They're going to have to roll me home!

My friend and I were kidding about all the bread and cheese and chocolate I would be eating while in France.  As if that's the only thing French people eat.  But holy cow, can I just say, I am eating so much bread and cheese and chocolate! Copious amounts of the stuff!!  Let me just add at this point, that it's really not that foreign of an experience living here.  My host family may as well be American, except for the fact that they speak in French all the time, and live in a beautifully quaint little village in France.  Meals are much like they would be in America.  A couple of small differences, however.  Processed foods are a newer thing here - my host mom recently discovered poptarts.  The yogurt is white, no matter what flavor it is (yay no food coloring!).  And we have a bread and cheese course at lunch and dinner.  I didn't realize this right away, so I would eat a normal amount of dinner, either salad or pasta or a lovely tart Provencal that we had one night.  Then someone will bring out the cheese.  Oh man, the cheese.  3 or 4 or 5 different kinds, and we will smear it on baguettes and eat it.  The bread is really more of a cheese holder; there is easily as much, if not more, cheese than bread going on here.  Let me point out that we have bread during the main course as well.  So much bread!  Baguettes for days!  I'm not in any way complaining, by the way!  And then we always have dessert, although it's very often just a yogurt cup.  Which is good, because I'm very full of bread at this point.  Yep, I'm getting along with the meal plan here.

Tart Provencal (mustard, tomatoes, epices Provencal)

I was skeptical of the mustard, but it tasted great!  And even better the next day.

Some people would probably stone me if they knew this, but I'm not such a big fan of cheese.  I mean, it's good, in the right circumstances, but let's just say, it was probably the thing I was least excited for on this trip.  HOWEVER... the cheese here is really good.  I mean... reeeeally good.  It's so creamy and tangy and each one has a slightly different flavor.  More cheeses than I am familiar with, and that's just the soft ones.  It's growing on me, I'll just say that.  Interesting sidenote:  you know the  bottom crisper area in the fridge?  Where we keep fruits and vegetables?  Yeah, it's filled with cheese here.  

Sidenote to the sidenote:  Appliances here are slighly smaller than American versions.  Cute.  Also, would be slightly annoying to use.

Remember all the stories of how French people have lunches that last 2 hours and dinners that last 3 or 4?  Well, this may not be true anymore.  At least, not with my host family.  My host mom and dad both work during the day, and come home for lunch when they can, but they usually only have an hour.  We eat a snack around 6 (this is where all the chocolate comes in) and then dinner around 8.  This schedule really works for me, even though it means we finish up dinner around 9 (only 1 hour or so for dinner) - this is pretty much my dining schedule when I'm at home.  I really like that they have a family dinner every night.  They sit with their family and talk and talk about the day, and eat and eat, and it's lovely.

Ok, I promised more pictures, so here are a few from my evening yesterday.  I explored a small town called Fontvieille, and discovered a few fun things.  More later, but first, my first official pastry!  I can't believe it took me this long!

Called a Provenceaux, but it's not very descriptive.  This area is Provence, and I think it's just named for the area. Almonds, shortbread crust, some gooey something-or-other in the middle.  It was delicious.

 

After Easter sale, at a Patisserie in town.  All handmade.  It's incredible.