I LOVE working part time!!

After we got back from our January break, I decided to start working part time. This decision was based on several reasons, one being that I need to study for my GRE's (which has been a truly humbling process) and another was that I was feeling way too burnt out in relation to the small "salary" I was receiving at the end of each month. It has been great. I am still working 6 days a week, either giving private English lessons or working at my regular job, but just a couple of hours each day, for the most part. It's been great. I have a whole day I can use before I go off to work. Sometimes, like today, my private lesson students will cancel, and I feel like someone gave me 4 extra hours for free! Granted, I lose out on a good bit of money, but these days, time trumps cash. Anyway, these days are usually spent catching up on emails, studying for the GRE's (lately math, which leaves me feeling slightly depressed), doing some yoga (which makes me feel slightly better) and reading(which I also count as studying, because I highlight, look up and create a spreadsheet of words 'I will soon know' - trying to put a positive spin on my limited vocabulary. I have also used the time to cook and bake. Today, after a 3 month hiatus (beginning on Christmas day when I broke our blender) I decided to re-enter the hummus making world (no, it's not common to find it in stores here, so if we want it, homemade is the best bet.)
It's gorgeous out today, and it's a Monday, which means Market Day in our neighborhood, so to prepare for my cooking session, I went out and did one of my favorite things, which I never had a chance to do while I was working all the time....The European-style shopping trip: First stop: Ekonomik Market, a small grocery store/mainly produce market, where I bought broccoli and yogurt. I plan to use the broccoli tonight in my new favorite dish to cook- Lemon/white wine/olive oil marinated artichoke hearts and broccoli over penne (look mom, I'm eating veggies!!) We'll buy the artichoke hearts fresh at the 'real' market, but I like to go with Chris because conversing with the (super friendly but English-free) market guys on my own about how much everything costs (and the fact that they always try to give me fruit makes me a little nervous. Next stop, the Sarkuterie, another little shop (the name of this type of store is based on the other word that sounds like it "Charcuterie" - the Turks have co-opted alot of words like this, like Taksi, Kuafor, etc...) that sells meats and cheeses (nothing international though. White Cheese or Yellow Cheese are the choices) and where I bought my can of chickpeas. Next stop, the Zeytin (olive) store, because we're nearly out of olive oil. These shops are always tiny and sell different kinds of olives and olive oil (sometimes house-made) and sometimes olive oil soaps, etc. I bought a small Poland-Spring type bottle filled with olive oil for 5ytl, about 3USD. From here I spotted the friendly gypsy lady on the corner, from whom we usually buy flowers. I bought a gorgeous bouquet of all white flowers (I'd post a picture but for some reason I don't see my camera around here...) She wanted15ytl, about 10USD but I talked her down to 10YTKL (approx. 7). I'm not sure if that's still a bit high, but I figure she probably needs the money more than I do, and on a nice day like today, flowers are a must! After visiting the gypsy flower seller, I went to Bag (pronounced bahhhh) my FAVORITE bakery and bought a delicious bread, sort of corn-bread-like, but not so heavy or sweet, and a bunch of cookies. I love shopping in this neighborhood, because the proprieters are all soooo nice to the teachers. We are the only foreigners who live in this neighborhood and I think they think we're amusing and/or they feel sorry for us. I asked for 10 cookies today, and the man weighed and priced them and then discreetly put about 3 or 4 more in the bag. After Bag, I decided that I really needed nail polish remover. So I stopped into the grocery store and picked up a bottle of that for 85 kurush, about 50 or 60 cents. For some reason, the combination of the cool enough for a fleece yet warm enough for sandals day, the friendliness of everyone around me and knowing that we'll only be here for a little while longer, has put me in a really good/slightly nostalgic for something I'm currently experiencing mood...Then I came home and tried to cook (by cook I mean make some hummus). I'll digress for a moment and share the fact that Chris has taken to calling me the Swedish Chef, a fair statement due to the fact that I can just LOOK into a kitchen and food and cooking utensils will be everywhere. Again, I wish I could find my camera because in the middle of making my hummus, I looked around - a blade from the blender, covered in hummus, was on the floor, tahini was spilled all over the counter, as was some exploding hummus from the blender. I mean, I don't know how it happens. It's sad, really, but I'm just not sure how to help myself! Regardless of my messy kitchen behavior, I think that my time cooking has started to pay off - My peanut butter M&M cookies are my new addiction (I had to stop making them, actually, because I need to be in a bathing suit in two weeks, and it wasn't really working out to have them in the house) and Chris actually eats just about everything I cook! Which is generally more complicated than my "cheese and crackers" or "bowls of cereal" or even "containers of ice cream" of the past! I highly recommend that everyone works only some of time...It's amazing what you can accomplish!

And this reminds me...

