I've been in bed pretty much all day with a migraine. On top of that, I couldn't fall asleep last night until 4 am. I've been having a lot of problems sleeping lately. I can't fall asleep, and then when I finally do I have really vivid dreams that keep me from fully relaxing. I'm sure the caffeine in my migraine medication didn't help, either.
So I didn't leave the house today until after 6 pm, when I went for a walk on Rue Daguerre to get some air. I decided tonight I'd get some takeout sushi, and try one of the many Japanese places on my block. I've been cooking nonstop, and couldn't face the thought of chopping yet another onion in my current state.
After comparing prices at the three relatively similar Japanese places, I picked the cheapest one and went in. While studying the menu, the female owner starting SCREAMING at her kid, who was absolutely hysterical. She was telling him to eat more, and he was saying he couldn't eat any more, and she was just going nuts on him. I found the whole thing so upsetting that I handed the menu back to her husband, and said I couldn't eat there. He looked shocked, as if a mother verbally abusing her child in front of customers (or at all, for that matter) is totally normal, and told me to get out.
I went to the most expensive place after that (the price difference being all of about 1€50 for a menu), where I was greeted with a complimentary cocktail and given the choice between a free soda or free dessert. The fish looks very fresh, if a bit unimaginatively presented, and they gave me a little loyalty card. I'm a total sucker for those things.
So it looks like I definitely made the right choice, but I still feel awful about that little boy. I'm glad I didn't give them my business, but now I'm wondering if the kid will get in trouble for costing them a customer, even though in my mind it was the mother who was the problem, and not the kid.
Meh.
Sometimes, between delicious meals made with fresh produce and gourmet ingredients, I need a taste of home. And that's when I dip into my prized stash of mac and cheese. I have all different kinds: Annie's Organic, Velveeta with the creamy toxic orange sauce, and good old Kraft, with the powdery toxic orange sauce.
The other night I prepared my last box of Kraft, knowing that my friend Zoe is visiting soon from New York, and will be bringing Annie's with her. And the texture of the noodles was so perfect, the ratio of milk to powder so delectable, that as soon as I took a bite I wondered why I ever waste any of my meals on anything but mac and cheese.
It was that good.
Do any other expats have similar food cravings/obsessions from home? How often do you indulge?
There's definitely a bit of an anti-climactic feel to voting by absentee ballot. Especially this time around, when I'm missing out on free coffee, free ice cream, free donuts, and free vibrators. Come on, man! Expatriates are hungry and horny, too!
Still, it did feel good to send in my ballot, a few weeks ago:
Here's hoping! I know I did my part.
My weekend was quiet but very nice. On Saturday I had my first meetic date (or my first date of my second round, I suppose) with a very nice but very boring guy. It's one thing to be shy, and it's another to just have nothing to talk about. It's sad, really, when people are only interesting when they have time to think of the right thing to say, as in emails. But put them in a face-to-face conversation and it becomes very obvious when they just can't interact. I know that this sounds judgemental, and perhaps it is, but if you can't name one thing you're doing over the weekend, or one movie you liked, or one place you want to visit, or hell, just TALK, then I can't date you.
I also went food shopping for my Sunday dinner, and visited the fromager on Rue Daguerre for the first time. I picked up a Saint Marcelin and a very fresh little goat cheese surrounding a dab of fig jam. They were both excellent, and extremely reasonably priced, so I think I have a new go-to store!
Sunday was the first Sunday of the month, which means all public museums are free. I used the opportunity to visit the Musée D'Orsay, and see the pastel exhibit. If you are at all interested in pastels, I highly recommend it. I've always loved Degas' dancers, but it was the other, more detailed works that I found particularly beautiful. Notably Millet's Le Bouquet de Marguerites and Lévy's Mademoiselle Carlier, which I kept returning to. I briefly considered checking out the Picasso/Manet expo, but I had already waited on line for 40 minutes to get into the museum, and did not feel like waiting another 40. Also, I just don't like Picasso that much.
Pauline came over for dinner, and it was my first time making a "big" meal in this apartment. Along with our pasta and tomato-cream-spicy-pea sauce, we had the two cheeses (yum!), a flûte de gana, fresh salad with a lemon-mustard dressing, lots of red wine, and warm homemade apple sauce with yogurt.
