November 11th

Today is Armistice Day here in France, which marks the end of World War I. The French take the day off. The archives were closed yesterday and today, so Chris wasn't able to go into work.

We haven't done much today...slept in, ran to the English bookstore a couple blocks away to find it was closed for lunch, and now we are getting ready to heat up lunch and go to Nell's later to check the internet. She & Dylan have been so generous in letting us come over to check our email and the internet while we are waiting to get ours installed. If all goes well, we should have internet, phone, and cable next Tuesday (Nov 18th).

Yesterday, we woke up and went to the grocery to stock up for the next few days. There were a lot of people there doing the same. Chris found a magazine with 100 French recipes in it at the checkout aisle, so he purchased it. We came home and had lunch (ravioli and basil pesto).

In the afternoon, he went all the way to one of the archives just to find it was closed. They don't post the days they are closed, which is frustrating. It took him an hour round trip to travel there and back, for nothing.

He came home and decided to cook two recipes from his new cookbook. He baked a tarte auo lait de poule (milk pie). It was very creamy and similar to flan. For dinner, he cooked poulet au pot (chicken in a pot). He took a whole chicken, stuffed the inside with pieces of baguette, apricots, herbs de provence, and raisins. Then he cooked it in a big pot on the stove with whole turnips, onions, leeks, garlic, and carrots. The end result was a very juicy chicken that fell right off the bone, and vegetables that were cooked to perfection.

I am happy to announce that I finished my first hand-knitted sweater last night! I'm SO happy to have completed it. It fits well, but a little itchy since it has wool in it. I will know to not knit with wool in the future. I'm wearing it today regardless of the itchy quality, and it's very warm and cozy.