Bienvenue Chez le Ch'ti(show): Friendsgiving weekend

On the first full day of Katie’s stay we decided to celebrate Thanksgiving. Although we already had many Thanksgiving food items that I listed in the prior post (thanks Cathy!), we still needed some crucial ingredients and some sort of bird-like creature. This mission required a trip to the gigantic Carrefour in the center of the city, which I hate going to much like I hate going to Walmart or any other gigantic warehouse of crap that is impossible to navigate and makes checking out a task from actual hell.

We ended up successfully finding everything we needed (I was worried about not being able to find whipped cream or evaporated milk, which would have resulted in a very weird version of a pumpkin pie). For the meat component, we decided on a rotisserie chicken because they are essentially adorable mini-turkeys.

After putting away our groceries, we went to explore the Christmas market and I had my first vin chaud (mulled wine) of the season. Since the market is so close to my apartment, I foresee many post-school vin chaud/market perusing trips in the future.

When Carson got home that night we cooked everything up and had a magical Thanksgiving. The only glitch was when I dropped the microwavable mashed potatoes, immediately teared up, and started repeating: “I am the Thanksgiving ruiner” over and over (think: Kelsey circa Thanksgiving 2013). Everyone assured me that the mashed potatoes were by far the weak link of the meal and totally subpar. Maybe they were just being nice, but I’m going to go ahead and believe that this was true and that I am not a Thanksgiving ruiner.

Our spread

Cam and I belonged to different sweet potato schools of thought (he wanted sweet, I wanted savory), so we ended up doing half and half and cooking them in the same pan. It turned out surprisingly awesome. Also, Katie made an excellent gravy substitute out of a package of pepper soup.

The next day we did the pastry tour that I promised Katie if she made the trip down. We started at Aux Merveilleux de Fred, where we got the sampler box. This included all six favors of...whatever they are...and we chose to wait until that night to eat them.

The boys then wanted to take us to a place they had seen last weekend for a “surprise.” We knew it had to be food, and alas, it was a cupcake shop. Cupcakes are somewhat of an anomaly in France because the French don’t understand what icing is (their main culinary downfall); however, these cupcakes were amazing and the icing, though not quite like in America, was really good all the same. Carson and I split a chocolate cupcake with chocolate chips baked inside and peanut butter frosting on top--accurately named “The Uncle Sam”--while Katie and Cam “shared” an almond cupcake with raspberries and vanilla frosting. Also amazing.

Cupcakes!

After our cupcake, we headed toward the main square to ride the Ferris wheel. Carson is terrified of heights, but he agreed to give it a shot because he’s a good sport. It was only when we sat down in our cart that I realized the extreme extent of his fear. He was gripping the railing so hard that if the Ferris wheel crumbled to the ground, he would have remained permanently attached. At first I acted extra calm so that he wouldn’t freak out even more and because I was genuinely fine with the situation. That is, until we started slowly moving up and stopping at every level so that new passengers could get on.

For some reason, when the Ferris wheel was moving at a rapid pace, all was well. But, when it just stopped every five seconds and the wind started blowing the cart with surprising force, all was terrifying. I then also permanently fused myself to the railing of our cart.

Meanwhile, Katie and Cam were taking pictures and didn’t seem to register at all that we were currently on a spinning death wheel. I would say Carson and I loosened up once the ride sped up, but it was more like a manic cycle of fear—while descending was fun and implied we had avoided, once again, potential death by being blown into the abyss, ascending meant that the possibility of death was still imminent.

So, it turns out that I too am afraid of heights...if the height can only be reached by gigantic structures built essentially overnight that are far too easily moved by wind, have no seatbelts or bars to contain a human, and no rules or safety precautions listed anywhere. In any case, we survived and it was totally worth it for the beautiful views of the city.

So happy and whimsical

So seemingly happy and whimsical until you notice the emotionless eyes

During the descent--therefore somewhat enjoying ourselves

As we had decided earlier that morning to do a Secret Santa type thing with a 5 euro limit, we then split up to find our gifts. I had already gotten mine that morning when we stopped by our beer cave before going to Aux Merveillieux. I found these cool coasters that were decorated with little beer mugs in each corner and some sort of French drinking saying in the middle. Since I had Cam as my Secret Santa, I thought they would be perfect. While everyone was looking around at beer, I looked over to the cashier who is always there and signaled that I was leaving the money on the shelf and to be “shhhh” about it. I wasn’t sure how he would react to this, but apparently I’m there so much that he trusted me not to steal his merchandise and started laughing.

Once we had our gifts, we stopped at meert to get some vanilla waffles because, after all, it was pastry day. We also went back to the Christmas market to get some more vin chaud and to try the hot beer (which was shockingly not terrible).

When Secret Santa time came along, Katie gave her gift first. She had drawn Carson and got him a hat that looks like Santa’s lower half going down a chimney and a light-up bow tie. Her reasoning was something like: “Since Rachel hid your tuxedo shirt, I thought you might want something to annoy her during the holidays.”

Well played...

Carson then gave Katie these really cool, old postcards that she had pointed out in the thrift/pawn/antique market in the center of the city. (Katie is a pro at Secret Santa and had been pointing out everything she thought was cute or cool all day). Since there were only four of us, it was obvious Cam and I had one another—and he killed it. He got me a “paint-your-own-ornament” kit, some red clothespins with Santa faces on them, and a Santa candle. (These were not random gifts at all—I’ve been decorating like an insane person and obsessing over finding a candle that looks like Santa). Everyone truly seemed to love their gifts and I think this reflects how well we know one another.

On Sunday we went to the gigantic covered market in Wazemmes (about a 20 minute walk down the road). This market is a huge deal in Lille and considered one of those things you have to do; of course, we had never been because we have a different market so close by and are lazy. It was clear what the hype was about: it is indeed gigantic and covered and there are even cafes and art booths inside. We had a nice time but didn’t buy anything as per usual (well, I did buy a sole clementine—consequently making the woman behind the counter’s head nearly explode. If you don’t buy by the kilo or half kilo everyone just thinks you are supremely weird).

A lot of weird smells going on here considering it was basically just a warehouse
of paint and fish and cheese...

After the market we continued walking around and stopped at a Mexican place for lunch. Without fail, every single time I am ever with Katie a burrito is involved. Every time.

We ended our day once again with vin chaud at the Christmas market and dinner at the house. They left on a night train at about 9 that night and we saw them off at the station. All in all it was a wonderful, Christmas-filled weekend and I could not have been happier to spend some quality time with Katie and Cam.

This week has been going smoothly thus far. We only have about two weeks left of school before our break, so I’m looking forward to dedicating all of my free time to making the house as stupidly festive as possible.

Finally, since I haven’t been including many photos recently, here’s what I would have posted before if the pictures had been on my computer: