Marshmallow Fluff

I had this day set aside so that I could work on writing my first draft of my Fulbright proposal, as well as send out further emails to all my contacts.  Instead I decided to update everyone, as well as read outside next to the pool for four hours ;)  

the kitchen and its view

attracted to the patterns and lines

a 90 year old tractor that is operated by a 90 year old man

I realize that you still probably have no idea what my research for Fulbright is going to be on, or necessarily what a Fulbright is for that matter.  But instead of wasting space on my blog explaining the program, I'll send you to their website -> http://us.fulbrightonline.org/home.html.  In short, for those that aren't interested in the long explanation, the purpose of the program is basically to form a mutual understanding of different cultures (I hope you can already see why I'm interested) and young adults spend a year abroad from their home country (it is not just the US) to either become a teaching assistant or pursue their own research.  Because I love to cook and design, my amazing (yes, he is nothing short of that, Fulbright adviser and I) decided that I would learn how to bake bread in France.  Yes, on the surface level I'm not quite sure you'd ever make the connection.  But the connection comes in the form of the Slow Food Movement, http://www.slowfood.com/, please view this link, very very interesting!  And the idea of Slow Food is to get people to slow down, pay attention to what their eating, support and preserve their own country's biodiversity.  Essentially, I want to explore a country's culture (France) through the perspective of one of their most important and integrally linked nurturing food products, bread.  And I want to trace the path of bread from it's very start, by working in the fields, harvesting wheat, learning how to mill the seed, working with an artisanal baker, and taking classes.  I desire to see where the process starts, the characters involved, and where the last morsel is eaten.  And by doing that, I'll have explored a path into the cultural landscape.  And by understanding the cultural landscape, I will start to have an understanding of how to design.

Welcome to Château de Valmer!

ready for the photo tour??

view from the kitchen window

the mini field inside the walls

Petit Valmer, the main Château burned down in the 40s I believe

Welcome to the Potager!

 

This week has proved extra fortunate for me as I have started having responses from those I'm trying to work with in France.  In order to be eligible for the grant in France you must have an affiliation with a university.  Also since I want to work with a number of people (and in different areas of France as well) I have to make those contacts.  It can be difficult at times knowing who to contact, or who will even speak English.  Cornell's deadline for the application is September 9^th, two days after I return to the United States.  It's a little daunting at times to think what I have to get done by then.  Applying to the Fulbright is basically taken precedent over any job applications as of now.  But I have been fortunate enough to network here accidentally.  So there's a possibility of me even working in England this year as well…keep your fingers crossed for me!

Full moon, taken from my bedroom window. 

my ex, who shall-not-be-named, told me that his father used to say that you shouldn't make important decisions during a full moon (now I'm always aware of all the dumb things I do around them ;) 

(this post is getting more difficult to write as the night goes on)

I just found out that my host mother, the countess and her husband, have gone into Paris for a friend's dinner tonight.  We don't live close to Paris, it's not like a thirty minute drive or something, more like probably a two hour drive.  I found this out after they left.  So what do I do?  I open another bottle of rosé brut from the fridge.  I still don't know if I'm allowed to drink any of these bottles (it's my third, and I easily can finish one in two nights) but I justify this by telling myself that the bottles have been in the fridge for a very long time, and that's bad for champagne and wine for it to be chilled like that, Emeline and I are the only one's who use the fridge, and it isn't hers, and we live on a winery.  And! I don't go shopping as often as I'd like.  Now this matter gets to be a little side note.  I'm not starving, Alix took me shopping last weekend, and Emeline offerered to get me somethings when I couldn't go shopping this week.  But! I forgot to ask for butter, and apparently (as I'm spending hours upon hours trying to translate French recipes) everything calls for butter!  Especially crusts for quiches and tarts… god forbid you replace it with oil.  (And the oil that I have left is Walnut Oil…so it has a different flavor as well).  So that's my issue, lack of butter.  It's quite a sad story.  But I've decided that I'll stop whimpering about not being able to practice my quiches and other dishes, and make use with what I have, which is an incredible assortment of new veggies.  I want to master the art of using rhubarb before I leave here, and I want to take advantage of as much sorrel as I desire. 

