Hiking in La Londe

Went on a hike this past weekend with 5 other assistant friends from my town. We took the bus to the town next to ours and went for a hike that hops from beach to beach along the coastline. Very beautiful views, as you can see! (The amazing sunny weather helps too -- no rain since November, only sunny days!)

My friends Evan, Michelle, Anna, Maca, and Jenny

It was verrrry windy! But sunny and quite warm (60+)

Our giant picnic lunch

All 6 of us

Photo opp in a big tree :)

My new ride!

Exciting thing about today: MY NEW BIKE!

Here she is, in the "cave" (locked storage shed) behind our apartment!

I am so excited to have wheels to ride around town! It'll be lots easier to get down to the beach now (normally about an hour on foot, or 20 mins bus + waiting time). 

All I need now is a helmet, bike lock, and lights.

I found her on France's "craigslist" (leboncoin) and the couple that was selling her (50euros) drove her over from Toulon and dropped her off for me! (Which is great cuz the buses here don't have bike racks so it would've been nearly impossible to get it here.)

The most exciting part is having a bike is a tick mark on the "goals for France" list (which doesn't literally exist)...but I wanted to get a bike this year (didn't have one last time) and it feels great to follow through with that!

Now hopefully the other assistants will find bikes too so we can cruise around together!

weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

Provencial Cooking

Philippe (who helps coordinate assistants out of the goodness of his heart) and his companion Nadine (who teaches math at the high school where I work) invited Caroline, Sarah, Michelle, and me over to their house to cook a real Provincial dish : la Daube.

Start with several chunks of beef. From the shin, shoulder, and collar areas of the cow.

Oh la vache!

Nadine's grandmother was from Provence, and actually lived in Hyeres in the house that Nadine and Philippe now live in. Nadine was the master chef / instructor / daube expert.

We threw all the ingredients in a big electric wok to slow cook for the day (5 hours at least).

Beef chunks, carrots, onions, chunks of smoked bacon with the strip of rind cut off (but the rind sits in for flavor and is removed later)

Then added a small jar of double-concentrated tomato paste. Nadine said not every recipe includes tomato (or black olives), and that there are many recipes for the one dish; it just sort of depends on the family. She learned from her grandmother (from her dad's side), and said that her Daube tastes very different from her own mother's version, because Nadine's mom had learned from her grandmother (Nadine's great grandmother)

Added thyme (stems included for flavor), plus bay leaves grown on Nadine's mother's property, plus garlic and black olives (pits included). Of course, the herbs are removed before serving.

Nadine explaining. Sarah listening. Just after we filled the wok with red wine.

Michelle mixes the polenta. Nadine poured it into a loaf-pan to set, then sliced and baked (or you can fry) the slices. The Daube is served on top of the polenta slices.

Caroline and Sarah at the table.

Mmm melted chocolate for our homemade chocolate mousse for dessert! Served with an awesome fresh orange "salad" (orange rounds with Fleur d'Oranger flavoring, rum, and cinammon).

We arrived at 10:30 Sunday morning for all the prep work/learning, then returned in the evening to enjoy the meal together! Not only was it fun learning a new regional dish and cooking together, but it was soooo delicious!

Pre-Christmas Happenings

Here's Place Massillon, in the center of town. Hyeres is all lit up at night with Christmas lights!

With Maca climbing the "mountain" in Hyeres to see the nice views of the town/Mediteranean.

Evan climbed the wall on our walk.

This is from a separate hike in another part of Hyeres down near the sea. One of the teachers from my school took me and we walked around for the afternoon.

Bene! One of the really awesome teachers I work with at the high school. (She's eating a sucker from the restaurant from the night before -- all the teachers took me and Sarah(other assistant) out for a really nice holiday meal.

Caroline (my roomie), Maca, and Michelle when we got Christmas tea at a really cute shop in the center of town.

Assistant Christmas party! We did a potluck meal and had a really fun time opening Secret Santa gifts (we drew names at Thanksgiving) AND opening/stealing White Elephant gag gifts. I got a head massager and some loose leaf xmas tea with an infuser. 

