Menu Suggestions?

So I have decided to throw a little dinner party at my apartment this weekend with about a dozen of my friends in Paris. A lot of my friends are leaving to go home for Christmas at the end of next week and won't be back until January so this is the last weekend that we will all be in Paris together. I'm starting to wonder if everyone will fit in my apartment... haha, but I invited the people that I have spent the most time with here and that I'd like to spend a nice evening of wining and dining with. I've asked everyone to bring a bottle of wine and some sort of food item, but I think that I should maybe make some sort of main dish and I am wondering if there are any suggestions for something simple to make in large quantities. Let me know if you have any good ideas!

Picard

Picard is a store in Paris that only sells frozen food. When I first passed by Picard stores I had no idea what they were, inside they just look really sterile and white, because there are just rows of freezers (not the stand up kind though, more like the ones you would have in your basement, but with a glass top). In Canada I associate frozen food with being mediocre and unhealthy for the most part. It's the lazy option and more for satisfying hunger than actually enjoying. Picard however is on a entirely different level, it seems that France really knows how to make good frozen food. I have bought a few different things from Picard previously and they have all been really good. Picard has pretty much everything from pizza, pasta, veggies, fish, potatoes, etc. and a huge variety of desserts and appetizers. You could probably make a really good full course meal just buying from Picard, and it is also not too expensive. I would definitely recommend trying it out.

The French really do like French Fries....

When I was in Marseille I had my first "Kebab Sandwich." Basically there is a menu with different types of meat and you just choose one. When I got my sandwich I opened up the nice wrapping to see a mound of fries, not beside the sandwich but on top of it. Apparently this is common practice in France, I think it's often called the "Americano," haha. I've seen this done with hotdogs, regular sandwhiches and kebabs. If you go to a boulangerie and buy a baguette sandwich then you'll get just a plain sandwich, but any type of fast food kebab/pizza/sandwich place will most likely serve you fries as a topping. Enjoy!

Canadian Food Update

Previously I wrote about the ERASMUS fair that our school had, and the poutine gone horribly wrong. I had trouble thinking of many Canadian "food specialties," but today I came across a really good website that lists cool, not-so-well-known, places in Paris. On that list was a bar called The Great Canadian Pub, and being Canadian I was obviously curious so I went to their website and this is what they stated about their menu:

"Goûtez nos spécialités canadiennes comme les crêpes servies avec du sirop d’érable, le cheesecake, la tarte à la noix de pécan, le café « Tim Horton », la salade César, le jus « Clamato », la bière canadienne, les ailes de poulet les plus délicieuses de Paris.. et plein d’autres bonnes choses…"

For those of you who don't speak French:

"Try our Canadian specialties like crepes served with maple syrup, cheescake, peacan pie, Tim Horton's coffee, Cesar Salad, Clamato Juice, Canadian beer, the best chicken wings in Paris and many other great things..."

Aside from the syrup, Tim Horton's and Canadian beer, are any of the other items specifically Canadian??? I really have no idea, I suppose they are most likely North American... but either way that menu sure makes Canadians sound healthy ;) It is a pub though, so I guess it can't be expected to serve much healthy food.

French Toilets

So in France there are still many traditional/old schoool toilets (pictured above). I have had the unfortunate pleasure of having to use one, and it is really inconvenient and just plain difficult, not to mention kind of gross. Two of my fellow ERASMUS students who live in studios near Montmartre have these types of toilets in the halls outside of their studios...and nothing else. I suppose you would get used to it, but honestly I like to be comfortable when I go to the bathroom... not to perform a balancing/aiming act. I came across some of these toilets in a club that my school was throwing a party at the other night as well and it just seemed like a bad idea to me. Do they really expect drunk girls to be able to use these toilets properly? Especially the French girls who seem to take drinking to a whole new level. Anyways, to state the obvious, I avoided those toilets and used the one regular one in the bathroom. I just wonder why they still have these types of toilets here, what is the benefit? Does anyone actually prefer them?

Enjoying the Weather

The weather in Paris has been pretty gorgeous lately. You would almost think that the seasons were changing to spring, not winter. There was a pretty cold period in October (around the time when all my visitors came!), but since then it has been fairly mild. The past week has been a bit rainy but there always seems to be some point during the day when the clouds break and the sun comes out and it just feels great to be outside taking in the view. Yesterday morning started off really rainy so I put on my rain boots and brought out my umbrella, ready to slosh through the puddles. But about 10 minutes after I left my apartment the sky cleared and I was able to have beautiful walk along the canal and then into the Marais. As soon as I got back to my apartment the rain started up again, so I had great timing. Today started off pretty miserably, but once again it has cleared up and I managed to go for a run along the canal (which is great to do on Sundays because they close the streets off to vehicles, so I don't have to worry about being run over). Anyways, I am hoping that this kind of weather lasts until my departure because I know come January and February I will have lots of snow waiting for me in Canada :) The picture above is one that I took from the balcony of my room early one morning a few weeks ago.

Salon du Vin: Wine Tasting

My landlord was nice enough to give me free tickets to the "Salon du Vin" that took place in Paris this weekend. Yesterday was the last day so I went with two of my friends to check it out. It was held at the Paris Expo and it was huge! When we got in we had no idea where to begin because there were just rows upon rows of stands all representing different independent wine makers. We each received a free wine glass and just ventured from stand to stand to try out wines from various regions in France. It was really fun and most of the people at the stands were very friendly. It was a great experience and definitely something that seems "typically French." I'd like to learn more about different wines, maybe when I start making money I will invest in some good quality bottles and start to hone my tastes. But for now, on my student budget I will stick to the grocery store variety :)