Overnight Oats

I've been meaning to try overnight oats for about a year now, and I finally did, last night. (What does this say about my follow through?)

In any case, it is pretty much the easiest thing in the entire world, and now that I've eaten it, I can also tell you that it's scrumptious as well.

I was inspired to try when I found a leftover, empty jam jar that Copain had apparently saved. While my first reaction was to recycle it (we need more space for the random Tefal tupperware he just bought!), instead I remembered overnight oats, and gave it a try.

Overnight Oats à la French Cannes Cannes:

- oats - avoine (a little under half of the jar)

- sliced banana

-cinnamon

-allspice

-crème de coco

-milk

-spoon of honey

I shook it up and let it sit in the fridge overnight. This is what it looked like in the morning:

It definitely wasn't as pretty as all of the examples you can find online (probably due to the shaking!), but the taste was great! I'm a convert.

Petit-Déjeuner

I recently found myself talking to another American about her upcoming vacances. She would be renting a large country home with two other French couples and their children - friends of her kids. The adults had recently had a meeting about the logistics of the holiday together, and she - the lone American - remained baffled / annoyed by the discussion over the details of the petit déjeuner - breakfast.

Frenchie mom 1 - so what do your kids take for the petit déjeuner? Ils déjeunent avec quoi?

American mom - what do you mean?

Frenchie mom 1 - I mean, what do they eat? What do they drink? For example, my little Jean-Baptiste has chocolat-chaud and a tartine.  Amandine has jus d'orange and Chocopix céréales.

Frenchie mom 2 - oui! and Mattias just likes un verre de lait and Nutella on a baguette.

American mom - Yeah, well my kids like that stuff too. Sometimes they have hot chocolate and sometimes they have just milk, sometimes they eat tartines and sometimes they have cereal - it depends how they feel that morning and what we have in the cupboards.

Frenchie mom 2 - You mean...they don't eat the same thing every day?

American mom - Uhhh...no. We decide in the moment. Depending on what we are in the mood for. 

But here's the thing - this is a pretty crazy concept for the Frenchies, and I didn't really realize it until my fellow American relayed this conversation to me!  Now I understand why every time I go to see my beaux-parents (inlaws) with Copain, Belle-Mère asks me what I take for my petit-déjeuner.

Belle Mère - Tu prends quoi comme boisson? (What do you drink?)

Me - Uh, un grand café. (A big coffee)

Belle Mère - et tu manges quoi? (What do you eat?)

Me - well, what do you have?

This throws her totally off guard - she has lots of things, but she wants to know what I eat so that she can make it available. I (being the go-with-the-flow, eat-whatever-for-breakfast American that I am), want to be an easy houseguest...but by not responding to the question, I make life harder for her without even realizing it.

Usually the conversation continues by her listing out all of the things that she has, and by me saying, yeah, those are all fine.  Then she gets exasperated and I tell her that I will decide in the morning. 

Who knew that breakfast could be so controversial.

Petit-Déjeuner

Sometimes I like to pick apart French words.

For example, let's take the word cul-de-sac.  We even use it in English.  When I was little, my friend R lived on the cul-de-sac of our block.  In English we pronounce it, kull de sack. jolie.


In French, the word cul means butt (or a** to be frank).  De means of; sac means bag or pouch. So quite literally, a cul-de-sac is the "butt of the bag" or more nicely put, the "bottom of the bag".  It is a dead end.  But I so love the fact that the French have decided that using the word cul is a better choice to describe this idea.

Now let's try déjeuner.  When you are à jeun it means that you have an empty stomach.  When you have your blood drawn for testing, you do it à jeun. When you wake up in the morning, you are à jeun because you haven't eaten all night. So when you dé-jeuner, you "undo" the jeun...you eat.  In French, déjeuner actually means "lunch" - a big meal in the middle of the day.  So of course, for breakfast it's quite simple - you have a petit-déjeuner - a small lunch.

Here was my small undoing of the jeun this morning -

Chocolatines (or pain au chocolat if you are not from the Sud-Ouest), baguette, OJ and coffee

and the very Parisian view out my window...another Parisian window