Tag: French Sabbatical

Bear with me a minute before I make sense of today’s blog post title. First, here is another photo of Melinda, this one from today and our visit to the mall in Nantes I lovingly refer to as “Bellevue Square.” As I’ve mentioned before, I’ve given some of the shopping centers here in Nantes Seattle-area nicknames. The one closest to our house is Northgate, both because of its proximity to our house and because of its look (I think it has something to do with the lighting). The one further from our house that takes a tram and a bus to get to (or some extra walking) is Southcenter, for the simple reason of the time it takes to get there. And then the fancy one, where we were today and the locale for today’s photo, is Bellevue Square. It earned its nickname for being by far and away the most upscale of the malls in Nantes. For you France purists, the *real* name of this mall is Beaulieu.

Okay, the blog title. So Melinda and I were wandering through the mall when our ears picked up the mall music being played. I have no idea who did the programming, but whoever it was certainly had a thing for over-the-top pop music from the 1980’s. Catching the tune, I said to Melinda, “If I was putting together a playlist of songs I’d least likely expect to hear in France, Kajagoogoo’s ‘Too Shy’ would certainly make the list.”

For those of you that survived the 80’s and need a refresher, here’s a link to the music video which I hereby dedicate to my brother Steve, given today is his 49th birthday.

Hush hush…

We first had raclette several months ago when visiting our next door neighbors, Philippe & Cécile and family (Laura’s family, if that helps with precision. Speaking of Laura, she is in Washington D.C. right now and just posted on Chloe’s Facebook wall that she took our advice and tried root beer. We’re not sure what she thought of it but are guessing she didn’t like it…). Prior to coming to France I can’t say I’d ever heard of raclette. But then several people told us about it and how much fun it is. Kids especially like it.

Basically, there is this appliance that you set in the center of the table that heats up. You put square size slices of cheese in these square-sized trays, and then put these on the appliance until they start to melt. Then you scrape the melted cheese onto your plate, on which you have already put some small potatoes and thinly sliced meats. You can also heat meats and other things on the top of the appliance. I concur, it is a lot of fun and so different from anything I recall seeing in the U.S.

Today’s picture is actually from a time a month or two ago when we served raclette at our house (it has become one of Ella’s favorites). We found a raclette device (maker?) in the basement. Of course you’ll recognize Melinda peering in at the raclette appliance (device?). That’s a tray with a slice of cheese in it right in front.

Intrigued by raclette? Check out this link about how to throw a raclette party.

Big doings in the U Express facelift first reported on last Tuesday. As a quick refresher, the U Express is our neighborhood grocery store, exactly 225 Andy-sized steps from our front gate (you may recall I got a pedometer a few weeks ago). In other words, it’s really close and we go there a lot, especially since we don’t have a car. It’s kind of like having a very large pantry a block away.

So today Melinda and I stopped to watch the installation of a pane of glass to the new front entrance being built. Last week we were excited to see the pillars go in. Today it was the glass. It’s remarkable how the addition of the glass really has started to give the entrance a more classy grocery store feel.

There are hints that the upper facade may be drastically changed, too, either from the current cream to black or some kind of ornate covering. We’re excited to see how that part of it goes. One of our biggest hopes, though, is that they figure out how to mitigate the foul fish odor that often comes wafting out the side of the store that we walk along to get to and from home. Melinda uses that smelly spot as an opportunity to practice breathwork. You know, expanding your lungs with a deep inhale, retaining it to let the fresh oxygen circulate, and then exhaling. I just refer to it as Melinda “holding her breath” when we walk by. But, hey, whatever works.

Melinda and I came upon this sign while walking in the center of town yesterday, a section known as Bouffay. This is a great section of town if you’re hungry because there are a huge number of restaurants there. And you can think about them this way. It doesn’t matter what the specialty of the restaurant is, they’re all French restaurants, you know? Meaning that they’re all good.

