Fred worked this morning at new student orientation. Since I bought fish yesterday, we decided to cook Pescado Yucatan, a mexican dish we make at home
For this we needed cilantro, poblano peppers, small hot peppers, avacado, and beans.
In France this is not so easy. I started by taking our glass recycling down the street - there is a glass receptacle on the street corner just a half a block away, on my way to the Jardinier.
There I find tomatoes, and lime, but no cilantro and no peppers. He has avacado, but he asked if I would use it today and I said yes. Apparently his are not quite ripe, so he would not sell one to me. It is good to know he will let me know these things, but now I have to go somewhere else as we do want to use the avacado tonight.
I went around the block to Leader Price and found some peppers I thought might be poblano, and bought some paper products as well. On the way home I stopped at the pharmacy close to the house and found vitamins.
I unloaded my purchases and headed off toward centre ville or center of town. I know there is a north african grocery on the way to the main covered market, so I stop there. They have only dried peppers, in a large bag. I pass on that and go on. I have been looking everywhere for canned beans and find lots of white beans, but no black or even red.
I eventually find a small shop that has dried black beans, and select those. I stop at the ourdoor market and ask a woman who is selling bell peppers if she has small "piments fort" or hot peppers. She directs me to the last vendor on the left and he DOES have some small hot peppers.
He also has some herbs, so I ask if one is cilantro - he says it is coriandre and lets me sniff it - I believe it is cilantro, so make my purchase. All of this conversation has been in French, so I am getting better at understanding very quickly.
I go on to the enclosed market to check out the vendors there. We would like to plan this same for guests, but need to know where to get the ingredients before we do.
Then I go on to another shop I found in the yellow pages and they have "exotic" foods - meaning specialty asian, african, and indian ingredients. I wonder around and select some hummus for our indian meal. By this time it is noon and I am hungry, so stop for a "salade de chevre chaude" or green salad topped with heated goat cheese on little toasts - we have had this before and love it.
Then I walk home, still carrying my purchases. I put on the black beans to boil and soak while I go on my next adventure.
I read in the newspaper that in a neighboring town, there is pedal vehicle race today, and it looks like the "vehicles" are decorated, so I take the city bus to the site. They really are decorated recumbent bicycles, pedaled by teams, all in costume. This is an annual event and apparently a serious competition. I have read that the entries are judged on both speed and on costumes and decor of the bike. I get there in time for the introduction of the teams, which is a spectacle and takes 20 minutes longer than scheduled.
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| Chamalieres, France |
I stay to watch part of the race. It turns out the race is actually 2 hours long, in a circle around city blocks. I will try to post some photos of the event.
Then I ride the bus home where Fred has started dinner. We wait for the beans to get done, then cook the fish with a sauce of tomato, green olive, capers, onions, garlic. We serve this with thinly sliced zucchini sauteed to limp and just beginning to brown, with butter and onions. Fred thinks the taste of the fish and sauce is not "authentic" but I think the meal is wonderful.
Fred learned at 8:15 am he has a meeting at school at 10, so he got up, got dressed, and walked off to school.
Have I said yet that we do not plan to have a car here, only occasionally we will rent one for a weekend trip. But here in Clermont, we will walk and take the bus or tram. There is a nice electric tram that goes generally north and south and around the center of town.
I set out for shopping, but first must have some coffee and something to eat. I head down the street toward the train station with my shopping basket (which the landlords have supplied with the apartment).
I scope out some of the shops and find just a block from our apartment a baker, a fruit and vegetable seller (the "fruitier"), a small grocery and all kinds of bars and restaurants.
I stop at a brasserie for cafe au lait and a baguette with butter - that will fortify me until lunch. Typical french breakfast is normally a roll or croissant with butter and jam and espresso. I prefer the large coffee that is about half frothed milk - cafe au lait.
Then I am on my way to Leader Price. I haven't been in one, but am guessing it is a discount type grocery and I am correct. This is where I will buy paper and cleaning products, toothpaste, food storage bags, shampoo, bath soap, etc. I do find they have wine, so I select a bottle of Cotes du Rhone for 2.6 euro (about $3).
I find the coffee filters I need, and most of the other items on my list. I also pick up some food items I can't resist like Cantal cheese, a semi hard, white cheese from this region which is one of our favorites here.
I almost pick up more that I can carry and lots of it is heavy - so I purchase a Leader Price plastic bag with handles and then when I get outside, I move the bottles to my back pack and am ready for the walk home.
Recycling is encouraged here, so there are no "free" bags available at checkout at most stores. You bring your own bag or purchase one at checkout.
When I return home, I put away my purchases and head back down the street for vegetables, eggs, yogurt, etc.
In the small shops on my street, I get chicken for dinner, lettuce, eggplant, tomato, fresh strawberries, eggs, etc.
I also buy some instant asparagus soup for my lunch and head home. Fred has gotten free and is home as well, so we make a salad with blue cheese crumbles and a cup of soup for lunch.
Our next task is to open a bank account, so after lunch we set off for the bank where Fred had an account previously, thinking that would be a good place to start.
There is no one available for this sort of transaction, but I know there are other locations in town, so ask if it might be possible at another "branch". They say the earliest is next week and set an appointment for the following Monday. I am anxious to get this done when we are both available, so we go to another bank and ask the same question. We get the same answer - too busy today, but could make an appointment for Friday. Again I ask if someone might be available at another location in town.
They check the online calendars and find someone at the main Clermont location of Credit Agricole who can take us now AND there is an English speaker working there as well.
So we walk about 10 minutes to the other location to meet Angelique and Laurence, who speaks English. We have brought along everything we think we might need: passports, lease, work contract, etc.
They take our documents to photocopy, but on returning, tell us there is a new policy and the proof of address must be approved by another department and can't be done until tomorrow.
Good thing we didn't wait until Monday to start this!
So we ask about renters insurance (which is required by most landlords here) and get a quote on that as well, then make an appointment for Friday afternoon. It feels like we have accomplished a lot even though we still have no account.
We walk back home, change clothes and go back to school (ESC) for a reception. When we return home, we report to the landlords that we have started the account process, but must return to finish on Friday. They have asked if there is anything we are missing or anything else we need, and I tell them we could use a can opener and a hall tree or someplace to hang our coats.
They search immediately and come up with the can opener, but will get a hall tree on the weekend.
We start dinner with an appetizer, then salad and bread, but decide we are tired and almost full, so we skip the chicken and rice and go straight for dessert. I have purchased a Chausson au Pomme at the bakery - this is like a small single serving apple pie and is delicious. We split it and are quite satisfied, but Fred thinks coffee would be good - he has had no caffiene today, so we have a small coffee and are off to bed - what a day!
