april fish?

My favorite holiday is just around the corner.  April Fools Day!  I've discovered that they do celebrate April Fools day here in France (sort of).  In France, 1 Avril is "Poissons d'Avril" or "April Fish."  I've read that in the 16th Century, the French switched to the Gregorian calendar which celebrates the new year on January 1st.  Before the switch, the French celebrated the new year on April 1st.  Those who did not know about the change in calendar continued to celebrate the new year on April 1st and were ridiculed and called fools.  Or something like that.

Anyway, I'm a little disappointed that the only prank in France on Poissons d'Avril is to tape a fish on someone's back.  It seems a bit limiting to me.  Not much room for creative expression.  I don't think I can deal with that kind of restriction.  I take my April Fools Day pranks quite seriously.  Here are the top hits from years past:

Christopher falls for this one every year, without fail.  Before he goes to bed on March 31st, I usually say, "Good night.  Tomorrow morning, you are going to get shot in the chest with water, but you are going to forget this warning."  And he ALWAYS forgets.  :)

rubber band on the kitchen sink hose

This one is my all time favorite:

no lather: bar of soap painted with clear nail polish

Other favorites include:

I emailed Christopher a broken link to a bogus article which was supposed to recount how one of the cast of "Queer Eye For the Straight Guy" was actually straight.  He then proceeded to scour the internet looking for the "real story."

Short sheeting the bed.  An all-time classic.

filling Gaius' diaper with M&Ms and watching Christopher change him.

Sending Christopher to work with a "hard boiled" egg that was actually raw.

Another one of my favorites is one that Christopher actually played on me:

filling the white wine bottle with water

Did you know that in England, they only play tricks on each other in the morning?  If you play a prank on someone after noon, you'll have bad luck.  I'm so glad I don't live in England!

Anyway, I have plenty up my sleeve this year, but I can't tell you about any of it until after the day.  Hopefully the pranks above will inspire you to "share the love" with your friends and family this Saturday, April 1st.  ;)

à bientôt!

PS- Uncle Glenn, I kindly left out the prank I played on you a couple of years ago.  :)

seven euros

The Omnitrix is broken.  Well, I think the batteries may be dead.  I was able to find two batteries from another toy, which meant that I had to go out and buy one more.  It cost 7€!  I went ahead and bought it.  And you know what?  The stupid Omnitrix still doesn't work.

broken omnitrix

We were out for lunch in Fontainebleau a few weeks ago.  I ordered the steak.  After lunch, I was dying for some dental floss.  I went to la pharmacie next door to the restaurant and guess how much they wanted for a pack of dental floss?  7€  Um, "no, merci."

luckily I brought these to France from Costco!

What costs 7€ in France?
1 gallon of gas (converted from euros and litres to dollars and gallons)
15 baguettes
2 bottles of wine
a coke on the Champs Elysées
a bottle of sparkling wine from the Loire Valley
49 Eiffel Tower keychains
a box of Betty Crocker cake mix
the souvenir bottle of Chambord liqueur that I lost on our trip to the Loire :(

this was not taken on the Champs Elysées!

à bientôt!

allons à la patisserie (let's go to the pastry shop!)

We're waiting for John Hayes to get his butt in gear so we can leave for our weekend trip to the Loire.  HURRY UP!  Anyway, seems like a good time to tell you all about the pastries in France!

We've eaten a lot of pastries since we arrived in France.  And each of us has our favorite dessert.  Gaius likes the chocolate éclaire, previously known as the "chocolate hot dog."  Christopher recently discovered his favorite at Mont Saint-Michel, the tarte citron (lemon tart.)  I like the raspberry tart, or tarte framboise.

clockwise from left:  éclaire chocolat, tarte citron, tarte framboise

The names and styles of each pastry vary from patisserie to patisserie.  For instance, my favorite mid-day pastry is called a Snoopy at the patisserie near the bank in Centre Ville and a Pavé at the place down the street.  I've also seen it sold as a Gourmandise, a Suisse Longue, and a Drop.

"a pastry by any other name would taste as sweet" (william shakespeare)

Gaius likes to snack on the Viennoise au chocolat.  And, it's actually called that wherever you go.

viennoise au chocolat

Believe it or not, Christopher also has a favorite afternoon pastry.  The Sablé.  It's like a sugar cookie.  It comes in plain, almond and raspberry.  He likes all three!

coffee and sablé

We've also come across some pretty special desserts that you can only get at one place.  This one, which I bought in Fontainebleau was fantastic.  I think it was called the Saint Honoré.

Saint Honoré

This Mona Lisa éclaire is from Fauchon, on the Place de la Madeline.  I can't believe I paid 6€ for it.  It wasn't even that good!

mona lisa éclair

The Galette de Rois is only available in January for the Fête des Rois.  It's Christopher's favorite.  I collect the fèves that are hidden inside.

galette des rois

One last one, my favorite cookie, the macaron.  I actually have not eaten very many of these, but they are delicious!

believe it or not, vanilla is my favorite

Just got word that John is on his way.  Okay.  Maybe we should hit a pastry shop on the way.  Who's hungry?


à bientôt!

dirty rotten scoundrel

Apparently, all the boys in Gaius' class were pretend smoking today.  When I went to pick him up after school, Gaius proudly announced, "Look!  I'm smoking!  See?  That's a cigarette!"  Great.

I went with Gaius to Intermarché to buy a toy gun earlier this week.  We used to have a no-gun policy.  Then Gaius started fencing, so now he has swords and stuff.  Plus, we spent all that time in Normandy, so he loves all things soldier-related.  On the weekend, he spent some time at his friend Axel's house and had a blast playing with every weapon imaginable.  When we picked him up, he was all loaded up, ready for war.  Christopher and I talked about changing the policy, and really, it seemed harmless enough.  So anyway, we caved in.  Gaius has this pretty cool cowboy 8-shooter gun now.  He tried to sneak it to school this morning, even though I told him guns aren't allowed at school.  He tells me that they have toy guns in the classroom.  Could this possibly be true?  Anyway, now I am going to have to frisk him everyday before walking to school.  Wonderful!

I draw the line at grenades though.

We've got about 10 weeks left here in France.  After my return, if you happen to see me with a wine-guzzling, foul-mouthed, weapon-toting smoker, look again.  It's probably just Gaius.

à bientôt!

space invaders

Walking around the city of Paris, we've come across these really cool mosaics of Space Invaders characters.

rue de fourcy

rue des pyramides

somewhere in paris

Apparently, they are part of a real-life Space Invaders game by the artist who calls himself "Invader."  The mosaics can be found in cities all over the world. London, Tokyo, Los Angeles, New York.  The list goes on and on.  There are like a zillion in Paris.  And, I guess I just decided that our new hobby will be to track these down all over the world.  :)

Here's a link to the map of all of the mosaics in Paris.

I am totally going to buy one of these to put in my kitchen when we remodel.

In LA, you can find one at Randy's Donuts and also on the Hollywood sign.  If you live near one, send me a picture of it!

And, just because I love this, here is a picture of my favorite street post in Gif-sur-Yvette.  

Isaac Washington

Yes, that's Isaac from the Love Boat!

à bientôt!