Une Vie Différente

“Life isn’t about finding yourself.  Life is about creating yourself.” –George Bernard Shaw

Another post inspired by French class, but this time, the post will be much more than a simple translation of my writing.  One option for my most recent composition was what would be different about your life if you had attended a different university.  This was a much more challenging prompt to address than most because attending UW-Milwaukee has been extremely influential in who I’ve become.  The list of potential differences wasn’t going to fit on one page (the length requirement) which is why this post will be an elaboration of the actual assignment.

My other option (at the time), if I didn’t attend UWM, was UW-Madison.  I’m skeptical if I’d have liked Madison enough to complete my degree though.  It’s not that I have anything against Madison, just that I don’t think it would have been a good fit me personally.  There were numerous differences regarding the campus culture that I discovered when touring; I’m sure I’d have found several more if I actually studied and lived in Madison.  The tidbit about most of campus being drunk before noon on football game days still gives me pause when I consider I almost attended that school.  The drinking lifestyle was never for me.  There’s also the possibility I could have avoided the drinking or it might not have been as bad as the tour guide said (and my imagination imagined).  However, I have a low tolerance for drunk people, especially noisy and rowdy ones.

If I disliked the environment and culture enough, there’s a good chance I would have transferred.  The question is where.  I know I wouldn’t have transferred home; I refused to move home even when I didn’t have a job and could barely support myself immediately after graduation.  A part of me thinks I’d have transferred to UWM.  I loved almost everything about my three and half years of undergrad and firmly believe I was meant to end up in Milwaukee.  However, there’s another part of me that considers my love of travel and distant lands; thus I could have transferred abroad.  There are an uncountable number of factors that would have played into my decision though: how old was I when I chose to transfer, was I dating someone, had I studied abroad already, how were my relationships with certain family members (my mom, my older sister, and my niece), where were my interests, etc.

Not only would my relationships have played a definite role in where I transferred, but these relationships could have been extremely different than they are today.  I couldn’t have afforded to take the bus and frequently visit my sister and newborn niece my freshman year, so—unfortunately—neither of these relationships would have their current resilience.  The positive influence they (and my brother-in-law) have had on me is immense.  The amount of patience I gained by spending time with my niece (now nieces) is reason enough to say their impact was huge.  By having a stronger relationship with my sister, I sought out her advice and took said advice seriously—as well as my brother-in-law’s advice.  This advice helped shape other decisions I made.  None of this would be the case without the current strength of our bond though.

My Eldest Niece and Me

Then there’s the relationship with my mom.  I have no idea how that would have differed because regardless of where I attended university, I still would have gone home for as many holidays as possible and talked to her the same amount.  The difference would have been that I have since learned she didn’t support the idea of me going to Madison.  However, she also isn’t one to hold a grudge, so I’m confident she wouldn’t have held this against me; she may have been overly supportive if/when I chose to transfer though and thus influenced that decision.

Returning to going abroad, I might not have studied in New Zealand.  Almost my entire life, I had my heart set of going to England and I didn’t because I needed an international internship for my Global Studies major (a major Madison doesn’t have), and UWM has a program to New Zealand that included help securing internship placement.  New Zealand was still on my bucket list of countries to visit, but it wasn’t my first choice; I realize now it should have been though.  Similar to how my relationships shaped me, so did my time in New Zealand.  Some of these results would have happened regardless of where I studied abroad: sense of adventure, increased independence, appreciation for other cultures, etc.  I wouldn’t, however, have met the same people and had the same internship/learning experience.  My internship in New Zealand gave me confidence in my work that my classes hadn’t.  Since neither of my majors exist at Madison, there’s a good chance I wouldn’t have completed that internship anyways.  Madison has similar majors, but I still could have taken my education (and thus my life) down a completely different path.  Either way though, I would have found something I enjoyed.

Christina, Me, and Gavin in NZ

All these potential differences mean I might not be friends with some of the wonderful people I am today.  I happen to really like my Milwaukee friends, especially considering the majority of them have one very distinct similarity: French.  There are one or two friends I don’t know directly through the French Department who also happen to love French, if not the language then certainly the culture.  Aside from these friends, I’ve only made a few other friends in Milwaukee.  In recent years, French has definitely made a big impact in my life.  Regardless of where I could have attended university, hopefully I still found the delicious eloquence of French 🙂

Oui!sconsin

Then there’s Alice, who I wouldn’t have if I hadn’t attended university in Milwaukee.  I also wouldn’t know all the great people from my jobs or from the student organizations in which I was a part.  Nevertheless, a lot of other people inhabit the world, so I wouldn’t be friendless and I would have had other jobs in which to meet people.  Plus living in Madison would have allowed me to assist more with my high school forensics team as one of the assistant coaches lives in Madison and the team competes in Madison almost every season.

