Wine and Cheese Party

Grace and I have wanted to throw a wine and cheese party for quite some time now and we finally decided to just do it. We invited all of our friends and everyone had to bring a brick of cheese or a bottle of wine, or both if you are feeling generous. You also had to dress fancy. 

After work I met Jungho and Grace in centre ville. Grace and I both bought new outfits for the party. We then helped Jungho pick out a nice collared shirt. We stopped at two bakeries on the way home to get baguettes for the event. I bought five and Grace another five and we were walking through town with all our baguettes. We felt so French. We then stopped at Simply to get some cheese, wine, and sausage. Afterwards we headed home, showered, got dressed, and set up everything. Everyone came to Grace’s room and they all brought wine, cheese, or both which was awesome. We then got right to business with trying all the different cheeses and wines. No two people brought the same wine, so we had lots of varieties. There were a few doubles on the cheese but there were so many different kinds. I tried a bunch that I had never had before. The Czechs definitely had the best outfits of the night! If there were awards, they would have won best dressed. 

Grace and I felt so grown up with hosting our own party, and it turned out to be such a hit. By the end of the night everyone had a nice wine drunk going on and full of cheese. The next morning we counted 20 empty bottles! I would definitely consider that a success!

What's for Dinner?

Last week was the week of making dinners.


Sunday, June 3rd:
Jeff, Jungho, Grace, and I
Roasted pork loin, broccoli, mashed potatoes, mushroom and onion sauce
Sunday family dinner.


Monday, June 4th:
Jeff, Jungho, Grace, and I:
Leftovers from the day before
Then we went to Dinara’s to watch the season finale of Game of Thrones with everyone. She made pigs in a blanket and they were so good.


Tuesday, June 5th:
Jeff, Jungho, Grace, Macka, and I:
Sautéed shrimp, cucumbers, corn, and a salad
First time we made shrimp.


Wednesday, June 6th:
Jeff, Jungho, Grace, Stephan, and I:
Make your own crêpes – eggs, lardon, potatoes, zucchini, mushrooms, onions, avocado, and tomatoes
Jungho’s roommate has an actual crêpe maker so we used that and made our own. They were delicious! We made dessert crêpes afterwards too.


Thursday, June 7th:
Jungho, Grace, Macka, and I:
Indonesian oodles ‘n noodles
Macka made us these Indonesian spicy noodles. They were so delicious. We tried them in a soup form and alone with the sauce. Afterwards we headed to Pic, the student bar, and met up with everyone there. We had some beers and played some games. We played warrior, ABCD (a Korean game where we legit slapped each other, it was really fun though), and some old-school games like Tiko Valley Oh My and Miss Mary Mack. People were staring at us, but we were having such a fun time that we didn’t even notice. On our way home from the Pic, we saw a friend at the kebab place smoking hookah so we joined and got some free hookah and orangina.


That brings us to Friday, June 8th:
Everyone
Wine and Cheese Party

Fête des Voisins

After a very eventful May, June has shown no signs of being any different. A fête des voisins, a neighborhood party for the dorms I live in, was planned for Friday, June 1st. I came home from work and met up with Jungho and Grace who were already hanging out in Grace’s room. We were chatting and drinking some beers when Jeff joined us. We decided to move down to Jeff’s room because he had made skittles vodka and we all wanted to try it. At that point, the Swedes were done getting ready. They decided to all dress up like each other and the rule was if you weren’t acting like your person then you had to drink. By the time we saw them at maybe 9pm, they were already gone. Markus was Vicka, Vicka was Simpa, Simpa was Henka, and Henka was Macka. They were hilarious and definitely looked and acted the part. Although most of them acted like Macka but it was still funny. We continued on with our party in Jeff’s room and it was definitely a night to remember, or forget. Two of our other friends joined us for the festivities. Everyone was super hyper and we were all dancing and jumping around. The night consisted of a lot of body slamming, pig piles, empty beer bottles, ripped clothes (well just Macka's), and a broken bed for Jeff. Let’s just say we didn’t quite make it to the fête des voisins, but instead we had our own little neighborhood party. It was quite the night. Everyone definitely enjoyed themselves.

Grace's Birthday

Grace’s birthday was May 30th so we decided to have a little get together. Our usual crew met up in Grace’s room. The Swedes made Grace a special birthday drink. Jeff and I decided to make dinner for everyone. We made coconut breaded chicken with an apricot-mustard sauce, green beans, onions, and rice. You know, something quick and easy. We had made this recipe before and it was delicious. This time around we were cooking for more than 10 people so it was a little harder. We managed to get everything out on the table with it all being hot! Everyone scarfed down the food. 


Once we finished eating, we continued on with celebrating Grace’s birthday. The Czechs had brought their own homemade alcohol, so we were all taking turns drinking from the bottle. It’s really good, but super strong. Somehow we started playing spin the bottle and had quite a few laughs especially because the girl to guy ratio was 1:2. They boys were hilarious when they had to kiss other guys, but they were all champs and did it. By the time we stopped playing I am pretty sure everyone had kissed everyone. I guess you are never too old to play spin the bottle. 


Someone mentioned heading to the island so we all packed up and headed out. Why this was a good idea, I am not sure, but at the time it sounded like a great idea. We made our way through Compiègne to where the bridge is and eventually made it to the island. The only problem was we didn’t know what to do once we got there. We ended up just talking and goofing around. I had to go to work the next morning so I called it a night a little earlier than the others. I left them to continue on with celebrating. Grace’s birthday was one for the books.

Two American Cousins in Paris

My cousin Ryan has been living in France with his girlfriend for a little while now and we decided to meet up in Paris on May 27th. I got up and took the train into Paris. I met Ryan and his girlfriend, Flora, at the Gare du Nord. It was a wonderful reunion. Our other cousin Alan was supposed to come down from London, but he couldn’t make it. 


