Cooking in France

My diet for the past 7 months has consisted of the following:

• cereal
• yogurt
• fresh fruits and veggies - of course
• ready-made veggie soup
• anything purchasable at a boulangerie/patisserie
• cheese
• chocolat
• eating out fare
• cafeteria food (not high quality, but quite balanced)
• and herbal tea (For those of you who've not tried Yogi tea, please do. Egyptian Licorice and Bedtime are my favs. No sugar needed. The spices are naturally sweet.)
  

So tonight was a rare adventure in which I cooked (or rather prepared) something. Tomorrow is my last day teaching. The VERY last. Which is all kind of thrilling, aside from the goodbyes, which brings me to my cooking topic.

Throughout the school year the teachers at my school have been more than nice in throwing a welcome luncheon for me and inviting me to several dinners at their homes, none of which I contribued to - largely due to the limited circumstances in the kitchen of my African jungle, as I have coined it. But with a little planning ahead, and a few packages of Ghirardelli chocolate chips smuggled over by my mom when she visited, tonight I made chocolate chip cookies - the dough. And tomorrow I will tote it to school to Maria's apartment (Spanish assistant that lives in the school housing) to bake. Reason being, the oven in my jungle doesn't work.

The germ to this idea sprouted after not seeing ANY chocolate chip cookies in Paris that are even remotely good. And by good, I mean soft and chewy which is the only meaning to good as it pertains to chocolate chip cookies. One exception is a teensy little shop called Laura's or something at Chatelet les Halles but 3 euros for a cookie that's half the size of Mrs. Fields is not worth it. They call chocolate chip cookies 'biscuits aux pépites de chocolat' here. And no one ever buys them because there are much better things to blow your money and calories on.

Anyway, so that was (and is) my plan - to wow my fellow English teachers with the real deal as it comes to what Americans do best. And to contribute for once in an effort of gratitude for all they've given me this year. There are however a few incidentals that might preclude that plan from being executed.

In order of increasing concern:

1. As of right now, I only have one shot at an oven. I'm pretty sure Maria will be home. And I'm pretty sure she has a pan or two. And I'm pretty sure I can figure out the Farenheit/Celsius conversion online.
2. My African jungle didn't come with a teaspon. I eyeballed it for the baking soda - see #4 - and salt.
   
3. My African jungle didn't come with a mixer, and I can't hand-cream butter and sugar like true pioneer stock. Butter bumps galore.
   
4. The Monoprix in which I purchased my baking supplies was not set up for bakers. The flour was very difficult to find and on an entirely separate aisle from the baking soda - which I had to ask a clerk to point me to. I requested 'bicarbonate de soude' which is what my googling told me is the French term for baking soda. There was not 'bicarbonate de soude', just 'bicarbonate' which I made an executive decision to consider as the same thing, even though the box was saying all these things like "Add a pinch of this to all your meals for better health." ?? I am however glad to know that whether or not it's soda, the cookies will prolong our lives.
5. Recipe amounts are never what you need. I had to 1 and 1/2 the recipe to have what I needed but that's always a bit tricky with measurements like 3/4. Let's hope my math skills aren't slipping.
6. Brown sugar is termed 'cassonade' which my African jungle DID come stocked with. However as I was pouring it out, it had a very different look to it than what I was expecting. The texture was something like rock salt. No packing possible. And now after the whole assembly is complete, each yummy bite comes with a little cassonade crunch.
   
7. Butter doesn't come in 1/4 cup cubes here. It comes in grams, and those nicely package grams don't equate to 1/4 or 1/2 cup amounts. My gram - cup conversion and consequent cube size adjustment may or may not have been a little askew.
8. The dough slightly resembles frosting - but with noix and pépites de chocolat.
   

I'm going to try and remain optimistic despite that list of omens.

All that being said, I am really looking forward to having access to Mom and Dad's kitchen in one more month. I'll keep you posted on the cookies' result.

PS - Cookie dough is a bit sickening when chased by demi-creme milk :-(

The Goal