Bon Appetit!

Eating is a sacred pastime in France.  For real.  And with good reason:  French cuisine is indisputably, (as far as the French are concerned), the most delicious food on the planet.

My mother-in-law is a phenomenal cook, and I thrived under her tutelage in the early years of my marriage.  One of the things she taught me was always, always use fresh ingredients.  Here's a pic of Cody and Sidney helping her in her garden, where she goes each day with basket in hand to harvest the vegetables and herbs she'll use in her dishes that day:

 And this bottom pic is Sidney bringing in a basket of potatoes she and her grandfather had just pulled out of the earth.  Thirty minutes after this picture was taken, we were eating the most delicious French fries ever!

The French eat their meals in courses, which is a difficult custom to adapt to when you are used to eating family-style, American meals.  In fact, the first few meals I took in France were painful because I thought the first course WAS the meal.  I ate my fill.  And then another plate of food came out.  So I dug in...and then another was served...  My future in-laws were thrilled that I appreciated their food so much, and I didn't dare decline another serving.  I've since learned that you take just a spoonful of food at each course, so that by the end you have eaten the equivalent of a normal plateful of food.  Trust me though, I put on ten pounds before I had the whole thing figured out.

 The first course, called l'entrée is typically light fare, for example a plate of charcuterie: slices of cooked or cured jambon (ham), saucissons (dried sausage), and paté; or quiche, or soup (in the winter) or sliced cantaloupe drizzled with port wine (in the summer).  And wine, bien sûr.

The second course is la pièce de résistance, or the main dish.  It is meat (or chicken or fish), often served in the sauce it was cooked in and vegetables.  Many traditional French recipes are cooked "peasant-style," with all the ingredients in a large pot or dutch oven.  This is my favorite way to cook.  The key is the sear the meat in the pot to help it retain its flavorful juices, then remove the meat and déglasse the pan with white wine, scraping up the browned bits of meat stuck to the bottom.  Add the vegetables, herbs and stock, and let the pot cook over low heat for several hours.  There is simply no way to attain the depth of flavor the French have mastered without slow cooking!

The third course sometimes opens with a fresh, leafy green salad, but not always.  Whether or not salad is served, the cheese plate always goes around.  The French love their stinky cheese!  I was once at a dinner party with twenty people at one table.  Luckily, I was on my third glass of wine at the time.  The cheese was so pungent, I literally tried not to breathe through my nose.  My table neighbors couldn't stop raving, putting their noses as close to the plate as they could and inhaling deeply.  My nose wrinkles from the memory!

The dessert course is my favorite!  Although I'm a die-hard chocoholic, the fruit concoctions in France are fantastic.  My mother-in-law bakes a clarfoutis that is out of this world.  She starts out behind the garden, picking cherries off the tree.  Leaving the pits in, she dumps the rinsed cherries into a buttered baking dish and pours a homemade cake batter on top.  (She tried to teach me this recipe, but didn't know the exact measurements.  "Add some sugar..."  "How much sugar?"  "Oh, I don't know, a bowlful."  What?)

Last is the coffee course.  This was perhaps the hardest adjustment I've have to make over there.  I want my coffee with my dessert!  Oddly, the French don't believe the two go together.  It's the only issue I take with them -- Snaps to Americans for our dessert-and-coffee- combo genius!

Man, this post is making me hungry.... Hope I don't gain fifty pounds on vacation...!

Bon appétit! 



Leave me a comment to earn one entry in my Vive la France! Contest.
Click here for full details.

Vive la France Contest

It's contest time!!

Between June 18th and July 12th, I will be in the beautiful country of France, and I want to share my experiences with all of you!  My blogger friends have become so dear to me -- and staying connected with you makes my life richer.  I've been too busy this week, in preparing for the trip, to visit most of your blogs -- but I have found a way to make it up to you.  Contest!!

Here's how it will work:

I will be scouring the markets and village artisan shops while on vacation, searching for the perfect gift, something that goes beyond "souvenir" -- something that reflects France or the French culture.  That, my dearies, will be the prize to win!

I've prepared nine blog posts that are scheduled to auto-post every Monday, Wednesday and Friday that I'm away.  The posts are fun glimpses into life in France and my experiences while I lived there.  I know you'll enjoy them!

Entering the contest is easy-peesy!  All you have to do is be a follower and leave me comments.  You will receive one entry for each post you comment on between today and the last auto-post, scheduled on July 9th.  In other words, if you comment today AND on each of the nine scheduled posts, you will accumulate a total of 10 entries!