We're going to need a new name for our blog, now that we won't be in Turkey any more!

Any suggestions???

After we left Paris, we had a relatively uneventful flight to Boston (barring the fact that the Charles de Gaulle airport is an absolute nightmare - something that was confirmed both leaving the country and travelling back through on the way to Istanbul) and were so delighted to be back in the US, with people who spoke English to us, and Dunkin Donuts on nearly every street corner! I was delighted to see a television (HD with DVR no less - Thanks Will!) and to catch up on my favorite shows! The first night we were there, we were pretty jetlagged and went to dinner (at a pub - where the waitstaff talks to you in English! and there are multiple, good beers on the menu!) with Will, our gracious host for the week, and his fabulous girlfriend Christine.
Over the next couple of days, I was lucky enough to spend time with many of my favorite people:

Freshman year college roomies reunited (and with babies - cutest babies ever by the way, not that I'm biased - wow!) It was such a special treat to be all together again!






Leigh and Gretchen, at an all day magarita/mexican food/shopping drinks party. I missed the mexican food and the margaritas nearly as much as I missed these two fabulous ladies!







My cute family, who I was hoping to surprise, but had to settle for a run of the mill "Come to Boston, please, I'm here!" reveal.









Chris' parents, brothers and their girlfriends:









and Chris' friends of whom I have no pictures...

It was a really fun trip. It made us realize just how much we missed home and made us think that we really were ready to go back, despite Chris spending so much time at job interviews during the two weeks, until...The morning after our big get together with our friends, Chris decided he should really just go on one last interview. Would be rude to cancel, and all that...And he ended up really liking the school, the director, the principal, the location and the job. SO...After a couple of hours of speedy internet research and lots of talking, we decided that next year we are....Singapore bound! After more internet and book research, and alot of talking to friends who know, we are even more excited for this next phase. I'm excited because Singapore has: Chinese, Indian, Thai, Malaysian, Japanese food all over the place, is close to Thailand, Indonesia, Australia, Malaysia, etc. etc. and is equatorial, which means warm weather year round. I'm also excited because, while Chris beat me, by a long shot, in the visitor department this year, Singapore is close to so many amazing travel destinations that I think I'll be able to put up a good fight for the title next year...My calendar is open and waiting!

Writing about our France trip has turned into a long project for me...This will be my last post about it. We drove to the Loire Valley and stayed at a lovely B&B, La Maison Blanche, in the town of Amboise. Amboise is on the Loire river and is, as are all of the towns around, really quaint and smelling of fresh bread everywhere. After being deprived of great cheese here in Turkey, it was wonderful to be able to walk into any grocery store, or even quickie mart and find some artisanal French cheese, wrapped in paper with an AOC label. The second night we were Loire (the only place we stayed for 2 nights) we just got a bunch of bread, cheese and wine and stayed in for dinner. We actually discovered possibly the best goat cheese we'd ever had, in some small grocery store, but of course we don't remember the name, nor is it likely that we could ever find it outside of the Loire. The first night we were in Amboise, we went to dinner at a place our lovely B&B proprieter recommended. It was a perfect recommendation called Les Ramparts. The website is in French, but you'll get the idea. It was tiny, maybe 10 or 12 tables, and they had a great multi-course menu, along with local and fabulous table wine, that cost maybe $50 or $60 total. Unfortunately, that night I was feeling ill (I think my body was confused by being back into contact with such good cheese!) and I couldn't finish my meal or (shock of all shocks) my cheese plate. The waitress (owner?) was so concerned that I didn't like the food. It was all very sweet. Anyway, back to our B&B...It is owned by a lovely woman named Annick, who is so chatty and friendly. We had breakfast in a lovely room with windows on a whole wall, overlooking her wooded property. When the WiFi that we were supposed to have in our room turned out to not work, she gladly opened up that room to us, at any time, so we could organize the tickets we needed to buy for the rest of our trip. Also, she has 2 horses and 2 adorable dogs, Snoopy the Golden Retriever and Taylor (like Elizabeth) the deaf Great Dane. They were the best part of our stay! In and around Amboise, we did some wine tasting, visited Chateau de Chenonceau that was really beautiful, situated over a river. The most impressive part of the chateau was the kitchen, or kitchens, i guess. Really understated, gorgeous light coming in. Definitely a kind of kitchen you'd want for yourself! The rest of it was quite nice too, but that was the most impressive part to me. We also visited Clos du Luce, where Leonardo DaVinci lived his last years and where he died. In the basement of the chateau are models of many of his inventions and then there is a big park, with life size models. You can actually test them out, it was really cool! After the Loire, we visited Versailles, which of course is amazing, but almost tooooo big to walk through and stay interested the whole time. The gardens are great too, but it was kind of a rainy day. We got the idea of it though and then got back in the car, drove to Paris, where I unfortunately directed Chris to drive right through the center of the city, which he claimed was far worse that driving in NYC and even Istanbul, the city in which I cringe, with eyes closed, every time I'm in a moving vehicle. From that awful Arc du Triomphe experience to finally arriving at Gare du Nord, to drop off the car and catch the Eurostar, took us on a long journey through the city. We got to go up to the Montmarte area, which we weren't able to really tour once we got back to Paris, so that was a positive, and we got to see "everyday life" in Paris...or something like that, to make me feel better about my poor navigation. Anyway, we got to our train just in time to go to London to see Tamar and Pete and for Chris to go to some interviews for next year. While poor Chris had to dress nicely and sit in interviews all day, I was lucky enough to spend time with Tamar, and do some all-important shopping and the most important...wedding dress shopping for her! It was a really special weekend. After a whirlwind London trip, we got back on the Eurostar (at 5am, I believe) and headed back to Paris for a few days. We stayed in the Latin Quarter, in an apartment for which we had high hopes but was really just so-so. The best parts about it were, a) we were two minutes walking distance from Notre Dame Cathedral and a relatively short walk or Metro ride from everything else we wanted to see and b) we were in close proximity to one of our new favorite restaurants, Les Papilles (the photo in this article is in that restaurant). It is in a small gourmet shop and there's not menu, just a set meal for the night. That night we had a creamy carrot soup, which I never would've tried before, but it was amazing. Then a curried chicken dish over penne, a cheese course (certainly) and an unbelievably good orange creme brulee! The best part is that the store stocks some food but is mainly a wine shop and when you get there, you can stroll and find a wine that looks good to you (or rely on the suggestion of one of the owners, because you have no idea) and they tack on a 6 euro corking fee, to the shelf price of the wine. He selected a reasonably priced Bordeaux that was so delicious we were practically holding the bottle over our mouths to get the last dregs when we were finished. I'm going to try to remember the name of the wine and I'll post it back here if i can...The rest of Paris was just doing the regular touristy stuff - Louvre, Eiffel Tower, some shopping, etc etc. It was lovely but I think both of us were excited to get to the last part of our trip, Boston, to see friends and family, and for Chris to again sit in interviews all weekend...Boston leg of the trip to come...