Ultimately, I hope I would have either found my way to UWM or found myself happily living abroad, travelling with any spare money I have while learning/perfecting my knowledge of other languages and making friends along the way.  Also I like to think that somewhere in creating myself and seeking happiness, I would have developed the strong relationships I have with my family.

Some Sisterly Love

A Technological Change in My Life

Returning briefly to my love of French, I decided to translate another composition from my Third Semester French class.  This one isn’t nearly as tasty as A French Meal since this composition required me to write about a changed technology and how it affected my life.  I’ve lived through a lot of changes in technology, some more spectacular than others.  I chose one of my earlier memories including a specific piece of technology: a computer.  I have earlier memories with technology, but these included less detail.

Below is my English translation, followed by the original French version as a download (for anyone who’s interested).  Note: I’ve taken the liberty of translating more eloquently than my knowledge of French permits me to actually write—while staying true to the general content.

Freedom and Independence
Before about 19-years-old, when I started college, I didn’t have a laptop.  I do remember when my mom bought our first computer though, but this computer wasn’t very liberating.

At first, we didn’t have Internet access.  So in place of the Internet, I played CD-ROM games like Body Land and Disney’s The Lion King.  These were only two of my favorite games; I had lots of them.  I spent almost all my childhood playing outside or reading, but I also loved playing CD-ROM games.  For me, this computer was for free time and thus I never used it to do my homework before having Internet.

With the Internet, I had more freedom to learn and explore.  I started sending emails to my friends and sometimes to my older sister.  I also used the Internet to my homework and played fewer CD-ROM games.  I continued to play games, but now the games were on the Internet.  My interest in music grew and my music collection also grew, so I kept it on the computer.

Now with my own laptop, I’ve started saving all my music, all my photos, a lot of movies, and almost all my documents digitally.  Immediately, I felt independent and free because everything I have is on my laptop.

When I was in New Zealand for five months, every week I used my laptop to talk to my family and write my blog.  Every day I do homework, surf Facebook, watch a movie or TV, write a blog post, send an email, read the news, research a trip, listen to music, and/or video chat on my laptop.

Without my laptop, my life would probably be harder and very different because I would write by hand, wouldn’t watch TV, would read the newspaper, would speak with my family and friends on the telephone, and would have a lot more books. 

Liberté et indépendance-La Version Originale

“Eating Like a Queen”

First, thank you to Eric for this phrase (“eating like a queen”), and thus the final inspiration to write this post 🙂  Second, I really did have a weekend with some absolutely delicious food.  With great food comes great company, and I was honored with excellent company!

The first night, I joined my friends Eric and Mary for dinner at Odd Duck Restaurant in Bay View, Wis.  Odd Duck is a unique little restaurant on South Kinnickinnic Ave whose menu changes daily, so customers never know what their options will be, simply that they’ll be delicious.  The three of us enjoyed what was essentially a 7-course meal plus drinks.  We had a small selection of meat and cheese for our appetizer, foie gras, palek paneer, seared scallops, grilled tenderloin, Korean pancake, and pear puff pastry and crème brûlé for dessert.  Each course was brought out separately on a plate or serving board, so we could enjoy them family style or—a more technical term—service á la Russe.

Our grand meal started with Red Barn Raw Milk Cheddar, Goat Sec, and Red Wattle Culatello.  The cheese, from a hormone-free Wisconsin family farm, was simply delicious and I could have eaten a wheel of it 🙂  It was soft, creamy, and had a flawless milky white color.  The goat sec (‘sec’ meaning dried) is the small, circular, dark-colored meat.  This meat didn’t taste like any other meat I’ve ever had.  I’m not quite sure how to describe it, aside from I liked the taste and would eat it again.  The other meat, Red Wattle Culatello, was a dry-cured ham similar to prosciutto from a Red Wattle pig.  The taste was definitely ham but with a lighter flavor than deli ham or Christmas dinner ham.  The appetizer was served with hamburger pickles, a raspberry, a blackberry, two blueberries, chutney, and bread.

