Crepe Trip

French television

2008-10-28T06:54:00.001-07:00

This was one crazy show, I couldnt believe what i was seeing. I didnt get pics of some of the best cat tricks, I wish I had, it was really something.

Our after class ritual

2008-10-28T06:46:00.001-07:00

Most evenings after class we ended up in one of our apartments drinking wine and cidre and eating cheese, bread, grapes, some sort of dried meat and chestnut spread. They said they were impressed by my palate, I guess they thought I would shy away from some of the French flavors.

The gang at the creperie

2008-10-28T06:43:00.000-07:00

Armele, Lucille, Bernadette and Gilles. This was morning coffee, I usually had about 5 of these.

The Creperie

2008-10-28T06:28:00.000-07:00

A little backtracking

2008-10-28T06:16:00.000-07:00

This is how my trip began.

Paris

2008-10-26T08:59:00.000-07:00

Im here in Paris with Natalie and we are having a great time, weve eaten our way thru the city, anything we could get our hands on. Im big into aperitifs, i love a good Kir. We found a craft show and we each purchased some housewares. Me, hand painted salt and pepper dishes that ill never use and Natalie, five cereal bowls for a hot hundred Euro but she threw in cute cheese clothes for both of us.

There are so many interesting ethinic neighborhoods and we both love to experience that sort of thing. Yes, we hit the Jewish neighborhood, had burgers and fries with baba ganoush, very good. We went to the Bastille market, ate whatever we could. Internet has not been easy to find and we are realizing now that in order to find internet you have to go to the poorer, international neighborhoods where people dont have their own computers. That said right now we are sitting in one such neighborhood; its a mecca of Asian/African/Arab peoples. And we just hit a great 1 Euro store, all the crap you could want!

Until the next crepe Auvoir!!!!!!!

My last night in St Nic

2008-10-23T09:42:00.000-07:00

So tonight is my last night in St Nic. Iv had such a good time but i am really tired, we've been working straight and learning so many things. Also its been a little hard trying to keep up with the French. Im pretty happy about how much ive learned, i could use another week on the bilig but i definitely have a very solid start, with a bit more practice ill be fine.

Im really with the right people for this experience, you have humor, understanding, calm and a little insanity. Lucille has helped me so much with the French and so has Bernadette, anytime i needed something translated it was never a problem even though i know its tiring for everyone. I feel like ive gotten not only a lesson in making crepes but ive gotten a little French lesson as well, ive really learned a lot in a short time.

Tomorrow Armele, i just learned its with an "r", is going to take Lucille and I back to Quimper so i can catch my train and she can go on with her traveling. This is really helpful since there are only two buses to Quimper on Friday, one very early and one too late for me to catch my train. Not to mention the 50E cab ride it would cost me.

So tomorrow im off to Paris to meet up with Natalie and do lord knows what, im so excited to see her and to explore Paris. Apparently there is a street close to the train station and its all people making crepes at their stands, I have to check it out and see how mine measure up.

okay, thats all for now.
Im going to get some more pics up over the next few days.

2008-10-23T09:31:00.000-07:00

Im getting there.

Savory Crepe

2008-10-22T11:41:00.000-07:00

This is the first savory crepe I made.

Bernadette and her van

2008-10-22T11:21:00.000-07:00

This is Bernadette and one of the vans she traveled in selling her crepes. The van has everything you need to make crepes. Her last stop selling crepes out of her van were the Canary Islands.

GENIUS!!!

2008-10-22T11:17:00.000-07:00

This ones for you Jessica!

Good Vibes

2008-10-22T10:55:00.000-07:00

My crepes are getting better, ill post a pic later. Right now Im with the other students in Ameles room having cidre, wine, Charcuterie, cheese, grapes and peanuts, no the peanuts were not my addition. Im acutally understanding a good deal of French and i have no background in it. Gilles and i do best speaking Spanish together and now i realize my Spanish has helped with the French.