So we were wandering around in Bouffay yesterday considering restaurants for lunch. I was lobbying that we go to a French restaurant that serves Japanese food, sushi sounding really good to me. Melinda wasn’t as interested so we kept walking. We reviewed a number of the placards out front that list the specials and most of what’s on the menu. But either the prices were higher than we wanted to pay or the food wasn’t quite what we wanted. At the end of one street we found this restaurant with this handwritten expression acoss the top of their placard. It gave us a big chuckle so I took this picture.

Now I admit we did not go inside to have it proven to us that they do speak English. We weren’t that interested in their menu (“huîtres” by the way is oysters). But we did give them credit for trying to appeal to English speakers. Oh, my favorite of the four words is the clever spelling of “We.”

What did we settle on for lunch? A couple of sandwiches from a bakery that we enjoyed while continuing our walk around town. Less than 5€, too.

Things Bill Gates and I have in common:
– We’re both from Seattle.
– We both married someone named Melinda.

Okay, granted, that’s not that many things in common. But you’ve got to admit, these two things are pretty significant similarities. In fact, I’m going to be so bold as to say that the “We’re From Seattle and Married Someone Named Melinda Club” has very few members. I just may set up a Meet-up or something and see if anyone other than Bill and me show up. I’m thinking the club just may be that small.

But here’s the kicker. Do you remember Melinda Gates’ birth name? That’s right. It’s Melinda French. And my Melinda speaks French, so there! And we’re in France, so double-there! I’m telling you, there is something to this connection. But I just am not sure what it means.

Oh, my Melinda, the one who speaks French, and I were walking in the center of Nantes this afternoon and passed this billboard advertising the latest issue of “Management” magazine. Seeing Bill’s face got me thinking of these striking similarities so I quickly snapped this picture for today’s blog post. That big word there, “L’argent,” means money. And the subheading translates as “How to talk about a taboo subject.”

Yeah, that’s one thing ol’ Bill and I don’t have in common. L’argent.

Yes, that’s me. Yes, it is what it appears to be. I’m running on a track. I know, I know. It sounds crazy. But there are reports out there that getting regular exercise is good for you. And, get this, running counts as exercise. Me, I thought running was something you did when you wanted to get away from an uncomfortable or scary situation, some kind of human reaction called “Flight or Fight.”

Scared as I’ve been, I started running away from bad health a couple of weeks ago, long enough to feel like I could make mention of it here. My M.O. is to jog around the Hippodrome trotter track once or twice on my way home from having gone with Ella to school each weekday morning. But that’s been a little hard on my knees so today I went for a mile jog around this track that belongs to the University of Nantes. For you statistical types, I ran the mile in a little over 8 minutes (to put that in perspective, the four-legged Simply Majestic ran a mile at Longacres racetrack in Seattle in 1:33 4/5).

Part of the fun is that Melinda has started joining me and took this picture of me this morning. We are getting so serious that this afternoon we went to the store and got me a fancy pair of running shoes to replace the very cheap high top basketball shoes I have been wearing. We’ll see if these new shoes help with my knees.

One of my favorite singers is a man named Mickey Jupp, an English contemporary of Nick Lowe and Dave Edmunds. In 1982 he released a wonderful song called “Joggin” that included this memorable line, pretty much summing up my mission, “I’m going to get healthy if it’s the last thing I do” (read all the lyrics here).

No, I’m not calling YOU, “Pig Brain” so please don’t take offense. I’m just saying that I agreed to use the pig brain picture for today’s post. So here you go, the package of pig brain that was available yesterday at the U Express. Seeing it there, I couldn’t resist taking its picture. Seeing it there, I couldn’t bring myself to purchasing it (although, as you might be able to see, it only cost 1.85 €).

