Amanda Mark

French foibles: Creme fraiche

Posted by Amanda in French, This-is-Switzerland (TIS) on February 2, 2010

Creme fraiche from flit (http://www.flickr.com/photos/flit/)

For some reason, I assumed that “creme fraiche” was just a fresher, French-er way of saying “sour cream.” Nope. Apparently, it’s akin to “heart attack upon delivery.”

I used it to finish up a yum vegetable and tofu dish last night only to discover this health advisory this a.m.

creme

And I’m no longer feeling *quite* so smug about my healthy cooking.

Next, I’m going to learn that “lardon” doesn’t mean “healthy ham pieces.”

cooking, food

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Oh, Paris…

Posted by Amanda in French, Travels on January 27, 2010

Eating lunch in the Louvre

Favorite things in the city of lights…

Sugared lemon crepes
Whipped cream crepes
Buttered crepes
People assuming that I could only speak English (no, really, I liked this)
A man puking on the sidewalk without breaking stride while climbing up a huge hill in an, umm, interesting area
Cezanne
Monet
Degas
The scam where people pretend to find a “gold” ring on the sidewalk in front of you and then try to give it to you (apparently, Tony looks like their kinda guy)
Tony’s umbrella exploding in front of the Arc de Triomphe (as in *literally* every piece of his umbrella separated and jumped in front of the insane traffic roundabout — I don’t think it could handle the shock either)
Shoes
Marais neighborhood
Macaroons

Eiffel Tower at night

Least favorite things…

Fixed menus (onion soup, farm chicken, tarte)
Tourist traps
Lines (actually, we skipped them all, but still…)
Traveling via plane (yes, we were advised to take the train….)
Latin Quarter restaurants (sorry!!)
The price of macaroons (kid you not…. 3 euros for each little morsel)

Paris, vacation

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ITALIA! Buon Natale

Posted by Amanda in Travels on December 30, 2009

I *think* that’s Merry Christmas.

Either way, we survived through a week of Italian driving to see Florence, Rome, Pisa and Cinque Terre… all in seven days and two major traffic jams.

(You might guess from the pictures, but yes, it rained. A lot.)

beach, Cinque Terre, Florence, Italy, Rome, travel

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Today’s Tidbits December 8, 2009

Posted by Amanda in Web wonkiness on December 8, 2009

your move
a twitter campaign for small gestures.

Digest powered by RSS Digest

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Losing perspective

Posted by Amanda in Geneva, This-is-Switzerland (TIS) on November 3, 2009

Source: http://flickr.com/exlibris

I realize over-priced-ness appears to be a common theme in Geneva. And it is.

Some days, I really have to remind myself of reality.

Today, I was obscenely excited about my uber-cheap lunch for 15 CHF: pumpkin soup and grapefruit juice. Oh dear: not cheap, not frugal, not practical.

Geneva is sometimes so far from real life.

* Learning French lessons to be continued – I promise!

budget, food

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The Ladies

Posted by Amanda in Travels on October 6, 2009

The ladies start their pilgrimage down the mountain.

How do we spend our weekends in Switzerland? If Tony won “paper, rock, scissors,” we would visit a cow-related festival every weekend. Fortunately, we’ve only dedicated one to our bovine peeps.

Thus, this last weekend was the overload of all things cow.

Saturday was spent in Saint Cergue, Switzerland watching hundreds (maybe thousands?) of cows descend from the Jura mountains to the lower level pastures. Most wore headdresses of flowers – some wore pine trees decorated in crepe paper. Most looked thoroughly disgruntled and were shaking their heads frantically to dislodge them.

Sunday, the ladies tangled. Martigny, Switzerland is famous for their cow fights. We paid 15 francs and crowded into the standing area only.

Umm, yep, Tony refers to cows as “the ladies.”

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French foibles #12: How much does that cost?

Posted by Amanda in French on October 5, 2009

While I mostly mime things and point and say “s’il vous plait,” I am trying to leap over the hurdle of one-word phrases. Thus instead of saying “combien” (or “how much”) and pointing, I’ll say “How much does that cost, please?”

FRENCH: Combien ca coute, s’il vous plait?

French, ordering, shopping

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