An American in Paris

Today we went on a trip to Rambouillet, a town that's about an hour outside of Paris by train. It was nice to get out of the city for the first time and see some greenery.

When we got there, the program staff members gave us some money to buy food at the market for our picnic on the grounds of  Château de Rambouillet.

The roommates

We split into teams to do the shopping: team cheese, team bread, team meats, and team fruit. (All of the ingredients for the perfect French picnic)

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A few weeks back, my roommates and I made a french friend named Thomas. He showed us around Montmartre, told us about the Salon d'Agriculture, and took us to the Catacombs. He doesn't speak English very well, so it's a nice challenge for us. Tonight he invited us to his apartment "pour prendre la crémaillère", the French phrase for a housewarming party. But what do we ignorant Americans bring to a french housewarming party? 

While dining on some delicious french confectionery last weekend, Thomas asked us what kinds of pastries or desserts we had in the US, so we tried to describe pie to him ("It's like a tarte, but, like....not"). So what better thing to make for him than some good ol' American apple pie?

And so we made a pie in a tarte pan with pre-made tarte crust, which is different than pie crust and kind of did something weird when we baked it. We'll see how this goes over...