blog every day in may | day 24: my dream vacation

DIGITAL CAMERA(Santorini, Greece, 2009)

My junior year of college, I was blessed with the opportunity to study abroad. Our home base was in Riva San Vitale, Switzerland, but my peers and I traveled around as much of Europe as our time and budgets would allow.

Exploring Europe truly changed the way I saw the world, and if I could go back, I would in a heartbeat. This time, I’d love to take Michael with me to show him all the amazing things I discovered beforeĀ (and of course, explore some new places, too)! I loved vacationing as a family of three last week, but if we went to Europe, I think I’d rather have it be sans kids (especially since you do a lot of walking to really see everything).

Watching the sunset, indulging in the best food you’ve ever had, and riding four-wheelers all around a Grecian island? Sign me up (maybe in ten years or so…)!

en Europe… euh, pas exactement

Last night we went to the French Club's Chef Demonstration. A real French chef came and talked to us about French cheese- there are actually over 500 types! Another pretty interesting fact (mind you, I really know nothing about cheese) was that cheese will taste better when you leave it out (between 10 and 15 degrees Celsius), rather than sticking it in the fridge. The cold will stop the fermentation, or aging, process. A lot of more elderly people in France will leave the cheese out on their table until it MOLDS, and then just pick the mold off and eat it. It's all about the taste! I'm not recommending you do this, just telling you some intriguing facts…

I was thrilled that he gave the presentation in French… the bad part was that it didn't work out so well for Michael, who is fluent in English and several computer programming languages. I translated pretty well but there were still some cooking and "food property" words I didn't get, and since I've never had to translate to someone while I was trying to listen to the original speaker, I did miss a few things. It was fun to practice though and I felt pretty good about my French afterward.

After the presentation, we had an entire French meal! Well, really it was considered a "tasting", but it seemed like a lot of food. We had onion soup, a sort of chicken cordon bleu, gratin, and some vegetables.

It brought me right back to my stay in Europe. I really miss all the people I was with, the "adventures" we had, and the gastronomic experiences. The house I lived in had its own chef, whose name was Luigi. He sure made some delicious Swiss-Italian food. 

I haven't posted many piggy pictures lately, so here's one that really shows off Juni's cute feet =)