To catch you up on our life, I just created a food blog a couple days ago. Andy has been encouraging me to do it for awhile, and I thought that it would be fun. Right now, I am just trying to add some of my favorite recipes, but in the future, I will be adding more French recipes as well. If you are interested in receiving an email when I update the site with new recipes, you can sign up at the website. Feel free to email me some of your personal favorites, and I will give you recognition and thanks in the post!

We also had lunch last weekend with Jean Claude and Valerie. We went to Le Comptoir de l'Arc, where we had a fabulous Muscat Sec for lunch and shared Tempura Foie Gras and Nems de Salade (I think was the name; btw, nems is a crispy Vietnamese spring roll). It was very good! We had a lovely time, but I think most of the conversation was about the differences in the pronunciation of French and English. We definitely had a lot of laughs with that one.

We finally got our temporary residency permits, but I don't think we will be able to go to Essen, as hoped. If we leave France, we might not be let back in, and we are low on money. Maybe next year!

Andy has also started searching for post-docs for next year. It is a little stressful at the time, having to be more career oriented rather than research oriented, but application deadlines start in November and December, so he has been busy. Though an unexpected return to the states is coming up in January for interviews, we are excited to return and see family and friends. There are also some possibilities for Andy abroad, but those application deadlines are not as pressing yet.

I've started taking classes once a week to learn French. I am joining an association here, and it is one of the cheaper ways to take courses. They also offer cooking classes once a month, have an OEnologie (wine expert=oenologue) course, and bowling, to name a few.

Well, it's getting late now, so I will continue updating later this week.