Class was intense today and im pretty tired and now I have my classmates grilling me about Bush, ugh, I have no interest. We actually laugh a ton together. Gilles and Amele are pretty funny and Lucille and i get along very well. I keep imaging all of us are in some strange French comedy, a group of people who happened upon each other, well, i guess because they all signed up to take a crepe course in Finistere, the ends of the earth. Gilles is one of those people who is just funny, he doesnt try, he just is and he makes you laugh until you are in tears. Tonight he bought horse meat to cook in butter, i think ill try it, im curious. We're all having a lot of fun. Bernadette is also a ton of fun, she laughs easily and seems to understand everyones idiosyncracies and they thrill her.

Its a great trip, good vibes all around. Im also loving making crepes. Today i made myself a sweet crepe with caramel and chocolate, yum!

getting better and Thanksgiving

2008-10-21T09:24:00.003-07:00

this was today and as you can see im getting better.

I would love to incorporate the crepes into our wonderful Thanksgiving dinner but first someone needs to buy me a Bilig, thats what you cook the crepe on. Maybe I can work something out...we'll see.

My first crepe

2008-10-21T09:18:00.000-07:00

This is me not thrilled about my crepe and thats Bernadette also not so happy about my crepe.

2008-10-21T05:57:00.001-07:00

unfortunately it took forever for that one photo to post. ill try to do more. that was my first crepe.

first and second day

2008-10-21T05:09:00.001-07:00

So Im having a great time, its all very interesting. Amel man, Lucille women and Gilles man are the other students. Again im writing a little strange since I am not used to this keyboard. We have been working on Ble Noir[buckwheat or savory crepes] and Fromant[sweet crepes]. There is one star in the class and unfortunately it is not me, im not bad though. I have a good wrist and I can manuever the spatulas very well, its the actual cooking of the crepes on the bilig that is difficult. It is really fun though, i think ill be fine by the end.

Last night Jilles took me to the store to buy groceries, i could have stayed there for hours checking out all of the products Im not used to but we had to go so Jilles could cook his steak, IN BUTTER, HAHAHA. That night we all had some wine and than Lucille and I went to the local bar on the beach for cider. People are very nice but they find it strange that we would travel this far to learn how to make crepes. Lucilles grandmother is from this area and she is very proud that her grandaughter is learning this tradition. Lucille is from the Pyrenese[the mountains that separate Spain and France] but she wanted to learn the proper way and this is the place to learn. Crepes are everywhere here.

I am proud to say that I am the only American student that Bernadette has ever had and she has been running this school for 5 years. She speaks mainly in French but i keep up buy watching what shes doing and then either Bernadette or Lucille will translate if I missed something.

Im having a really great time, i think this has been a necessary trip for me. Plus the area is beautiful and im sleeping again, thats huge. I dont think iv had a good nights sleep since iv been in New York. Okay Im going to try to post some pictures. If I am successful enjoy.

Great and interesting day

2008-10-19T11:22:00.000-07:00

So i spent today with Bernadette, she is very nice and her story is very interesting. She basically traveled around the world selling crepes out of a camper and after 20 years she decided to open her own spot where she is from. Her place is big and she is building onto it after this week. I would love to add photos but i dont want to play with her computer too much, i will put them up in Paris.

Unfortunately I had a really bad allergy attack last night and i dont know what the allergy is, maybe one of the 50lb wool blankets i was using. Luckily i brought 2 24 hour zyrtec, hopefully that will get me thru. its definitely something in the room because i was fine today.

Today there were some guests and now that its the low season Bernadette doesnt have her usual five empoyees so i got to step in. It was fun and one family was English so i could at least understand them. I think Bernadette was quite impressed with my waitressing skills and comfort in the kitchen, i really enjoyed it and we worked well together. I got some laughs out of her. When the guests left she offered me a crepe and either red wine or cider, i took the cider. She told me a bit about her life and we talked a little about mine. After that we went to an expo for home goods, she is still working on getting her hotel together. Then she took me to this really cute area where the houses are old and made out of stone[they looked like all the others to me but apparently they are different]. The place is called character something or other, i supposed it did have a certain authentic charm.

