I am a Domestic Goddess!

So I was going to write about Fête des Lumières and the weekend away in Avoriaz, but I just couldn’t resist writing instead about the super delicious quiche I just made!!!

Not only is it ridiculously easy to make, but it looks and tastes incredible too!

Yummy, yummy goodness! A new French création chez la cuisine de Sophie, inspired by la cuisine d’Emily!!!

Here’s the recipe:

Ingredients:

1 fresh refrigerated dough/crust (unrolled over a pie plate 30 mins before baking)
4 eggs
1 20cl (200 ml) carton half & half cream or substitute (Bridelight Fluide 4%mg)
Veggies, cheese, meat, etc… to your heart’s desire!!
Salt & pepper

Pre-heat oven to 425° (gas mark #7)

Whisk eggs and milk together

Stir in veggies, herbs & spices and/or cheese.
(Or crumble, sprinkle, cover the top with more cheese!!)

Bake for 30-40 minutes or until set.

Enjoy with a glass of wine of course - and NOW I think of it L

Ma première recette:

Stir fried broccoli, chopped fresh spinach and sautéed onions.
Topped with crumbled goat cheese, fresh rosemary & thyme.

Alors Danse

Oh the dreams of a life like no other, a life outside of the one you already know… The hope and childlike innocence that resonates from the what if I…

Before moving to France I had a short list of dreams that were simple and by all intents and purposes completely achievable with a little effort and perseverance, of course! One of those was to learn to dance. And not just any old dance, but the couple style dancing I remembered from my past visits to France, where despite age, gender, or occasion, people enjoyed dancing together in a sort of lightly swing influenced, du-whop, possibly 60’s or 70’s inspired crocodile rock style of dance. Armed with the crystal clear reality that I am haphazardly uncoordinated and can barely follow the fluid bodily motions of a relaxing qigong or tai chi session, let alone understand or follow the ever embarrassingly popular hustle or other synchronized group dance; I merely kept an eye out for dance studios and advertisements. And over the past year, this once thriving idea shrunk into the background becoming a nice idea instead of a must do….

Much to my surprise, a couple of weeks ago I got together with a French friend I met through the Act4 English group. It was to be a soirée en français, where I could fumble my way through French and enjoy a night out in pure French fried fun! Paying much less attention to just about everything than I ever have, I knew that we were going to some theatre, play, music thing… Clearly I had a very vague idea at best of what was to come…  Even better was that I had a copy of the advertisement (below) as reference, but chose to just show up to the soirée for a night of unexpected fun.

After a mixed-up meet-up at one of the larger metro stations in Lyon, Juliette and I set off to the Bal D’hiver event, complete with a 2 piece band, no table or chairs and an open space filled with the creative artsy type, most in funky socked feet, all ready to jive and spin and follow the instructions of the dance club leader.

Okay, so here I am uncoordinated and uncomfortable in any sort of coordinated group activity whether aerobics, Simon says, or dance, and in a still fuzzy language, and I was following the gradually increasing 2 to 4 to 6 step solo dance choreography. The night was separated into 5 radically different dance combos, each with varying movements, rules and degrees of creativity. Most started with a basic introduction and steps that gradually morphed into a revolving couple or group dance; and all were artistically creative and fun; much less coordinated and more childlike and innocent. As the two piece band played on, we followed the guided instructions of our dance hall master and twisted and turned and weaved and wiggled to the likes of mirroring each other without touching, swaying blindly around the dance floor, and tapping into our inner penguins!

                                                                                                                                                

Not exactly what I had in mind when I dreamed of dancing in diner style rock and roll, but that is the beauty of dreams and reality… sometimes the little differences and unexpectancies are more revealing and fun and just as memorable as the memory you wish to create.

Boundless living outside the box

To live outside of the box lends itself to a certain sense of adventure and newness. This past month has been a new mode of living outside of the box, or rather expanding the scope and size of the proverbial ‘box’ I live within. While I have always been friendly, honest and surrounded by deep friendships and acquaintances, I have always retained a sense of coyness and reservation in new situations and among people I had just met. It’s one thing to extend yourself to someone known with the possibility of plans never materializing, as in the ever popular expressions, “let’s get together sometime”, or “call me, we’ll do lunch”; but with people just met there is a greater sense of wanting those plans to actually come to fruition.

So over the month of November, the pledge I had long planted in my hopes finally began to sprout. Truly wishing and wanting to ‘put myself out there’ and just embrace new experiences and opportunities sounded much better in theory than in practice; but as I am continually learning, most things need time, patience and guidance to bear fruit, blanketed of course, in an assured  belief in its possibility.

Armed with the peace that despite the lack of true connected friendships en France, I could either dwell on what is missing or I could trust my whispering intuition chime “in time…”, while learning that it is much easier to allow life to unfold at its own pace and in its own rhythm as, “the surest way to make God laugh is to tell him your plans…”

While the concept of time is ever eluding and confounding, it is the one thing that holds limitless possibility. Instead we tend to view it with a sense of urgency and control and a fabricated belief that with perseverance and effort we can construct what we want, when we want it. Perhaps it is in ‘knowing’ that we see a glimpse of the uncertain future, but perhaps it is in ‘unknowing’ that we truly enjoy and appreciate the mysteries of what’s to come…

So this past month has unfolded with a renewed sense of confidence and a carefree attitude, with a shift toward a greater embracement of English communication bridged with French laissez-faire social precedence. A social butterfly of sorts is the simplest way to describe the latest experiences, complete with book clubs, wine tastings, re-exploring the city among fallen leaves and misty skies, and sharing meals and holidays amongst new friends…  A month that in many ways retains the connectedness of several years but that also reinvigorates and reminds of the importance of enjoying each moment with ardent hope that the next will undoubtedly unfold with as much possibility!