Food, glorious, Food...RANT!!

Ok, so I am in the land of haute cuisine and the cordon-bleu chefs...and yet, I have to say, there is some very delicious tastes to savour, but there is also some tastes that don't even make it to my mouth because they are so repulsive.

Salad...normally a very normal dish, served with lots of lettuce and then some vegetables. Not here. We got a salad with a sparse amount of lettuce, apple chucks, cheese chunks and KIWI...because here KIWI is a fruit that you set next to a statue of Mary, a glass of wine and a piece of bread - it is so full of vitamins, no one should miss out. To top it off, nasty salad dressing put on it. MY SOLUTION: add the Catalina salad dressing that my fabulous mom sent me to drown out their nasty vinigrette. Nevertheless, this prompted a discussion on how Catalina is the ketchuup of salad...and when explained that it is nothing like ketchup, the French laugh confusedly thinking we are the ones messed up in the head; b/c if it is red sauce it is ketchup. LOL, and then to our confusion, last night when eating wedged potatoes, my host sister brings out the Catalina. I ask her why, and she said, "For your potatoes, you know to dip in, Ketchup". I laugh and say: "BUT IT'S NOT KETCHUP!" and grab the true ketchup.

Next, we will discuss seafood. Now, my family is well aware that Katelyn and I do not eat seafood, and that I only eat fish (Katelyn doesn't even it that). Nevertheless, this is an abomination since we live in Canada and there is lots of fishing and seafood from both of the coasts. When we try to explain that we don't live on the coasts, that many Canadians do like seafood, just happens to not be one of our personal preferences they shake their heads at us silly girls who don't take advantage of their country's natural ressources. It goes back to the whole enchilada whereby, the discovery that we don't know plants and wild flora is astounding since when Marthe was in Canada she saw lots of berries, mushrooms and whatnot around. Urban centres like Toronto are apparently not well translated in my French...perhaps I should find visuals to explain that there isn't natural mountain ranges where I live, like there is here. Ok, out of my digression now, and back to the seafood. On Saturday night, their friends brought over seafood for dinner...seafood that is still ALIVE and RAW, which they proceeded to eat. Needless to say, I did not partake in this little event...instead I opted to make a meal out of the potato dish and a baguette. Furthermore, they found it astounding that since I have a Japanese heritage, I do not eat raw seafood...the fact that it is a very long-distanced heritage with Japan doesn't seem to phase them, they still think it sinful that I do not appreciate such fine delicacies.

Soup - normally a dish that I am totally up for, you can't usually go wrong with soup now and then. Here though soup is as much a staple as bread. They have vegetable soup, potato soup, pumpkin soup, and then yesterday they ate PIG INTESTINE soup. Thank goodness that this was over at a friend's house and we did not go...that Marthe made us something and then went out with everyone. Katelyn and I were never so happy to not be included in something; after there departure, we left the appartment in search of real, greasy food, which we found at Quick's, which is becoming our temple of that delicacy called American fast-food - it has become way more appreciated abroad than ever when at home.

Nevertheless, it is not all bad...I did stumble across a chocolatier in the downtown streets of Perpignan while out searching for a book. Katelyn and I decided to indulge ourselves by buying the expensive delicacies it housed within and let me just say to you, chocolate over here is downright a delicious ritual. It was sooooooooooo amazing, a little taste of heaven!!!

Now, if only we had chocolate for a meal...(A)!!!