First Course: Meats and Cheese (Photo taken by Eric)

Of our five main courses, the first served was Provençal Terrine, the foie gras (pronounced: fwa gra) served with artichoke hearts, black olive tapenade, shaved black truffles, a roasted cherry tomato salad, and crostini.  In French ‘foie gras’ means ‘fat liver’ and its created by force feeding duck or goose corn; despite knowing what the animals endure, I couldn’t help liking the taste.  It was quite soft and almost spread on the crostini (bruschetta or ciabatta like bread).  Surprisingly, the foie gras didn’t have much of its own flavor.  Although this could be because the artichoke hearts, black olive tapenade, and shaved black truffles were included in each bite.  Since the artichoke hearts had a bold, dominant taste, I mostly tasted them, but the mixture of flavors was tasty and paired well with the crispy crunch of the crostini.  The roasted cherry tomato salad was delish enough to be its own side; the tomatoes had a wonderful summery taste to them.  Their roasting held in the natural tomato juices as well 🙂

Second Course: Provençal Terrine (Photo taken by Eric)

Next came the palek paneer, a creamy soup with cheese cubes and served with house naan bread, cilantro, and spicy tomato chutney.  Originally from India, this soup has a sautéed spinach base with melting cubes of paneer cheese.  I happen to love spicy food and spinach, but combining the two was heaven in my mouth!  The thick soup was simply delectable and a close second for my second favorite entrée of the night.  The cheese cubes were a melty, soft goodness that created a great balance with the spicy flavors; my mouth is watering and my stomach is growling.  If that’s not an indication of how amazing this dish was, I like it so much that I want the recipe, so I can make it myself.  I believe Mary and Eric would agree 🙂

Third Course: Palak Paneer (Photo taken by Eric)

The middle entrée was seared scallops with cider braised beluga lentils and mushrooms, bacon, mustard cream, and shaved brussel sprout salad.  Since I’m not a fan of seafood, I only tried a bite of the scallops.  Honestly, it didn’t taste as bad as I was expecting but mentally I prepared myself for the worst—as I joked about how the scallops didn’t want me to try them since the bite wouldn’t stay on my fork.  I’m not sure if it was good enough to eat again; the scallops definitely weren’t good enough to order myself though.  I forgot to try both the lentils and the brussel sprout salad because I decided to finish the tasty paneer instead.

Fourth Course: Seared Scallops (Photo taken by Eric)

As I ate the final bites of the palak paneer, the garlic grilled tenderloin arrived with its assortment of broccoli, cashews, and scallions with a Katsu demi-glace.  This course was almost as delicious as the soup because it was so juicy and tender 🙂  Mary and I couldn’t overcome how perfectly tender the tenderloin was.  This scrumptious meat was so tender Eric cut it with a butter knife!  The garlic flavor wasn’t overwhelming, and the Katsu demi-glace (a Japanese glaze beneath the meat) paired so well with the meat I thought it was tenderloin juice.

Fifth Course: Garlic Grilled Tenderloin (Photo taken by Eric)

The last entrée before our dessert was my favorite: a Korean pancake.  This tasty not-a-pancake-by-Western-standards had carrots and squash cooked into it and was drizzled with ginger chili sauce.  The pancake was covered in scallions, wanton crisps, green chili peppers, and Sambal cucumbers.  Its spicy deliciousness made my taste buds dance with joy; so much so that I’d eat at Odd Duck again if the only option was the Korean pancake.  Mary and I agree that a second Korean pancake would have been an excellent decision and that it should be a permanent fixture on the menu 🙂  I loved everything about this course.  I was slightly cautious about the cucumbers; however, this caution was completely unnecessary as the cucumbers added a softer crunch to the vegetable mixture.  Now knowing that Sambal is a chili pepper sauce, I realize how delicious the cucumbers sounded.

Sixth Course: Korean Pancake (Photo taken by Eric)

Finally, dessert time 🙂  The first option our waiter mentioned was crème brûlé, and Mary didn’t need to hear the other options. She kept repeating, “crème brûlé” while Eric and I insisted on hearing the other options.  Mary was right in wanting the gingerbread crème brûlé, but the other dessert we got was just as delicious.  The other dessert was a pear puff pastry with raspberry sorbet, a blackberry, and two blueberries (left plate).  The brown sugar sauce covering the pear was particularly tasty and transformed the pear into an ideal dessert.  The pear itself was soft, although not quite soft enough to cut with a fork…as I learned while Eric accused me of not sharing.  Mary didn’t seem to notice though because she was indulging in the crème brûlé (right plate), a dessert so delicious it doesn’t need any adjectives.  A cookie came with the crème brûlé and added a wonderful crunch to an otherwise smooth, creamy dessert 🙂

Seventh Course: Pear Puff Pastry and Gingerbread Crème Brûlé (Photo taken by Eric)

These seven courses only took a couple hours to devour!  The devouring occurred in and amongst the plethora of conversation we indulged in; which for those who know me and know I’m a talker, Eric and Mary talk just as much 😀  Despite the vast amounts of conversation, the food certainly retained our attention the longest.

