I had a fun day on New Years Eve. Didn't have to be at the Lachaize residence until 7:30, so was able to enjoy the day with friends!
Ashleigh's cousin from California is in town, and they were going to the Jardin du Luxembourg so I decided to join. As I stopped at metro Concorde, Ashleigh and her cousin stepped onto the same car I was in. So weird...and I haven't seen anyone I know around Paris like that and it took us both back. It was hilarious. We got off and said she had somewhere she wanted to take me first....so we walked around the block to this huge food store. La Grande Epicerie de Paris. I walked in and I was in complete HEAVEN. I could have stayed there for hours. Her cousin was looking for gifts to take back to her family, and as soon as we walked in I said..."Just give me a call when your ready to go, I could stay here forever." They laughed and we parted ways.
There were all sorts of vegetables from all over the world, meats that would turn any vegetarian, perfectly placed packages of sweets and cookies, a bakery, and aisles and aisles of products from around the world sectioned off by country. I immediately went to the United States aisle, because I was curious as to what they would stock on the shelf. As you can see from the picture, popular items include...peanut butter (no JIF), baked beans, Arm and Hammer baking soda, Vlasic sandwich stacker dill pickles, Hellman's mayonnaise, hot sauce, marshmallows, Hershey's syrup, Ocean Spray cranberry sauce, and my personal favorite...yellow mustard! Besides peanut butter, its the only thing I have really missed...so of course I bought some! It wasn't French's, but it will do. All of these items come at quite a price, but if you just can't live without canned pumpkin or beef jerky-its available!
I proceeded to browse through the other countries' aisles, and through the teas and coffees, the baking aisle, then through all the displays of veggies. Check out these beautiful figs.
There were counters where you could buy prepared foods, marinated olives, a bazillion kinds of cheeses, wine, and fresh seafood. I was so sad when my phone rang and Ashleigh and her cousin were ready to leave. I will definitely be back, and next time...by myself so I can browse even more!
We walked down the street through the Jardin du Luxembourg...but it was cold and dreary as usual so we didn't stay long.
We walked for about an hour with no purpose in where we were going...that's my favorite thing to do in this city. It was getting late so we decided to go back to Ashleigh's place. Ashleigh's family is out of town and they were cooking dinner tonight before they went out for New Years Eve. I still had a couple of hours before I had to go so I went back to their house to hang out for awhile. We shared some wine and enjoyed each other's company. It was so quiet without the family there!
Wasn't sure how long it would take me to get to Chloe's from that part of the city, so I left a little early. The metro was operating for free yesterday and today..which I thought was a nice gesture of the city! French men were on the prowl last night. In the 30 minutes that it took me to get from point A to point B, I got asked to join 8 different people on their New Years Eve adventure. Gee...what a toss up. I was nervous about babysitting tonight and wondering how Marie-Cesare was going to act since I hadn't seen her in a week. Things were really good when I left on Monday, but a week is a long time when you're a 3 year old. I arrived and she was all smiles, and she didn't even cry when they left!!!! Woo hoo....now, I won't jinx it and will wait until Wednesday morning to make a final verdict, but I'd say that's progress!
We watched everyone get ready for their formal affair at their friends' house. Including Gaspard! Their friends have a son his age so he was going as well. I got the cake recipe out of my book, and Marie-Cesare and I donned our aprons and got to work.
Sorry, her patience runs slow with my self timer. We added sugar, flour, butter, etc. and mixed until our hearts were content. I let her crack the eggs and unfortunately it was more like smash the egg in the bowl and pick out the shells. Luckily I had enough sense to put it in a smaller bowl first. Same with the vanilla. I told her just a little bit.."un petit peu"..and we ended up getting half the bottle. Oh well, still came out pretty good!
These "party picks" have cats, cows, and monkeys on the top-just in case you couldn't tell :)
After I got her into bed, I fixed myself some dinner, opened a bottle of champagne, and sat down to watch a very cheesy Bonne Annee celebration show on tv. It was hosted by a man who reminded me very much of Dick Clark and his Rockin' New Years Eve Party. He was tanned orange and had a smile that was as white as snow. But, it was all I had...so I watched and tried to comprehend and counted down en Francais. Nothing fancy, nothing exciting...but I was okay with that! New Years Eve is sometimes one of those holiday's that is overrated.
I received so many Christmas cards in the mail and I LOVE all of them!! Marie-Cesare loves the ones that sing. We play them over and over and over and over. She even tries to sing the words in English which is a great attempt. I also received my metro pass in the mail and my appointment to finalize everything for my visa! I feel so official! So glad I got my metro pass...I have been paying a fortune for metro tickets.
I stayed the night at their apartment and kept Marie-Cesare occupied this morning while Chloe and Franck slept in, they didn't come home until 4 am. Doing some things around my apartment just trying to keep my eyes open until a little later tonight! I slept on their couch and tossed and turned all night long. Hope all of you had a safe and wonderful New Years! So excited to see what 2011 will bring me! Or, for a better statement...what I can go get from 2011! ;)
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