I've now finished day eight of the Shred, and can't believe I've stuck with it this long. I have no idea if I've lost weight or inches or anything. I'll take measurements after day ten, I think, to see if there are any tangible results. Intangibly, I sweat my ass off each day, which can only be good, and I think my jeans are a bit looser, but that could also be cause they need to be washed. Regardless, I'm pretty proud of myself for not making any excuses and doing the workout every day. I'm still on Level 1, and will be for another two days. I have a feeling that Level 2 is going to kick my ass . . .
This week my tutoring hours will be back up to about 70%, which is good. Baby needs a new pair of shoes!
While Halloween 2008 was sadly costume-free for me, I did spend most of the day with kiddies, and that, to me, is just as important as the candy.
Okay, who am I kidding? I want candy corn and those chocolate-covered marshmallow things and I want them NOW!
Lee Ann is back in town, visiting her old haunts and Parisian friends. I haven't seen her since May 2007, and that means that I never got to meet Mateo, her exquisite 16-month-old son. I have been tracking Teo's growth through Lee's blog and flickr pics, and am truly sad I missed his roly-poly baby stage. He's a full-fledged toddler now, and still pretty damned cute. See?:
And by the way, Lee, I may have cropped you out of that picture (you know which one I mean), but I still have it on my hard drive, so don't cross me or I WILL use it. ;)
I did day five of the Shred, and some exercises are getting easier, while others are getting harder. I no longer have sore abs, which I think is not a good sign, since Jillian says our body only changes when we put it under stress. But I'm doing the crunches and the reverse crunches and the oblique crunches and the bicycle crunches! I'm doing them! Just maybe not correctly? I dunno.
I'm really pushing myself on all the lunges and cardio exercises, and am definitely feeling a difference there. Crap, those side lunges are hard. What I really like about this workout is that it goes super quickly. Even if I don't really feel like doing it, I know that in 30 minutes I'll be finished and in the shower. I can handle that.
I probably undid lots of my work with tonight's dinner, unfortunately. My cousin Martin turned five on Monday, so tonight we went out to celebrate at a great resto in the 17th, l'Accolade. I highly recommend it. For a prix fixe of 32€ I had the tartare of bar, magret of duck with pumpkin purée and girolles, and a banana dessert that was a bit too heavy. My taste of Gerard's langoustine tempura was amazing, but nothing can top watching a five-year-old boy demand to order the oreilles de cochon. That's pig ears.
I've known Martin since he had his very first coke, at age 18 months, so realizing that he's now five is weird. But it was a great dinner, and I feel really lucky to have family here.
So, after much nagging from my mom, and one too many times of being asked if I'm still single in the city of love, I rejoined meetic tonight. I've spent the past hour or so reading my 100+ letters since the last time I was on, and I must say, I'm discouraged.
There are the guys who ask me to teach them English. Those who want to know if they can sleep on one of my friends' couches on their upcoming trip to New York. The "authors" who send me their children's book manuscripts to read. And even more guys talking about walking barefoot in the grass. (EDIT: There is now also the guy who emails me four times in one hour, the last email titled COME ON!!!!!)
*Sigh*
There are a few decent-looking profiles, but the ratio is just absurd. It takes so much time to weed through the guys who call me princesse and the ones who are just looking for a fuck-buddy, that it's just tiring. But I think it's really time to get back on the horse. I just wish the horse weren't so fucking annoying.
Last time around I did meet three great guys. There were all smart, normal, holding down a job, and at least as cute as their pictures. Granted, nothing actually came of any of those dates, and it was only three out of like a gazillion guys, but I'm crossing my fingers . . . I would have met more, but I got called back to New York for a month, and then left Paris for three months, and my contract was over. So starting today, I have three months.
I finished day four of the Shred, and I'm definitely feeling it now. I picked up the intensity, and am following the advanced girl instead of the beginner girl. I actually yelled out "Jesus Christ!" during the side lunges with weight lifts today. If my ass isn't hard as a rock by the end of this, I want a refund. Also, it kind of hurts to sit on the toilet.