Homemade meatball sub on a French baguette! The perfect lunch after wandering around outside all Saturday morning. Thaaaanks, Caroline! :)

S'mores a la francaise...! We attempted s'mores at a dinner party at Jenny and Pia's place...

Since graham crackers (sadly) do not exist (yet) in France, we used Petit Ecolier cookies that come with chocolate already in place, plus French marshmallows, plus a gas stovetop.

It is my duty, as I am returning home to the US for xmas, to bring back REAL graham crackers, real American marshmallows, and perhaps Hershey's (even tho the chocolate in France is waaaay better)

Avignon, tout en rond

Avignon

I took a day trip to Avignon (my first time) to meet Nikki and 2 other assistants from Montelimar...we all met up in Avignon to explore and check out the Christmas market.

Palais des papes. Didn't go inside, but it's quite pretty. :)

The famous bridge that is really only 1/2 of a bridge now. There's a traditional French song about the "pont d'avignon"

At the Chistmas market

Treat time! "Gaufre" aka waffle with...nutella and coconut!

After lots of shopping and exploring for the day, we took the train back to our respective towns.

This is the entrance into Avignon, all dressed up in holiday lights.

English Breakfast

We made English Breakfast as a group at Jenny and Pia's in November.

Like I've mentioned, the assistants in Hyeres are all really cool this year, so we hang out at least once a week and like to do big meals together. T-giv, wine&cheese night, fajitas, Spanish food night, Eng Breakfast, and so on...

And, in case you're wondering, the common language is French, so 90% of the time we speak in French together.

(top left clockwise) Scrambled eggs, baked beans, sausage, buttered toast,

canadian bacon, sauteed mushrooms, baked tomato.

Adventures in Hyeres...Where's Caroline?!?!

The back entrance to our apt building.

Thanksgiving #2: Hyeres

Thanksgiving! #2!!

For my SECOND Thanksgiving in France this year was hosted by Caroline and me at our apt in Hyeres!

Reasons why Thanksgiving in France is extra-special:

-it's tricky to find ingredients, which makes you appreciate the food even more

- nostalgia for American assistants

-non-American assistants had NEVER experienced the joy of Thanksgiving, so it was extra special to share with them and tell them about our traditions

(we were: 2 Scottish, 3 English, 1 Italian, 1 Spanish, and 4 Americans = 11) 

Decorations on our apt door. Caroline made him.

Magical! We found amazing things at the huge grocery store in Hyeres. Like... little TURKEYS!!! wow!

And...real cranberries!! Fresh!! It was a VERRRY exciting time, let me tell you.

We spent 154 euros total on food and bev --- for 11 people total!  (everybody pitched in)

Meet our turkeys: Augustin and Augustine. Before...

...and after.

 I carved. ha. More like attacked. It turned out ok though. It's hard to carve hot beasts under the pressure of many hungry people watching, esp when it's the last thing to be done.

Voila. Augustin and Augustine in nice pieces.

Spinach salad with red onion, feta(!), and dried cranberries(!)

*note: this symbol: (!) means: difficult to find in Hyeres.

I made rolls from scratch!

My favorite part! REAL cranberries for cran-sauce!

Sweet potato casseroll with marshmallows(!) and stuffing warming up in the oven.

Anna with her boyfriend, David, who came from Scotland to visit!

Maca, Jenny, Michelle, Sarah, and Caroline

Such lovely ladies! :) And I'm not just saying that. We have an awesome group of assistants in Hyeres this year.

Sweet potato casseroll topped with mallows

Team effort.

Everybody! (except me, ha) 9 assistants + 2 guests = 11

Isn't it amazing we have this huge table and could seat everybody?!

Mmm bon appetit!

The joy of baking.

Oh and can't forget....we made 4 pumpkin pies!!

This was impressive because:

canned pumpkin does not exist here,

so we bought big chunks of pumpkin from the market

and peeled/chopped/boiled/pureed/boiled again to reduce...

it was quite the process. Worth the effort tho.

Roomies!

In case you've been wondering about the weather...

we've been extremely lucky all throughout Nov and Dec. Sunshine!!