travel photo tuesdays: iconic

This represents a first glance of a much anticipated return. greeting an old friend, though I had made her acquaintance only three years prior. I'd felt I'd known her all my life, and seeing her in the flesh was simultaneously thrilling and comforting. Thrilling, to feel the weight of the adventure which I was about to embark upon. Inexplicably comforting, because I suddenly felt at home, chez moi, in a foreign country.

You know those moments in life where everything just feels right? This was one in my life, listening to the tour guide spout off facts in French, gliding along the Seine, enjoying the company of those who would turn out to be very dear friends to me, and just reveling in the fact that I was finally in France. This represents the point at which my love for France, the language, the people, the way of life, became deeply rooted in my heart.

(I also wanted to post some Eiffel Tower pictures in anticipation of this necklace that I just bought last night. I'm actually not one for wearing jewelry all the time, so it has to be a special piece for me to purchase it. I believe this falls in that category, and I think I will love it for a very long time to come. Promise to post pictures of it on me when it arrives!)

travel photo tuesdays: le 14 juillet

This week's edition of travel photo tuesday is a bit supersized in honor of Bastille Day! For those who don't know the history (or need a little refresher), you can read a little more about it here. It is, as you may guess, a complicated story. But on to the pictures!

cézanne's middle school in aix-en-provence

the eiffel tower (la tour eiffel): as quintessentially french as revolutions


le drapeau à Versailles


the extravagance which prompted the French people to revolt/seize the Bastille and declare their rights as citizens and humans


et finalement, l'arc de triomphe

And bonus video: La Marseillaise, which apparently gave Edith Piaf her big break. I get chills every time I listen to it.


All photos © Jillian Nightingale

travel photo tuesdays: le château de vizille

This small castle hosts the museum of the French revolution. Situated just outside of Grenoble, this castle also offers fairly extensive grounds which include a menagerie. We may or may not have had an experience with some very curious and dirty sheep. They also had a surprising range of more exotic animals. The museum was fairly interesting. I was more entranced with walking around the castle, listening to the floorboards creak and enjoying the grand staircases overlooking les paumes.

At least at this museum, they didn't insult our intelligence by asking us if we knew France had a revolution in 1789. Yes, this really happened somewhere else in France. I mean, I know we're Americans, but we are studying French, and if we retain one thing about French history, it's that they had a revolution in 1789.

travel photo tuesdays: le marché en aix-en-provence

One of my favorite weekends in France, we spent the last weekend in October exploring Aix-en-Provence and Avignon. In accordance with my travel philosophy (act like the locals as much as you are able), we browsed the saturday morning market. I love the variety of merchandise you could find there, but mostly, I loved going through all the produce stands and seeing all the fresh produce and dreaming of what I could be cooking. This is still one of my all-time favorite photos from that semester.

foodie fridays: crème brûlée à la lavande

This is one of my favorite recipes for crème brûlée. It's a Williams-Sonoma card recipe that I picked up when I bought a brème brûlée set for my mom for her birthday, complete with kitchen torch. And yes, that is my favorite part of the whole process: the carmelization of the sugar.

2 1/4 cups (680 mL) heavy cream
2 T dried lavender flowers
5 egg yolks
2/3 cup (155g) sugar
1/2 t vanilla extract
turbinado sugar for carmelizing

Preheat the oven to 325F (165C). Line a baking pan that is 2 inches (5cm) deep with a kitchen towel. Have a pot of boiling water ready.

In a small saucepan over medium heat, combine the cream and lavender flowers and bring just to a simmer. Remove from the heat and let stand for 10 minutes.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the egg yolks, sugar and vanilla until blended. Slowly add the lavender cream, whisking constantly until blended. Strain the mixture through a fine-mesh sieve set over a bowl (preferably with a pouring lip) and divide among 4 large or 6 medium ramekins. Skim bubbles off the surface of the cream in each ramekin. Place the ramekins in the prepared baking pan and add boiling water to fill the pan halfway up the sides of the ramekins. Cover the pan loosely with aluminum foil and bake until the custards are just set, about 40 minutes.

Remove the ramekins from the pan and transfer to a wire rack. Let the custards cool to room temperature, then refrigerate for at least 3 hours.

Just before serving, sprinkle 2 tsp of turbinado sugar over the surface of each custard. Carmelize with a kitchen torch or broiler in the oven.

Enjoy.
Repeat.

bon appétit!

real life began a week ago.

i just graduated from college. i am now an official holder of a Bachelor of Arts. in French. and what now?

i have many dreams and criteria to achieving these dreams:
+ being back in France within the next 5 2 years
+ where i can make good friends with similar (and differing) interests
+ i can continue learning. languages, photography, the history of an obscure island, quoi que ce soit
+ i can eat all kinds of delicious food.
+ i can read the economist in bed if i wish.

i'm hoping that working at Disney World in their College Program will at least meet a few of these criteria. need to make that money to get to grad school!