Well, on day 2 of the Shred I woke up a bit tender in my abs and between my shoulder blades, but other than that, nothing. Which makes me think I wasn't doing it right. Shouldn't I be in pain? I picked up the intensity for the second workout, but had to take care of my knees during one lunge-y move. I really do wish I had a mirror to check my form . . . The only move I couldn't finish was the very last one, the bicycle crunch thing. It made my back hurt, which I don't think is good, so I rested part-way through. Other than that, though, I guess I'm in better shape than I thought? I don't get out of breath or have trouble keeping up the pace or feel like I'm going to die, which seems to be abnormal among other Shredders. Or maybe the rest of the people using this DVD are just big fatties.
I only have four hours of tutoring this week, since most of my regular clients are away for Toussaint vacation, so things are a bit slow in Sophie-land. I'm still sending my CV to any and every semi-appropriate job I can find, and while I've had lots of interest, nothing has actually come of it. Obviously this is like the single worst time to find a job since I've been alive, or at least since I turned 16, but come ON people!
To reward myself for starting a bold new exercise regimen, I bought some flowers. I'm really happy with how my composition turned out:
Last night my Italian friend, Alessia, celebrated her 25th (??) birthday. Alessia and I met on the plane from Paris to Venice, at Christmas 2006. Somehow, we've managed to stay in touch for the past two years, and I had such a good time at her birthday dinner. Her friends are from all over the place: Spain, Italy, France, Germany, etc, and they were all so friendly and open and interesting. Somehow I was there for over 4 hours, and the time just whipped by.
Alessia lives in a CROUS, the equivalent of a dorm for grad students, so dinner was in the communal kitchen. There was a huge table full of snacks and drinks, and Alessia cooked up the most delicious, enormous pot of gnocchi with leeks and some kind of creamy sauce. It's pretty impressive what she pulled off in that completely un-equipped kitchen. I know she snapped some pictures, so hopefully I'll get a peek at them and put some up.
Today, day 3 of the Shred, my abs are definitely more sore than yesterday, but I still feel ready to do a workout. So, off I go!
I was expecting a lot worse, from all the reviews I'd read of people wanting to throw up or pass out five minutes into their first workout of the Shred. It wasn't necessarily a piece of cake, but I was able to finish the whole thing and do every single rep of every single exercise. I know I'm not in spectacular shape, so there are a few possibilities:
1. I wasn't pushing myself hard enough. I followed Anita, the woman who modified the exercises for beginners, figuring that would be the wisest choice. I have crap knees and ankles, and since I don't have a mirror to check my form for each position, I'm playing it safe until I get used to the workout.
2. I'm way stronger than I think. This is unlikely.
3. I'm going to wake up tomorrow so sore that even one cycle of Jillian's workout will be too much, never mind all three.
So, we'll see. I already took the first step of buying an exercise mat and dumbbells (1.5 kilos each, to start) and actually doing the workout. Tomorrow I'm going to take some measurements, so I can quantify my progress, since I've never owned a scale.
In other news, I watched the season finale of Mad Men and CANNOT WAIT for season 3. There are so many details that are really clever and assume the audience's intelligence, rather than hitting us over the head with connections and reactions. I loved Peggy's "confession," on her terms, that allowed her to sleep soundly. I loved that Mr. Sheffield (let's face it, Charles Shaughnessy will always be the father on The Nanny) is now in charge of Pete's completely in-flux future. I loved the burgers in bed and Betty's lipstick and the timeliness of job insecurity at Sterling Cooper.
I also saw Blindness, which is good. I didn't even realize until the credits rolled that no one has a name. Julianne Moore was excellent, and while the premise is incredibly frightening, the movie had none of the sense of Hollywood blockbuster fear mongering. I just hope I don't have nightmares.
Sunday was the end of daylight savings time. Or the beginning. I can never remember . . . Anyway, I was able to sleep obscenely late and pretend it was only disgustingly late. Since the weather was grey and windy, I voted to stay in, and make lentil stew. I also sat in bed with a mug of rose tea, and marked recipes that I want to try in some of my cookbooks. And watched Gossip Girl and hand-washed my unmentionables. When I finally got dressed to attend dinner at Yasu's, it was dark outside.
Yasu's new apartment is pretty amazing. And dinner was delicious: mozzarella and sun-dried tomato salad, pea and mint soup, zucchini and mushroom risotto, berries and vanilla ice cream, and Turkish pastries. Yum. Anna, Pauline, Yasu and I caught up and made plans to have another, albeit potluck, dinner party soon.