The following afternoon, I enjoyed lunch at Le Rêve in Wauwautosa, WI with my friend Petey.  This French meal continued my royal eating with pan-bagnat (a chicken sandwich), pommes frites (fries), and dark chocolate mousse.

This Pan-Bagnat, a Nice specialty, was packed with new and classic, favorite flavors.  The sandwich contained grilled chicken, watercress, basil tapenade, tomatoes, and roasted capers aioli with a side of fries.  Before the previous night’s dinner, I’d never had tapenade.  This is one of those foods I wouldn’t have eaten or at least would have skeptical of eating if I knew what was in it.  It tasted good though and I’ll eat it in the future.  The chicken was surprisingly juicy for being grilled and tasted even better with a layer of aioli 🙂  The aioli had a different flavor than I was expecting; it was a good different though.  It doubled as a tasty dip for the fries too.  They were a bit soft, but the fries were still salty and delicious.  The meal was so good, I ate every bite!

Pan-Bagnat, Pommes Frites, and Aioli

Then for dessert, I debated between le dessert de jour, a cheesecake with cherries flavored delish drizzled over it, and the chocolate mousse.  Petey ordered first and chose the dessert of the day, so thankfully my decision was simplified.  This “traditional Parisian mousse [is] made with Valrhona Caraibe chocolate.”  This is rich chocolate that might just be a god among chocolates because it’s that good.  The mousse itself was light, fluffy, and creamy with a summery raspberry on top and an edible, decorative chocolate.  If I had to choose my last dessert to eat, this would easily be a top contender 🙂  My sweet tooth died and went to heaven while appreciating this mousse.  Overall, a perfect ending for back-to-back royal meals that kept me unimaginably full.

Dark Chocolate Mousse

With the help of friends, I not only ate my way around the world but ate like a queen too.  I eagerly await future meals and the new foods I’m sure to taste with these friends 🙂

A French Meal

Throughout the past year, I’ve fallen in love with France and French culture.  So much so that I’m sad I won’t be continuing my formal study of it next semester since I’ll have graduated.  Thankfully, I listened to reason and took two French classes this semester though 🙂  I’ve even had the opportunity to use the knowledge from one class (Learning French Culture through Cuisine) in the other (Third Semester French).

Earlier in the semester, my French language class was assigned to write a single-page composition on one of three topics.  Loving food and seeing a perfect opportunity to combine my knowledge of French culture with my own life, I chose to write about my ideal meal.  Below is my English translation, followed by the original French version (for anyone who’s interested).  Note: I’ve taken the liberty of translating more eloquently than my knowledge of French permits me to actually write (and I didn’t want to exceed a page)—while staying true to the general content.

A French Style Dinner
For my ideal dinner, I want to have a big meal, similar to a formal dinner in France.  The meal would contain an appetizer, a main course, a salad, a cheese platter, and a dessert with a drink to match each course.  Lots of people will enjoy this delicious meal with me including my older sister, my two nieces, my brother-in-law, my mom, my three younger sisters, and my grandma.

For the appetizer, there will be brie and honey crêpes or strawberry crêpes both with a red wine and grape juice as a non-alcoholic drink.  Crêpes are delicious and while I haven’t had the first type, I’m certain these crêpes will be tasty.

I love the lasagna my older sister and I cook together.  Thus, this is the main course.  For the occasion, we add sausages to the red peppers, greens peppers, onions, and cubed tomatoes.  Plus the lasagna has cheddar, mozzarella, and ricotta cheeses with red sauce.  We drink Beaujolais with our main course.  Everything is delicious!

The third course is a salad, specifically an Auvergne salad with a white wine from Burgundy.  Auvergne salad is typically made with walnut, but I don’t like walnuts.  Therefore this salad has a modification: almonds are used, and not walnuts, with the ham, Cantal cheese, cherry tomatoes, shallots, and vinaigrette.

A cheese platter is the fourth course with red Bordeaux to compliment the cheeses.  This platter has Roquefort, Saint Marcellin, Comté, and Délice (from Burgundy) with French bread.  For my picky family members (and the little children), provolone and cheddar are served.

