When you live in a foreign country, inevitably you adapt yourself to the new place. However, some things stay with you forever, because, like a beautiful song says, “you are who you are”. Me, as a Catalan person, I cannot live without fuet (Catalan sausage) or pa amb tomàquet (bread with tomato, olive oil, salt). Well, finding the food you need is not easy when you are abroad!
I’ve been in Paris for a few months now. I’m spending most of my free time trying to settle myself in the city. This is a very interesting and demanding activity, because there’s a lot of work to do. Right now I still don’t know well my neighborhood, I have to carry my Paris map (aka as “my best friend”) all the time, I have to ask a lot of questions (where do I have to go, how should I do this or that). But what currently is taking me most time, now that the hard part of the international moving is over, is finding food & stuff.
It took me one month and a half to find a mop for example. Here in France people use other ways to clean the ground of their homes, but I don’t like their methods. So I was out on my quest number… thirty seven probably. And I found the mop! A couple of weeks later I found something else: scotch tape. I was so so so happy when I found it that I bought three of them; just in case, since I had such a hard time to find them. But food, mes amis…
Glorious food! I finally found a very big supermarket close to my place: Monoprix (they are all over the city - and the country). They have a lot of food there, but the Spanish part is not very developed. I managed to find fuet, and actually it says it comes from Catalunya, so I bought it and tasted it: yes, definitely it’s a good fuet, and probably it does come from Catalunya. What’s funny is that I recognized it when I smelled it while walking around the shop. I said to myself: “Wait a moment, I cannot see it, but I can smell it: there’s fuet somewhere in here!”. And there it was: saucisse de Catalogne. Fantastic!
Not all my stories are successful ones though. For example, I cannot find the equivalent to Avecrem (cubes for soup). They have something called bouillon that belongs to the same family, but not close enough. So I embarked myself today in a new adventure: preparing an imaginative soup. I had the bouillon, I had the chicken and I also bought a pot au feu: onion, celery, carrots, leeks, laurel, thyme… The result is not completely satisfying because -frankly- my culinary arts are not very developed, but it can be eaten. It’s been the first time I’ve been able to cook something that really tasted home!
This means that right now I’m in a special crusade, which is finding the ingredients (and the will…) in order to cook my kind of thing. Don’t mistake me: French cuisine is extraordinary! But I don’t know (yet) how to cook the quiche lorraines, gratins dauphinois, hachis parmentiers, etc., that are so delicious. Right now, I’m sticking to what I know, with the elements that I’m given.
Well, actually I’ve prepared myself something French, my favorite dessert: La Belle Helene. It’s a boiled pear, with vanilla ice cream and chocolate sauce (some people add cream too, or change the flavor of the ice cream). It’s the best dessert ever, and it’s French, and it’s delicious, and I always order for it in restaurants if they have it. Mmmm, it’s marvelous!
Now, before I go I’ll give you some insight in French actualité, as I promised to you I would. The debate I talked to you about concerning French identity is still alive. I still haven’t been able to engage myself in long conversations about this matter with French people, but the topic is quite complicated. It’s impossible to discuss the matter without involving racism, colonialism, social conflicts, discrimination… France cannot ignore the reality concerning immigration, and it is certainly a debate that I will not promote from my blog. Maybe one day I will talk more about it, but I will not engage myself because this is a huge subject very difficult to treat.
In any case, and now that I’m back to the real world with my new Internet connection, with my new TV and with cable at home, I’ll have to mention the terrible earthquake that has destroyed Port-au-Prince, Haiti’s capital. France is deeply connected to this Caribbean country, and for the last ten days this is the headline in every newspaper and news bulletin. Of course, French have engaged themselves, like many others, in collecting money to help these poor people. They have even written an anthem: “Agissons pour Haiti” (let’s act for Haiti). I, personally, haven’t had the guts to watch a lot of news concerning this horrible disaster. Maybe I’m getting old, but it’s not easy to stay in front of the TV without crying when you see what we have all seen these days.
By the way, it still snows now and then, and +1ºC has become a very enjoyable temperature for me… I will explain to you another day everything we do in this city to stay warm. Now I understand even better why foreigners think that Spain has Caribbean weather… Because I think the same!
Good night and good luck!