I have to say, each time I move to a new place I have a new reason to learn French.  My first reason at Acquigny, was to speak with Adrien.  Then I studied French at Brécy so that I could communicate with the staff (the only ones around me most of my time there), and now, now I'm learning French so that I can read recipes!  I've decided a great way to learn would be to translate, because only two people really speak to me in French here and their not around me often enough (Emeline, the French intern, and Alix, the countess).  Emeline practices her English, and I practice my French and it's really nice.  Alix is really good about helping me learn.  On a side note about Emeline, I'm really happy to have met her and to live with her.  Because she's my age, very intelligent, and very patient.  She's going to take me to the famous Château de Chenenceau on Sunday, we're going to make Crepes on Monday, and Tuesday we're going out to dinner together.  I'm very excited.  But yes, by the end of my internship you can talk to me in French only about two things, gardening and cooking; oh but I wouldn't have it any other way!

I don't work as much here as I have in the other gardens.  Alix is really keen on me understanding the place, the gardens, through various methods (she's a landscape architect herself).  And therefore I only work until dejuner (lunchtime at 12).  I either start at 7am or 8am, depending on when the rest of the gardeners start (it's currently 8am).  After 12, I do my grocery shopping, or marche, as the Frenchie visitors call it when they see me, picking things up from the potager (vegetable/kitchen garden).  (It really is just like a market!)  After I'm done with the daily shopping I cook lunch, which has become my biggest meal of the day (I've noticed that if I do have my large meal in the middle of the day, I have to most energy, and I'm not hungry til much much later…which means I just starting eating dinner at 10pm tonight).  But I agree with the principle, now if only if could be applied to a fast pace new Yorker lifestyle, I'd be golden.

With all this experimental cooking, although it's all healthy (even the extra helpings of strawberry rhubarb confiture with whipped crème frâiche, and experimental quiches), I'm not losing my weight.  Actually I guess I'm becoming marshmallowy (now dearest Rachel, I know you'll understand this).  But! I've decided that you're all family (or slightly extended family, and you must except me marshmallowy or not…because I'll cook delicious food for you ;)  Now at least I'm more like a toasty marshmallow, and my hair is turning a little blond.  I think it's funny now that I thought I'd LOSE weight in France, HA!  But I do know that I can lose it when I get back to the states, so why not take advantage of everything delicious while I have the chance and literally SAVOR the future memories.

Other than massive amounts of time spent cooking and working on the Fulbright grant application, I also spend a pleasant amount of time reading and writing by the pool, which has a spectacular view.  I've always been drawing a little ;)  And blame it on Mommy for the lack of posts, just kidding.  Though I think I do spend too much time talking to my mother while she's 'supposed' to be working, and I should be living in France and not on an ordinateur (computer).

Charlene came last weekend, and we had a fabulous time for four days.  We visited the Chaumont-Sur-Loire Garden Festival which showcases 20 gardens every year competitively designed by arch's and land arch's.  We ate lots of ice-cream along the way, spent time in Amboise and Tours and even cooked a little together.  It was really nice ;)

 Alix and Olivier(her friend) in front of a Patrick Blanc installation (I learned a lot about Patrick that day, Olivier's good friends with him)

my favorite garden at the Festival, I think it's also because I just think I intuitively got it, and tried to explain it to Olivier and Charlene who after a while started to roll their eyes at my philosophical interpretations)

looking through the bamboo fence to spy on the people in the same garden

I really love this picture of this other garden, because it cuts out everything else and makes you focus on the impossible

the Thé Garden! 

(and it's wall composed of tea cups)

The castle of Chaumont-Sur-Loire

Alix, Olivier, and Charlene waited for me while I snapped a picture of this (10x to get it right) in one of the displays inside the château)

Charlene, Alix, and I posing in front of the Loire River

Château de Amboise at Night, during the Nighttime Spectacle, in which we watched Emeline perform

I think this was the closest I've ever felt to being at a Renaissance Fair (the first and the last time, shall we say?)

My Flickr account has not worked the way I would have liked to intended, therefore, don't expect many more pictures up there until after I get back to the United States.  Unfortunately, the speed of internet here is not up to par, and I decided that I would use Flickr to store a copy of my precious photos, but I want to put them up at full resolution, not shrunk down.  But to speed things up for the blog, I actually shrunk some of my photos because I realized it wasn't necessarily to have them so big here.  So sorry about the change of pace, but I'm sure you understand the dilemma.

On another random note, I'm learning how to drive stick shift!  Well, I was learning until the day after I took the car out in the woods, the truck's tire went flat.  So we've been out of a work car for a week now.  And everyone says they don't think it's my fault (no I didn't notice a giant nail in the tire) however, I still think it's my fault because I don't know who would have used it in that time.  But! I'm getting the hang of stick, and now I'm even closer being on my way to getting a mini cooper.  I think it's funny that at the end of everything I learned how to drive stick (yes, I know the first Alex to start teaching me is my brother), but the second is the countess Alix!  I do so love empowering women.