So in the last post, I left off with us heading to Brittany. Due to my keen detective skills, I was able to re-find the website of the place we stayed in Cancale, La Metairie du Vauhariot. As with all of our B&B's, we found the proprieter charming and the surroundings fantastic. This is Chris standing in the impressive stairwell, and this is where we had breakfast. Cancale was a really cool town, although like most places we visited, nearly empty in January. The food was amazing and (again, I'm guessing this is due to the off season) we had a 4 course meal, including 10 oysters apiece, wine and of course a cheese plate (!) for about $30 or $40! I wish I could remember the name of the restaurant, but it's a cute little place on a corner and it looks like this inside. The waiter/owner (I think he was the owner) loved Americans (imagine that!) and loved Vegas! He was telling us about his yearly Vegas/LA trip and how this year he was going to take his head chef. It was really sweet and the food was fabulous! Many of the restaurants we found in France served this great dish of steamed mussels, but in a creamy, rather than clear broth. The one we had here was the best mussel dish I've ever tasted, although I'm sure the cream made it entirely too unhealthy.
After we left Cancale, stopped by the medieval walled city of St. Malo, for a little visit before driving directly South through Brittany (Cancale is just to the East of St. Malo - at the very tip of the peninsula) to Vannes. St. Malo is really amazing - the whole city is really enclosed in walls. It was fun to just walk around in the narrow, winding streets and to walk on top of the wall around the city. I can't find my photos of it just now, but the walls go along a beach area and at one point, there is a pool ON THE BEACH. With a diving board! We had great, cheap paninis here before our drive South, proving apparently that if you're French, anything you cook will be good.
It took us a few hours to get to Vannes, where we stayed in a sort of boring, but convenient and parking lot equipped, Comfort Inn kind of place. The town was nice; a University town, again with the cobblestone and the cozy little streets - but we thought that if we had to do it over again (and in the same time span - 1 night in each place) we might skip it, as it wasn't too different from the other places we'd visited and it was a good drive to get there. The serendipitous thing about Vannes is that there was a new/used CD store in the town and in it Chris found a years old cd by a little known (I don't actually remember who she is) (not French) artist that he and his friend Will (who we would be staying with in Boston later during this trip) used to listen to during their cross country adventure about 5 or so years ago...So that part was really fun :)
After Vannes, and after driving along the coast that looked surprisingly like the coast of Maine, we left Brittany and headed into one of the great lands of wine...The Loire Valley. More to come...