Finally, for dessert, chocolate cheesecake and champagne are enjoyed immensely.  I love chocolate, but cheesecake and chocolate are a perfect combination!  They are an ideal end to an ideal meal.  End.

While we’re on the topic of French cuisine, last week was my French cuisine instructor’s birthday.  Since we had class on his birthday, a friend and I made a small to-do.  She made an absolutely delicious carrot cake (which we learned during the second week of class is his favorite).  I made a card which tied the entire surprise back to class because I used (not) Marie-Antoinette’s famous line “Ils mangent de la brioche” (pronounced bree-oh-sh—long ‘e’ and long ‘o’).  This line is famously mistranslated to “Let them eat cake.”  Two misconceptions here: 1) Marie-Antoinette didn’t say this and 2) brioche isn’t really cake.  Marie-Antoinette wasn’t yet Queen of France when she supposedly airily said the line; and technically brioche is a type of bread.

Although the cake was magnificent (I ate two slices), seeing how pleasantly surprised our instructor was at our thoughtfulness (or cleverness as he put it) definitely takes the cake 😛 (pun intended).  Relearned Lesson: doing nice things for others is a great idea.

Un dîner dans le style français-La Version Originale

For the next post: running!

My Final Semester Thus Far

So I intended to write and post this blog two months ago, but let’s just say I’ve been busy.  I told myself at the end of last semester that I wouldn’t push myself as hard this semester; I honestly didn’t think I would, but I have.  I’m obviously addicted to keeping busy.

First my Learning French Culture Through Cuisine class.  While this class technically counts as a Global Studies elective, I took this class as my one and only “fun class.”  I knew it would be a good class; I know the instructor and he enthusiastically assured me it’s a great class.  He couldn’t be more right!  Despite the fact that he could make a mundane class entertaining, I love what we’re studying.  We’ve learned about how France’s geography and regions, as well as its history, have contributed to the nation’s cuisine.  On top of this, a friend from my French classes last year is also in the class 🙂

My other French class is equally excellent.  The professor is so outgoing and enthusiastic it’s hard not to love the class and the professor makes attending a Friday class completely worth it.  I had high expectations of her and she has absolutely exceeded them!  She’s been extremely supportive, influential and helpful in my desire to improve my French and continue learning even after I graduate next month.  She’s been a driving factor in my desire to spend January studying in France.  (And my French Cuisine class pushed my wanderlust into overdrive.)

The first of my Global Studies classes is ridiculously depressing because the topics can all be summed up as “Humans are destroying the world and in denial they’re doing so.”  The professor is entertaining as he’s hard of hearing and constantly asking us to speak up.  He also frequently sidetracks on tangents related to that day’s discussion topic.  This class also includes a lot of great people who I have/had classes with and who are in French, including a Parisian 🙂

The hardest class I have this semester is my other Global Studies class.  It’s a really small, only four people, online class on Intellectual Property.  I  know the professor for this class as well because I worked for her for three years.  The topics are extremely heavy in economics, so this class isn’t as interesting as my others.

My fifth class is Honors: Im/Migration in the Age of Globalization can also be quite depressing since the topics include border control and human trafficking.  If the professor allows us to dictate conversation on our own, we have very lively discussions (albeit border lining on off-topic).  She’s also one of the first instructors who’s attempted to regulate my speaking during class; I’m conscious of my classmates wanting to speak, but if no one wants to talk, then I will.  She doesn’t see it that way and prefers to call on students so they’ll speak up in class.  I grudgingly accept her decision.

Finally, there’s Media Graphics.  This is a really time intensive class because I’m learning Adobe programs through the assigned projects.  Thus far, I’ve learned more about Photoshop and learned a lot more about Illustrator.  Personally, I’m a fan of Photoshop and InDesign, but I love what Illustrator can do; I’m just not as adept at manipulating it.  I’ll continue learning during the next project though.  Hopefully that will help.  Yet again, I know this instructor because I took a class with him last semester.  Of the two, I prefer this class; there’s more organization and clearer learning goals.  I learned from the class last semester, but I’ve certainly learned more this semester.

In addition to these six classes, I also work and have an internship.  As I already said, “I’m obviously addicted to keeping busy.”  There are only six weeks until the bittersweet ending though, so hopefully I can find time to enjoy my remaining weeks as an undergraduate college student.  Oh and find myself a job; that might be helpful.  Now as fun as this has been, I need to continue working on homework.

The next post will have something to do with French…