Food!

 I'm going to be in France/Europe for another 16 weeks or so, but I am already dreading the return to cafeteria food. Don't get me wrong, IWU provides good meals, but they just don't compare to what I've been eating as of late. Fresh-baked bread, crisp crêpes, and glorious galettes--all filled with, covered in, and/or accompanied by cheese. Back home, cheese pretty much makes up its own food group in my diet; needless to say I'm quite enjoying the abundance of fromage here. Another wonderful thing about food in France is how quickly one can get their hands on a delicious lunch. Less than 4 minutes after I spotted this bakery on the street, I was enjoying the taste of toasted baguette, fromage, jambon goodness (food-heating and picture-taking time accounted for). 

Gourmet lunch on-the-go 

Gallette with ham, cheese, egg, and spinach

 I am quickly becoming addicted to galettes and crêpes. They're essentially the same thing, but galettes are made with buckwheat flour and are usually filled with cheese, meat, veggies, etc (for the main course) and crêpes are made with wheat flour and typically are covered in chocolate, caramel, jam, etc (for dessert). Yesterday after conversation club, some friends and I went to a crêperie to enjoy some traditional French cuisine. Apparently February is (un)officially the national month of crêpes, so I was just performing my civic duty. And if I needed further reason, crêpes/galettes originated in the Brittany region of France, of which Nantes was the historical capital. Luckily they don't seem too difficult to make, so perhaps I can sustain this new addiction after this semester.

Chocolate and raspberry crêpe

                         Chocolate and banana crêpe                                       Caramel crêpe

While restaurant and made-to-order bakery items are delectable dietary staples, it's also cost-efficient (and fun!) to get French groceries and make my own lunch most of the time. I bought some snack items just because the packaging looked interesting and others because friends recommended certain things to me, but everything I've tried had been really good. I love the chocolate sandwich smiley-face cookies, but I should probably slow down on my consumption before I gain a few too many kilograms. Peanut butter is really hard to find here (I brought the jar pictured below with me from the good ol' USA), but the French alternatives really give it a run for its money. Nutella is suuuper good, but easy to find back home so that's old news. Speculoos, on the other hand, I had never seen or tasted before. The best way I can describe the flavor is that it tastes like Teddy Grahams in spreadable form. So good. I bought a pack of plain cookie/wafer things just so I would have something to put Speculoos on, but I'm sure it would be good straight from the jar.

Snack time, France style

Don't worry, I'm not just filling up on French junk food. I'm also living off baguette sandwiches with sliced meat, cheese, and lettuce. You can buy a three foot long baguette for just 0.88€! Not to mention it's fresh and heavenly.

Baguette with fromage de chèvre (goat cheese)

As a final note, a shout out to my brother, Henry: HAPPY BIRTHDAY!