Wanna add 5 entries to your name?  Link this post in a blog or your sidebar to help me advertise, and I'll throw your name in the pot 5 extra times!  (Be sure to let me know in one of your comments, so I don't miss it :D)

Contest ends at midnight (EST) the day I return, on July 12th.  Winner will be announced on July 14th!

I'll miss you all, and I can't wait to get caught up by reading and commenting on your blogs when I return.

A bientôt!

Banishing the Ego

I'm an advocate of the daily writing practice.  Each new sentence we write teaches us more about the art of language and its ability to transfer imagery from our minds to the imaginations of our readers.  Every paragraph is a lesson in connecting ideas to build a story.  Learning the craft is a never-ending, day-by-day endeavor.

Sometimes I show up, only to find my muse has taken the day off.  Those days are frustrating.  Still, I write on.

I've noticed something interesting during this journey.  The times I try to write something brilliant are the times I fail the most miserably.  It's almost as if the pressure I put on myself stifles my creativity.

It comes down to ego.

When I break it down in my mind, I realize my love for writing comes from the soul, but the desire to succeed with my writing is driven by the ego.  When you want something too much, it becomes an energy-sucking enterprise.  A kill-joy.  An abomination.

But how do you stoke the fires of self-motivation necessary to write every day, to push yourself and improve in your craft, without inviting the ego to the party?

For me, it takes constant self-surveillance.  My internal dialog includes a pep talk playing on an endless loop, reminding me to indulge in the art form, enjoy the daily process, write what I'd want to read.  It's okay that not every sentence is a masterpiece.

And sometimes, when I dismiss the ego, when I dive into the creative pool of my mind simply to enjoy its soothing waters, I tap into magic.

Do you find it challenging to strike a balance between pushing yourself and needing to succeed?

Juicy Words

I love juicy words.  That's how the language arts teachers at my kids' school describe high-impact words, the verbs and modifiers that lift your writing from mediocre to extraordinary.

I'm reading a book by Kenneth J. Harvey called The Town That Forgot How to Breathe.  Harvey is a juicy writer.  His instincts are sharp, and he chooses words that carry a lot of bang for their buck, and which sound good in the company of the other words in their sentence -- and yet, his writing is never self-indulgent verbiage.

For example, from the chapter I read last night:

"The shark rose high in the air as the crane swiveled toward the huge grey plastic container that lay on the back of a flatbed ...Gulls followed faithfully above the suspended shark, gliding weightlessly, as if attached by guide wires."

Swiveled is an action verb of distinct movement, easily invoking the intended imagery.  Instead of "truck," Harvey said flatbed, again guiding us to specific mental pictures.  And notice the alliteration in the second sentence:  gulls/gliding/guide; followed/faithfully; suspended/shark.  The [s] sound is further reinforced with consonance: gulls/weightlessly/as/wires.  And assonance enhanced the lyrical sound of the sentence with gull/above;  faithfully/weightlessly, and gliding/guide/wire.

The more experienced writer I become, the more I think with juicy words during the first draft.  However, it's not until the revision stage that I truly turn on the juice, searching out the lushest vocabulary with the highest impact and the poetic devices that will make my words sing.

Do you notice juicy words and poetic devices when you read?  Are you conscious about incorporating them when you write?

In Ten, Nine...

I leave for France in nine days, and counting.  I'm going to share a slice of my vacation adventures with you!

On June 17, the day before I leave, I will announce a contest for One Significant Moment at a Time followers, old and new.  The prize?  Something cool I pick up in France!  I'll be on the lookout for interesting, regional souvenirs, things that represent la France but which are impossible to buy here in the States.  Both my State-side and international follower-friends are eligible to win.  Be sure to check in on the 17th for full details!

I haven't written a word for my WiP in a couple weeks.  However, I have printed all the chapters and organized them in a ring binder, along with a copy of the outline and blank pages for notes.  After a little break from the project, I'll have fresh eyes when I read it over on the plane.  I won't be editing, but brainstorming ideas on how to make the story stronger and outlining future chapters.

My daily writing has taken on the form of entries for a two-week long creative writing contest at Writing.com.  The contest is called "15 For 15" and runs from June 3rd to June 17th (finishes up just in time for my trip!).  Each day for fifteen days the contest judge posts a photo prompt.  Contestants are challenged to write off-the-cuff for exactly fifteen minutes, producing a flash fiction piece, vignette, poem, song, letter, article, etc. based on the image.

Timed writing is a wonderful way to stretch my writing muscles, and believe me, fifteen minutes is not long when you're trying to get a cohesive piece of work finished. Once I've posted my daily entry, I love reading all the entries by the other contestants.  It's fascinating how many interesting and creative directions writers take with the identical prompt.  (Should you be interested, here is a link to my collection of entries.)

