forget the rBST I want some UHT

I am currently sitting at my kitchen table with a liter of what I like to call shelf milk. This milk came off the shelf at the grocery store and not out of a fridge. The expiration date reads 08/05/09 which translates to May 8th, which is over two months from now. The lable reads "Grand Jury - Bio Lait Demi-écrémé Stérilisé UHT". After opening it must be kept at +6 degrees celsius max, and consumed within three days. I have never tried this shelf milk and will be sharing my first experience with you. To go with this shelf milk I have chosen a chocoalte bar called a Kinder Bueno. This will also be my first Kinder Bueno. I put the milk in the fridge when I got it home which was about half an hour ago. I just took of the cap... there is a foil cover under the cap. foil removed. It does not smell like milk... kind of smells like sour cream... it appears to be quite thick. Just popped a piece of the kinder bueno and here we go... ITS DELICIOUS!!! this is even better than regular milk!! it's like drinking unwhipped whipping cream!!! I'm never buying the other milk again. This is wonderful! You can buy multiple liters and keep them on you shelf for months and use them when you want!! crepes take up half a liter anyway so you really don't have to worry about wasting milk, just open one from the shelf use half for your crepes and you have half a liter to drink for the next three days. Wow life is great here in France. I'm gonna have another glass :)

McDonalds! in France

I went to McDonald's today for my first french McFlurry. The French McFlurry is slightly different from the American McFlurry. First of all they are smaller and the cups and spoons are different. The toppings are also a little different; the M&M's are peanut M's; you can get Kit Kat, Oreo, and a couple other weird ones; last but not least you can add caramel or chocolate sauce to any of the normal toppings which makes it more like a mixed up Sunday. I wouldn't say the French McFlurry is better but just different than the American. In case you were wondering whether the Quarter Pounder is really called a Royal... YES that is true(thank you Pulp Fiction). The mayonnaise is different here too, when I first ate it I thought 'hmmm this kind of tastes like mustard'.(I have yet to see anyone, other than myself, put mayo on their frites(that's french for french fries)) Later I found out that that in fact they do put a little mustard in their mayo, but I still put both on my popkins. Speaking of popkins french people tend to put sliced hard boiled eggs on all of them even on tooter fish popkins! I had one on the bus ride back from the Alps and it was actually pretty good.

The January sales ended today... I didn't find anything worth buying. I did however find this wonderful quote which I feel really captures the essence of trying to speak to the french:

"In Paris they simply stared when I spoke to them in French; I never did succeed in making those idiots understand their language." - Mark Twain


(hint: "popkin" is not french... figure it out)

you get what you pay for (or maybe a little less)

What can I say about the Alps? They are beautiful. There are dogs there. The hot chocolate is delicious... However the snowboarding was not that amazing. If you go to the Alps do NOT go to Pelvoux. There was exactly one chair lift and only one full run. This information was not given to us until we had already gotten to the mountain. They didn't even tell us where we were going until we got on the bus to leave. We were also not informed that the "hotel" we were staying in was more like a hostel than a hotel. Maybe I am just spoiled but I was pretty shocked by the whole ordeal. I was imagining something like going out to Big Sky Montana or something. Instead we got one rickety old chairlift and had to put our own sheets on our beds. Overall it was a fun weekend, just not what I was expecting. When they tell you that you are going to the Alps for a weekend for only $200 euro you should probably be suspicious. The lift ticket was $30 ( it said on the back) and the lodging could not have been expensive since it was just a room with 5 beds and no towels or toiletries. Now let me tell you about the rental equipment! They gave me a snowboard that was too small and the bindings were on the wrong sides (the binding for the right foot was on the left side and vice versa). When I brought it back and told them, they looked at me funny and gave me a board with bindings that lacked any type complete strap. I ended up taking the bindings off anyway and putting them back on again to create a normal/rideable stance. Food was included that was a plus. I am still confused where my other $100 euro went though.

All dogs need to live in France

In the south of France all dogs are in heaven, and I think dog owners here are in heaven as well. First of all you can bring your dog anywhere with you, this includes: trams, buses, the mall, bars, and restaurants! I sat next to a dog the other day at a Creperie. On the tram I saw a dog that had 24 toes! he had an extra toe on each foot, it kind of creeped me out but he seemed happy. They also don't have to wear leashes. I think this a good idea since a leash would be very troublesome on the crowded trams and around restaurant chairs and tables. Another law they don't have is cleaning up your dogs poop. There are not a lot dog restrooms (grassy spots) in the city since most of it is paved, this is scary when it rains and there have been big dogs down the sidewalk before you, you really need to watch out. They do however clean the center of town, which is more like a giant out door mall, each day with big zamboniesque machines, this helps with the poop. You also CAN NOT be arrested if you have a dog here, thus all the "street people" have dogs. This is all funny because at home if you didn't put your dog on a leash and it pooped you would have to go to jail and pay a lot of money and you would become a street person. Dad and Smoky know all about that! ;)