back in the land of the living

Phew!

What a crazy few weeks we've had. I feel like we've fallen off the face of the planet and are finally back from our outer-space excursion. Before our trip to Lyon 2 weeks ago I started a new, every-day, English teaching job (yay!). Then, the weekend after our trip (when I intended to get the blog post out) we lost internet for 4 days, 4 DAYS! I felt like I was back in the dark ages. At least I in got a lot of much-needed reading time. And this week has marked the end of the 2010 GTL summer session. Students have been banging on our door at all hours asking for cleaning supplies, laundry tokens and dropping off their keys. I am pleased to announce that the last of the summer students are gone as of this afternoon and now begins the monotonous project of lugging GTL issued stuff (pots, dishes, pillows, etc.) back over to campus and performing room-by-room check-outs with our very animated dorm manager, Fabrice.

But despite how hectic the past few weeks have been we have still managed to eat well. I can't imagine that any of you would accept anything less of us.

Duck à l'Orange and wild mushroom rice -- a favorite that will certainly be brought back to the states

Korean Chicken tacos and Spanish rice -- it was quite a melting-pot dinner

Our friend Chen joined us one night for some yummy Pasta Carbonara

The next night we indulged our cravings from some Wiener schnitzel and sauteed spaetzle...sadly, I think that recipe may be one of Paula Dean's healthier recipes.

 Despite the lousy picture, this "steak house meal" was scrumptious although confusing. I don't know if it's a regional thing but neither Michael nor I had ever seen creamed spinach and steak marketed as a traditional "steak house dinner", granted, neither of us have spent much time (or money) in steak houses. Either way, we added a yummy baked sweet potato and gobbled it all up.

This was yesterday's "oh crap, we have no food in the house" concoction: 

tuna melt surprise

yield: 2 servings

1 can whole tuna

2T Crème Fraîche or Sour Cream

1T horseradish

1 small shallot, minced

1/2 t salt

1/4 t pepper

1/4 c sauteed mushrooms (optional, we just happened to have them in the fridge from the previous night)

2 pieces of bread

1/2 c shredded cheese (we had gouda and asiago, but anything melty works)

1. Pre-heat broiler in your oven
2. Mix tuna, sour cream, horseradish, shallot, salt, pepper and muchrooms in a bowl then divide and spread on top of bread pieces.
3. Sprinkle cheese on top, place on a tray and place under the broiler until the cheese is brown and bubbly.
4. Enjoy

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Edit: Contrary to what might be said below, this post was in fact written by Lauren.