We came back around 6 and the other students arrived one after the other. One girl a little younger than me and two men a bit older, THEY ALL SPEAK ENGLISH, thank goodness. I just got back from an hour walking on the beach. I found a little bar/shop and spoke with a nice girl who works there. The bar is right on the water. This place reminds me a little of San Francisco. Lots of people doing water sports; including surfing, i was surprised by that. There is a certain bohemian vibe here as well. Everyone kind of looks like its still 1970. Of course when you travel and see different people you dont know if they are going for that look or if they just havent caught up yet??? hahahahaha[still cant find that damn exclamation mark].

I thought i was going to gain weight here but it looks like im losing it. We were supposed to bring our own stuff to cook, very European way of traveling. Well I didnt think about sitting in the room cooking with a hot pot, apparently everyone else did. Bernadette keeps offering me pasta and yogart and fruit but i dont want to take too much, mainly cause i dont want to get the possible bill, you know??? I think we might go food shopping after class tomorrow....i hope.

Until next time.

Remote

2008-10-18T10:51:00.000-07:00

WOW first of all this computer is not giving me all the keys i need or i dont know how to find them so its a little hard. I have never been to a more remote place, its very interesting. im using bernadettes computer so i cant post pics. I am going to Quimper with her tomorrow, its 40 min away from here and I think its where ill find the next closest computer. The trip was good but i pretty much have not slept in 24 hours so ill be going to bed soon but first ill be practicing some French because i really dont know a thing. When i got off of the bus some lady picked me up and brought me the two km to bernadettes i guess i looked lost, ha, i cant find the exclamation mark LOL. Good thing she knew who Bernadette was. I am for sure a stranger in a strange land, when you dont speak the language its really hard. ok, im so tired. Again Im hoping to find a computer in Quimper tmrw so I can post some pics, its more fun with pics. until tomorrow. Also much of this should have had exclamation marks but i cant figure it out. ;-] i got that.

tickets and ChapStick

2008-10-16T22:04:00.000-07:00

So Im packed but I feel like Im missing things. As long as I have my tickets and my black label ChapStick, Im okay, anything else can be bought over there. I dont trust their off brand chapsticks, Ive been through that before, I think it was in Italy.

Thank you for all of the nice things you said about my trip and my blog, I really appreciate the encouragement.

Okay, next blog, in France!

Finistere

2008-10-15T01:16:00.000-07:00

This is where Im going... as far as I know...by the pictures...St Nic is where im staying...I think???

This pic is kind of a mistake

2008-10-14T11:28:00.001-07:00

Okay, so that is a photo of me and my cousin Matt at my brother Evan's wedding. I just wanted a good photo of me and now that I look at it, well it looks silly and I cant figure out how to delete the damn thing. So enjoy! I have a feeling this is the first of many mishaps on this blog thing.

My trip to France

2008-10-14T10:45:00.000-07:00

I've decided to start a blog for my trip to France. This will be the easiest way for me to share my trip with everyone. Hopefully I will be able to download photos of my trip, im planning on it but who knows what sort of computer hookups they have where Im going. If for some reason I cant get the photos up in Brittany, for sure ill be able to in Paris. So for now Im getting ready by doing laundry, cleaning my apartment(for the supposed subletter), packing and purchasing last minute items for the trip. I think most of you know but for those who dont, Im going to Brittany to take a course in crepe making, HA! The region I am going to is the western most part of France, on the coast, its called Finistere, which translates to "end of the earth", I love this little fact. Here's a Wikipedia blurb:

The name Finistère derives from the Latin Finis Terræ, meaning end of the earth, as does the Breton name for the region, and may be compared with Land's End on the opposite side of the English Channel. It is not to be confused with Cape Finisterre in Spain.

Right after my course I am going to Paris to meet up with Natalie, Im very excited about this, its always fun with Natalie. So I take off this coming Friday and land on Saturday. I will keep everyone updated along the way.