This weekend was an especially good ending to our first four months. On Friday night, Poppy spent the night with Granny and Grandad while Emily, Henry and I went out for Chinese food. A Chinese friend at school had recommended the place as one that serves authentic cuisine from the orient–thus, it wasn’t exactly what we were used to eating in the fine buffet establishments in America. All the same, it was Chinesey and delicious.

On Saturday morning we met with our conversation partner who continues to graciously welcome us into her home every week for tea and a healthy inundation of unscripted French conversation. At noon we headed to our professor’s house for a farewell party in honor of two families who have completed their time in France and are departing soon. Good time, good hanging out and, of course, good food. We can say that this was where we first had hotdogs in baguette buns, the hotdogs being the perfectly picante merguez sausages from North Africa. We will be having these puppies at home in the near future.

Then yesterday we had the joy of entertaining a newly engaged couple from church–our first time hosting French folks in our home for a meal. We made ham and potato soup–served with baguette, of course–and served a homemade apple pie for dessert. We spent the afternoon chatting about all sorts of things and I even got to bust out a newly acquired flash card phrase: le réchauffement de la planete “global warming”! I probably won’t use it again, but one time made it worth learning.

In the evening, we explored the château up the hill which turns out to be a fully functioning escargot and dairy farm. Surprisingly, seeing the snails do their thing (i.e., nothing) made us want to try them. How can you live in France and not try snails, right? One day…maybe…

Granny’s Fish Pie

200ml of whole milk
1 potato, peeled and diced
1 carrot, peeled and diced
1 prepared cod fillet
½ a cup of peas
generous pinch of parsley

Place the cod, potatoes, carrot and parsley in a saucepan. Pour over the milk, cover and simmer gently for 20 minutes. Add the peas and cook for an extra 5 minutes. Puree or mash to the desired consistency.

*Allow me to apologize for three things in the video above: (1) starting off by speaking in a super high falsetto [wow!], (2) appearing to jerk Henry up by his arm–what you couldn’t see is that I also had a hand on his crouch to push him up, and (3) he now has a new high chair which he can’t slide out of.

The competition asked recipients to name the dish that King Henry IV wished that the French could have every week. The answer, as five respondents correctly pointed out, is poule au pot. But don’t let the dazzling French name fool you–it’s simply chicken (hen) in a pot. Well, it does call for lots of veggies, too.

The first three correct respondents should watch their mailboxes for their edible overseas booty arriving very shortly. Well done, Googlers!

Yesterday we gave you a taste of food for the first time.

A friend from America who is also living over here to learn French gave us some Gerber whole wheat rice cereal that she no longer needed for her twins.

You still aren’t sleeping through the night so we wanted to see if food would help you sleep more soundly.

We used your Christmas present from Aunty Sally.  She gave you a lovely bowl, fork & spoon and sippy cup set from the Cath Kidston collection.

Obviously Sissy wanted to help feed you so we took a snap of her over-enthusiastic attempt.

You did very well and today you did even better with Daddy feeding you at lunch time.

Your sister was exactly 5 months when we started feeding her more than just formula.  Here is a little pic of her.

L’Epiphanie is apparently a pretty big deal here in France. To celebrate, all the bakeries and supermarkets sell galette des rois or king cake. “King” in the name, of course, refers to those magi we just talked about. Imagine a festival about kings in a country that so cheerfully deposed their own some centuries ago!

Here is the galette des rois I picked up from the bakery just down the street from us. And what a tasty opportunity to practice my French!

The cake itself is a sort of flaky pastry with a layer of frangipane in the middle. Though that’s not all. Hidden inside is a fève, a trinkety little porcelain or plastic prize. The person whose slice contains the fève is crowned king or queen and gets to wear the Burger King-esque golden crown.

All during dinner Poppy could hardly wait to dig into the cake and wear the crown. In fact, she prematurely crowned herself queen of our petite ville.

After dinner and once the cake was apportioned, the lot was cast and and we waited to see who’d be our king or queen for the evening.

Who will it be?

Poppy?

Mummy?

Granny? Granny!

I mean Queen Granny. Grandad was a good sport about it, knowing all along who the real boss is.

Our fève was a mini box of movie theatre popcorn. So, apparently the three wise men brought Jesus gold, frankincense and popcorn!

Meanwhile, Henry longs for the day when he’ll be king and can drink all the milk in the world.

Clogged arteries anyone?

Don’t panic we played it safe and just went with corn dogs and a funnel cake, I’ve taken care of too many stroke patients to let anyone eat fried butter! So on Wednesday afternoon we put on our best plaid shirts, packed cans of food into a bag (I’ll explain in a min), loaded the kids up into the car and headed to the Texas state fair.  We couldn’t miss the fair for two reasons.  Firstly, we felt like my parents needed a lesson in American culture and secondly, we wanted to tell Henry that although he didn’t live in America for long he did however make it to the fair (ya know, something every Texan should do). Ok so the deal with the cans of food.  On this particular Wednesday if you took 3 cans of food each you could get in to the fair for $2 each as opposed to $16, a no-brainer right?  The cans were to be donated to the North Texas Food Bank.  It was either go on this Wednesday or go on a Thursday and get Mum and Dad in as senior citizens for  free…..but we worked out it was cheaper to go on the Wednesday

The help

We had a blast!  There was an amazing petting zoo with all kinds of animals.  There was even a giant tortoise sitting amongst the miniature ponies, zebras, and donkeys.  Poppy enjoyed seeing the piglets, kids, and of course the 1 month old baby Llama.  I personally enjoyed the Ostrich and miniature ponies the most, I would totally have a miniature pony in my back garden if I could.