First we headed up to Sacré Coeur. We decided to walk from the Gare du Nord this time. There was another wine and cheese festival in Montmartre. We walked around there for a little while and then headed to the painter’s section. We bought some strawberries from a vendor and ate them as we walked around. We wondered down to Moulin Rouge and then took the metro over to the Bastille. 

Once we got there we looked for a place to eat. We were going to eat at Hippopotamus, but they were really rude so we decided to look for another place. We walked past a small Korean restaurant and it smelled so good that we decided to go in for lunch. It was a hibachi type of place so we got to cook our own food right at the table. Flora ordered spring rolls while Ryan and I both ate dumplings. For our main course, Flora had breaded shrimp, Ryan had spicy chicken, and I had beef teriyaki. We all had a side of rice to accompany our meals and it was delicious. I would definitely go back! After lunch we wandered down Rue du Rivoli until we crossed over the Seine to le Marais. When Katie was here she told me that the best ice cream was in this area so we went in search of it. The ice cream is called Berthillon. We had to wait in line for a really long time, but it was definitely worth it. While in line, I looked over and saw three police officers at the bar. It was so funny to see three officers on duty at the bar. Clearly there was a lot going on in the area. As for my ice cream, I decided on a scoop of cassis and a scoop of coffee. The guy looked at me funny because these weren’t two flavors that people usually order together but I wanted both of them.  It was amazing! We ate our ice cream while sitting on the wall along the Seine.

After eating our ice creams, we walked along the Seine, past Notre Dame and stopped near St. Michel to decide where to go next. I had about an hour left until my train home so we decided to go to Happy Hour. I mean we are Bonvouloirs. We all got beers and they were thirst quenchingly good. Unfortunately, I had to get going so we said our goodbyes at the RER station. It was sad to say goodbye because it had been so nice catching up with Ryan. We joked around all day and it was awesome. I headed back to Gare du Nord to catch my train but I ended up missing it by a couple of minutes so I had to wait another hour for the next one. It was okay though because I had my kindle with me - best investment ever!

A Dic-Nic on the Island

Saturday, May 26th was warm and sunny, a rarity for Compiègne. My friends and I headed into centre ville to go to the wine and cheese fair. Yes France would have a wine and cheese fair. There were tons of different wines but we were all too shy to go up and ask for a tasting. The vendors were more interested in people who actually wanted to buy their wine. After the fair, we headed to the Château to sit and have a snack. We found a secret garden that none of us had ever seen before and decided to eat there.

Later that night we decided to have a dic-nic (dinner pic-nic). I know what you were all thinking! We went to Simply to get some goodies and headed out to the island. Apparently Compiègne does in fact have an island. We walked across the pedestrian bridge and made our way to the tip of the island. Once there we set up camp and enjoyed some food, sangria, and the l’Oise. I had asked my mom for her sangria recipe and decided to give a stab at it. It was delicious!  I guess I got my mom’s gene for making fabulous sangria :) As the sun was setting we packed up and headed back over the bridge. We all stopped to snap a few photos though. The sunset was really pretty.

He was enjoying the sunset too or suicidal!!

Since the finale of Eurovision was airing that night we headed to our friends house to meet up with everyone and watch it on her tv. Eurovision is a singing competition throughout Europe, kind of like American Idol but each European country sends one singer. Sweden won this year with Euphoria. A great song by the way, look it up if you haven’t heard it. All of my Swedish friends were so excited. It was a fantastic day filled with great weather, friends, food, and music!

Foster-Glocester, France

On Monday May 21st my alarm went off at 4:52am. I had to get up to head to a meeting. This particular meeting was to take place at a plant in Gamaches which is in the Normandy region. I had to take a train from Compiègne to Amiens then another train to Abancourt where I then got on a bus and finally made it t was to Gamaches. A co-worker picked me up there. Whilst on my journey I definitely found the Foster-Glocester (no school) of France. I got off the train in Abancourt to find a shack of a train station, cows and tractors. Oh, don't forget the one cafe/hotel in all of the town.

The bus ride to Gamaches was not any more exciting than Abancourt. We passed field are field of cows, a few horses and an occasional house. After about a half hour we pull into the Longroy-Gamaches "train station." Three other people got off the bus with me to find the train station all boarded up and absolutely no sign of life around. It was legit the middle of nowhere. It didn't help that it was a cloudy day, on the verge of rain that made the whole situation worse. I felt like I was in a movie and this was the part where the main character gets taken out by a zombie or something unnatural.

So after travelling four hours, I finally made it to the plant for the meeting that lasted a total of an hour and a half. An hour and a half!!!! Ridiculous. We did go out for a nice lunch in the next town over. Only a 10km drive away. You could have driven halfway across RI! Lunch was delicious and when we returned to the plant, they gave us a tour. This plant produced precision-molding seals. It was huge and produced 100s of different pieces, some of them for Bosch, BMW, Renault and many more companies. Most of the factory workers were women which I found very odd. I was expecting to see more men, but it was definitely a 5-1 girl to guy ratio. Everyone was super nice and greeted us when we went to their station, but man what a boring job they have. I definitely know I don't want to be doing their job!

Once we toured the whole plant, it was about 4pm. Unfortunately my train wasn't until 5:42pm so one of the guys in the meeting stayed with me and then dropped me off at the train station. I was expecting a bus to come again when a one car train pulled up. I was a little hesitant to get on, not knowing where it would take me, but I asked the conductor if it was going to Abancourt and it was. After a very interesting day, I finally made it back to civilization!