I got a babysitting job 2 weeks ago with an American family living here in Paris. The kids are adorable. Adele is 4 (almost 5... as she likes to remind me 24/7) and Cole is 5. I watch them about once a week and they pay me 10 euro an hour which is really nice. The first thing Adele said to me when she met me was "You are soooo beautiful"... how could you not love that?! I've taken them to the park down the street to play and last time I watched them I made them dinner, played chutes and ladders (they beat me) and put them to bed. And I am currently at their house right now... I've put them to bed already, promise! They are just the cutest things ever and they are learning french so fast! They already speak it better than me and they have only been here for about a month. It's truly amazing. 
I've been spending a lot of time at parks and gardens because the weather has been so beautiful here. Also, going to the Bastille market every Sunday with Brian and eating gelato with Elana and Ali. See..
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| Tullerie Gardens |
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| Soccer Skills |
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| The view from where I babysit |
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| Invalides |
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| Lahmajeen Lebanese Sandwich... Possibly the best thing I've put in my mouth since I've been here |
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| Gelato Night |
I went to the American Hospital of Paris this morning. No, it's nothing serious. My tonsils have just been really swollen the last 2 months on and off and nothing seems to make it go away. So, I figured I'd go get some drugs. It's on the very edge of Paris so getting there was not fun and those of you who know me know that I HATE going to the doctor.. so obvs I've been in some pain. When I finally found the place the receptionist told me that I had to come back in an hour because she needed to go get lunch. Oh, okay? Plus... I thought it was the American hospital, why did no one speak English? After waiting an hour on a park bench outside (it was really nice out... I can't complain that much) the doctor finally saw me. He was very nice and very helpful. All in all I ended up having 3 separate infections and 3 different prescriptions that cost me 135 euro plus 4 hours of my life. I better start feeling better asap.
School has been just fine lately. I feel like I've been learning a lot but not really enjoying the things we are making. We've been stuffing a lot of stuff with other stuff. Not so great. I did learn how to make sausage which was pretty cool. I also learned how to remove all the bones from a chicken without removing the skin or changing the shape then stuffing it with various other meats. This is called a Ballotine. Think: Turducken. I haven't given you guys a recipe in a while and although I haven't liked a lot of what I've made.. I did think one recipe was worth sharing. It's delicious and easy to replicate. It's called Flammenkuche or "Flame Cake"and it's a savory bacon, onion and cream tart. Yum. It comes from the L'alsace region of France in the East. It has a lot of German influence because they border each other.
Flame Cake, Serves 8
Dough
400 g flour
1 pinch salt
10 g fresh (compressed yeast)
5 tbsp peanut oil
200 ml luke warm water
Disolve yeast in the 200 ml of water and add the peanut oil. Put the flour in a large bowl and mix the salt in, make a well in the center. Add your wet ingredients into the dry and mix with your hands until smooth. Flour your table and roll the dough into a ball on it. Put it back in the bowl and let rest in a warm dry area while you make the garnish.
Garnish
2 large white onions
2 tbsp oil
200 g bacon, diced
200 ml heavy cream
200 g cream cheese
1 egg
25 g starch
Preheat the oven to 400F. Thinly slice the onions and cook them in butter in a medium sized pan. Add the bacon about 2 minutes in and cook until the onion has softened and the bacon has crisped. In a bowl mix together the egg, cream cheese, and heavy cream until smooth. Add the starch to the cream mixture and incorporate. Put this in the fridge. Roll out the dough very thinly into a a rectangle the size of your baking sheet. Flour the baking sheet and lay the dough on top. Top the dough with the bacon/onion mixture. Then add the cream mixture on top of this and spread it out as evenly as possible. Put in the oven and bake until the bottom is golden brown. You'll have to lift the dough and peak to make sure! Cut into squares to serve! I hope you guys like it as much as I did.
Sharing food with another human being is an intimate act that should not be indulged in lightly. -M.F.K Fisher
xoxo, al