Granny would try feeding a sleeping pony

After spending alot of time in the petting zoo we decided to walk around and see what else was at the fair.  We walked past a mini circus tent where performers were putting on little shows for children.  We had to stop and take a couple of photos.

Then we spotted an auto show on the map and we wandered towards that.

Poppy - "Daddy I thought I wanted a pony for Christmas but I think I want this instead"

At 5.30 we headed back towards the animals for a milking demonstration.  It didn’t really dawn on me until my Mum mentioned that Drew could probably give this demonstration himself having grown up visiting his Grandfather’s dairy farm.  But it was fun nonetheless.

From here we went on to get something to eat.  Drew had recommended corn dogs and seeing as we were giving my parents the authentic fair experience this seemed like a good choice.  I on the other hand am not a fan of corn dogs so I stuck with the trusty delicious funnel cake.

I didn't even have to shout "make a funny face"

Finally there was one thing left to do.  We agreed that we couldn’t say we’d been to the fair and not gone on a single ride.

So Poppy and Drew volunteered for the white knuckle ride.  Well not exactly, although it was white knuckle for a certain little girl.  We walked around for ages finding the right ride.  Not too fast but not too slow that she’d find it boring.

We settled on a mermaid ride, there was a huge mermaid statue in the center of the ride and you rode in a whale.  It just went around and around with a few little ups and downs.  And there was a bubble machine too!  We thought she’d love it because shes always shouting “higher higher” when we push her on the swings in the park…haha not so much.  She was a little terrified at first.

But then got used to it.

However she was a little stunned when she came off and needed time to get used to being on solid ground again.

By this time it was getting late for the babies and time so say goodbye to the fair.

A successful trip to the Texas state fair.

Did I mention that thanks to Henry’s Aunty Hannah we were able to dress him up as a cowboy?  (Han Han it fit him perfectly!!)

Sleeping on the job

So, once a day Poppy jumps in her stroller and goes on a walk to see the “goks” as she called them for a while.  Most of the time she goes with Granny and Grandad, sometimes Daddy goes too but this occasion Mummy tagged along with Henry.

Now one day Granny spoke to the owners of this backyard farm and they told her that the goats pretty much eat anything and she was welcome to feed them.  So now, she saves up all the peelings from the vegetables and the old stale bread and takes them along to feed the animals.

Poppy got upset at the beginning of the video because the goats were being sloppy and dropping their food on her.  But  my favorite part of the movie is when Poppy says “Llama come on”, miss bossy boots.  And 5:21 is my favourite moment of the movie.

Oh and I just want to make a note that this was the first time Poppy fed the goats herself. Up until this point she was too scared to get her hands near them.

Walking from our apartment toward the main road whereon our pot of donut gold is found, we pass the soccer field where I play every Wednesday and Saturday with internationals and other center residents. I gain a sense of satisfaction walking past the soccer pitch on the donut run because I know that whatever I consume will be negated shortly by that magical wonder exercise. Or, does it work the other way around: the donut negates the exercise? Oh dear, anyways…

The Texan sun isn’t kind even to donut travelers. Nonetheless Granny and Grandad soldier on for the joy set before them. We joke that we’ll arrive only to find the shop shut this particular morning.

Our first obstacle is crossing four lanes of traffic. I reckon by now you can probably guess the answer to the perennial riddle Why the Granny crossed the road.

A too-short-for-pedestrian-safety-flashing WALK sign later, we arrive. Grandad’s the first to enter. Granny and Henry aren’t far behind. In fact, I’m the one behind.

Now, the donuts. Would you know that I tried to get the Korean patrona to pose with her donuts but she refused?! I asked nicely. =/

At least donuts aren’t shy. I mean with looks like these why would they need to be?

With donuts in tow we head home: cream-filled for Grandad, chocolate with sprinkles for Poppy, apple fritter for Mummy, chocolate with coconut for Daddy, and Granny doesn’t even care. Now, you haven’t seen me and Poppy in the pictures. That’s not because we’re shy but because I’m snapping the pics and Poppy’s strapped to my back much like Henry is riding along on Granny.

In addition to getting to eat donuts, there are two great things about the Saturday morning donut run: (1) Grandad insists on buying and (2) if you didn’t find the donut you wanted, you can always pick a horse-apple on the return journey, although we’re not sure if anyone actually eats them.

Does your family have a Saturday morning ritual?

“Don’t learn the language! Rather, relearn the world as it is known and shared by the people whose language you are learning.”

Here’s a video of our group hearing about accepting/rejecting an invitation to a meal in our language’s culture.