Party Bed Beard

Happy Friday friends!  The Hub and I have been really busy this week getting ready for our Crémaillère, which is French for Housewarming Party.  If there's one thing we know how to do, it's throw a party and we can't wait to show our French friends!  We bought a lot of booze and have been planning the menu for the last week or so. Speaking of our menu, another missing "creature comfort" that I forgot to mention yesterday is this:  serious lack of kitchen equipment and ingredients.  Back in the U.S. I have all sorts of beautiful appliances that we couldn't bring with us, like blenders, food processors, crock pots, grinders, frittata pans, electric mixers, etc.  It was pointless to ship that over when the plugs wouldn't work, and it seems silly to invest in all of those things again while we're over here, so we've really just been going back to basics and working with what we've got.  Also, our oven is broken...so there's that.  We're a little limited in the culinary department.  Another challenge has been finding the right ingredients.  For some reason I thought that living in France, I'd have access to any kind of produce I wanted, and fresh too.  The produce is fresh, but the variety is not nearly what it is in California.  For example, I can't even find scallions.  Scallions!  Seems strange, right?  I've been trying to seek out smaller, more ethnic markets and the other day, I had a HUGE find: This is big people.  Super big.  It means that we'll be having guacamole, salsa, and carnitas at the crémaillère. I've told some of you about my dream of opening up a taco stand here in Montpellier (there would be zero competition - there is no Mexican food here!) and the discovery of these jalapeños and black beans brings me one step closer to my goal.  The way we'll be serving the carnitas at the crémaillère is sort of a test for the taco cart.  We'll be making the carnitas stovetop in the dutch oven, which we've never done before, but should be easy since it basically operates the same way as a crockpot.  We're getting a little creative in the tortilla area and I'm excited to show you next week what we've come up with. Fig is also excited about the party.  His friend Sauce will be there, so he will have someone to play with.  He's been dealing with the heat much better ever since we got his hair cut.  He is all ready for the party!

I always think he looks so cute as a shaggy dog, but then when he gets his haircut, he's like an adorable brand new pup again.  I guess you could say the same about my husband.

Have a great weekend, friends!