone I should take pictures of the actual food we make!  Stayed tuned!  The stew was also very good- sausage, pork, LOTS of garlic, potatoes and cabbage.  Very tasty and it will be good to make in the winter.

I’m thinking I might like to try some of these dishes if I do a French club.  Just how I’m going to get to a stove is another question since I’m not “certified” to use the cafeteria appliances.