My writing goals have also included preparing a series of blog entries that I'll schedule to post on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays while I'm away.  Each post looks at a facet of French culture and discusses the most jarring differences with American life, which caused me culture shock when I lived there.  I'm having a blast writing them, and I hope you'll enjoy reading them.  And -- they will play into the contest I'm announcing on the 17th!

How have you been tweaking your writing schedule to adjust to summer vacation plans?  Have you packed your journal yet? :D

A Flower by Any Name

We spent Sunday afternoon at the State Botanical Gardens in Athens, GA. It's a magical place and one of our favorite destinations when we want to kick back and relax.  The structure pictured here houses the tropical plants exhibit.  Surrounding it are winding paths through artistically designed gardens, some Japanese in theme, others fragrant with herbs or seasonal flowers.

As beautiful as the carefully planned gardens around the main building are, I still prefer the controlled chaos of the nature trails.  There are five miles of hiking trails that traverse forests, fields, and along one stretch, skirts the shore of the Middle Oconee River.  If those trails could talk, they'd tell you how much we laugh together on our spirited walks.

Yesterday, though, the sky threatened pop-up storm showers.  We packed a picnic, deciding that if it rained we'd eat lunch out and picnic at home for dinner. Gotta be flexible!

The rain held off for our meal, and afterwards we spread out a blanket under a tree, on the lawns of green space below the Tropical Conservatory.  Hubby had brought a book, which he used for a pillow as he stretched out for a nap.  The kids kicked off their sandals and explored the stream bed and flowers.  And I, of course, had my journal in hand.

I love making lists of plant names.  There seems to be a poem in every designation.  Here are a few I jotted down:

Pignut Hickory
Goat's Beard
Wake Robin
Foam Flower
Maiden Hair Tree
Paw Paw
Sea Holly
Cherry Queen Sage
Blue-eyed Grass
Bee Balm
Seaside Goldenrod
Snowcap Spiderwort

Are character names swirling around your head, too?  Ideas for stories and fodder for poetry abound in the botanical gardens.  Next time you visit one, be sure to have your journal with you!

Happy Monday!

Wading Along a Flooded Memory Lane

I'm supposed to be getting ready for our trip.  There are a lot of things to think about when you prepare to leave the country for three weeks.  Wardrobes and shoes need to be appraised, bills need to be scheduled for payment, camera and video memory sticks need to be purchased, airline guidelines need to be reviewed so we don't arrive at the airport and learn we have too many, too heavy bags.

But, I'm a procrastinator.

I do a little something each day, so I can hold my head high in the evening when hubby asks what I accomplished.  Yesterday though, when the kids wanted to spend time with me doing "something NOT boring," I decided to embark on  a project that's been long overdue -- and admittedly one I don't have time for right now.

For the fourteen years hubby and I have been married, we've taken photographs to archive our lives together.  Everyone does, right?  Our problem is we've always printed out the photos from film (until two years ago when we scored our first digital camera), enjoyed flipping through the pictures for a week or so, and then tossed the envelop into a royal blue footlocker that once served as a coffee table when we were newly weds, and now occupies a stretch of wall in my writing studio.  It barely closes.

The kids and I started in Target, where we optimistically purchased two photo binders holding a total of 600 pictures.  By late afternoon, it was clear to us that we'd need to make a return trip.

We looked through hundreds and hundreds of pictures, laughing at forgotten memories, oohing and ahhing over the glossy images of the kids' baby years, telling and retelling the stories of our lives.

Each photo is one significant moment in time.  Oh, the stories.

The pic at the top of this post was taken one month after Sidney was born.  She's snuggled in the carrier strapped to my chest.  Cody was a month shy of two years old.  We spent that day roaming the ruins of the chateau, dating from the 10th century, of Foix, which is a wonderful little city in the department of Ariège.  At the time, we lived outside Toulouse, and Foix was just a forty-five minute drive away.  It is considered the gateway to the beautiful Pyrenées Mountains, the natural southern border between France and Spain.  (Learn more about Foix HERE.)

This is a beautiful photo of Foix (thanks, Source).  In the photo of us, above, we were making our way down the cobblestoned path from the chateau to the city below.

Now that we have a digital camera, we're terrible about printing out pictures.  But once I have all these memories stored in their binders, I'm turning my sights on the memory sticks and computer hard drive.  Call me old-fashioned, but I like to hold books of photos in my hands, in a comfy chair looking out a sunny window, with a cup of fresh brewed coffee.  Memory lane loses some of its charm when I'm staring at a computer screen.

What about you?  Do you print photos or prefer storing them online?  Glass protected paper photo or digital frame?  Paper of plastic?