So I got a little curious today about how one might go about preparing pig brain for one’s loving family, say, a family of four Americans living for a year in, say, France. I found Pig Brain Soup, from which I especially like this direction, “Add brain and season with salt and pepper.” That’s good advice for any chef making any recipe. For those of you wanting something with a little more substance, I suggest
Pig’s Brain & Eggplant Frittata. This recipe includes this always-helpful suggestion, “With your hands, remove the veins and membranes.” But my favorite may be this video entitled “How to Prepare Pig’s or Sheep’s Brain”. Let me just say that I’m not buying the accent.

Oh, regarding the video, and not to send too many chills down your spine, when she cuts the brain in half I had a little Hannibal/Silence of the Lambs moment. I bet some of you know what I’m talking about…

Another gorgeous day today and another blog posting featuring one of the beautiful parks in Nantes. This one Melinda and I came upon sort of by accident today. Not that we didn’t know it existed, it’s just we entered it spontaneously while looking for a branch of our French bank. We had some basic directions to the bank (actually, nothing more than the name of a bus stop) and set off on foot from our house early this afternoon, immersed in the nearly 60 degree weather under clear blue skies. We walked along a road that was closed to traffic so it could be washed. We passed by a beautiful old church. Then we arrived at the corner where Le Parc de la Gaudinière is situated. With the bank nowhere in sight, Melinda suggested we take a look.

We walked in to the sight of these two swans swim-chasing a goose off of a serene pond. A man was cheering them on in a kind of comical way. We continued on up a trail, passed a lovely children’s play area and ultimately found another exit/entrance. We looked at a sign indicating the park’s hours and got a big kick out of its spring hours as being listed as from mid-January to mid-March. After that, it’s summer hours until October. Now these are seasons Melinda can really get behind!

Short post script – My other idea for today’s post was based on a picture I took late this afternoon a the U Express, our neighborhood grocery store. What are they selling today as food? Pig brain!

Short post script #2 – Yes, we did find the bank.

The Jardin des Plantes in Nantes is one of my favorite places in the city. It was established in 1806 (what present-day thing in Seattle was established in 1806 – nothing!**) and is both huge and beautiful. It includes a wide variety of plants, beautiful walking trails, much wildlife, both ponds and streams, great benches for sitting, a children’s play area… Its main entrance is located across the street from the train station but the park is so large that we can access it at its other end not far from the Burger House (to use a Smallman/Shaw landmark).

I took this photo a week ago as Ella, Melinda and I were walking through the park after running an errand at the train station. Ella spotted this magnolia with this incredible heart-shaped moss and suggested I use it for my Valentine’s Day blog photo. I planned to until she up and made Valentine’s Day cookies for her class. Returning to the subject of magnolias, apparently there is one in the park that dates back to the park’s beginnings. What that tree could tell.

I plan to regularly visit the park in the spring with a book in hand. Another dose of sabbatical heaven.

** My apologies to the native people who inhabited the area now known as Seattle.

I’m trying to imagine what you may have thought had you only seen the title of this post without quick access to today’s photo. Perhaps you’d think I went for one of those crazy Groupon packages, the kind that promise some kind of life-enhancing body makeover. Alas, no. I’m referring to the ongoing construction to the front of our neighborhood grocery store, the U Express.

I took this photo no more than 30 minutes ago, excited as we all are by what appears to be the start of a fancy new entrance to the store. Melinda has imagined several different possibilities since seeing a group of workers take measurements several months ago. They must have decided to wait until the worst of the winter weather was behind us before beginning the construction, which has been going on for about two weeks now. At first we wondered if the project was just some kind of new drainage system. Then we began to wonder if it might just be some kind of enclosure for the grocery carts. Yesterday they removed some of the facade above the entrance, revealing evidence that this at one time may have been a Leclerc. What a revelation! Our cute neighborhood grocery is no more than 1/10th the size of a Leclerc. It must have been drummed out of the Leclerc fraternity for wimpiness.

All the same, it is our U Express and we are fond of it. We are pleased to see it get a facelift/makeover. Today’s progress involved the white pillars being put in place in front of the doors. Quite elegant!