Friday, June 18, 2010

Delicious food

my latest discovery, and only 10 calories per each chocolate-dipped stick. so good.


I tried out this recipe on Wednesday and it was surprisingly easy and delicious! I left out the parsley and sub'd onions for Ciboulette.

Mushroom Baked Albacore
1 ½ pounds troll-caught albacore tuna steaks
1/4 cup chopped parsley
1/4 cup butter
1 cup sliced mushrooms
½ cup Half & Half
1 tablespoon flour
Salt and pepper
Paprika
Chopped parsley

Saute onion, parsley and mushrooms in butter for about 10 minutes. Place albacore steaks in a greased baking dish, season with salt and pepper. Spread sauteed mixture over the steaks, then dot with butter. Bake at 350 for 15 minutes; remove from oven. Take juices from the pan and blend with Half & Half and flour in a small pan. Heat over medium heat, stirring constantly until thickened. Pour sauce over fish, return to oven for 5 more minutes. Top with parsley and paprika

Simple Things

Today on my way to school a young girl stopped me as I walked by her car and asked for a "crayon" or something to write with. That was Easy. Then I get to class and realize that I did the homework completely wrong, it seems I haven't quite grasped Passe Compose, Imparfait, and Plus-que-parfait. These are all different verb tenses used to describe things that happend in the past. Luckily today we had a student teacher sitting in and he was able to explain the concepts in English. Sometimes I swear it's impossible learning grammar about a foreign language when it's taught in that very language you're trying to understand. At least I think I might be on  the right track....
Speaking of tracks, at the metro station a little later a woman approached me with a map and immediately I thought Geez I can't wait to tell her that I don't understand what she's asking. However, she was speaking English and wearing a New Zealand sweatshirt, but how she knew I spoke english I have no idea. Some say it's easy to spot an American in other countries, I had hoped I was blending in better these days. Anyhow I was able to help her and explain that she needed to catch the next tram to get to where she was going. I have come a long ways since I first arrived here.
   Once on the bus a family of travelers came aboard, I could tell they were American immediately. They came all the way from Alaska and are on a 6 week tour of Europe. Unfortunately they had no idea of what had just happened at their next destination over the past few days.  It's really a catastrophe.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/2248330.stm

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Sidetracked

Today my friend Natalie and I inadvertantly did a bit of a triathalon. We started out looking for an indoor pool and ended up walking for more than an hour trying to find it a neighborhood we knew nothing about up on Fouviere Hill. Did I mention I was lugging about 10 lbs of my school books, in the rain? Anyways as it turns out, this is no ordinary pool but an olympic-sized pool so after completing about 10 or so laps I was done. Now onto Yoga for the final event, well maybe....

As always, I start out with a main purpose for getting online and then I get completely lost on You Tube, Facebook, BLOGGER.com, etc. Tonight I was looking for some cooking ideas and stumbled across this jewel. Bon Apetite!

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

The next chapter

I'm calling this second term in Lyon Part Dieu, for two reasons:
1) I'm about a block from the Centro Commercial which is called Part Dieu. The shopping mall, the train station, buses, and metros all come together here in the more modern part of the city.

2) After taking an official break from this whirlwind of an European experience and going back to the states for about two weeks, I returned to Lyon. It's not that I didn't think that I would come back, but I was definitely wondering before if I would have second thoughts once I was at home in Houston. Before leaving  the states in February, conversations with my family were along the lines of  "well, I will try it out and see how it goes" and "this won't be a permanent relocation". The first three months were a mix of shock and awe, adventure and boredom, just about any two extreme opposites of emotion I went through them all.

My assignment for my French class tonight is to write about all the things that have changed since arriving in Lyon. To that I say, "Merde, there isn't enough paper in my notebook or time in the world for my teacher grade this assignment."
Hmmm, a few key points in my paper will probably talk about.....
- Crying on the first day I was on my own in the city and got lost for about four hours in the twisted streets but now I can successfully navigate any of the transits systems without a hitch!
-Not being able to read a menu or order anything on my own not even at McDonalds. Now I've got favorite eating spots and use a french cookbook for meals at home.
- Not knowing how to workout without a gym to walking/running( only when headed downhill  =P ) through rose gardens and next to giraffes, elephants, and bears at our beautiful park down the street.

Everything is looking so much better already this time around.

I can clearly say though that I came back with the soap washed from my eyes and now I couldn't be more excited, in love and ready conquer anything this country and/or continent has to throw at me.

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

I'm so glad summer is here, and can't wait to explore the mediterranean in the next few months!
Menorca is going to be so amazing!


Wednesday, June 2, 2010

In today's news...

So much going on in the world right now, it's unbelievable!
First of all, I've been mentioning the Air France flight 447 for a while now. Yesterday marked the one year anniversary of the accident. The families of the victims still do not have any answers as to why the plane went down and the airline is reluctant to continue their investigation because it's so costly. Today I will be flying Air France from Houston direct to Paris and then taking the speed train back to Lyon. It doesn't matter how many times I fly, I always get the pre-flight jitters. 

In other headlines:
Behind the Gores' Shocking Split The Daily Beast – 48 mins ago


Five confirmed killed in British shooting rampage Reuters – 16 mins ago

Anti-incumbency takes down another congressman AP – 1 hr 29 mins ago

Could Gulf oil spill bankrupt BP? The Christian Science Monitor – Tue Jun 1, 6:53 pm ET

US soccer team in fortified South Africa hotel AP – Wed Jun 2, 4:55 am ET

Are moviegoers tiring of sequels? Reuters – 43 mins ago

Military to Adopt NFL's Instant Replay Technology LiveScience.com – Tue Jun 1, 10:45 pm ET

.

Lyon Part Dieu



It doesn't take a scientist to know that I'm excited to get back to France tomorrow!