Sorry today's post is going to be pretty short. I did a ton of traveling the past 3 days, and now I'm feeling a little under the weather. It may be allergies, since we're having a lot of "mistrals" (or Northern winds) and Marie-Claude said those cause people to have a lot of allergic reactions. So I'll bless you with some cool pictures from the weekend!
Thursday, I took this cool cooking class and made bruschetta! The funny thing is, I was the only one in the class, so I basically had my own private lesson, haha! It was super yummy, and I was pleasantly surprised with this chocolate creme raspberry dessert thing. I wrote down the recipe, and it's super easy! Then I did a soap-making workshop. It was fun! I got some olive oil soaps which is pretty known here in Provence.
Am I a professional chef yet?
Savon (soap)
Friday, I went to La Ciotat, which was rescheduled from last week (due to storms). Wow, I've never seen a bluer sea in my life. My friends and I went to this rocky beach (I actually don't like sandy beaches because it gets all dirty... but this one had calanques and rocks!) and we swam to a cave. And jumped off cliffs. It was awesome!
Saturday, I went to Sainte-Tropez and Cap Taillat. There were a lot of people in St Tropez. It was a little overwhelming. My friend Kenzie and I were the only ones from CEA there, so we basically hung out all day together. Also you should all try the specialty in St Tropez, the Tart Tropezienne. George (our tour guide) was like, It's very good, and very high in calories (he's actually hilarious and tried to convince us to give him our tart). If I had thought that La Ciotat had the bluest sea, I was totally wrong, because Cap Taillat's beaches were the bluest things I have ever seen in my life. Ever see those postcards that look totally fake because of how blue they are? Well, the blue isn't exaggerated. It actually IS that blue. It's blue because the mistrals bring the wind from the north, which causes the sky to look blue and the water to look blue, but because of this, there's a lot of wind and the water is pretty cold. On hot days, though, it feels really good.
St Tropez
Yum. Sorry, Mom. If it makes you feel better, Kenzie and I split it.
Me and Kenzie
Cap Taillat
Sunday, I had a class field trip to Marseille. It was really really hot, and I wasn't feeling very well, so I don't really have much to say except that of course it was beautiful. We had couscous for lunch! It was really yummy. Note: if you go to Europe, finish your food, because you won't be able to take it with you :( Also Sunday (June 21) was the Fête de la Musique, a national festival where everyone goes out and there are tons of people performing music. It was pretty cool! Very crowded.
So in accord of me always trying the wrong things at restaurants, I ordered couscous with vegetables... without knowing that it came with a giant bowl of vegetables and meat sauce, regardless of what you ordered. So I could have ordered meat and still gotten the vegetables. Excuse me while I go bang my head against the wall...
So much food that I couldn't finish it :(
Also for the past few days, I've done a TON of walking, so I'm gonna be super fit when I get back to Rochester/Pittsburgh! Those Pittsburgh hills will be NOTHING.
-Cindy
