A list of sorts

This past week I:
1. Had dinner with Beatrice, her daughter, and her grandchildren.
2. Attended an indoor picnic/dinner party.
3. Got fauned over and pampered at MaxMara.
4. Saw gorgeous doll clothes.
5. Ate L'As falafel for like the fifth Sunday in a row.
6. Finished all of my midterms--thank god.
7. Had a conversation with Martin (for the first time, even though he spends every weekend here).
8. Picked up and played with Wheelie Baby.
9. Took advantage of Parisian cafés.
10. Went to the opera.

If I remember correctly, Monday was Paris and my three month anniversary. Compare that list with my first posts and I guess you could say I've come a long way. After reading Abe's blog, I'm feeling a little boring not having an African adventure on that list, but I'd say I'm pretty happy with it anyways.

As to the dinner party. It was pretty epic and incredibly fun, but it feels so long ago that I don't really feel like describing it in detail (sorry Amara!). Let me just say that it was a potluck, so the menu consisted of: mac and cheese, wine, meatballs, salad with candied almonds, wine, zucchini, moussaka, wine, mashed potatoes, DL's compost cookies, ice cream, and more wine.

Meaghan and I made the moussaka, which I'd say was kind of a success--I'm only saying "kind of" now because I went home with a huge container of leftovers and now I'm kind of resenting the boeuf and aubergines that have been my dinner for the past few days. I don't think I can eat moussaka for a really long time. The bechamel sauce wasn't that great (I'll have to find a better recipe for it)--it looked like eggs and didn't have the anticipated texture. And also, let me just say that I got the idea to make it because I've been buying ino's homemade moussaka which is delicious, and even if I did something different or found a new recipe, I wouldn't have been able to recreate it. The compost cookies were amazing, might I add, and I'm definitely going to have to make them in the states. They did add some entertainment, though, because when we put them in the oven to cook after we'd eaten our 209343 course meal, Alena accidentally put the setting on "clean." So we're sitting there, in the makeshift picnic room, and Emily comes in asking, "Is your oven supposed to lock?" We couldn't open the door and it wouldn't unlock when we changed the setting. It had only been a few minutes since we put them in, but we could already smell them burning. Then when we finally were able to open the oven door, a huge cloud of smoke came out and we saw that the cookies were unrecognizably burnt. Thankfully it was only one batch, but it was still hilarious nonetheless.

Last night I went to the opera with Ashley, my philosophy professor, and a few other NYU staff/students. It was Zémire et Azor, which was based on the fairytale la Belle et la Bête--the original Beauty and the Beast before Disney came along and stole it. It was in the Opera Comique, the smaller and less grand opera, and there was little set and a tiny orchestra. All in all it was really good, but you could definitely tell it was a low-cost production. My class last semester came in handy (shout-out to Pat) because we read the versions of Beauty and the Beast, so I already knew the story. That definitely helped when I was trying to translate the French. It was interesting seeing how they adapted the story, but one thing that I really didn't like was that they used a lot of video in it, which just made it appear all the more low-cost. It was kind of clever using it as the mirror that Zémire looks into to see her father and sisters back at home, but they also used it for these weird, unintelligible artistic scenes that even confused my professor; as well as at the end, instead of having Azor onstage change into a prince, there's this weird, bad-quality video showing him walking down the street as a man. And then it suddenly ends. The first act, once I figured out that it was Beauty and the Beast, was good, but the second act was laughable. That's when they had the majority of the videos and even Zémire slow-motion running. But hey, it was free and an experience. Plus, that's one of my favorite stories. What was also interesting was that they all had accents. I didn't get a chance to ask, but it sounded as though they had Italian accents. I guess my two week stint in phonetics paid off after all. But it was a nice exercise to practice my French, and I'm glad I went.

So all in all, I'd say it was a good week.

Oh and PS: I'm staying in Paris until May 28th now! Thanks to my dad (thank you!) for staying on the phone with the airlines for two hours changing my flight. Now I'm going to be here a whole two weeks after finals end to enjoy the Parisian sunshine without having any class!