All of this came the night after Lisa and her husband and mother took me to Le Villaret, a nice bistro in the 11th, where I had cream of pumpkin soup with chanterelle ravioli, roasted partridge with cèpes and salsify, and a baba au rhum with figs roasted in port for dessert.
So I suppose it's really no great surprise that when I caught sight of myself in the mirror recently, I was shocked. I am a small person, and normally when I gain weight it seems to be placed relatively evenly over my whole body, so that I don't suddenly have an enormous ass or bulging thighs. So sometimes it's hard to tell that I'm getting bigger. But I did some calculations, and I think I now weigh about 20 pounds more than I did in college. That is an absolutely appalling amount.
Granted, I was absolutely tiny back then. I ate whatever the hell I wanted and had to buy size 00 jeans before such a thing was really common. I'm still wearing a size 2 or 4, so it's not like I'm a giant, but I could easily lose some weight and be healthy. And, bonus!, I could then fit into my old clothes!
I don't expect to ever go back down to my college weight. I'm veering towards 29 now, and it's just not realistic to have the same body I did at 21. But I'd like to go through a whole meal without unbuttoning my jeans, or make excuses to myself when I can't wear a dress that I could easily fit into only two months ago.
I still think, despite all apparent evidence to the contrary, that I eat healthily. I might have a small problem with portion control, but I eat lots of fresh veggies and fruit, little meat, plenty of dairy and water, and barely any processed food. And all that red wine is heart-healthy!
So, the only solution is to exercise more. I don't have the money right now for a gym membership, which is too bad since I definitely have the time. But I've been hearing really good things about Jillian Michaels' 30 Day Shred. It's definitely embarrassing to put this out there, but I feel like if I don't then I'll make excuses and not do it or do it half-assed. I fully expect to have this program kick my ass, but I'm looking for results. So, ask me how I'm doing! Here's crossing my fingers that I can stick with it . . . 'cause I really don't want to give up eating cheese.
After my full-day clean-up last Saturday, I headed over to Anna's house for an organic dinner party. Five of the seven of us had been at my party the night before, and the others told me all the funny stories that I had missed. I'm not the only one who, after a night of drinking, smacks herself on the forehead upon remembering some of the things she said and did, am I?
The dinner party was fantastic. We had beet hummus, fennel soup with little goat cheese and citrus crackers, pea and mushroom risotto, and chocolate mousse for dessert. Everything was homemade and organic and really, really good. Friends Pauline and Baker helped Anna with the cooking, while I contributed wine and Monsieur La Carotte. (I look weird in those pictures because Anna mocked my annoying habit of smiling when someone points a camera at me. God forbid.)
On Sunday I joined Colin and some of his friends for a pub quiz at an Irish bar. We came in second place, losing by only one point! Do you know the first Christian martyr? Or the first city to have a duty-free store? Or what the Wassermann test is for? I didn't think so. It was lots of fun though, and since they do it every Sunday night I'm hoping to get my own team together and take down Colin next time. Watch out!
This week has been insanely busy. Most of my tutoring jobs are relatively far away, which means that I average an hour of traveling for every hour of teaching. That leads to days with four hours of teaching, and three hours of transportation, and a very exhausted Sophie. I've also been having a lot of trouble sleeping. There is just nothing worse than lying in bed, so tired that your eyeballs hurt, and unable to stop the wheels from spinning. I'm hoping to balance out my clients a bit, and shove all the 16th and 17th arrondissement people into the same day so that I'm not shlepping over there twice a week. On the plus side, I'm making ends meet with just my lessons. I'm hardly saving anything, but I'm not going to run through my savings too quickly, either.
Thursday night Pauline had me over to her place for dinner. Her place is so small that when I stood up from her desk she elbowed me in the sternum. But it's cute and clean and she whipped up a four-course meal for the two of us: melted brie with sautéed mushrooms and fresh spinach, quinoa with ratatouille, a cheese course, and chocolate crème, all of it organic. My friends here are very into organic food, in case you haven't noticed. Which is nice, 'cause it balances out all the nutella I eat.
I want to catch a movie this weekend. I'm thinking Blindness, since I'm going to marry Mark Ruffalo and he'll probably want me to have seen it. Any other recommendations?
