Bits and Pieces

I made my second market foray today and it was lovely - there aren't as many people around as on the weekends so I could take my time a bit more.  I got some gorgeous looking lettuce, a pepper, bananas,* and nectarines all very cheap!  Produce shopping is kind of opposite here: farmer's/outdoor markets are generally much cheaper than grocery stores if you are buying fresh produce.  Most products in these markets are not quite organic but grown in a biologically sound manner ("bio" as they say here) and you can tell.  My nectarines and bananas have some natural markings and and discolorations, and the strawberries are much smaller than what you find in the US. 

However, things like cheese and meat are a bit more expensive than in grocery stores - though they are far higher quality and the shops generally have an excellent selection.  I wanted to get some Roquefort so I went to the main cheese shop in the market and the lady was super sweet and friendly.  She gave me a sample of a cheese I'd never tried before (I believe called creme de brindis but don't hold me to that last word) - it's a semi-hard but smooth tasting cow cheese.  I got a piece, plus the Roquefort, and she gave me another one (I didn't catch what it was :( ) for free!

I also got one of those delicious Lebanese "pizzas" for lunch while I was there.  They are SO VERY much not pizzas.  It's a sauteed vegetable (I got spinach - it also has onions and a bit of tomato) mix which seems to be cooked in white wine, mixed with some tangy crumbly cheese, stuffed in a thick pita bread and toasted.  Very yummy!  Not a pizza.

In other food news, it was my friend's birthday yesterday and we went out to a North African restaurant to celebrate.  We all had completely delicious tagines or couscous with fantastic mint tea.  Mmmm, I love the great North African food here.

I haven't done much of anything exciting in the last few days since I've been at the NYU campus most of the time.  I did take a little shortcut through the Jardin des Plantes in my wanderings, though.  I guess the Jardin des Plantes is more or less like Paris' Central Park, although it's not central.  It's not as planned, manicured, and full of statues as most of the big Parisian gardens and it has a nice little zoo.  It's really pretty and not as touristy as places like the Luxembourg.  It was designed to be a sort of indoor/outdoor natural history museum experience: the buildings scattered through the gardens are museums of evolution, minerology, paleontology, and entomology.  There are also certain areas set aside for growing different types of plants.  These photos are only from the little corner of the gardens I went through - I mostly liked the little house that is covered in plants and that kind of mini prairie field of some sort of grass in the middle of the city.

I also haven't really discussed the area where I go to school: the 16th arrondissement, Passy, it's sort of the equivalent of the Upper West Side.  It's not quite as high end as the area around the Champs Elysees (which I would equate with the Upper East Side) but it's a fairly exclusive, old, pretty expensive area.  That's why none of us live close to the campus.  There are a ton of clothing shops and specialty bakeries and such; it's pretty hard to find a quick, cheap place to get lunch between classes.  The campus building itself is an 18th century building with a beautiful little courtyard.  All the professors seem to live in the buildings in the same complex.  We (the grad students) only use a few of the rooms but there are actually two large buildings for class and such.  The undergrads are coming Monday, so although it feels nice and open right now I'm sure it's about to get very crowded.

Here is what I see when I leave the Metro on my way to class:

*This week Oxford University revised its style guide to say the Oxford comma (the last comma in a list of things - the one after "bananas" in this sentence) is no longer necessary.  I'm having some problems dealing with this and Oxford and I are now in a fight.  I happen to like the Oxford comma.